Extravagant 6 month old Everett

Everett is loves cereal! Some of it does stay into his mouth :)

These chair are banned in America...but boy are they fun! Everett wheels himself all over the place. He loves being able to motor where ever he wants. This chair has been awesome especially while i'm trying to cook. He is not crawling yet but he sure can roll fast :)

Radit playing dress up with Everett. He is a good sport and enjoys the extra attention.

This cameo outfit is Wes' favorite! We are at a traditional Ethiopian resturant with our new friends. The food is a little strange but the live entertainment was great.

Don't worry...Wes saved him before anything bad happened!

Everett just taking the car for a spin.

Our House...

People get really nervous when we told them we were moving to Ethiopia. They picture all the terrible things about Africa that they've ever heard. To make people feel better...and yes we've been asked numerous times...we do not live in a mud hut.

Here is the house we live in! It's in a really nice area with a lot of other ex-pats. It is near the Addis Bole Airport. We have two very nice 24 hour guards.

There are two very sweet maids...which has been hard to get use to. I keep telling them, "I promise, I can wash my own dishes." One of the maids has a teenage daughter. She loves to play with Everett and does a great job of keeping him entertained.

The house also doubles as the Morrell Agro Office. It's fun because there are always plenty of people here to keep us busy. The house doesn't stay quite for long.

The kitchen is great. I must admit finding american like ingredients has been interesting. I did make some pretty good lasagna the other night :) Another funny thing is, when you go shopping there are two prices: the white person price or the ethiopian price! I found a local fruit and veggie stand that gives me ethiopian prices because they think Everett is so cute.

Our family is growing...

As many of you know, we have been in the adoption process for over a year for our son Mesafint. What you may not know is, we have additionally chosen to adopt a sibling group of four. We are thrilled about having them in our family. We thought long and hard about this and feel at peace with our decision. Here are some of the latest pictures of our children.

Mesafint is 13 years old. He is very handsome and is a natural leader. He can be stubborn and always has an opinion! For example, one day he told me he really like the pants I was wearing. That made me feel good to be complimented by my teenager. Than he proceed to say that the shoes I was wearing were ugly and that I should get new ones :) Another night he told Wes on the phone, "Make sure you take care of mom!" It melted my heart! He speaks english really well and it will be exciting to see where life takes him. He has decided he wants to be a rich farmer in Ethiopia...he reminds me a lot of Wes.

Mumburick is also thirteen and one of Mesafint's best friends. Mumburick has taken care of his siblings happily and willingly since their parents past away. He is very kind and always has a smile on his face. He gives the greatest hugs and sincerest "thank you." When we asked him what he thought about us adopting his family, he started to smile and laugh. His laugh sounded like a tremendous weight was being lifted from his shoulders...now someone else could help raise his siblings. He wants to be a doctor when he grows up.

Dumbitu is our beautifully little girl! She thinks she is 11 years old...people don't really keep track of birthdays in Ethiopia. She can be timid but once you get to know her she has plenty to say. She is a girly girl. Once when the orphanage was taking her shopping she found a really frilly dress she liked. The dress was expensive and they told her if she got the dress she would not be allowed to buy new shoes too. She bought the dress :) Another day she was not feeling well...I took her to a beauty saloon to have her hair done. By the time she was done with the saloon, she forgot she was even sick!

Tofik is 9 years old. He is super sporty and fast. Watching him play soccer makes me tired...he runs all over the field! He also enjoys Ti Quan Do as well. Tofik can have a mischievous smile! He'll keep me on my toes for sure. He is a big helper especially with Everett. He is learning English...when I teach him new words he sure picks up quick and remembers them the next day.

Gutama is about 8 years old. He enjoys sports and wrestling with his bigger brothers. He keeps himself entertained and never seems to sit still. He loves to climb and hang on things...he is like a little monkey. Whenever he can get his hands on a cell phone, he wants to play a game. He is fascinated by Wes' little gadgets and widgets. He has the greatest laugh when he gets tickled.

This was our first family picture!! Life is about to get a lot more interesting and rewarding! Our adoption process is complicated but we are hoping things will work out soon. We'll keep you posted on any updates with the process.

Washington D.C

We drove from North Carolina to Washington D.C. We spent our last day in the United States touring the capital. It was my first time visiting the nation's capital. We saw the Capital Building, Washington's monument, Lincoln's memorial, and the White House...which is much smaller in person than it looks on television :)

We visited the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History too! We wondered around for hours and still didn't see it all!

The famous Hope Diamond is on display there. It has 45.52 carats and is worth over 350 million dollars! WOW!! You could tell the room is was displayed in had SUPER security! Currently 3 new settings for the necklace are being designed...the public can vote via the internet which design should win. The diamond will than temporarily be placed in the new setting.

Here is Everett pointing out his new home on a large world map. He has no idea the adventures that are ahead of him.

Since we are leaving America for a every long time, we took our decision for our last meal very seriously :) We ate at the Cheesecake Factory!! The menu has 100's of items and everything looked so yummy. I ordered a spinach artichoke deep with warm bread and a spicy pasta dish! The cheesecake was super creamy and rich too! It was a great last meal. Just blogging about it has me craving cheesecake.

Biltmore Estates

A week before moving to Ethiopia, Wes treated me to a trip back east to see the beautiful fall colors. I've always wanted to see the fall colors and Asheville, North Carolina was the perfect place to go. Biltmore Estates was built by George Washington Vanderbilt in 1895. It is still the largest privately owned home in the United States, at 175,ooo square feet. It has over 250 rooms!!

We took three different tours of the house: the Main Tour, Behind the Scene Tour, and the Roof Top Tour. It was very impressive to see the house from so many different views. The house had an indoor bowling alley and swimming pool!! The full house had electricity, refrigeration, and intercom system.

We also took an hour long horse drawn carriage ride around the Estates spectacular forest! We saw some deer in a lush meadow. The weather was sunny and warm. Everett really enjoyed seeing the horses.

I love this picture!!! Aren't they handsome? They sure do look alike. Wes packed Everett a majority of the time. He's an awesome dad.

The fall colors were more amazing than I expected. The deep reds were my favorite. The yellows and oranges were really starting to pop.

I had such a great time...I jokingly try to convince Wes we should live back east. We both love Idaho but it sure is tempting with such rich fall colors everywhere you look.

jkjk

Ethiopian Cowboys?

Have you ever been to a rodeo with an Ethiopian?  We hadn't either till this last weekend.  Wes' boss Paul invited us down to Utah for a dutch oven feast and a rodeo.  Paul had flown in 4 Ethiopia government officials for a week.  He than had them tour farms, dairies, and cheese factories.  The government officials were very impressed and started to catch the vision that Paul has for their country.  To end their week stay, he took them to a rodeo.  It was funny to see them dressed in their cowboy hats and to see their bulging eyes as each new event took place. 

We also got more details about what we will be doing in Ethiopia.  We will be living near the city of Goba...(If you click on the map, it will give you an enlarged version.  It's in the yellow section named BALE).  Wes will be going to Ethiopia in 7 days to help pick out and secure the land.  He will be over there for three weeks.  Once returning home he will enter flight school in Logan! After school is finished, we will be moving to Ethiopia for 3-5 years!!  We are especially excited to have Mesafint come live with us as soon as we move there!!