On September 22, Gloria and I were blessed to get to fly to Virgina. Isn’t she just about the cutest traveling companion you ever saw?
When I booked our ticket almost 2 weeks before, it was my sister Martha’s due date with her first baby. My Mom had just arrived from Japan and we figured the baby would be born any day.
So when the thursday morning for us to fly out came, and my niece had still not been born, we were all waiting with baited breath and praying she would make her grand entrance SOON (we only had 4 days there and my mom only had 3 left!).
Sure enough, Martha texted that morning saying she had started having some contractions! As I went through my morning of volunteering at Noa’s school and then a quick lunch and naps at home with my girls, I continued to get updates of progressing labor. By the time we boarded our plane and I had to turn off my phone, they had gone to the hospital and I was expecting to hear news of my newest niece’s birth when we landed.
Well, we landed and Ian’s dad, Frank, graciously picked us up at the airport and took us straight to the hospital. We paced the waiting room and halls a bit, neither of us knowing what was going on, but that the nurses said it was “busy” in her room.
All of a sudden, though, Ian’s mom came out and told me to hurry in, that the baby was about to be born! Frank graciously took charge of Glo and I ran back to Martha’s room.
I got there just in time to pray with my sweet sister (who had been with me for the birth of my first child), and watch her do the hardest and most glorious work of her life. It was such a privilege to see my precious niece, Simone Elizabeth Robinson, be born; and such a joy to watch my amazing sister launched into motherhood.
Gloria and I stayed for 4 days, and my mom was able to extend her ticket a few more days to be able to help out more once they came home. My other sister, Hannah, lives with Ian and Martha and it was so incredible to get to share this precious time with the women in my family. I am just SO thankful for my sisters and mom.
And I am especially thankful for this new precious niece, Simi. She is truly beautiful and delightful and a gift to our entire family.
Funny story (and then photos, I promise): After Martha delivered and we were all sitting there oohing and ahhing over her, the midwife asked my mom if this was her first grandchild. 
We all kind of chuckled, and she answered, “No, this is the twelfth! And the ninth granddaughter!” Then my mom pointed at me and said, “and she has three of them!” Then the midwife looked at Hannah (a sophmore in college) with a look on her face that said, “so you have the other 8??” but instead asked mom, “do you have other kids?”
It made us all laugh and was just a reminder to me how precious and miraculous each child is. I loved watching my mom celebrate her 9th granddaughter just as much as she did her first (Noa) 5 years ago.
Ok, here’s a few photos:
Glo, Aunt Martha, and Simone this summer
Glo, Aunt Martha, and Simone after she was born.
precious newborn babe
precious family
there's just nothing like sleeping with a baby on you
Ahhh! I just LOVE her
Simone has a matching lion with Noa - this was SO exciting to her big cousin.
love these ladies!
cuddling with Baba - the Baby Whiperer
Glo is a little obsessed with "Bebe Mimi"
I'm a bit obsessed with her too
doing some yard work with Aunt Hannah
saying bye to Baba early Tuesday morning
And I just had to include this photo of me and my two sisters...
She's a mama now!!!
*I think this is Glo’s first “overheard”*
Gloria: “Jo-shan!!!”
…when she saw Jonathan on on my computer screen this morning (an older video we have and watch pretty regularly of them). This, coming from my girl who has only a few recognizable words in her repertoire, melted this Mama’s heart.
On one of several trips between VA and PA this summer, we met up with Greg and Christie, some of our close friends from seminary, in Washington D.C. where they were living for the summer. It was such a special evening together!
They treated us to Ethiopian food. It was our first experience and we loved it (well, we adults did… the kids thought it was a little spicy).
Then, we saw some of the sites. The girls were most excited to see “President Obama’s house!”
I don’t think it was as exciting as they anticipated…
it was more fun just being with our special friends
Our fun day also included navigating the streets of DC desperate for gas, and a late-night ice-cream run. We’re so grateful for such amazing friends and special memories shared. And of course that the girls finally got to see D.C.
(G&C, next year we’ll make a whole day of it, ok??)
Oh sweet Glo-girl, I can’t believe she’s TWO. I can’t believe we don’t have a baby in the house anymore! Seriously, she’s really not a baby – and it makes me both sad and thankful as we watch her grow into a beautiful little girl.
Remember this constant companion?
It’s GONE. We took it away in August when we returned home from travelling and she transitioned beautifully. Though, I’ll never forget her reaching down the crack between her crib and wall and saying, “Pa-ii? pa-ii?” looking for it. There were no tears, but she still is known to swipe another baby’s if she can get her hands on it.
And even though she’s not a baby anymore, we still rock the baby-wearing. This girl LOVES being in the ergo on my back. AND I love keeping her close like that.
She still adores and looks up to her big sisters
And wants to be just like them
She is so smiley and silly, and we love to watch her joke around.
She is also terribly opinionated and gets a little frustrated when she can’t communicate as well as she’d like. She has been slow on the fine motor (speaking) and quite quick with the gross motor (running, jumping, climbing, flipping, falling). She definitely keeps me on my toes. 
For her birthday we had a play date with some fun friends at the park. The next day we went to the zoo with our neighbor, Gloria’s sweet friend Madison and her Mom.
And as a special treat we rode the train:
(you can’t tell from this, but she loooooooooved it)
We also had a little birthday dinner and cake with our family and friends (but I need to find those and put them up another time).
We are soooooo thankful for Gloria’s life and the wonderful person God made her to be. She is truly delightful and full of life. And while she’s not a baby anymore…
(I took these the day we got our referral for Jonathan and David)
She will always be MY baby.
Noa on her birth day.
I just don’t know how we got from this tiny (8lb. 12oz.) baby to this
gorgeous 5 year-old.
But I know I’ve loved each moment in between!
one year old Noa
one and a half
Two
two and a half
Three
three and a half
Four
four and a half
FIVE YEARS OLD
Three weeks ago we celebrated the birth and life of this precious girl. When we first laid eyes on her and held we couldn’t imagine loving her any more than we did in that moment. Yet, as we have had the great privilege of watching this little personality take shape, we’ve come to love our first born in a fuller and sweeter way. We are SO GRATEFUL to God for our Noa-girl and greatly anticipate all he will do in and through her life.
For those of you who are joining us in prayer and fasting for Jonathan and David tonight, or sometime this weekend or week, but won’t be with us tonight in person, here are some of the requests we’ll be sharing tonight. Thank you so so much!
Jonathan (born Nov, 2010) and David (born Feb, 2011):
-Pray for their health and safety. As orphans in a country where so many children die so young (often of preventable, easily-treatable diseases), we beg God to protect their lives.
-Pray for their hearts as they have already suffered abandonment and several major changes in their short lives, that their hearts would remain soft and open to being loved – especially by their Father in heaven.
-For their nannies and their orphanage. It is severely over-crowded right now so pray for strength for those caring for so many children – that they would be able to love well as they are stretched so thin.
Adoption process:
-Pray for those in power in both the national and regional governments. Right now the regional government is not releasing children who were confiscated in the orphanage closings for adoption. They say they’re doing investigations on each of the hundreds of children this involves to be certain of their orphan status. Jonathan and David were both abandoned so we don’t know what this will mean for them.
-Once we pass the Ethiopian court, we and the boys still need to be approved by the US Embassy before they would grant visas for us to bring them home. There have been major slow-downs in that stage of the process as well, so please pray that the Lord would be working in giving wisdom to those who are making decisions, that they would be used of God to enact mercy and justice for orphans in Ethiopia.
Our Family:
-Waiting for the boys has been much harder and more painful than we ever anticipated. Please pray we would wait well for the glory of God. Pray we would not waste this time but, believing in God’s sovereignty, surrender it to him for his use.
-Pray for peace as we get anxious for the boys and for this process often. Pray for faith to pray and hope and be expectant, but also to be thankful for what God has given for today.
-Long term, please pray for all of our adjustment to being a family of 7. Pray for the girls, that the ways we are able to pour into them now would bear fruit in our family as we go through what is certain to be a tough adjustment when we add the boys.
-Pray that they would attach and bond well, and by God’s grace would never remember a time they weren’t loved and secure in our family.
Other Families:
Please pray for these families who have become very dear to us as we have walked this road together. Several are a step or two ahead of us in this process but facing similar delays in bringing their children home.
Trump Family – Waiting for Ruthie and Malia
Whitfield Family – Waiting for Jude
Meyers Family – Waiting for Asher and Hosanna
Jones Family – waiting for Judah and Silas
Kirkland Family – waiting for Aberash
Wills Family – waiting for Elise and Michaela
Hauret Family – waiting for Lincoln
