First Day of Kindergarten

"Mom, I had the best day EVER!"

So I'm trying not to think of the other 1,825 days that we've spent together when my daughter tells me this upon being picked up from her first day of kindergarten. Nonetheless, today she apparently had the best day ever of her long 5 years of existence. She loved kindergarten and chatted about it all afternoon! Today was a half day, though, so I imagine tomorrow - the first full day - will wipe her out.

What a milestone for our munchkin!

Who doesn't love a little Grape Nuts to start the day off right?

Laugh at me you may for taking a picture of her French braid. But I have been trying to perfect this thing for two years now! Not too bad. You try to braid pure silk and see what you come up with!

Haley dressed in her best pair of pajamas for the occasion.

Future student scoping it out.

Come on in, Hope!
"What?! She's going to be gone all morning? Now what? I'll see what trouble I can get into on the stove before she comes home!"

CCC Annual Beach Day

Each year our church holds a sand castle contest out at Wrightsville Beach. While Hope labored to build a credible castle, Haley ate all the leftover sand. We're so fortunate to have two girls who LOVE the beach and the water!

Haley's Baptism

And the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off--for all whom the Lord our God will call . . . Acts 2:39

What a sweet day for our family! Haley was baptized on Sunday. She and her sister, Hopey, both wore Ethiopian dresses to celebrate.

As our pastor baptized her, she responded with peek-a-boo. Naturally!

What better way to celebrate than by diving into the donuts!

I love that face!

Peek-a-boo little bean!

Crazy grandparents!

First Trip to the Aquarium

Last week we all ventured out to the aquarium for Haley's first trip and Hope's 59th trip. Hope has always loved the aquarium, but she had much more fun exploring with her grandparents than just plain old mom. She enjoyed reprising her role as "Julie" (cruise director from The Love Boat) as she guided Roberta all around. Her are some photos of the morning shot by Papa Ken.

Al Fin

We were scheduled to fly out on Friday of our week-long stay in Addis, but not until 7pm, so we had time to visit a coffee factory that morning. Ethiopians are quite proud of their coffee heritage, and apparently Starbucks gets much of its coffee from the eastern coffee-producing region of ET, Harar. We came away with several pounds of coffee and a nice aroma clinging to our clothes: a mixture of roasted beans and Haley's spit up.

This ends my slew of photos that I'll post from our trip. I did not have my camera out nearly as much as I had hoped because of Haley and I being so sick on the trip, but we still got enough photos to bring back all the memories of an exhausting and life-changing week.

Oops - we got separated from the tour group. So what do we do? Take pictures, naturally.

Waiting for mom and dad to buy their coffee.

Parenting is a kick in the pants!


Give her 18 more years and she'll be a good little coffee snob!

These women earned $1 per day in wages.

Sorting through the beans for quality control.

A few random shots from our first meeting day. Looking just a bit tired . . . my allergic reaction to antibiotics I was taking was starting to get worse here.

T was our guide for the first half of the trip. He was always patient and kind - incredibly helpful (even when I embarassed him by asking him to translate some poopy questions I had for the nanny!)

A meal at a restaurant specializing in traditional Ethiopian cuisine: injeera. I could do without the sour, spngy bread, but everything in the middle was soooo good. Spicy!



Robel was our guide for the rest of the trip: an incredibly intelligent man! He was an excellent guide with a heart for Ethiopia's orphans.

Shopping in Addis.

This boy is an orphan living on the streets - one of 23 taken in by Robel. Robel has taught the boys how to earn a meager living by shoe-shining or selling gum instead of begging. He also pays for all of those boys to go to school.