Lydia instead of joining the crew on the bus, hopped on a plane for Arizona for corrective ear surgery that was a SUCESS:) She should have restored hearing once the swelling goes down..we think we have already noticed a difference..her speech is MUCH clearer:)NOTE: Lydia had a wonderful first day at school and the second night she woke up shortly after going to sleep (an hour later) thinking it was already time for her to eat breakfast.. silly girl!

Well I did it..
I sent my baby off to kindergarten
and my oldest to Highschool,
and My 'tweeners' of to there first year of Middle school!
New schools for everyone.
The house has been in a state of excitement and anticipation all weekend. Everyone woke up SUPER Early without trouble:) We will see how long that lasts;)
Its strange to see myself as a mother with KNOW kids home anymore. There has always been SOMEONE home with me for the past 14+ years!!! Its quieter than quiet and feels nice, yet at the same time a bit lonely:) No problem with finding things to do..there's laundry, cleaning and cooking, and shopping and all the mounds of paperwork there is to do with running a household with 7 children..and if I get good at budgeting my 5 hours of silence..maybe time for scrapbooking and photoshop-n:)

First day of school.Freshman in Highschool..2 new Middle schoolers, and my Baby of to kindy-garten!

Titus my oldest.. going to Highschool..can't believe it!! Am I really old enough?Is he?? When I asked him how it went he said, 'good'.
I said, "thats all, just good?"..and he said,
" its not like it was great or anything Mom, its JUST school!".
No, he didn't let me walk him to the bus stop. I'm sure its because he still loves to hug and kiss his Mama goodbye and maybe he just didn't want his peers to see
;)

The middle schooler's were so funny as they all had parents at the bus stop sending them off.. yet parents were on one side while the students stood quiet and nervously on the other.




Talia was SO.....READY. I was shocked at how confident and excited she was! Especially since last week she cryed she didn't want to go. Once she met her teacher this past Friday though, her tune changed and she was non stop talking about it all weekend and all the way out the door and on the bus. I tried to let her know that she could rest her back at the bus stop by taking off her backpack..but no she wanted to keep it on the whole time she waited. The smile on her face as the bus came around the corner was priceless! She was the first in line and after big hugs and kisses she got on and waved from her seat goodbye!! I on the other hand waved choking back the tears as I walked back home..my baby is growing up!

Isaac and Simeon were both very Excited to start there new school.

Where do I begin this monster post??

I have so many things I have been wanting to post about that I kept putting off..Easter pics(late)- First year anniversary with the girls(late;) and.. Our Moving plans.. and our visit/farewell to family In AZ and our time there with My grandparents who got to meet our newest addition(s) of the family for the first time:)... So any way I will start with the Easter pics..

Here Are my three daughters with one of there favorite girl cousins Lily:) Lily lives here in AZ. and we are really going to miss her:"(
My Beautiful and Dear to heart, Aunt Delight and Uncle Pete..Man are we going to MISS THEM!! It has been such a blessing that God had our paths cross this way.. for this time. We really Thank God for this new friendship we have made with them and Thank God for orchestrating it ALL!! I'm sad to say goodbye for now.



.. Here are my gorgeous boys 'hanging together' on A porch swing- MUCH like the time they did right before we made our journey here to Arizona, only NOW there much bigger and our next move is on the horizon!!Back then they were 8,6,4,2:) now they are 14,almost 12,10,8:)


My sweet girl Lydia enjoying her first Easter egg hunt.. In this moment.. she adorned her cute lil 'pout-y look' ;)


Here is my handsome Hubby of nearly 15 years- on the hunt with the kids:)
>

Now onto our first year anniversary of 'gotcha day'..Gotcha day is the day we celebrate Zemenay and Lydia joining our family. We decided to celebrate this special day on the day we actually arrived back in the states.. being this is the day we ALL meet up together:) I had hoped to have a party until I realized I had made our plane reservation for the same day!! Yes, the three girls and I celebrated on the PLANE, again;) I had stowed away a pack of 'pop-a-tin' gum from our time in Ethiopia..It was SO fun to see the girls squeal at the sight of something they had missed from there land of birth:) They had no idea I had saved some for this special day. We flew to Tennessee that day to see my brother Kent who I hadn't seen in years. The girls had a good trip together:) Since we are in the middle of moving... and utter chaos.. I do not have time to put together a video of the first year..I promise though..just as soon as we get re-settled we will do this:)

....Speaking of Move.. Yes its official our house has an accepted short sale from the bank:) Yea!!! The only thing is they want us OUT by the end of may..yes just a few short 3 weeks!! So anyway, we do not have a home yet but we have the PLACE........ GEORGIA:) The northern suburbs of atlanta near my Sister Jocelyn..I loved it there and am excited to be close to my sister for the first time in our lives!!(we did not grow up together) ..So anyway the plan has now changed up a bit do to the fact that the move needs to happen quicker than we first hoped. I will be leaving in a short couple of weeks with 3 of the kids, the dog too;) to go out ahead of everyone and get a house staked out! I HOPE anyway!!
.. then Troy and his Dad will bring the rest of the kids across the country with the 2 moving trucks!So anyway this leaves me with a very short amount of time to pack everything up. I hope I can get it all done so I don't have to leave Troy with too much to pack.
... Now for our fun time with my family here in Arizona..Aunt delights family AND a surprise Visit from my Grandpa and Grandpa:) How awesome was that to see them and to have the girls meet there Great Grandparents for the first time:) Here's some pics of our time together...

On the way home from Church The Girls got to ride in Uncle Pete's Convertible:)The Boys had there turn on the way TOO church:)

Here are my Grandpa and Grandma, I Love them Dearly and always feel blessed when I get to see them again! They are 87&85 years old, and WOW, they are in great health and condition for there age:) They are alot like parents to me since I lived with them throughout my teen years. It was wonderful for them to get to meet my newest 2 daughters:)


Here are the kids with there Cousin Lily and there Dad playing together in the pool:)



Here are my Grandparents with our family:)


Silly kids can't stand one more 'pose'!


My grandparents with the kids..

Well if your still reading, thats it for now! Keep checking for posts of our journey along the way to Georgia!! Goodbye Arizona, its been a wild ride;)

Titus and the kids created there own movie..

They added the sound after the recording and I must admit its pretty funny!!!..Please leave a comment to let them all know how you liked there preview;)Enjoy..(ha Ha! Im still laughing, my kids are-.. well.. it speaks for itself!!.. )



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wz0-fZloKUQ

Meeting cousins in Tennessee for the first time:)

Well it was 14 years since I last saw My brother..and well we both had kids since then. I got to meet my neices and nephew for the first time. It was so fun to see little glimpses of my own kids in looks and mannerisms in them.. Funny how strong genetics are. The girls had fun hanging out for a few days and Jordan was sad all the boy cousins weren't there to keep him company. He is the same age as my Simeon, and looks a whole lot like him too..it cracked me up at how they even act similiar:) I was so busy taking it all in that I hardly took any pics! I will post the few shots I got though..

*Well here is a pic of the area we plan to move to..and no its NOT tennessee;)I fell in love with it, the boys and Troy are gonna love it too! They are already excited and its real close to lots of family:)


*Here is my Brother Kent, hasn't changed much! It was so fun to hang out together..just sad it took this long to reconnect! It will be great to live near each other again:)

*Talia, Lydia and Jordan..

*Jordan with baby sis Madison:)

*Jordan with the same charming pouty face and long eyelashes as his Cousin Simeon!!These two 8 year old cousins will have a blast together.

*Love and kisses from Talia who adored her baby cousin Madison.

*Talia, Mikayla, and Madison..

*All the girl cousins together:)

SAD DAY:'(

Please keep Titus' Buddy and class mate's entire family who lives nearby in your prayers..His family of 5 was in a horrible car accident last night(see link below) Marco's mother was killed and marco has back and possible neck injuries, according to what the students were told..) The Mother died at the scene and Simeon's class mate Victoria is injured along with her critically injured older sister and Father. The kids are all upset tonight, especially Titus who is worried about his buddy:( Lets pray the rest of the family has a full Physical and emotional recovery.

http://www.azfamily.com/news/homepagetopstory/stories/buckeye-local-news-041609-serious-multi-vehicle-ax.e1538554.html

A day of rest!!!!

Yesterday was our neighborhood THriftsale. I spent the last 3 weeks weeding through all we own with a goal in mind to downsize to the bare minimum. It was a very exhausting 3 weeks and with putting our house on the market and showings daily, I really have been on survival mode and the kids havn't had much of 'me'. Not only was I beyond physical exhaustion, but also emotional..going through things that were sentimental and REALLY asking myself IF i need to move it? As I was once again reminded it is just stuff..I found that this time it was more about the things that we had worked so hard to re-build our life here in AZ..the hard long ours Troy worked, the long ours i put in 'single parenting' 7 kids. THE LOST TIME TOGETHER I cryed in anger at how 'off course' we had become in what mattered, when we got so focused on all the 'wonderful goals for our family' and how with just a few changes beyond your control, you can loose it all. I was reminded to the more simple days in our early marriage, when we had so little but had enough time to even be bored with ourselves. Now we long to say the words,Im bored,HA
Through the tears of regrets, I began to feel happier and released of all the 'stuff' that stole from our happier carefree days..I LONGED to simplify our lives as much as possible so that we would not be as burdened and more available to eachother. I long to get re-settled, re-established with friends,church, school..These are the only 'things' you can't live without.
Anyway the sale was a success, we brought in Well over the 4 digit mark:)So today Im going to do NOTHING but sit and watch movies with the kids, play games and enjoy all God has blessed us with!