147 million orphans

"Adopting one child won't change the world; but for that child, the world will change."

Best Friends Forever

Ruby and Destiny are very best buds. Although they sometimes fight like sisters, they absolutely get giddy when they see each other. We feel so blessed that they have eachother!

Happy Birthday Hunter!

It was 8 years ago today that Robb and I became parents. We were absolutely thrilled when Hunter Ron came into the world. We had prayed for this child for a very long time. Hunter has always kept us on our feet. As a baby, sleeping wasn't anything that he was interested in. After hours and hours of rocking, pacing, driving around the section, and watching numerous episodes of Baby Einstein and The Wiggles, we had survived Hunter's baby years. Whew! :) At 15 months his courage became so evident when he was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. Although we seemed to be breaking down at times, his faith has always shown through. For 6 1/2 years, with faith that could move mountains, he has been praying for Jesus to heal his diabetes. Although sometimes he gets frustrated with the daily challenges of the disease, he impresses us with his maturity and responsibility of what he has to do to stay healthy. We are SO proud of him! Being the thinker that he has always been, he recently started his own detective agency. He prefers to be called 'Jigsaw Arnold' and will solve any case you bring to his attention for a small fee. (with half of the money going to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation). Right now he has about 10 cases that he is working on. He does not take his job lightly either. He has questioned suspects, sketched clues, and offered rewards for any valuable information concerning his cases. He has currently made over $20 doing detective work. He's an ambitious little boy! :) Hunter is currently a green belt in Tae Kwon Do and plays on the Hazel Rockhounds baseball team. Everyday he amazes us with his knowledge of history, geography, math, and everything else :) and also his awesome faith in God. A couple months ago he preached to our entire church about healing and the power of prayer. There was not a dry eye in the place. He gave an amazing message. We are so blessed by this young boy and can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for his life. Happy 8th Birthday Hunter! We love you so very much!

Miss RUBY

New cement!

By Tuesday all of the prep work was done...just waiting for the sun to dry things up.

8:00 this morning the crew is ready to begin.

Robb putting the new baskeball hoop in.

Of course you need to do the handprints of the kids!

The finished product!

By tomorrow morning the cement should be ready for bikes, scooters, basketballs and 4 happy kids!

Gage Dakota is 4 years old today!

Gage is finally this many! :)

His first ride on his new spiderman scooter.

Another school year has come and gone.

Hunter's 1st day of First Grade.

Hunter's last day of First Grade. (we didn't get a picture with Mrs. Peterson's eyes open)

Brylie's 1st day of Kindergarten.

Brylie's last day of Kindergarten.

Both kids had a wonderful year of school. Hunter's teacher, Mrs. Peterson, is an amazing teacher! She actually taught Robb in elementary school! Hunter cried every night the last week of school because he didn't want 1st grade to be over. He said "I'm just going to miss Mrs. Peterson SO MUCH! How sad! She cried on the last day when he hugged her goodbye. What a blessing she is to us! Brylie's teacher, Mrs. Zens, was very caring and Brylie really enjoyed having her as a teacher. She described Brylie as a "sweetheart". In a few short months Hunter will be on to 2nd grade and Brylie will have her first year of all day every day school as a 1st grader.

I am blessed!

I had such a wonderful Mother's Day celebrating the gift of these precious babes. I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to raise these children. It really is such a privilege.

Ruby is walking!

Have you ever thought about sponsoring a child?

When we were in Ethiopia last summer we met the man who handles the orphan sponsorship program for our agency. Just last week we finally looked through the profiles of children, as a family, and chose a 9 year old Ethiopian girl who touched our hearts. She is currently living with her mom, 2 brothers and 2 sisters. Her dad died a while back and her mom has no income. She is selling everything they have to provide food for her children. They are in very desperate times. We all fell in love with this little girl and knew that we would be able to help her and her family. For $32 a month we are able to completely change her life. Her needs will be met, she will be able to go to school and enjoy things that children should get to enjoy. We wrote her a letter and sent her a picture of our family. We can't wait to hear back from her. The kids wanted to sponsor more than one and at one point while we were reading the profiles, Hunter teared up and said, "I really think we need to adopt again". Of course the tears then came for me and I understood his sensitive heart. There are so many children who have absolutely nothing, not one toy to play with, little food to eat and nowhere soft to sleep. This hit home for our kids. We are so blessed and I'm glad that we are able to help this precious girl on the other side of the world. If sponsoring a child is something you are interested in I posted a link on my sidebar.

Happy Birthday Brylie!

Today my little girl turns 6! She is the sweetest girl with such a compassionate heart and always a willingness to help. Brylie is the best big sister ever! She plays ball with Gage and babies with Ruby and never complains when I ask her to help with the little ones. She is my shopping buddy and always has fashion advice for me. :) Our family is so blessed to have her in our lives. She was supposed to have her 3 best friends over today for a sleepover but because of the snowy weather we are getting we had to postpone it. We plan on having a fun day at home celebrating with her!

Daddy/Daughter Dinner

A few weeks ago our church hosted a Daddy/Daughter Dinner. Brylie was so excited about spending this special time with her dad. She got a new dress and told me exactly how she wanted her hair fixed. :) The event had a 50's diner theme with the servers wearing poodle skirts and white button up shirts with rolled up jeans. They enjoyed burgers and ice cream and some really fun games. Robb and Brylie competed in a hoola hoop contest (which Brylie said daddy didn't do so well in) and a contest to see which daddy could paint their daughter's fingernails and put in a pony tail the fastest. Robb did very well in that competition but his friend Brian Prouty ended up winning the game. :) It was a super fun night for both Robb and Brylie.

First Grade Basketball

The first graders had a fun basketball game a couple weeks ago. Hunter's uncle Wesley was one of the coaches who had worked with these kids a few Saturdays teaching basic ball handling skills. The game was so fun to watch and the kids had a blast playing against their classmates. I love that Wesley has a heart for these kids and sees the benefits of starting them young. Hunter and his 2 cousins, Booker and Nash, had a super fun time and it was a glimpse into the future seeing them play ball together. Go young Chargers!

Happy Birthday Ruby Katheryn Sifan!

Happy 1st Birthday my sweet Ruby. Although I was not there on the day that you were born and I don't know all of the circumstances of the first few months of your life, I do know that you were in my heart a year ago today. Your daddy and I were praying for you long before you were born. Today I think about your birth mom and pray for peace in her heart. I know the decision she had to make must have been the most difficult thing she has ever had to do and I know that she named you Sifan (meaning 'for your sake') so you would always know how much she loved you and why she had to give you up. You are a perfect fit in our family and I thank God for bringing us together. You are a true blessing and I love you so very much!

Why adopt?

And why from Ethiopia? Many people have asked us these questions. It's simple:

-One in ten children die before their first birthday -One in six children die before their fifth birthday -44% of the population of Ethiopia is under 15 years old -Half the children in Ethiopia will never attend school. -88% will never attend secondary school. -Ethiopia’s doctor to children ratio is 1 to 24,000. -Ethiopia has approx. 4.3 million orphans and the country is twice the size of Texas. -Per capita, Ethiopia receives less aid than any country in Africa

A fun weekend at our state capitol

Ruby and Destiny had fun hanging out at the hotel.

All of the kids heading up the big stairs during the tour of the capitol.

Brylie and her buddy Dannika.

Ruby just rode in the stroller with a smile on her face.

My sister-in-law, Kristi is the assistant majority leader in the House. Kristi took time out to get a picture with all of the kids.

Of course we had to get a silly one! :)

Jodi and I found the nice lady in the Sec. of States office that helped us with our adoption paper work. We only knew her by a kind voice over the phone...it was great to see her in person and show her the girls.

The Secretary of State hooked the boys up with these nifty state seals.

Governor Rounds was kind enough to let us get our picture with him.

We had 4 families in our group, 8 adults and 15 children. The tour guide didn't seem very excited to see so many children but we were so proud of how well behaved they were. They even sat through a Legislative session. Great job kids! Thank you so much Kristi for setting up the tour and pictures. We had a wonderful time and learned so much. Hunter is telling everyone about how he got to sit in the big chair by the Speaker of the House during the Legislative session. Great memories!