The Poppy Dip Dress.

A new dress

I ordered a dress from here http://itspoppydip.blogspot.com/

The mom makes adorable dresses with fun fabrics for little girls. You pick the fabric. They are $25...which is reasonable for something custom made with love.

The family is adopting from Ethiopia....so each dress you buy helps them bring home their child.

What's not to love about that?

Ella's Toes

Only 6 more days until our court date. Here is a little sneak preview of our girl. Aren't those the sweetest little toes you've ever seen?

As soon as she is legally ours, we can post photos of her. Check back on us next week! Hopefully and prayerfully there will be lots of pictures!

"Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not yet seen " Hebrews 11:1

Abbey's musical

Our daughter was in the 5th grade muscial "Oliver Twist" last night. It was amazing! She was one of the urchins and danced and sang all throughout the show. It was fun getting to see her on stage. She has always loved singing and wanted to try her hand at drama. I couldn't be prouder of my girl. Picture coming soon!

Also got new pictures of our little one in Ethiopia. She is still as cute as a bug! She has her first two bottom teeth now....they were just starting to come in when we were in ET and she was sitting up so straight. I can tell she is getting stronger.

We are so blessed because for the past week or so a friend of mine was in ET and she LOVES "W" She emailed and said she spend as much time as she could with her.....snuggling her and playing with her.

Only 10 more days till court! Our director said that our file is complete and everything looks good for our May 25 court date! Praying that she will officially be Ella Grace "W' Collins on that day!

The Lucky One

Happy Mother's Day!

I got a huge surprise this morning. My sister and her quilting group make a quilt every year and raffle it off to raise money to support cystic fibrosis reseach. One of our friends who we love very much has a daughter with CF.

Well, I WON the quilt this year! It is beautiful and I am so excited!

I had another surprise this morning. My normally happy boy, Will, wasn't feeling well and it was obvious to me he didn't need to go to school. He has been running a fever all day and just feeling terrible.

He has wanted me right by his side all day, so we have spent most of the day snuggled up in bed.

I was trying to think of things to take his mind off feeling so bad and I was telling him about the winning the quilt.

He started telling me about a raffle they are having at school for a pinata filled with candy.

But he's not going to buy any tickets because he isn't LUCKY.

According to him, He's only been lucky one time in his life.

When he got me for a MOM!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY.....TO US ALL. I HOPE YOU FEEL LOVED AND APPRECIATED TODAY!

...rooted in love: No us, without her...#links#links

Mother's Day...beautiful tribute to birth mothers!

...rooted in love: No us, without her...#links#links

18 days

Only 18 more days until our court date for Ella Grace!

In the meantime....Abbey is making her stage debut in Oliver Twist next week. She is one of the singing urchins.

Cole is going to perform with the middle school band the following week. (Must buy black shoes!)

Bill is going back to Milan for a few days.

And I am going to the SPA tomorrow! Calgon take me away!

Is it too late for Easter photos?

We had an interesting Easter. We missed Easter church service in Doha which was on Friday (we were in the US) and we left the US before Easter Sunday, so we missed Easter in that time zone as well. On top of that Bill was gone, so it was just the 4 of us.

We ended up reading the story of the Resurrection on Easter Sunday Morning and spending a little time thanking Jesus for what he has done for us. It was a sweet time for me and the kids. The kids all got Easter basket goodies.....which was a feat since we got home late the night before.

That afternoon, we did some Easter egg hunting with some friends in another compound.

Even the big kids got in on the fun!

To Market To Market

Photos of the fruit and veg market and the fish market in Doha!

Back in Doha

We are home from Ethiopia and had a wonderful visit with our sweet "W"! It was so sweet to meet her (again) now that she is ours. When I got there she was asleep and the nannies woke her up (poor baby) and changed her and brought her to me. They put her in my arms and she looked at me, then looked at them, then looked at me and burst into tears. It didn't take her long to calm down. I think she was startled because she had just been woken up. She loves her nannies and they all LOVE her. They are always singing her name and clapping for her and paying attention to her. They tell her she is conjo (beautiful) and gobez (strong). The payoff is her great SMILE! I think that is why they like to play with her so much. She is LIT from within....she glows.

I got to spend a few days with her, before the rest of the family arrived. Which is a good thing, because Abbey didn't want to put her down. It was so much fun for me to see them meet her for the first time. They fell in love with her. Will and Abbey were smitten. Cole is a little unsure of himself around babies, so she is going to have to work a little to win him over. I have no doubt she will! I think Bill thought she was something SPECIAL! Leaving her was very difficult, but I have so much to do to get ready for her homecoming. Will was the most upset. Poor little guy cried and cried as we drove away.

We were all well while in ET, but Abbey got sick after we got home. I think it was something she ate. She is feeling better, but stayed home today from school. I felt so bad for her. She was such a little mother hen in Ethiopia and was so sweet to all the babies in the nursery.

Our court date is MAY 25....just about 3 WEEKS away! Please put us on your prayer list, that we would pass the first time. Sometimes cases do not pass and we have to be prepared for that, but we want to get her home with us as soon as possible.

I wish I could show her photo , but for now here is her little hand and foot. She is sitting on the sofa that is on the porch of the guest house...yes there is a sofa on the porch. She is leaning over to prop herself up, still not strong enough to sit alone without that support. And she is smiling!