The grandmas love De

 I gotta let you in on a little secret.  De (our son in law) has the grandmas wrapped around his little finger.  They have loved him from the first time he met them.  What's not to love about a kid who walks up to you, opens up his arms to you, flashes the brightest smile you've ever seen, hugs you and says, "Hi Grandma!"  Yep, they were immediately smitten and won over.

So this is my pretty mom again.  All I wanted was a nice picture of the two of them together.  But De...

 De is loaded with personality.  It oozes out every pore of his body.  He's loud, he's funny, he's loyal, he's loving, he's responsible, he loves the Lord and he loves my daughter:)  He's a great big brother in law to my little kids.  I'm sure it's kind of funny for him to think of MJ, a 6 year old as his brother in law but it's cool and it works.  Did I mention he was loud and funny??

De loves to mess with people.  As you can see here, my mom is trying to be serious and get a good picture with her beloved grandson in law.
 

Mom is trying to get De to be serious for the camera.  It looks like its beginning to work:) 

De is also from Ethiopia.  He has been through the wringer and not only survived but thrived.  This young man has been transformed by the love of Jesus Christ in his life.  If I can get his permission, I want to write a book about his life.  It would blow your mind. You would cry.  And you would see just how real Jesus is.  You would see a life changed and remade.  It would be beautiful and inspiring.  It would challenge you to never give up.  Movie companies would beg me for the rights.  It would be "Blindside," just a little different. 

Like Big Mike in "Blindside," if anyone ever had a reason to hate everyone, trust no one and always be looking behind their back, it would be De.  But God got ahold of him and he is in 100%.  So much so, he and Katie are going to be missionaries in the very country he got away from.  His faith amazes me as does his obedience.

So grandma got her picture.  I LOVE IT!!!  See the joy and peace in his eyes?  That's what Jesus can do.

Who wouldn't want that?

Blessings,
Laura

Fun at the cabin

 It HAS been a long time since I posted!  Blogspot has changed the uploading of pictures so it's not all done backwards.  So I loaded these the "old" way which was always too much for my little brain to figure out.  So not that it matters but these are all posted completely backwards:)  Thank you, Blogspot for making things simpler.

Anyway, we did spend a lot of time at the cabin this summer.  It was wonderful and we had beautiful weather each time we were there.  Well, except for the tornado but that will come later.  Above is Aliya and my niece, Heather (who incidentally told us last night that she is expecting their second baby...YEA!!).  Aliya loves to ride backward and get whipped around and usually doesn't fall off.  We had a great summer with Aliya as it's always good for her to keep busy.  Seems to help her to stay positive:)

 I LOVE this picture of Mihiretu and my beautiful mom.  I wish I looked more like her!

 This is my sister in law, Karen, my brother Tony and their dog Charlie.  It was fun getting them out on the pontoon boat.

 Mihiretu is quite the diver.  He had me take a million pictures of him diving and this is but one.  Pretty good, huh??

 MJ was positive he would be able to ski alone this year.  See the confidence below?  Well he did get up but on the skis of his dad.  I've never seen this done before but it worked great.  MJ was terrified at first then once he realized he was safe, he unveiled his million dollar smile.  He begged daddy to do it every day.

 Skiing on his own wasn't going to happen this summer.  He did hold onto the rope but forgot to let go and therefore got his sinuses cleaned out pretty well.

 I wish you could smell these!!  Heather's husband, Bryant is a master cooker of ribs.  These have been cooking for 6 hours and are about the most amazing things you could smell or eat.

 My boys fishing and looking pretty cute from behind:)

From the youngest to the oldest.  Many people get these two confused.  Look alikes.  Blake and Blaine.
Blake graduated from the U of M in May.  We were so proud that day!  After much searching, he has a full time job here locally.

This summer Aliya got a job at Burger King.  Since she doesn't have her drivers license yet, she was often forced to ride her bike the 4 miles there and back.  She enjoys earning her own money and has learned she doesn't want to make this her career:)  The interviewer told me after the interview that Aliya was the most impressive person she interviewed for the job.  She answered her questions correctly.  For example:  "What would you do if someone complained that they received the wrong order?"  She answered, "I would apologize and make it right."  Apparently, few answered like this.  Scary, huh?

When she got the job, she'd never eaten at a Burger King.  She dislikes hamburgers and hates fries.  So when she first worked the drive thru, she said, "Welcome to King Burger!"  Oops!  Better learn where you're working, girl!

So this is the first installment of getting caught up on posting summer pics.  More to come!

Blessings,
Laura

A quiz for MJ-just for fun

When Mihiretu was 6, I asked him a list of questions I found on someones blog.  I thought it would be fun to repeat it with MJ.

Here it goes:

1. What is something Mommy always says to you?
"Before we get on the bus, you always tell us, "Be a good friend and a good listener!"

2. What makes Mommy happy?
"Saying YES every time, even when she says, "Go to bed!"  (So true)

3. What makes Mommy sad?
"By getting a cut really BIG and by getting stitches on your eyebrow."  (This has never happened to this child but he has a HUGE imagination, so automatic that you shake your head as it flows out of him.)

4.  What makes Mommy laugh?
"By telling me funny jokes."

5.  How old is Mommy?
"46 years old" (not telling)

6.  How tall is Mommy?
"45 inches"

7. What is Mommy's favorite thing to do?
"Play with me."

8. What is Mommy good at?
"Shuffling cards in Candyland."

9. What is Mommy not good at?
"I don't know anything."  (He thought for a while and seriously could not come up with a thing!  Love that kid!)

10. What is Mommy's job?
"Works at home and takes people to the hospital who break their legs and arms, then takes care of them."  (See comment under #3)

11.  What makes Mommy proud?
"When I hug and kiss you.  Don't say the part about kissing."

12.  What do you and Mommy like to do together?
"Read library books."

13.  What is Mommy's favorite food?
"Pizza."  (That is his, not mine:)

14.  How are you and Mommy the same?
"We both have brown eyes and you have brownish/whitish skin and mine is brown."

15. How do you know Mom loves you?
"When you tuck me into bed, pray with me and kiss me.  Oh, and when I got glass in my toe, you got very, very sad."

16.  What is Mom's favorite TV show?
"Madasgar 3!"  (Hmmmmmm....another hint that he wants me to buy that movie.)

Such a sweet kid my MJ is!!

The promised pics are coming next week, along with a big catch-up.

Blessings,
Laura
   

Where have I been?????

It's been a LONG time since I've added to my blog!!  Spring break is 6 months ago.  I have uploaded a lot of pics and will be adding them in the coming days.  It's hard to know even where to start!

I'll give you a few tidbits of the happenings of the past 6 months:

-Katie and De are moving to Ethiopia to be missionaries.  They have made a 2 year commitment and will be working in Korah.

-Kevin and Denise are in the very last stages of their adoption!  They are waiting on just one piece of paperwork and they will be going to get their kiddos!  Hopefully they will hear any day.

-We spent lots of time at the cabin this summer and enjoyed every minute.

-MJ, Blaine and Mihiretu celebrated their birthdays this summer:)

-Aliya got a job at Burger King, otherwise known by her as "King Burger"

-I am alone all day for the first time in 22 years as MJ went to first grade this year.  Still not sure how I feel about it.  But now I have time to update this blog so in the next several days, you will see pics of what's been going on around her over the past several months!