Jesus, AKA Chicken

After breakfast this morning, Elias crawled up into my lap to read a story from our favorite book, The Jesus Storybook Bible. We were reading the story of Jesus' birth and got to the part where the angel Gabriel appears to Mary.

The book reads...

The God who flung planets into space and kept them whirling around and around, the God who made the universe with just a word, the one who could do anything at all- was making himself small. And coming down... as a _______.

I was reading this with great gusto and at this point I paused so that Elias could participate and fill in the last word. He promptly said...

"Chicken!"

Oh I laughed so hard. "Baby" would have made a normal end to that sentence, but "chicken" sure did give us a good laugh.

(I figured out later that there was a rooster in the picture on that page so that's what Elias' mind was thinking about.)

FOUR Years Old

Elias is FINALLY four! He has been talking about being four ever since he turned three, asking me everyday if his birthday is here yet. After months with the DAILY (no exaggeration!) questions about his birthday, I eventually told him his birthday would happen around Christmas and when it is cold outside.

Well one early day in September we walked into Walmart and Elias screamed, "My birthday is here!!!" I was confused until I looked up and saw Christmas trees in the store. So the last 3 months have been a looong wait as Elias has seen Christmas stuff everywhere but it wasn't really his birthday yet.

Needless to say, he was the most ecstatic boy I'd ever seen about being four. At church that morning he even waved to people with just his four fingers. A sneaky announcement to the world about his special day.

We had a birthday party at our house with family and friends. It was wild and fun! He loved opening presents. Surprisingly his favorite gift of them all was a pair of shoes. Not just any shoes though- SKETCHERS. That light up!

So for now, the Sketchers is what we hear about all day long and I'm sure as soon as that obsession wears off then we'll start right into counting the days until he turns five.

Pin the Wheel on the Car

Decorating Car Cakes

Too excited to show his face during the birthday song

Putting on those new shoes

Our four-year-old BIG boy

Dossier is 8,483 miles away

Remember that blue folder? Well, we just got news today that all of its contents are now assembled into our dossier and on their way to Ethiopia! This is great news as it means we are officially on the waiting list for a child.

Of course that also means the wait just got a little harder. Ugh.

We really hope to adopt an amputee child again, and we are prepared to wait longer for that to happen. Our agency director told me back in 2005 that the Ethiopian government doesn't think amputee children will be adopted so they aren't released into the orphanages or care centers very often.

Just as there was a plan with Elias, we are confident that there is with this child as well. We know that God will bring us together with him or her at exactly the right moment, and not a day later. And that brings us great peace!

Advent Conspiracy

I've seen this "Advent Conspiracy" phrase floating around lately and had no idea what it meant. Just found out. And I love it! The video is great. Totally expresses my heart and thoughts this season.