The Gang's All Here

The entire Deslippe clan gathered in Battle Creek for a delicious Thanksgiving feast. Dan was in charge of frying up the turkey. As you can tell, that was an eventful activity. Apparently, the oil got a little hotter than it was supposed to. We had so much to be thankful for. We were surrounded by family, in a warm home with more than enough food to eat. We are still anxiously awaiting our next addition, but realistically, we will likely celebrate another Thanksgiving without him here. We know that the Lord will bring us together in His perfect timing. We saw Him work so faithfully with the adoption of Sophie. It is less of a challenge so far this adoption.

The fall has been busy for all of us. Makenzie is taking violin lessons and is in Girl Scouts. Seth is playing basketball and in Boy Scouts. Sophie is busy watching Dora! We are looking forward to our one year anniversary of our trip to Sophie!!

St. Louis or Bust!!!

Makenzie and I took a road trip last weekend to the Hannah Montana (a Disney show - for those of you who don't live and breathe Hannah) concert. We left at 6am on Thursday morning and drove straight to St. Louis to meet Josie, Rylie, Aunt Ju Ju and some friends at the mall for a LibbyLu makeover before the concert. Josie and Rylie were celebrating their 10 birthdays. We loved celebrating with them. We spent the weekend shopping and sight seeing. We had a lot of laughs and some good girl fun!! We had a great trip!

Sophie is 2!!!

Sophie Mei turned 2 on September 27th. It frequently strikes me how full our hearts are with Sophie in our lives. Of course, we felt very full with Makenzie and Seth all along. It is just an amazing God that can cause our hearts to fall in love with a little girl from China and knit us all together in such a short period of time. Sophie is growing physically, emotionally and especially verbally! She has lots of words and she likes to use them! I told you she is a Neal! She is such a loved little thing. She makes friends where ever she goes. I remember how hard this day was for me last year. I just wanted to hold my baby and she was a world away. But, I can tell you now that every moment of waiting was worth it for this precious girl. She makes us all laugh with her silly little antics. She sure has her sister and brother tied around her little finger too. There are many mornings where there are arguments about who gets to get her out of her bed. They are in love with their little mei mei. Looking forward to another year with our sweet kiddos and maybe even having a picture of our newest Neal by then!

A taste of Ethiopia

Take a few minutes to view a great slide show our social worker put together on a trip to Ethiopia this summer. The first photos are of the countryside and then some kids that are currently being cared for at Horizon House, the orphanage for our agency. The end of the slide show is a travel group there picking up their children. It is incredible to think that our son will be there one day in the future. Please say a prayer for all these sweet kiddos and the people who care for them until their new Mommies and Daddies can get there.



Click here to view the slideshow.

Back to School

Today was a big day! Makenzie started 5th grade and Seth started 4th! We were all up and ready by 8:20 which is a feat around here. After home schooling last year, we are all used to taking things a little more slowly in the morning. Everyone had a great 1/2 day of school. Sophie was in a bit of shock with only Mommy to hang out with. I am sure will we all adjust though.

My Lips Hurt Real Bad

The cut under the eye is from a previous incident! That is one fat lip!! Seth has been attempting some stunts with the skateboard ramp. This one didn't work out so well for him!

Happy Birthday and Ethiopia

I've decided to try to do better at this blogging thing - mainly just as a keepsake for my kids.

Makenzie turned 11 yesterday! It's amazing that she can continue to get older, but I don't! Aunt LoLo tried to show everyone up with the great birthday present she gave Makenzie. Addie was born at 10:04am. It was sort of strange to be at the hospital 11 years later - it was much easier this time for me :) We had plans for Makenzie's birthday and she was super gracious about postponing the plans. I know that Makenzie and Addie will enjoy spending birthdays together for years to come!

In other news: The Neal family dossier is in Ethiopia. We were officially added to the waiting list for an infant boy from Ethiopia with Wide Horizons for Children yesterday. Everything we've been waiting for arrived on the same day! The wait will be about one year until we get a referral. We all know how fast that year will go!