Tears and Cheers

Well, I didn't get to go to get Edi and Zai, but now they're home and I'm kind-of glad that I didn't go, because of the Mango Fly larva that is eating the skin in my dad's leg. Disgusting!!!!!! We all met at the airport, hardly believing that they were home, and on Christmas Eve, too! There were many set backs, such as a problem with their plane that caused them to be on the ground in Rome for four hours and miss their next flight. With the help of God and some very generous people, They made it home at 7:15 pm, December 24th. However, it is not going to be easy to train Edi-Caleb and Hannah (as we now call them) in the ways of the Lord. They are both prone to hit and throw fits when mad or scared, and that's just what comes naturally to them. Edi is stubborn and that can be very annoying - he thinks that he can get what ever he wants if he refuses to do or say something. Oh yeah -Edi is a month older than Cooper, but Cooper is a whole head taller than Edi! When they went to bed on Christmas Eve, Edi, the three-year-old, was wearing my one-year-old cousin's pajamas! They both seem to be adjusting pretty well, although they wake up at four each morning because they are still on Uganda time. I'm pretty sure Mom and Dad are exhausted - how can't they be? We are oh so thankful to God for all the work he as done in our family to help these two beatiful children come to him.

In our Loving Arms

2 years ago tomorrow my siblings and I recieved a phone call from our parents- all the way from Rwanda. They had just met Cooper for the first time and shared the joy of holding him. We heard about a little yellow, dirty toy in the crude shape of a bear that he was clinging to the whole time they were holding him. It finally slipped from his grasp, plopping into a muddy gutter. Dad silently bent down and picked it up, wiping it on his shirt. He thought of that little toy and how much we would be able to provide for this scared little boy - that toy would mean nothing to Cooper when we got him home, yet then he was balling when it dropped into the dark water. He didn't know what was coming. Neither did we. We were in it together.

Now the playful, hyper, extremely cute three-year-old that I see each and every day is no longer scared or shy - in fact, he's quite the opposite... Brave and a bit goofy, he isn't afraid to meet new people. He's always into activities all the way from watching Veggie Tales to coloring a picture for Mommy to wrapping-paper roll sword fighting with one of his brothers. Now, I can hardly remember life without our beatiful, precious Cooper.




PS... I might get to actually witness the next metcha day - I might get to go with my parents to Uganda to meet our little girl and boy waiting with another story to be told.

-Hallie

Family, Friends, and ME!

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Sick Spell

Yep! That's right! I'm suffering from a miserable cold - or so we think... My mom hasn't taken me to the doctor yet, so we don't have an accurate diagnosis. All the symptoms are leading to a cold - Drainage, caughing, fever, dizziness, and a headache. It's so hard to sleep... I get so hot in my bed and I wake up three or four times each night. I really don't want to miss school tomorrow for two reasons: I get to go on a limo ride tomorrow because I sold a lot of magazines for my school, and it will be hard to catch up with the homework that gets piled on top of me each day. I don't want to go tomorrow for one reason: I have to run the mile, and with this terrible cough, I 99% sure that I'll pass out - right now just because of the cough my head feels like I just ran a mile.

Right now it looks as if I'll go to school tomorrow, but things can always change.

Friday!!!

You don't know how excited I am to have even a very short break from school... it tires me out! I have a quiz tomorrow in math, so please pray that I would do well - I'll do the same! Today we had to go up to a doctor's appointment for Carter, because he broke his arm in football. We got home at almost 6:00, so I didn't have a lot of time for homework... in fact, I just finished about ten minutes ago. I am excited to sleep in on Saturday... sorry, that's kind-of all I can think about right now - SLEEP!

Getting past the thought of sleep, I will list some things that are important in my life right now:

1. God - absolutely my #1 BFF


2. Family - always there to help and encourage me


3. Friends - my "Cheer Leaders"... they always find a way (or make a way) to crack me up


4. Energy - that includes SLEEP, eating good foods - it doesn't (at least not where I'm concerned) include Coffee... my parents, on the other hand, are all over it


5. Faith - trusting that God's gonna do what he says he's gonna do

Halloween Plans

Well school is definately keeping me busy - often too busy to write about it! I will give you an update on our adoption situation - We are adopting a boy and a girl, brother and sister, and we are assuming that my parents will be able to go to Uganda to get them no sooner than January. The suspense is sometimes unbareable - we really want to meet these two right NOW!

School is going well... I'm understanding most of the math that I'm doing, and for me, that's a really good thing. I am very excited for eighth hour because that is band! I am in the marching band this year and it is a lot of fun. It's a great work out, too! in fact, my arms felt like jello today after I got done marching around the block with the rest of the band. Sometimes I doubt that I will be able to make it all around town in the Halloween Parade.
Speaking of Halloween, I'm not exactly sure what I'm doing for it. I'm trying to convince my mom into letting me have my two best friends, Lizzie and Veronica, over so that we can bob for apples, frost cookies, and answer the doorbell when excited trick-or-treaters come. We might even scare some of the older kids - but not the little ones. My brother, Hayden, once went into a "Haunted Garden" of a classmate of mine, and he nearly wet his pants he was so scared! He wouldn't go in, even for his favorite bag of chips! Carter had to go in for him. I'd rather not have a petrified toddler wet his pants on my front step.

If I can't have them over, I will probably just sit at the door and hand out candy in my costume from last year... I hope that doesn't happen :)

VICTORY!

Oh wow! My life has been a whirl-wind since school started! I am super Excited to exclaim something that I can Now prove to everyone:

THE CYCLONES RULE!
after their victory against the Hawkeyes today (which had my Mom and I biting our fingernails), I can freely say that they are so much better than the Hawkeyes. :D