Wow! Okay, so I haven't been on my blog since... I don't know when.  I guess you could say I kinda forgot about it.  Just an update (since when I last left off we were moving) we didn't move! Surprise! My dad and mom decided, after lots of thinking and praying, that we better stay where we are.  And my dad got a promotion later that keeps him right where he is! I am now 13 (and 1/2 if you want to get technical about it) and I got a phone and a facebook.  My great grandpa just passed away a week before Christmas and I loved him very much. I miss him. I keep very busy each day with all of my homework, piano, and trumpet practice.  Besides that, in my spare moments I am watching my favorite movies, the Love Comes Softly series, and my favorite T.V. show (which we have on DVD), Scarecrow and Mrs. King.  We are in the middle of a totally awesome snow storm right now, so school was cancelled today and there is already a two-hour delay tomorrow.  I am stoked about the Super Bowl this Sunday!!! My grandparents are coming to my house, and they will buy us just about any junky football food we want. Yep, so it's a good deal. Oh yeah, smack in the middle of my blogging timeline blackhole, three new cousins were added to my family.  Luke and Josiah, the twins, belong to my Aunt Megan and Uncle TJ.  Their first birthday is next Saturday and I am very excited about it.  My other cousin, Carson Jay, is getting close to celebrating his first birthday on March 12. So now that y'all are caught up on my life, I think i'd better go... there is an Iowa State Cyclone game calling my name!

Well, I have a lot of news, as would be expected since I havn't posted in what seems like years! First of all, an update on Hannah and Caleb: they are both doing well. Hannah smashed her finger in May and lost part of it because it was crushed so bad. It's healed now, though.  Ok, as I go over what to write in my head, I'm realizing that I don't have as much news as I thought I did. In fact, I can only think of one other thing, but it seems like a lot more than it really is. Ok; are you ready for this???I know I'm not... WER'E MOVING.      :( :( :( :( :(

Yup.  My dad got a job promotion and for some time he had been debating whether or not to take it.  At one point he decided not to take it. That was a month and a half ago. And then last night he threw it on me - the clear-cut fact that I'm going to have to leave all my friends, my school and the position that I have (or would have had) on their 8th grade leadership team there. And of course there's piano lessons that I'll have to quit, even though I've only been at it for three weeks.  I'll be the new girl at this new school.  Oh yeah... we're gonna move to Eldridge, which apparently is near the Quad Cities.  There are so many things that i'm going to miss about Dysart... I can't even begin to put them down on here; they're so numerous.  I really need your prayers right now, friends. I don't know exactly what God wants me to do with moving, but I'm sure that he wants me to have a good attitude about it, and that by itself will need quite a few people praying. I feel like giving up, but I know that's not an option because I've got to get through this somehow.
~Hallie~

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