Congratulations to the Carmody's!

Karen, Mike, Victoria, Austin and Samara have a baby brother on the way. We are so thrilled to have shared in their great news. We can't wait to meet little Denver. I have swiped from their blog the following...

It's a boy!!!
We are so excited to announce that God has blessed us with another son. We finally received “the call” late this afternoon!!!

He is just over one month old . . . born December 20, 2008 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

We have named him: Denver Jacob Baheran

Denver is a name we both really like.

Jacob is after Grandma Zandstra (her middle name is Jacoba)

Baheran is his Ethiopian name – given to him by his birthmother

He is the cutest little guy that you ever did see! Unfortunately you’ll have to take our word for it because we won’t be emailing his picture at this point. Things are different from when we adopted Samara from China and we are not legally allowed to post his picture online at all until he is officially our son. A court proceeding has to take place in Ethiopia before he is legally our child and that may take a few months. If and when you see us in person we will gladly show you the picture. In the meantime, we will keep you posted along the way.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

Happy Birthday Hailey!

Hailey woke up this morning so excited to have her birthday. She put on her birthday shirt to get ready for the day. We got a call from her cousins in Sault Ste Marie which was awesome. Hailey practically ran up the stairs of the daycare and couldnt wait to tell everyone it was her birthday. We all came home early today to celebrate. Hailey requested a nutritious McDinner and enjoyed every bite. We just finished making birthday muffins and then using one as her birthday cake, she was beaming! Alex is setting up Wallie to watch tonight as a special treat.

On another note, i have been thinking all day about Hailey's poor birth mother and how she must be thinking alot about Hailey these days with this being Hailey's finding day as well. Not to mention all the holidays of Christmas and Chinese New Year so close. I wish i could reassure her that Hailey is doing great and is loved more than anyone could possibly have loved her otherwise. I am also thankful to her, because without her or her difficult decisions, we would never have had our amazing daughter.

Happy New Year!

Paul, Angela and Maya came over to celebrate Chinese New Year with us yesterday. Maya brought over a big dragon and we ordered Chinese food for dinner. The girls played together and had so much fun. Santa brought Hailey a bouncy castle for Christmas and the girls bounced like crazy to the Madagascar soundtrack. We were tempted to join in. Hailey showed Maya her new Tag pen that helps her to read- Maya really liked reading! What a fun time!

Disney World.

We had an awesome time on our first family vacation. Alex booked us a last minute trip leaving New Years Day. Hailey was the perfect age for Disney. She was free for meals and park admissions so we saved hundreds of dollars. She was old enough though to go on most of the rides and enjoy them. We had six perfect days of blue skies and sunshine, with 25c highs each day- not a drop of rain. What a great week and one to remember for a long time. We did 3 character dinners and Hailey loved Mickey, Donald and all the princesses. She has been watching Disney movies nonstop since getting home.