Whew!! That four letter word accurately tells you how I feel!! Whew!! Coming back up for air.....
Its hard to even know where to start with this post...Lets go way back to July:) July 4th we had a pool party at my parents house & fun was had by all!! I am so amazed at how well the kids are doing with their swimming! Grant is the only one who has ever been in lessons...& I can excitedly tell you all 4 older kids are swimming like little fish now..(Tesfa is still not so sure about the deep end)!!! The first few days in the pool, Ageze, Kate & Ariyat were still using a floatie & after a few days swimming they just took off!! So fun to watch them grow, learn & loving the water!!
The next day we started our road trip down to Colorado to spend time with friends & family! Long drive but soooo worth every second we spent in the car:) We had time to play, hike, swim, visit, eat yummy Ethiopian food, catch up with friends, attend an amazing church, visit some more & just hang with some really special people!! Thank you friends for always making us feel welcome when we come! We enjoyed every minute we spent with each of you!
After we returned home(thank goodness this next part didnt happen while we were gone!!) we woke up one morning to a flooded basement bathroom & hallway...not just a little water, but sewage water:( Gross!!! So, within a few days that bathroom was torn apart=no water. no toilet. nada!! Ok, no biggie, we have another working bathroom...Not for long!!! A week later I was in the dining room & I came into the kitchen where it looked as if someone dumped a good 3 buckets of water all over the floor & wall..my immediate reaction was to yell at the kids. yes, i do yell sometimes. I'm working on that. So, all 5 kids were lined up looking at the mess. each of them saying..."I didnt do it!" How could it be?!! At the same time I was venting, Kasey walked in the door with a favorite tea of mine & asked what happened...I told him someone obviously made this mess...Kasey looked up at the ceiling & there was water dripping down from the bathroom through our kitchen ceiling...say what?! I quickly apologized to our kids & that was that. another toilet gone= no toilets for 7 people=not gonna happen!! Oh, & we normally have a 3rd toilet, but that one is out too. We tried the porta potty. that wasnt gonna happen either!! So, we had a couple weeks stay at my parents & now we are back to 1 toilet!!! Lesson learned....a family of 7 can totally live with 1 toilet!!! Whew!!!
Tesfa. please be in prayer for him. long story realllllyyyyy short. We leave on September 2nd for an intensive attachment therapy in Minneapolis. Tesfa, Kasey & I will be there for 1 week & then we will come home to get our other 4 & they will be with us the rest of the time. The normal treatment time is 2-3 weeks. We would sooooo appreciate your prayers. We know our God is mighty & He will be covering us all with his love, grace & peace. We are believing & trusting that Tesfa would be healed.
Ethiopia:) We've had many people ask & wonder about Ethiopia. Are we still going? What about Tesfa? When are we going? Good questions!! As far as taking Tesfa back to Ethiopia, the place where he was born & his trauma could stem from...we DO trust that God knows. God will go before us here or there. He knows Tesfa has/is struggled/ing. We do believe that He has a great plan for Tesfas life. We look forward to watching it all unfold!! We have talked with his doctors & therapists about our move & they have each told us it could be very healing for him. When Tesfa is asked about going to Ethiopia, he responds happily.
When will we go??....that is the question!!! We have been making a few tweaks to our website & will have that up & running very soon so we can actively continue the funding process! God knows when we will be going & we will wait on Him! Our hope is to go November-ish!! Yes, we had originally planned on being there in September, however with advice from Tesfas team, the next opening for therapy wasnt until the beginning of September.
So, yes, we are still going!! We eagerly wait for that day when we will be booking our tickets to Ethiopia! Trying to be patient & still during this wait!! Thankful that we have a God that loves us no matter what, impatience & all!!
Oh, and cant forget....August 12th, we celebrated Grants 11th birthday!! What a joy he is!
Whew!!
love & be loved.
a few pics to end this lengthy post.
Its hard to even know where to start with this post...Lets go way back to July:) July 4th we had a pool party at my parents house & fun was had by all!! I am so amazed at how well the kids are doing with their swimming! Grant is the only one who has ever been in lessons...& I can excitedly tell you all 4 older kids are swimming like little fish now..(Tesfa is still not so sure about the deep end)!!! The first few days in the pool, Ageze, Kate & Ariyat were still using a floatie & after a few days swimming they just took off!! So fun to watch them grow, learn & loving the water!!
The next day we started our road trip down to Colorado to spend time with friends & family! Long drive but soooo worth every second we spent in the car:) We had time to play, hike, swim, visit, eat yummy Ethiopian food, catch up with friends, attend an amazing church, visit some more & just hang with some really special people!! Thank you friends for always making us feel welcome when we come! We enjoyed every minute we spent with each of you!
After we returned home(thank goodness this next part didnt happen while we were gone!!) we woke up one morning to a flooded basement bathroom & hallway...not just a little water, but sewage water:( Gross!!! So, within a few days that bathroom was torn apart=no water. no toilet. nada!! Ok, no biggie, we have another working bathroom...Not for long!!! A week later I was in the dining room & I came into the kitchen where it looked as if someone dumped a good 3 buckets of water all over the floor & wall..my immediate reaction was to yell at the kids. yes, i do yell sometimes. I'm working on that. So, all 5 kids were lined up looking at the mess. each of them saying..."I didnt do it!" How could it be?!! At the same time I was venting, Kasey walked in the door with a favorite tea of mine & asked what happened...I told him someone obviously made this mess...Kasey looked up at the ceiling & there was water dripping down from the bathroom through our kitchen ceiling...say what?! I quickly apologized to our kids & that was that. another toilet gone= no toilets for 7 people=not gonna happen!! Oh, & we normally have a 3rd toilet, but that one is out too. We tried the porta potty. that wasnt gonna happen either!! So, we had a couple weeks stay at my parents & now we are back to 1 toilet!!! Lesson learned....a family of 7 can totally live with 1 toilet!!! Whew!!!
Tesfa. please be in prayer for him. long story realllllyyyyy short. We leave on September 2nd for an intensive attachment therapy in Minneapolis. Tesfa, Kasey & I will be there for 1 week & then we will come home to get our other 4 & they will be with us the rest of the time. The normal treatment time is 2-3 weeks. We would sooooo appreciate your prayers. We know our God is mighty & He will be covering us all with his love, grace & peace. We are believing & trusting that Tesfa would be healed.
Ethiopia:) We've had many people ask & wonder about Ethiopia. Are we still going? What about Tesfa? When are we going? Good questions!! As far as taking Tesfa back to Ethiopia, the place where he was born & his trauma could stem from...we DO trust that God knows. God will go before us here or there. He knows Tesfa has/is struggled/ing. We do believe that He has a great plan for Tesfas life. We look forward to watching it all unfold!! We have talked with his doctors & therapists about our move & they have each told us it could be very healing for him. When Tesfa is asked about going to Ethiopia, he responds happily.
When will we go??....that is the question!!! We have been making a few tweaks to our website & will have that up & running very soon so we can actively continue the funding process! God knows when we will be going & we will wait on Him! Our hope is to go November-ish!! Yes, we had originally planned on being there in September, however with advice from Tesfas team, the next opening for therapy wasnt until the beginning of September.
So, yes, we are still going!! We eagerly wait for that day when we will be booking our tickets to Ethiopia! Trying to be patient & still during this wait!! Thankful that we have a God that loves us no matter what, impatience & all!!
Oh, and cant forget....August 12th, we celebrated Grants 11th birthday!! What a joy he is!
Whew!!
love & be loved.
a few pics to end this lengthy post.
swim time with the LeTourneaus!!
2 families with a hand full of kiddos each:)
{love my girls}
friendly little chipmunks!!
gorgeous!!
our strong 11 year old!
sweet sisters:)
beauty everywhere!
senior pic pose!!
Ageze & Abuzaid...bunk mates when they were in Ethiopia:)
