We're Moving!

I have 2 moving announcements! The most exciting one:

We are closing on a house tomorrow! It is down the street from my parents (about a 5 minute walk) and on a nice wooded lot, almost an acre of land! The house itself is 1500 sq ft with a full basement (yes, that means storage!). It is a foreclosure that has been uninhabited for almost 2 years and needs a lot of work. We are putting all new floors in, painting the walls, and doing repairs on the back room because of some damage. It also needs some electrical work-the previous owner apparently thought they were good at doing it themselves, but they were not. All of the upgrades should be done in a few months and we'll move in then. Here's a picture of our future home:

The plan is to add a 2nd floor in a few years as our family grows, but if you include the garage it is more than 3 times the space we are currently living with, which is really exciting!

Speaking of our family growing, we have decided to move our blog. Having kids and posting pictures of them, we will feel safer having a website that doesn't include our last name. My dream is to be one of those blogs that many people come to read and that maybe we can inspire someone else to consider adoption/special needs adoption. Our push to special needs was on someone's blog :) We will leave this blog up for you to look back (I'm not sure if there is a way to move it all over-that's a question for Eric)

This will show my dorky side, but I wanted to find a good blog name that fits us now, and will fit us later, and ended up thinking of a bible verse and using it to be a little 'punny'. The verse is "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. -James 1:2-3" Which is a good verse to live by, and we are the J's who want to be able to count it all joy-so we will be the count it all J's. It will work on another level in that we want to have a big family, so you'll also be able to count all the J's. The one problem with it is that Eric does not start with a J, but he's a good sport about it :)

And so, without further ado, here is the link to our new blog! http://countitalljs.blogspot.com/

Breakfast of champions?

Vivi has discovered a new do-it-yourself snack

Baby needs some too, of course

Jenavieve's Favorite Fruits

Jenavieve's Letters

Playing in the snow

Here's a video of Vivi's first time out in the snow (except the one time last year but she doesn't remember that ;) It was taken the week before Christmas but we just got around to getting the videos uploaded.

A Christmas Eve video

For those of you who knew me growing up, that doll is Jennifer, my favorite doll. Now it is one of Vivi's favorites! She thought it was so cool to have matching pajamas for Christmas!

Melkam Genna!

Merry Ethiopian Christmas! Even though our kids aren't home with us yet, we had planned on celebrating with doro wat, a chicken stew that is Ethiopia's signature dish. But, Jenavieve has been throwing up the last 2 days.

**If you're not a parent or have a weak stomach, I apologize!**

One little girl, in one hour, managed to throw up on the carpet in 2 rooms, 2 couch cushions may be goners, 2 cats (they were not thrilled!) daddy, 3 pairs of pajamas and lots of blankets. We did a lot of laundry in the middle of the night!

Yesterday she woke up, ate, and played, so I figured she was fine. She never had a fever, so I thought she must have eaten something that didn't agree with her and that was it. Eric had his first class (2 semesters left woo!) so we went to my parents' house for dinner. We hadn't been there 10 minutes when she threw up all over their couch. So much that they are throwing it out. She also got it on her coat, so we hung out while we washed her outfit and coat, and not long after she was asking to eat. She had tea and toast and goldfish crackers, and eventually the laundry was done, and we went home.

She's been 'fine' again this morning, but we've decided on a full 24 hour quarantine so we aren't replacing anyone else's furniture (or buying a whole shelf full of products at the store).

**Nastiness over!**

So, we're just hanging out today, watching lots of Sesame Street. Maybe I'll get to posting pictures from Christmas (and Hanukkah, and New Year's...) At the next house, we'll have a better set up and I'll be able to upload pictures and supervise Jenavieve at the same time. Although by then, I'll have 3 times as many kids to supervise... :)