Thanksgiving

I have so much to be thankful for on this first Thanksgiving with Masha and Autumn. When I sit and think about it, it is overwhelming. Last Thanksgiving, adoption was nothing more than a “someday” dream for us.

Thank you to all who prayed for us. Thank you to the 47 people who donated a total of $10,281, and to the 48th donor who matched that total. Thank you to those who donated gifts, and those who blogged about us to get our story out. Thank you to Reece’s Rainbow and our stateside facilitators, our notaries, doctors, social worker, county and state officials, and to our in-country facilitator and amazing translator. Thank you God for tying it all together to bring us two beautiful daughters.

On Thanksgiving morning, Masha and the Gecko pulled the winning ticket from the vase that held the 127 entries for “Melissa at the Piano”.







Jackie Parambil is the lucky winner. I have already confessed to coveting this work of art, and so I created my own version... “Masha at the Piano”. (Notice we have another Giants’ fan in the making :-)



Here are a few other things I am thankful for...

Jade loves his Princess Peach



Ring Around the Rosie Girls



The First Turkey Dinner



Pie, Pie, & More Pie



Especially Blueberry Pie





My Gorgeous Sons

The Potty Opera

After her bath, Masha makes a very entertaining attempt at going potty. If she doesn't crack you up, you're broken.

Slacker News

I have been thinking about blog posts... and every night I fall into bed exhausted telling myself, “Maybe tomorrow.” Today, I told myself, “Ok, just write anything and post some pics so people know these kids are still alive and well.”

Halloween was extra fun this year with five little ones dressed up as a knight, a ghost knight, a bat, a hefflelump, and a bunny rabbit. Everybody cooperated, even Kimani who is notorious for pulling off any type of costume or hat. Masha figured out pretty quickly how the whole trick-or-treat thing works and then threw a fit each time I dragged her out of the neighborhood candy dishes.







Autumn went to the cardiologist and the news is fantastic. She had a great fix and has no residual damage from waiting so long for her surgery. Her heart is the right size and beats in perfect rhythm. Like her sister, she did not like the chest X-ray machine, but she was very well behaved for her electro-and echocardiograms. I loved watching her beautiful heart chambers pumping away on the screen.







Masha is really something. Everyone who meets her is charmed by her. Yesterday she fell and hurt her finger. She was holding her hand and came to show it to me. I asked her if it hurt and she lifted it to her mouth and kissed it, then she passed it up to me. It didn’t take her long to figure out the great American boo-boo cure.

Kimani and Masha have been teaming up for fun... baths, swinging, general household destruction...







p.s. Shhh, don’t anybody tell Masha’s groupas that I let her run around in just a diaper...