The Swasey Family

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-21T11:19:00.000-08:00

Hope everyone is having a great Christmas season! Ours has been really busy, but so much fun seeing Sophie and Micah experience their first Christmas, their first snow, etc. They are speaking english really well now - it's amazing how fast they've learned. Peyton is just beginning the gymnastics competition season - we have big hopes for him to do well as a level 5 this year. Cooper is still my little sweetheart and he is the family comedian.
Best wishes to everyone!
Love,
Kelly

October 2010

2010-11-08T20:54:00.000-08:00

Happy Halloween!
The kids had a great time trick or treating! Micah caught on really quick and was running from house to house with the other boys. Sophie decided she was too cold and couldn't figure out why I was forcing her to walk around outside. I forced her to the first door, crying all the way! But the crying stopped immediately when they put candy in her bucket - she looked up at me and the light bulb turned on! She smiled and took off running to the next house to try and catch up with her brothers!
Fun day!

We are all alive and well! (just barely!)

2010-09-16T08:22:00.000-07:00

Things are pretty crazy around the Swasey household these days! Life with three 4-year-olds is really wearing me out! The twins are doing really great - they are learning English so fast and they get along great with Peyton and Cooper. Sophie is really smart and picking up on everything sooo fast. She is quiet and shy, but loves to color and write letters and play with friends. Micah, on the other hand, is a bit of a terror! He has about a 3-second attention span and is into everything. However, he is so loving and open and outgoing, that it's easy to forgive him when he destroys something!
They did an article in today's paper about us. Check it out at: http://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/south/payson/article_31879118-f43b-5799-8937-7cddbb37ce14.html
They included a few photos in the article that are not online - I will post those and a few others below! One ton of teff we bought for the Yosef orphanage - thanks again for all of your donations!
Children at the Yosef orphanage

All 4 crazy Swaseys, ready for soccer!

Thanks again for all of your prayers and support of our family!

Love,

Kelly

Home Sweet Home!

2010-08-20T13:17:00.000-07:00

Sorry it has taken me so long to give an update! We are just now starting to feel kind of settled into the "new normal'. The kids are doing great - things get better every day. They are learning so much, so fast - I think this transitional time is going to fly by and I am going to quickly forget all the funny, crazy things they do right now. Their health is great so far, they eat everything we put in front of them, and they are fully potty trained - all issues that we were really nervous about. They have a long way to go behaviorally, but that will come with time.

The remainder of our trip went very well. Our trip down to Nazret was amazing. We visited an orphanage down there (Yosef Orphanage) that we gave most of our donations to. The orphanage that our kids were in (KVI) was very nice and well funded, but Yosef orphanage needed much more help. We gave them all of the formula and diapers that we brought, plus we were able to buy a YEAR supply of food for them with some of the donation money! We bought almost 1 ton of grain for them! They were so grateful - they couldn't believe we would give that much, but it was only about $650 - we felt like we wanted to do so much more! We also went to another small orphanage (Ebeneezer orphanage) and when we got there, they were all eating their lunch on the floor - they didn't have tables or chairs for the children. So we had 2 nice wooden tables made, and 14 chairs. We hope to get pictures of those when they are delivered sometime next week.

The flights home were LONG and torturous. Our first flight from Addis was delayed by 5 hours, so our 7 hr layover in Dubai totally disappeared and we weren't able to see any of that city. The 15 hour flight from Dubai to Atlanta could have been a total nightmare - I was alone with the kids in the middle of the plane and Kevin was a few seats away, trapped behind a big guy on the aisle. As we took off and both kids were crying, I just sat there with tears running down my face - looking at Kevin like "What am I going to do?" My prayers were answered though - Micah slept for 12 hours and Sophie slept for 10! I didn't sleep, however - my main goal was to keep the kids asleep so they didn't upset everyone else on the plane. I would almost start to fall asleep, then one of the kids would wiggle around and I'd grab them and hold my breath, praying they wouldn't wake up! It was the longest 15 hours of my life! I honestly wanted to kiss the ground when we landed in Atlanta!

Thank you again for all of your generous donations and gifts for our kids! Our biggest problem with them right now is that they are getting spoiled! They have an attitude of entitlement right now - we are trying to nip that in the bud! Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers on our behalf - we need them even more right now!

Love to all!

Kelly

US Embassy . . . check!

2010-08-11T14:05:00.001-07:00

We completed our interview with the US Embassy this morning – BIG sigh of relief! Now if we can just make it to the airport on Saturday morning, we will be home free! We are really enjoying our last few days here – we are on our way to Nazret today to see another orphanage. The road to Nazret is much faster than the road to Sodo that we traveled last week – lots more cars on the road, so the people and animals stay out of the way. On our way, we stopped at this beautiful resort on a lake in Debre Zeit, called Kuriftu Resort and Spa – we had a wonderful lunch and walked around the beautiful grounds. We would love to return to Ethiopia with our kids when they are older, and we would love to come back and stay there for a few days.

We left our kids behind for a few days while we go to Nazret – I have really struggled with this! I am torn between wanting to spend time bonding with them, and wanting to see and experience their country. We left them behind a few days ago while we went shopping, and they cried and cried – it broke my heart! They have really bonded to us and won't let anyone else talk to them or help them when we are at the guest house. They are VERY obedient – maybe Peyton and Cooper can learn a few things! Micah loves to push buttons on the tv, remote, phone, computer, etc – he is very curious and outgoing. Sophie is much more shy, but she loves all things girly! I bought her this pretty pink dress and tights to go to the embassy, but when we put it on her this morning, it was way too small and short. I took it off her and tried on another dress – not quite so feminine – and she cried and cried until I put the other dress back on her. The tights came down around her knees and we had to pull them up every few minutes, but she loved it!

Micah loves to play soccer – he and Kevin and the doorman at the guest house have played several times in the courtyard outside the guest house. He has a Spider-man toy we brought for him that says several different phrases – he keeps repeating everything – we joke that he is going to learn English from Spider-man! They can both count to 10 in English and they know all their body parts. They sing songs all the time as they play – but every time I try to videotape it, they clam up! It makes us sad that they will forget these songs and their language – we have no real way to retain any of that. They are so eager to learn everything about our culture, that they will quickly forget all about their own.

We miss everyone at home – especially our boys! Take care and we'll see everyone in a few days!

Love,

Kevin & Kelly

Africa update!

2010-08-10T22:20:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone!
We've only been able to send short quick emails so far, so I thought I'd
try to give a few more details today. Everything is going really well. The first
few days we struggled a bit with jet lag, missing the boys, etc. But now we have
Sophie and Micah with us and we are loving it! They were SO shy the first night we
had them – they wouldn't move without being picked up, and they wouldn't make a
sound. The next morning they livened right up and now they are laughing, talking,
playing, counting (in English!). They have really latched onto us and love to
snuggle and give kisses. They had a nice warm bath this morning and they loved
it! As the tub filled up and they saw the steam rising from it, they just smiled
and laughed – they were so excited! I have attached a few pictures of them –
hopefully I can get them to go thru!
The first few days we were here, we went down to Sodo, where they grew up.
It was a long, treacherous 5+ hour drive – the road was actually pretty good but
there wasn't 200 yards of the road that didn't have people, goats, burros, wagons,
etc. right in the middle! It was so crazy! Our driver drove really fast and would
swerve around all the obstacles and honk his horn at least once every ten seconds!
Once we got there, we stayed at a hotel that was actually fairly nice, but the bed
was like concrete! We were so tired and miserable and we just wanted to go back to
Addis and be with our kids. The next morning we were able to visit the orphanage
where our kids were first, and then we met their birth mother – that made the trip
all worth it. It was amazing – we got so many pictures, videos and great
information from her (i.e. Sophie was born first!). She took us out close to where
her village is (we weren't allowed to go all the way there) – it was so beautiful
and sooo green. That is one thing that I didn't expect about Ethiopia – it is
mountainous, beautiful, lush and green. There are people walking everywhere, very
few people have cars. The city of Addis Ababa is HUGE and sprawling – modern high
rise buildings right next to groups of metal shacks, it's crazy!
Today we go to the US Embassy for our final approval – the last hoop to
jump thru! Say a prayer for us that all goes well there! After the embassy, we are
going down to a smaller town called Nazret to visit another orphanage. I can't wait
to get home and show everyone all the great things we have been able to do with all
of your generous donations! It's been really amazing!
We hope all is well at home. We will be home on Sunday morning. We are
really enjoying our time here, and learning about this country, but we are excited
to get home and start our lives with our big new family!
Take care!
Love,
Kevin & Kelly

We are alive and safe!

2010-08-07T12:24:00.000-07:00

Blogging is a little difficult here so this will be short! We are well and our kids are
beautiful! We got to see them for the first time yesterday and they are starting to warm up to
us! We drove to southern Ethiopia yesterday (what an adventure!) and got to meet their
birthmother - that was a really priceless experience!
Better go! If you see our boys, give them a big hug and kiss from us - we miss them soooo much!
Love,
Kevin and Kelly

"I'm leavin' on a jet plane . . . "

2010-08-03T20:27:00.000-07:00

We leave SLC at 10:40 tomorrow morning! Check back in the next few days - we hope to post pictures and videos of our kids!
I didn't get around to ordering the t-shirts - I will order them when I get back. So if you still want one, send me an email!
Keep us in your prayers!
Kelly

And . . . we're off! :)

2010-07-28T18:20:00.000-07:00

We finally got our travel approval today from the US Embassy and we leave next Wednesday!!! Yes, that's right - 6 days from now! :) We have made our flight arrangements and we are set to go! I am so excited, but so stressed out having to get ready in one week! I thought I had everything about ready to go, but now I realize how unready I am! But we are so ready to meet our kids (in 1 week!!!) and we now may be able to go to their village and meet their birth family.
So many of you have donated items/money for our kids orphanage and have expressed the desire to donate before we go - so if you still would like to help out, we need to have everything here by this Monday morning! Right now, we still need more of the following:
*Formula - smaller 12 oz. cans - any brand.
*Children's OTC medications - i.e. Children's Tylenol, Children's cold meds, Children's motrin, etc.
*Fruit snacks
*Old happy meal toys - go thru your toy boxes and find any old SMALL toys that still look cool and aren't really lame or have small parts with them. I would love to take over a whole suitcase of little toys.
*Money - we will be buying supplies for 3 different orphanages when go over there (sugar, grain, medicines, bed linens, etc.) so even just a few dollars would go a long way!
Please email or call me if you have any questions about any of these donations!
*T-shirt orders - we are still doing another T-shirt order, but I obviously won't be getting them distributed before we go! I would like to have all the orders in before I leave and I will have one of my friends place the order and pick them up while I am gone. So, if you want a shirt - this is really your last chance!!! I need all orders by next Tuesday night - August 3rd!!!
kellyswasey@mstarmetro.net
801 465-0316
Keep our babies in your prayers! And a prayer for my sanity wouldn't hurt either! :)
Love to all!
Kelly

More T-shirt orders!

2010-07-27T12:24:00.000-07:00

We are placing another order for shirts! So many people have asked me about the shirts that I realize we need to do another order! To order, scroll down to the post from June 18th - all the sizing and price info is listed there. Orders should be emailed to kellyswasey@mstarmetro.net - ASAP! Thanks again for all of your support! We should be getting our travel date any day now and I'd like to get these ordered and distributed before we go in a few weeks!

Remember that the girl's design can also be put on a regular men's or youth t-shirt, instead of a fitted shirt.
Thanks again!
Kelly

Thank you for your support!

2010-07-08T08:43:00.001-07:00

Thank you so much for all the t-shirt orders and donations! So far, we have raised over $700, plus numerous donations of formula and diapers. We are so excited about the good we can do for this orphanage and the smiles that we will bring to the faces of these kids! If anyone is interested in finding out more information about the orphanages that we are raising money for, go to: http://www.kingdomvisioninternational.org/
There are numerous pictures of children on this website, and I have scanned each one, looking for pictures of my kids! I swear I found Sophie in one of them, but Kevin thinks I am delusional! :) (OK, on the homepage, look at the small picture to the far right. I think the third child from the left is Sophie - what do you think?
I know - I'm psycho!)
We should get our embassy approval any day now, then we will have about 2 weeks notice before we travel. I am so excited to finally get to meet our kids and find out what their little personalities are like. I worry constantly about them - they have been moved from their original orphanage in southern Ethiopia, to an orphanage in Addis Ababa, the capital city. They speak a different language than most of the people in Addis, so I worry that there is no one there to communicate with them and that we won't have anyone to translate for us when we go to pick them up! I hope that they understand what is happening to them and that they are as excited to meet us and we are to meet them!

So many of you have suggested great names for our little boy, but Kevin has not heard anything he likes better than Micah! We decided a long time ago that I get final say on the girl name and he gets final say on the boy name - so I think it's going to be Micah! (If you think of anything else in the next few weeks, he still could change his mind!)

Time to order T-Shirts!

2010-06-18T10:18:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!
We are ready to start taking orders for these t-shirts to raise money for our kids' orphanage! We are so excited to go pick up our kids in a few weeks and we are grateful for your support! I wasn't sure if I really wanted to take on this project, but I have had numerous requests for the shirts already, so I've decided to plunge in! It will be so neat for the kids to come back and see the shirts and all the people who love and support our family! We already have orders for about 18 shirts, but if we can get orders for at least 4o, we'll get a much better price. We will be sending the order in on Wednesday, June 30th, (less than 2 weeks away!) so if you'd like to order one, please let me know ASAP!

We have created 2 different designs, one for women/girls and one for men/boys. Click on the pictures below to see a better close up of the designs.
We are offering 4 size ranges of shirts, as follows:
*Mens and boys regular t-shirts from a child's size XS (size 4) up to a men's 6XL (sorry, the smaller sizes I mentioned in the previous blog post aren't available)
*Womens and girls FITTED t-shirts ranging from a girls size S (6 - 8) up to a Juniors size Plus 2X
All Tshirts will be black! The spec sheet link below each picture includes lots of different Tshirt colors - but to simplify, we are just doing the black Tshirt
.***See the sizing chart links below each picture to choose your size. Note that the Women/girls shirts are fitted so you may need to buy a larger size than you would in a regular t-shirt. Also, we can put either design on any shirt, so, for example, if you'd like the womens design on a regular men's or youth t-shirt, let us know!

Womens/Juniors fitted t-shirt - 100% cotton - Juniors Sizes: S-XXL; Plus 1X, Plus 2X
Click on the following link for exact garment measurements to pick your size. **Remember these are juniors sized, hip length, fitted shirts, so the size may be different than what you would normally order. Please ignore the Tshirt color options on this page - we are doing all the shirts in black!
http://www.companycasuals.com/specsheets/DT200.pdf

Men's t-shirt - 100% Cotton - Sizes S thru 6XL
Click on the following link for exact garment measurements to pick your size. Please ignore the Tshirt color options on this page - we are doing all the shirts in black!
http://www.companycasuals.com/specsheets/PC61.pdf

Girls fitted t-shirt - 100% Cotton - Girls Sizes: S(6-8), M(10-12), L(14-16)
Click on the following link for exact garment measurements to pick your size. **Remember these are fitted shirts, so the size may be different than what you would normally order. Please ignore the Tshirt color options on this page - we are doing all the shirts in black!
http://www.companycasuals.com/specsheets/DTG204C.pdf

Boys/Youth t-shirt - 100% Cotton - Youth Sizes: XS(4), S(6-8), M(10-12), L(14-16), XL(18-20)
Click on the following link for exact garment measurements to pick your size. Please ignore the Tshirt color options on this page - we are doing all the shirts in black!
http://www.companycasuals.com/specsheets/PC61Y.pdf

Prices:
1st shirt (any size) . . . . . . . $15.00
2nd shirt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $13.o0
Any additional shirts . . . . . $11.00

Shipping
For those of you who live in Utah, we will either hand deliver your shirts, or have you come pick them up from our house. I have gotten several requests from friends/family out of state. I am still figuring out the best way to charge for this, but know that I will keep shipping costs to a minimum ($1 or $2 per shirt).

HOW TO ORDER!
Just send me an email and let me know what shirt you want and the size(s). kellyswasey@mstarmetro.net
Please order by Wednesday, JUNE 30th!!! (Only a week and a half away!)
At the time you place the order, please mail or bring me a check for at least 50% of the total - I won't be able to complete the order if we don't have this before June 30th - we don't want to get stuck with a bunch of unclaimed shirts! Make checks payable to Kelly Swasey and mail to:

Kelly Swasey
262 West 1240 South
Payson, Utah 84651

If you'd like to use PayPal to send payments, let me know, but they charge about $.75 per shirt to complete the transaction and I'd like as much money as possible to go to buying supplies for the orphanage! However, I won't be cashing the checks until a few days before I get the shirts back from the printer, so feel free to post date your check until about July 5th. I hope to get the shirts back and start distributing them by about July 9th.

Please feel free to call or email with any questions or suggestions, or if you would like to donate in another way instead! I know that times are tight for a lot of families right now, but we are still collecting formula, diapers, fruit snacks, etc. also.

WOW! That's a lot of information just to order a shirt! :) Thank you so much for all your love and support! We are finally coming down the home stretch! :)

Love,
Kelly Swasey
(801) 465-0316
kellyswasey@mstarmetro.net

T-shirt designs!

2010-06-13T18:15:00.000-07:00

Here are the designs for the t-shirts we are going to sell to friends and family to raise money for our kids' orphanage:

Click on each picture to see more detail.

My nephew Aaron helped to design these - don't they look great?! They will be printed on black t-shirts and we'll be able to order them in any size (from children's 2T on up to a men's 5XL). I have picked out really cute, fitted, long t-shirts for the women and girls, so those should be really cute. I am going to go ahead and print up several different sizes for me and my family to get an idea of what they will look like, then we'll post some pictures on this blog so you can see what they're like before ordering. We will probably charge around $10 - $15 per shirt - all of the profit will go toward buying supplies for our kids' orphanage! I think it will be fun for our kids to see people wearing these shirts when they get here, to see how many people are here to love and support them!

Our kids have been moved from Sodo up to the capital, Addis Ababa. Their passport pictures are being taken tomorrow and that is the last step before everthing is turned over to our embassy. Our embassy then has 15 days to approve everything and set an embassy date. So it's looking like we'll be traveling in 3 - 4 weeks! Yeah! Hopefully now that they are in Addis, our coordinator there will have easier access to them and will be able to send us more picture, info, etc. We'll keep you posted!

Love,

Kelly

New picture!

2010-05-26T08:17:00.001-07:00

Click on this picture to enlarge!
We got a new picture of our kids yesterday! We were so excited to see another facial expression - although Sophie still has the same little "I am not going to smile!" look on her face! It's so great to see Eyasu (Micah?) smiling - he looks like a sweetheart! This picture was taken in their bedroom at the orphanage in Soddo. They will hopefully be moved to the orphanage in Addis Ababa in the next few weeks - then our agency liaison will have more access to them to take more pictures/videos, etc. We hope to have copies of their social background soon, too. When they were first left at the orphanage, an intake form was filled out, detailing their social history - where they lived, with whom, the reasons they were brought to the orphanage, etc.

I was at Sears a few days ago, exchanging some shoes for Peyton, and I walked by the little girl's clothing department - oh my gosh! I had so much fun picking out 3 cute little dresses/outfits for Sophie! I haven't really let myself get too excited about that kind of stuff yet, but I am ready to jump in now and start decorating bedrooms, buying clothes, toys, etc. These kids are going to be so spoiled! (just like my other kids!) I am not going to buy too many clothes yet - I really don't have any idea of their sizes! We will hopefully be getting their measurements soon, then I can possibly get a few more things.
Love to all,
Kelly

It's official! PLUS - Name contest!

2010-05-17T10:52:00.000-07:00

Our caseworker just called and let us know that the kids went to court this morning and it's official! They are officially ours! We are now the parents of 4 beautiful children! They will hopefully be sending us more photos/video/ background information this week. I feel so starved for information! We now have to wait for their visas/passports/birth certificates from our State Dept. - we've been told it will be about 2 months. So hopefully mid-July we will able to go over and pick them up! They did send us this video of the guest house that we will be staying in with the children - it's not that exciting of a video, but if you have two minutes to waste, watch it! :)

I got all kinds of great information about our trip from our caseworker - she just got back from Ethiopia last week. She was not able to see our kids. :( She got stuck in Nairobi for 3 days on the way there! She sent our gifts along with the orphanage director and he will give it to them sometime this week. I am hoping that he gets pictures/videos of it when he gives it to them!

So, now we are requesting help from all of you for a few things! First of all, we need some help finding an American name for our little boy! We have decided on Sophie Netsanet Swasey for our little girl, but we can't decide on anything for our little boy. We kind of like the name Micah, but we are open to other options/suggestions. SOOOO, as suggested by my brother-in-law, Gumby, we are going to have a contest to see if anyone can help us come up with a great name for our son! Here's how it will work:

Click on the comment link at the bottom of this post (you will have to become a follower of this blog to do this - let me know if you have any questions about how this is done). Submit names in the comment section, as many as you want, then if we decide to use a name that you suggested, you will win $100!!! And you can't suggest Micah! (If we don't love anything that anyone suggests, that's probably what we'll go with!) If more than one person suggests the name we pick, we'll divide the $ between all the winners.

Now, to give some clues about what kinds of names we like/dislike:

*Names that I have suggested that Kevin has vetoed: Noah, Seth

*Name that Peyton has suggested (repeatedly!) that we have vetoed: Eli (We are not going to name our boys after all three Manning brothers! Yes, Peyton Manning has a brother named Cooper!)

*Something a little bit exotic would be fitting.

* We like the alliteration of an "S" name, like Sophie Swasey, Sam Swasey (can't use it because of a cousin), so another "S" name might work.

*His middle name will be his Ethiopian name - Eyasu (pronounced "yay-sue")Here is his picture again to inspire you! :) If you hear of any names that are cute and original, please post it!

Thank you for all of your suggestions!

Also, we have found out that there is a huge need at their orphanage for diapers (cloth or disposable), formula, wipes, plastic pants, underwear and socks. We will also be taking some fun things for the kids: crayons, stickers, coloring books, fruit snacks, gum, etc. We will be taking huge suitcases with us, full of all of these things, and hopefully taking money with us to buy more when we get there. If you would like to help out with any of these donations, we are starting to collect things now! Contact us if you'd like to help out! After our trip, I plan on posting video/pictures of our travels to share the children's reactions with you. Any other small things for the kids that you can suggest to take with us? Let us know!

Thank you for your support!

Love,

Kelly

Court date!

2010-04-29T20:11:00.000-07:00

Yes, we got our court date - it's in less than 3 weeks! AHHH! I am freaking out a little! Turns out that we are not required to go for this first trip - we squeaked in right before the new laws take effect, but there are many advantages if we do decide to go for the court. We will have to decide in the next few days. We would have to leave about two weeks from today! Again - AHHH! I am feeling completely overwhelmed with this decision - so many things to think about and prepare for - especially because I leave in three days for an 8 day trip to Missouri! But the best part of this is, whether we go or not, as of the week of May 17th, they will legally be ours! :)
Say a prayer for us!
Kelly

Package for our kids!

2010-04-27T15:26:00.000-07:00

We are sending our first package to Ethiopia! Our case worker is going to Ethiopia next week and we are sending along a few small gifts for our kids. We have put together a small photo album with some pictures of our family and home. We also sent along a tiny little backpack for each of them, filled with a few small toys, treats, and a new shirt for each. I had so much fun today, finally shopping in the pink aisle in the toy department! We are hoping that our caseworker will be able to see the kids and give it to them directly, but they live in an orphanage that is in a really remote area, so she may just have to send them with the orphanage director. We are really hoping that she can bring back photos, video, and more info about our kids, but we know her time is limited and she may not get down to see them.

No word yet on a court/travel date - hope to hear very soon!

New Referral!

2010-04-20T14:00:00.001-07:00

Well, I have been putting off starting this blog because I didn't want to jinx anything. I guess it's time to have faith and plunge into this thing head first!
Click on this photo to enlarge!

We received our second referral last week - we feel really good about it! They are 3 year old twins! Their names are Netsanet (female) and Eyasu (male). Their birth father is deceased and their birth mother is still alive, but cannot afford to support them. They are the youngest of her nine children. It breaks my heart to think of having to make a decision like that - I can't even imagine. They just recently came to the orphanage. As you can see from the pictures, their heads have recently been shaved - probably either because they had lice (or someone else did) or their hair just wasn't taken care of.

We have submitted our court papers to the Ethiopian courts and are now waiting on a court date. In light of some new laws that have just taken effect, we will probably have to travel to Ethiopia twice - once for the court hearing to officially adopt the children, then again a few months later when their visas and passports are ready and we can bring them home. We are hoping for a May/June court date and then sometime in the early fall we hope to bring them here.

Our boys are really excited! It will be interesting to see how they all interact. Especially since the twins are only about 7 - 8 months younger than Cooper. We will have 4 kids with only about 3 years total difference in age! We are trying to think of american names for them - of course we can't agree on anything! Everything that I love, Kevin hates, and vice versa. I think we are going to have to resort to having me name the girl and Kevin name the boy and just be happy with what the other chooses!

In the coming weeks, we are hoping to start a service project of some kind, to benefit the orphanage where the twins are now living. The orphanage is run by a foundation called Kingdom Vision International. We feel really good about this organization and their leadership and feel like any money or other donations will be put to use directly for better care of the children. We are hoping to take money and/or donations with us on both trips so we can take pictures/videos of these donations being distributed so you can all see how much they are appreciated! I am truly excited about this aspect of our travels, and hope that we can get the support of all of our family and friends!

We'll keep you posted about any new developments! Please keep us in your prayers!
Love,
Kelly