34 Feet Thus Far

Haile's New Bike

2009-09-01T18:24:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we celebrated Haile's 9th birthday. We've chosen his birth date to be July 5 but that was the day Dad and I departed to pick them up. So we just decided to go ahead and celebrate it so he didn't have to wait that long time. For his birthday Haile requested a bike, and as you can see in the pic below, he's pretty much one happy guy. :-)

Also take a look at his new footwear! he picked the color out himself. *grin* He wanted Converse All-Stars just like his big brother Nate.

The Princess and the Frog

2009-08-28T10:42:00.000-07:00

I have such hopes for this film!

It took Disney long enough. Lets hope they don't mess it up.

2009-08-07T10:12:00.000-07:00

Enjoying ice cream on a hot Texas summer day. I was quite proud of the braids I put in Tarikwa's hair. *grin*

Everybody has been doing well! During these few weeks we’ve doing all sorts of fun, crafts and sports to help the new ones adjust to their new life. A couple of days ago we dyed play silks with food coloring and kool-aid which surprisingly was a big hit.

The little girls are hatching all sorts of plans. I had a row of them in my room the other day at the foot of my bed on bended knee pleading for me to record a CD of them singing. Mimi and Tarikwa are really quite good strong singers as well as dancers! Tarikwa loves the singing the intro to the Lion King "Seemba" as she calls it.

The scene I came upon when I heard peals of laughter from Mom and Dad's bedroom

Haile is really quite the mischievous one. He got a hold of one of our plastic snakes yesterday hid it under the covers of Tucker’s bed. Dad remarked on the huge grin on Haile’s face as he existed the bedroom. Speaking of Tucker, his new nickname given by Tarikwa is “Tiger”. In the evenings, you will hear “Tiger! Tiger’s here!

Wednesday we with a few folks from our church, went down to Stephenville for an outdoor free Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder bluegrass concert.

It was fun watching the girls with their glowstick bracelets twirling in circles to Uncle Pen.

Finally Together

2009-07-30T10:23:00.000-07:00

Back Home Again

2009-07-22T20:10:00.000-07:00

We’re back! We finally arrived home safely 11:30 Friday night and boy were we glad to be home. And I’ll note that I have never missed home so much in all my life. Internet was very poor in Addis Ababa so I was not able to log on blogspot while there. The family was so good to post photos in previous posts for me.

We’ve just recovered from jetlag and adjusting to the time change. Things are going well with the new ones. They are adjusting quite well. Right now Dad down to Abby have gone to a Ranger’s baseball game while I’m here at home with Mom, Tarikwa and Ailey just chillin’.

I’ll give a more detailed account later of our trip with lots of pictures and even a few videos!

Sarah

2009-07-13T14:05:00.000-07:00

Cheerful Tarakwa

Outside the guest house
Opening gifts

More Pictures!

2009-07-13T13:19:00.000-07:00

Group Field trip to a hotel pool

Mimi
Haile
Outside the guest house

At a National Park

Pictures!

2009-07-13T07:59:00.000-07:00

Tarakwa

Mimi
Haile

2009-06-30T19:24:00.000-07:00

Lord willing, Sunday July 5th, Dad and I will depart in the morning for Houston where we'll catch our flight and fly 16 hours before connecting in Dubai for a 4 hour flight to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. We should finally meet the new ones on Tuesday! Wednesday the 8th is our embassy date. We should be in Ethiopia for 2 weeks.

Right now my room is absolutely cluttered with supplies and clothes on the floor. :-)

5 days till departure! Hard to believe.

Mandolin Concerto, 1st Movement, Antonio Vivaldi

2009-06-01T07:31:00.000-07:00

Here's something unusual. A Mandolin Concerto by Vivaldi. :-)

Star Photography

2009-05-24T17:02:00.000-07:00

One of my first attempts at photographing star trails. This shot took 30 minutes to take, 11:00- 11:30 pm. It's a little over exposed. :-P In this shot I tried to focus on the north star Polaris so as to have a circle of trails revolving around the star.

More to come later!

2009-04-24T20:17:00.000-07:00

Here's a copy of an email my Dad sent to our church family.

Dear Church Family,

We learned a few hours ago that our travel has once again been postponed due to a delay in the processing of our children's Ethiopian passports. That delay resulted in the postponement of our Wednesday, 4/29, embassy interview and has made it impossible for us to bring the children home prior to Nate's wedding. The next opportunity for us to bring the children home will be in late May or early June. Further, and as a result of the delay, we have decided to wait until we can bring all three children home together.

We are disappointed but not deterred. Please continue to pray for health, protection, and godly care for the three Ethiopian Douglas' (our children,) Haile, Mimi, and Tara. We trust God's perfect plan in all of this and rest in His will.

Blessings until the Lord's Day,

Tony

2009-04-23T19:17:00.000-07:00

Our new three!

Dad and I depart the morning of April 25 for Ethiopia!