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This is De (Katie's sweetie) on his big day and his wonderful dad, Herb. De is one of 15 kids. Yep, you heard me right...15! There are 5 bio kids and 10 adopted. They range in age from my age (44) to jr. high.

Misganaw had 'beach day' at pre-school the other day. They had a sandbox with treasures to find and a fishing pond. It was his first time in flip-flops...pretty funny! I tried to get the window behind him so you could see the piles of snow out there. Gotta love beach day!

This is my very talented daughter, Katie who is an amazing artist. She just won 3rd place in a state wide pencil drawing contest for her drawing of a zebra...adorable! Sorry for the bragging, I couldn't help myself:)

And this is how a big brother and sister get back at the little brothers when they've had enough of the craziness (those of you who are there know exactly what I'm talking about!). At dinner tonight Katie and Blake (who is not in any of these pictures but, trust me was an equal accomplice in crime with his sister) thought it would be "fun" to share some jelly beans with the little brothers. They were not normal jelly beans, however. Not unless you like "poopy diapers", which Mihiretu was sampling above.

Or "skunk smell", like in this picture! Misganaw was given "rotten cheese."

He's quickly going for his milk. I missed the picture but a second later, he begins holding his tummy, saying, "My tummy doesn't feel very good!"

Ahhhh, relief.

I have to admit, we all had tears running down our faces!

Blaine and I are getting away this weekend. We've decided that that the cabin is the perfect place for our needs: it's cheap, it's quiet and it's quiet. Cheap and quiet. Perfect.

We are going to bring our big box of receipts and the inventory list from the fire and try to get them all reconciled and done for the insurance company. We also are going to take a couple notebooks and make some much needed lists: what do we need to get done before we leave for Ethiopia, how are we going to make time to spend with each child, and we need to make up a chore list. I want to get ahead of it before it gets ahead of me!! It will be a time to rest, regroup, pray and prepare. We look forward to the time away.

Many blessings,

Laura