MERRY CHRISTMAS AND NO, I HAVE NOT LEFT BLOGLAND!

Merry Christmas everyone! OK, I could just preface each of my posts with why I haven't posted, which is because I have been really busy. But I will not continue to do that because, well...it's cliche and boring! And really, we are all busy, so there.

Life with our latest arrival is really, really great. It was exactly 4 weeks ago today that we met him at Hannah's Hope in Ethiopia. He is a joy. Thus, I am going to say "it" in print, which will inevitably lead to a sleepless night. Elias sleeps through the night EVERY night. He goes down anytime between 8 and 10 at night and he waits for us to find him smiling in his crib at 9 AM. Yes, 9 AM. It has been a blessed treat because it actually gives us morning time with the ladies which has been invaluable. He is smiley and sweet pretty much all the time. He definitely is a bit more needy during the day so the payoff at night is most lovely. He pretty much won't tolerate being put down longer than 10 minutes so the ERGO pack has been a lifesaver as his weight has only seemed to increase:). He seems to be quite attached to us, yet easygoing about others. He usually loves his car seat as he has regular entertainment in the form of giggling girls in the back seat.

We are feeling incredibly "lucky" and blessed that we are spending Christmas together. I definitely feel this sense of completion with him in our family. He was ordained to be part of us, he is here and all the angst of waiting is over.

SO LET'S GET REAL HERE....

SHINY HAPPY PEOPLE PICTURES






NOW BACK TO REALITY.....OUR HOUSE!





Just thought I would give you a sampling of our messy house. I could also provide pictures of crying, clingy children. I could also provide a snapshot of me totally losing it on our 6 year old for not getting dressed even though we had asked her to do so 8 times. And I could also let you view pictures of all three children wailing when we went to get a Chrismas tree. Merry Christmas to us. I didn't really take pictures of these events but you know what I mean. I don't ever want to give people the idea that absorbing a 3rd child is a walk in the park and that my house is sanitary and shining at any given moment. But at the very same time, it has been a huge and overwhelming blessing. Our kids are awesome and healthy. I am truly so thankful for my life.

We have been struck twice with stomach flu, which is interesting to me. We rarely ever, ever get a bug like that. And then to have it get us 2 weeks in a row, what a lovely coming home present. I am just now waking up from the stupor of nighttime puking. Thanking God for such a great husband...he had it last week so it was payback time!!!!!!!

Elias had his first check-up yesterday. Except for a mild ear infection, he looks great. He has slept though all but one night (this quality, makes him particularly endearing). I spend a lot of my time fending off his groupie like sisters, they are all over him and he never gets a break. The girls love him and cannot get enough of him. And for the curious...big boy weighed in at 23 pounds and 13 oz!! He is 95th percentile for head and length but off the charts for weight. DOH!!!

*I would like to note that the messy pictures of the house do not do justice to actual reality. I was looking through the pictures and thought to myself "Hey that's what the house looks like all the time!". But seriously, the house was starting to stink...:)

FINALLY!!!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Here's a little slide show to TRY and depict in a small way what our trip was like. I am still processing this wonderful miracle in our lives, Rob is curled up in the fetal position with food poisoning and all the children are fast asleep (for now:)).
Note: The food poisoning was not from Ethiopia!! We were perfectly healthy for the trip, thank God!!!

INTRODUCING.......

ELIAS BRUCE ABINET FRASER




So excited to share with you our sweet little guy. Thank you so much for all your kind words and encouragement. We got back today so all the details will have to come later. Our trip was wonderful in every way (except for the freakishly long plane ride, more on that later too!:))

ADIOS AMIGOS!!!!

Well, it's time. We are stoked, stressed, mildly short tempered, excited, crazed, and amazed. We are so thankful to be taking this journey and want to take an opportunity to say thank you. There have been so many of you that have been faithful encouragers, prayers and cheerleaders. It was all needed and appreciated so much! I'm hoping to update the blog while we're gone, but I think the Internet connection is spotty at best. Can't wait for you to see what we've been so excited about!!!

PHOTO TAG!

I was photo tagged by some very special people but I don't have time to link or tag someone else(I'm a little tech slow, and it takes me forever)! But here goes. You are supposed to post the 4th picture in your 4th file and here it is.

Not too much of an explanation. You know those crazy ensembles your kids throw on? Kiera is modeling her fashion sense here. She has always put her hats on backwards, I don't know where she got that bit of cool from. Not us. :)

OH HOW I WISH!!! OR MAYBE NOT!

Oh my goodness, we are busy around here!! We are still in such a state of shock over getting the news that our sweet Elias passed through court. I literally ran around the house just screaming and then just fell on my knees in thankfulness. Kiera looked very confused over all the ruckus. We leave Thursday, November 20 and will return the day after Thanksgiving. I think we are flying out of Ethiopia around noontime on Thanksgiving, too cool!

We have been told that Elias is very rotund, which I just love. His last weight measurement was 21 pounds!!! That, my friends, is not a typo. We will bring 12 month old clothes for a baby that just turned 5 months old today. WOW!!

I am finally worried about leaving our little ladies. Meris has been very clingy and tearful. In the past we've been away for 5 days, so I tried to convince her that it was just a wee bit longer than that. They'll be livin' it up with Oma, Opa and Auntie Lissa. They won't even give us thought:) And to just be clear, I did not leave them in the suit cases for any extended period of time:)