God's grace

First of all thank you so much to any of you that have prayed for us!! I am very humbled by the support and love we have received. We continue to have new joys and new struggles each day. Christ has been so faithful to continue to show us our great need for Him. As we continue on this journey, Jake and I are humbled by our sin that overwhelms us. We often doubt God and are quick to anger and worry. We long to truly believe the word of God and to walk in truth.

ADANECH-as time goes she pouts more and throws fits and tries to manipulate all situations. We knew this was coming and we are begging God for wisdom as we shepherd her hurting heart. She seems to be learning a bit that pouting just is not going to get her way. She is still the best cleaner in our house. She has been asking to go back to Ethiopia and crying to see her birth mom. She wants to take ABreham and Petros and go. We talk about it daily and I try my best to hold her and love her through it all and remind her that we are all a family. Marya will say, Addie don't leave me and Addies smiles. Then she talks about taking us all to Ethiopia. I don't want her to ever feel like she has to let go of Ethiopia and her family there. We pray for her birth mom. When she talks about it Abreham starts to cry because he does not want to go back to Ethiopia. I can't imagine what all goes through their little minds. She will come to us after hours of pouting and say sorry mom, sorry dad. We are so thankful for her!!

MARYA-Not much new here. She is still crazy, crazy, crazy. She loves a lot and gets mad fast. She is always telling Addie, please don't pout.

ABREHAM-This little boy is a new boy. HE still pouts but very little. He shares the best and is the best playmate for all of them. HE will push Petros in his stroller for hours and that is not an exaggeration. HE will give all the kids rides on his bike and loves to push them in the laundry basket. He is a very fast runner and I just laugh seeing him go. He has 0 percent body fat and is so scrappy. At night after we pray and sing, he holds my face and gives me kisses on both my cheeks and forehead.

EZRA-He is finding his place with his new brothers. The three of them playing is awesome. There is rarely any fighting. They play and play and play outside. I love watching the boys play, it just makes my heart sore. Ezra started to say I love you mama and I said no you say, my love you mama. It always make me sad when my kids start saying things right.

PETROS-When everything is just too crazy Jake says focus on Petros and you will smile. He is full of joy almost all the time. If he is sad or upset it is over very very fast. He has been combining Ahmaric and English, it is so cute. HE sings himself to sleep and wakes up singing. I pray he never loses this joy. HE is getting faster on those feet of his.

We have gone running with the kids a few times. Addie and Abreham are fast and can go for it. Those of you that know I love distance running, know that made me excited. I went and bought them running shoes and they were very excited. So they will be running with us a lot. My little marathoners!!!! Marya said, I need to practice, it was really cute.

Jake turned 31 and his mom and dad and Ellie came to celebrate. The kids loved it and keep asking for them to come back. We got to have Buzz'a ribs and kids loved them, it was so great.

Jake and I are listening to a sermon series on radical Christian living. I really encourage you to take the time to listen. I had a number of people suggest it to us and I am so thankful. It is worth losing sleep over and giving up some TV. We are very much in need of these sermons.

Here is the link: http://www.brookhills.org/media/series/radical

love love you

Jen