My Girl

I just have to say that having a girl is absolutely fabulous! I can't imagine my life without my precious Lowa! God has gifted this girl with such a bright, inviting and joyful spirit. I thank the Lord that I have the opportunity to be her mom. I love you sweet girl...

It's Official...He's Our Son - Uh Duh!

Yesterday we went to the courthouse to officially adopt Abraham into the United States. It truly was a wonderful day!!! To know that Abraham is a US citizen now and that he is officially our son - well, it's a great feeling. In our hearts he's always been our son - from the moment we got the call that he was being referred to us. But, in the eyes of the US, he was not ours officially. Yesterday - he legally became a Gresham! Praise God for this incredible miracle of Abraham and that God has led us to this amazing boy - our son Abraham!

Love the expression on his face - so darn cute (I bet you're thinking Tom and I look really cute in this pic too - ha!!)!!


It's official - He's Our Boy! We dressed all of the kids in their Ethiopian outfits - they looked really sweet!


Posing with our amazing family and friends (many family members and friends couldn't make it - but their love and support has been amazing)!!

Please Pray...

A fellow adoption family through AGCI, just found out some absolutely devastating news. Their daughter Abby (adopted from Guatemala) has just been diagnosed with leukemia. I cannot begin to fathom the fear, and worry that would go along with this. But at the same time, reading their blog gives me such encouragement. They are completely relying on God and know that He is in control. How comforting is that! Please visit their blog and lift them up in prayer. Thank you...

http://riggsbunch.blogspot.com/

There is also another friend Julie, through AGCI who just found out that her mom has cancer. I can't even begin to imagine how difficult this would be. My mom and I are so close and I can't even go there. Please keep her mom, Margot in your prayers as well.

http://www.beeleradoption.blogspot.com/

He Is Out There...

Ok, I must start by saying my husband made this video for a reason and reluctantly gave his permission :)....

****Don't watch video until after reading****

My mom is in town visiting and she, Lowa and I had been gone all day long on a "girls day out." Thus, Tom had Whitt and Abraham for the entire day. We all met up for lunch and my mom and I took Whittaker with us (side note - we had a blast hanging out). Tom was still hanging out with Abraham. After lunch, they went and got Tom some Tennis shoes (for playing tennis) and then headed home. Unfortunately, Abraham fell asleep in the car the last 5 minutes and when Tom took him inside to lay him down he woke up and would not go back to sleep. Let me put it mildly - the kid was a CRANK BUTT! This is Tom's way of not only entertaining himself, but Abraham as well. Enjoy....




PS Fine means finished in some other language!

Kisses and Inside Camping

Abraham got his test results from all of his blood work and he's as healthy as a horse!!!! YEAH!!!! Even though we had given him TONS of kisses, we were a little cautious about giving mouth kisses (which we do in our family) b/c of advice from our Dr.! We officially got to give mouth kisses to our buddy yesterday and it felt SO great!! He totally dug it! That boy gives kisses non-stop - he is such a cuddle bug and we LOVE that (our other two aren't big cuddlers so we're excited to have one who does like to cuddle :) ).

This is how he gives kisses - he grabs onto your face and goes for it! So darn cute!

Daddy giving Abraham mouth kisses.

So hard to get a picture of the actual kiss as it lasts a fraction of a second.

Don't you love the facial expressions?!

Inside Camping...

Our family LOVES to go camping, but this year it would just be too much for Abraham. He's trying to adjust to home and getting used to being good sleeper, so we didn't figure it would be too much fun for him or others in the camp ground to hear him trying to go down for a nap :). So, my best friend Tia suggested that we go camping inside! She's a genius! The day consisted of going strawberry picking. Tom's mom came with us and it was a blast - the kids loved the tractor ride. Then Tom's parents came over for a BBQ on the back deck, which was delicious. A few years ago, Tom and I built a table for our deck that was made for a fire pit. After our BBQ, we got our stuff together for S'mores and went for it- YUM!!! The kids loved that as well (Abraham was asleep by this time). After cleaning up, we all crawled into our tent that we had set up in our front room. Of course, the kids were thrilled to all be sleeping together. We tried really hard to make it through the night, but Whitt kept waking up and whimpering, so Tom put him in his bed and went to our bed - can you say wimp :) - just kidding babe!! I was determined to last all night, but after another two hours of falling asleep and then being woken up by Lowa kicking me in the face, I'd had enough. I carried her down to her bed and climbed in my bed - oh yes, I'm a wimp too :)! I was thinking they'd be disappointed the next morning, but they didn't even notice. They woke up happy as usual, and we spent the rest of the morning eating our "camping" breakfast of blueberry pancakes and bacon! Then we played in the tent some more and packed up. It was a blast!!

Whitt drinking water after downing his S'more

Go Grandma go!

Tom and grandpa enjoying their S'mores


Do you like the pose Lowa has going?


Lowa loving her S'more


Tom roasting away...


All laying down for our "restful" night sleep


Daddy and Lowa cuddling in the tent. You can tell Lowa is THRILLED!


Daddy and Abraham hanging out - just had to throw this picture in...

First Post-Placement Home Visit

We had our first official post-placement home visit two days ago. I just have to start out by saying we really do have THE BEST social worker ever! JoAnn - you ROCK! She is super flexible and so thoughtful, understanding and wise about adoption. I'm just so thankful she has been a huge part of this process and it's a big bonus that she works for AGCI (but does lots of other work alongside that).

As far as how Abraham is doing - he's great. We went through a pretty rough stretch where sleeping was a BIG battle. He would SCREAM at the top of his lungs, push against us, etc. while we were rocking him and trying to soothe him. He would do this anywhere from 20 minutes to 2 hours. Needless to say, it was VERY trying, exhausting and demoralizing. I knew adoption would be hard, but you can never prepare for the things that will come your way after your child/ren come home. Tom and I said we felt like first time parents all over again. Finally, after a month and a half we decided that Abraham needed to have some boundaries in the sleeping department (and other departments as well i.e. eating, playing by himself). He was definitely running the show for a while (which was totally ok and the way it should have been). But, after we knew he was attaching well and comfortable with us - we knew he needed a little "help" regulating (since he didn't really have that ability to do it on his own). We've helped him to get on a good sleeping schedule and the past week he has slept through the night (compared to waking up 3-5 times a night)! YEAH Abraham! We now rock him for a few minutes before bed and lay him in his bed before he's asleep. He usually lays down now and goes to sleep on his own. I am so proud of him! He's very comfortable here now and has a great time playing and is getting SO much better at putting himself to sleep. We are thrilled with how well he is adjusting and figuring out how to be a part of the Gresham Team :)!! He's a stud for sure.

He LOVES to play with all of us and thinks Lowa and Whitt are great (except when Whitt gets too loud and up in his grill). Peek-a-boo is his FAVORITE game and will crack up over and over again. He will even hold the blanket over his own face and pull it down to play with us! He's super great at sitting up now and tries tummy time (this usually lasts about a minute before rolling on his back again). He does have to go to the OT/PT and speech because he's a bit behind on his gross motor skills and babbling. We're not really worried about it, but better to get things checked out now rather than deal with it as he gets older.

Abraham is definitely a Gresham and we cannot even begin to explain how blessed we feel to call him our son, brother and our blessing from God!

A day in the life of... Mr. Abraham

Wake Up - "I LOVE mommy and especially when she holds me and plays with me!"


"Can you see my first tooth? It's a little hard to see, but it's there!"



Breakfast Time (sorry about my hand getting in the way - but he's just too cute not to put this in). "I like to eat, but I'm pretty picky and I don't eat a ton."


Bath Time - "I think splashing in the tub is so much fun."


"Daddy getting me all dried off."


Play Time - "I like my bouncer!"

Then it's down for NAP!


"I wake up from nap ready to play. Mom and Dad feed me a bottle, then some lunch. Then Lowa, Whitt and I usuually have a great time playing."

"Playing with my brother and sister. That's lots of fun!"

NAP again!


"It's time to wake up again! I love sitting with Daddy."


"Getting kisses from mommy is really great. I love to grab her face and pull it to me. She really likes this..."


"Hanging with Mommy and Whitt. Mom calls this her - 'My boys' picture. I think she really likes us a lot."


"More playing. Mom put the dinosaur tail on me. I thought it was pretty fun."


"Lowa is so good at playing with me. She loves to talk to me and tell me stories. I love her."


"After dinner, we like to go outside and play. We love summer and being able to go on a hike or to the beach. I really love my family!"

Summer Fun

After three long years of Tom working on his masters and internship to become a principal, he is FINALLY finished! To celebrate, we have been out non-stop every day since. It's like we're making up for lost time (he hasn't had a summer break in three years - which we teachers are used to. Yes, we know - we're spoiled). The day after he finished, we took a trip to the zoo. The kids had a blast and did an absolutely fabulous job! The next day we ventured out to go strawberry picking - which Lowa and Whitt thoroughly enjoyed. Abraham wasn't so down with it - but liked sitting in daddy's backpack! The next day we ventured out to the beach and roasted! It was such a lovely day filled with sand castles, eating strawberries and splashing in the water. Today we spent time with our best friends and enjoyed watching the kids run through the sprinklers, eat ice cream cones and we all enjoyed a delicious BBQ. Needless to say, summer is here for us and we are THOROUGHLY taking advantage of it and enjoying every minute!

I had to start with this picture! Look at that HUGE snot bubble coming out of his nose. We were cracking up!


Lowa and Whitt posing (with a bit of coaxing) with the monkeys.


Look at the picture in the background - it's of the African continent. At the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle there is an African Village Area with a schoolhouse, huts and more. Lowa and Whitt played the drums and Abraham had a great time dancing. It was so precious and made me miss Ethiopia!


Lowa getting busy picking strawberries.


We worked pretty hard and picked three buckets full - YUM - strawberry jam here we come!


"I love hanging with my dad. It's one of my favorite places to be!"


Whitt showing off his strawberry! So cute!


Hmmm, what am I thinking about? I have no clue!


Posing with my beautiful Lowa. I love having a girl! We both had our scarves on our heads this day - quite fun!


Abraham hanging with his hat on. Love that face!


Whitt loves to throw rocks - one of his favorite past times. Here he is showing one off before he tosses it in the water!