May Birthdays!

This is a whole lot late in posting, but in May we had a family "May Birthday Party" for Mae, Titus, and Alex. Titus had a fun time playing in the water and jumping on the trampoline at Nana and Papa's house. I made a cake for Alex and later she did get to have a few friends spend the night. Tomorrow was supposed to be Haley and Lila's friend birthday party (Lila didn't get to have hers, since we were in Ethiopia), but considering Alex, Vince, and Haley all have fevers, headaches and can't get out of bed, we decided to postpone.

Lila's Dance Recital

Lila was in a Christian Dance Group throughout this year. Sometimes she liked it, sometimes she dreaded going, but she sure did shine during her recital. It was so amazing seeing my little girl dance! This will probably be the last recital however, since she wants "to learn how to play the flupe".

Working with Daddy!

It's been a busy couple of months. Swimming, wrapping up school, fixing cars, building a fence, going to Omaha, VBS and more. Back in May (I think) I walked outside to check on Vince, who was putting a piece of something under the car, and this is what I found! So cute, so I had to take pics.

Life in the fast lane!

It has been a long time since I've posted. We have been busy homeschooling, swimming, running laps around our house when we get in trouble :), singing in Choir, going to zoo's, and trying to stay sane while daddy works so much. Did I tell you he is a fill-in supervisor for the TWO supervisors who moved positions and is still the Planning/Outage Manager, while being in outages most of the past two months! Daddy=BUSY! Mommy=CRAZY!
Tariku is the SWEETEST, most LOVING little boy ever!!! He whispers sweet baby-talk into momma's ear, gives me kisses and pats my back. He yells "ALEX!" when he wants her to get him and laughs and cries at the same time when he sees his bottle.
School is almost over and VBS is coming soon! We are so excited for school to be over and we can just relax and have fun!
In Lila's picture, she is wearing our Ethiopian Airlines eye cover. She was so excited to have one, she wore it every night for a few weeks!

More Pics

It's crazy getting to FINALLY rock Tariku to sleep in my arms...after all of these months praying and crying for him. He is doing very well, but has no problem going to anyone. So mommy and daddy are going to have to really work on bonding with him a lot so that he will be more discriminate with others. He loves all the attention he is getting, but it is going to change a little with homeschooling getting back on track. Tomorrow should be an interesting day of learning at the Avila house.

We're Back!

I will post more later, but I wanted to share some pics. We had some amazing experiences while we were there. We are so glad to be home with our girls and are still trying to catch up on sleep. Tariku is doing great and the girls LOVE holding, feeding, changing, picking out outfits, playing, strolling, etc. with him. I hardly get time with him now that I'm competing with 3 other mothers!

Leaving on a jet plane!!

We are off tomorrow morning for Ethiopia! We are so excited and yet sad to leave our girls. Please pray for them as they won't see us for about 12 days. Lila is on steroids for croup (which makes her silly!!) and I am on antibiotics for a bad cold/sinus junk. Pray that I am not in the bathroom during the whole flight :( Thanks so much and we'll try and update you all, but internet connection is s l o w and power outages are regular. WOW! I can't believe it is actually here!!! Love you all!