Random Fall Happenings

Ryan is an outstanding marathon runner. It's just the truth. Ha! BUT- this month, this time, this race, Ryan kicked butt. Instead of running a 20 mile training run for the Columbus marathon in October, he decided to register for the Akron marathon last minute and run it. And he PR'd. And he ran a 2:57. WOWZA

This was a perfect FALL night. I mean for real. We just love our moments at mom and dad's house where we don't have enough room for all of us and that's why we love it. Gosh these are precious times.

This is just right after school started--in  September. The warm days are still around and why not have...a GARAGE BAND! Ha. I think our neighbors hated US and the FROZEN DVD today

Last hurrah at the lake---end of September goodness. NEVER EVER want this season to go away

Tradition: trip #1 to Gust Brother's Farm...got rained out, but we ran around like wackos!



A very very quick visit from the Mitchells as they drove through town. They are prized people in our lives. We need them, we love them. Our kids just play so well together?! Man oh man it's cool. Lucas and Ellie run off, Emma and Nathan run off, Taylor and Griffin run off...haha...uh oh

Dressed up and ready for the church ho-down!

Griff sure has some cool buddies. It is really cool that one of them is his cousin. But it is also really cool that my best friends have boys, and they all love each other as much as us moms do. Gosh we are blessed with good people in this community!

Gust brother's farm trip #2. Today we pick our pumpkins!!

What a way to celebrate the Ethiopian New Year this year!!! Our family has been so so excited to try out the BLUE NILE restaurant in Ann Arbor, MI. We have been wanting a reason to celebrate, and it was quite evident that we had a reason to celebrate this Sept. 11! After receiving our referral (seeing Grady's face), we decided to try this place out the night before the Ethiopian New Year. We all loved it. Every single bite. It was quite the experience and our FIRST experience. I can't wait to bring other loved ones with us next time...and most importantly, learn how to cook some of these things for our family. :)

Oh wow. Getting these updated pictures of Grady---just melts our heart. All we can say is NO WAY! LOOK AT  HIM! LOOK HOW BIG HIS FEET ARE! HOLY COW I WANNA SCOOP HIM UP! We are ALL enamored with this little love. Approx 11-12 months old in these pictures. 

ZOO day with Charles. These boys love each other.

Feed My starving Children.  It was really cool to talk about Grady this year. Last year he was "out there," but unknown. This year- Grady, we imagined you and your buddies at the orphanage actually receiving one of these meals we packed. Gosh we wanted to snag a bag of this and direct mail it to Grady's orphanage...had to follow the rules!
Kids learned perserverance today---hard work!!

First Snow of the year....what? November? Not even Thanksgiving yet! Ha...well it sure was fun to march around with my little side kick. HE makes me happy

So many years of knowing this girl. Now we visit together with our boys in tow! What a blessing.



Date with my sweet cheeks. Took Ellie to Barnes and Noble for some peppermint hot chocolate. These moments are truly some of my favorites. We talked about life, friends, and choices we make to head in the right direction. JESUS help me to be the mom this girl needs!

There's a chair missing

I was vacuuming tonight, and tucking chairs under the counter. Couldn't help but notice this counter needs a FOURTH chair to be full. Grady, we are waiting for you dude. We have a spot that is ready for you to jump into little man. Loving you from afar today.

1:42:24

WHAT A FUN DAY! I absolutely loved this experience. Everything about it. Ryan did too. Yes the run was slow for him and he probably was quite bored---but, we ran my first half marathon together. Such a fun time. I felt great, despite yucky weather and wind--and we plugged through!

Ryan was literally telling me to stop talking and focus at this moment...haha. All business. This was also right before we ran up the WORST hill of all time---almost done!

Sprint to the finish line!!

Dave could quite possibly be the most encouraging human on planet earth--and to run alongside him made it that much more enjoyable! Wow---what a friend and runner to do this with. :)

Proud peeps of our medals! :)

Missing my boy today

Gosh this time is hard. Waiting on a list for two years, knowing we had a child out there---that was hard. Doing the paperwork--sure, that was hard. BUT seeing this face show up in an EMAIL, and wanting so bad to make him smile...THAT is hard. We are struggling with not being able to go and love this boy up close. We are struggling with now knowing how many teeth he has, how well he can walk, or what his sweet skin feels like. We know you are there Grady---and we long for you today! This jar that was given to us as a gift is just one way for us to write to you some thoughts of our heart when we think of you...
Love you son. We can't wait to meet you up close. Approximately 13 months old in this picture

Halloween 2014

I mean there's really not much to say about these pictures other than THIS IS FUN! I love trick or treat night because the kids love trick or treat night. It's just so silly and weird and crazy to dress up in random costumes and walk around the neighborhood. Griff took a step UP this year and kept up with the big kids almost the entire night---totally impressive.

The girls got a gazillion compliments on their old lady gear-ha! And Griff of course was a superhero---he is a superhero almost every moment of every day. And we love it!

A glimpse into Grady

WHAT A GIFT! And a surprise to have our friends be able to stop at Grady's orphanage and visit him. Jenna and Evyn Thompson went out of their way to stop in to see our little guy. Grady was just going down for a nap--so quite sleepy. But today, when receiving these pictures, we felt like we had a glimpse into his world. This meant the WORLD to us. The road outside his orphanage (which he has probably never seen), the courtyard, the bed he sleeps in, that PURPLE shirt...all we've seen him in so far...and the sweet man holding his arms out to our son. God bless this man who holds our son today. We can't wait to meet him, hug him, and thank him!

Emma is 7!!?

Oh sweet Emma...such a joy to our family. Sassy and ridiculously sweet. This year you turned 7 and this year you officially started elementary school. Watching you sit at your desk on your first day of school was insanely hard, but you just flourish. I mean seriously...you love people, you love to listen to people, you love to watch people. You don't miss a beat sweet Ems. Our prayer for you is for God to increase and instill gentleness, purity and leadership in you. It is SO easy for you to make friends. We pray that God will use your influence to bring people to Him someday. You are an incredible big sister to Griffin--and one day soon you will be that for Grady, too. We love you Emma! It was fun celebrating you this October 18---your friends had so much fun at your party! Love you Rosie.