Madine Family

Hair

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Posted on : 3/20/2012 | By : Joanna

We've also been doing a lot of hair. :) Her hair is growing so long and starting to fill in nicely. Depending on the style, it usually lasts for a week and takes about an hour to do. I love doing it and she loves showing off her hair to daddy and to "her kids" at school. :)

 
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Reunion

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Posted on : 3/20/2012 | By : Joanna

We were beyond blessed to host the reunion of our adoption travel group (three families we traveld with on both trips to Ethiopia...all first time parets...all kids around 2 yrs old). We had so much fund, and the kids did really well.

We went to the Fort Worth Zoo.
 



Played a lot and really enjoyed being together. It was as if no time had passed, like we were all just in Ethiopia a few days ago. Love these families!
 
 
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December and January Catching Up

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Posted on : 3/20/2012 | By : Joanna

Please forgive this "catch up" blog entry. I'm much more current on Facebook ;)

We celebrated Ethiopian Christmas with a small get together at our house...and my first attempt at cooking Ethioipan food. It was a great night!

 
 
 


We were so happy to have Mark's brother, sister-in-law, and sister in town from Chicago and Phoenix for a long weekend. We took them to our favorite Ethiopian restaurant, which was a huge hit.
 
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Belated Merry Christmas

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Posted on : 1/10/2012 | By : Joanna

We had wonderful Christmas and a happy new year. Hope you did too!
All the kids at out Ethiopian Community/Adoption Group Christmas Party.
Little miss on her new tricycle.

Adoption Milestone

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Posted on : 1/10/2012 | By : Joanna

Today is a special day...a milestone in the adoption/attachment journey. Today, Maeve has been with us longer than she had been without us. She has had two loving parents longer than not... rocked to sleep covered in prayer more nights than not...splashed and played in the bath tub more nights than not...cuddled and tickled, kissed and sang to more days than not. I mourn the days that we have not, but thank Him endlessly for the ones we have and the ones that lie ahead...and marvel in the miraculous healing power of love (ours and hers).

Posted on : 12/07/2011 | By : Joanna

I wanted to share a couple of my hair accessory storage solutions. I've look all over the web and Pintrest to find a good solution to organize headbands and bows...and keep them out of my way. I kind of had a light bulb moment when I saw this pant hanger in the back of a closet.


The cool thing is that the arm things swing out to let you take the headband off. I just hung ribbon from the bottom bar and clipped the bows to them. I even have room for two more ribbons.

When my daughter was tiny, she wore mostly headbands, but now that her hair is getting longer. I don't let her wear it out very often. We mostly do protective styles. To keep up with all of the rubber bands, etc, we use this jewlery bead organizer from JoAnn's.

I just saw that all jewelry and beading storage is 40% off at JoAnn's right now. I could use a couple more of these since I'm going to start using beads on her braids. I'm kid of lusting after this one. It looks like this could almost be an all in one storage unit for us, with combs, brushes, clamps in the top and pray bottles hanging off the sides. We'll still have to keep our shower caddy bucket for big jars of conditioners and styling creams, etc. I'll have to check it out in person to see if it will work :)

As far as logistics go, I keep a spray bottle (water, conditioner, & olive oil) hanging off the side of her diaper caddy. I spray her hair in the morning to add moisture and then slather her down with lotion. I keep a small shower caddy basket of her detangling conditioner, regular conditioner, sulphate-free shampoo, combs, etc. beside the bath tub. The rest of the hair accessories normally stay in the TV cabinet in the den, since we style while watching Sesame Street.

Thanksgiving

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Posted on : 11/29/2011 | By : Joanna

My sister and her family came up from South Texas to celebrate Thanksgiving at my Dad's. It is so fun to see these adorable cousins together...although hearing protection might be a good idea next year (lots of squealing and screaming).

Watching Movies and squealing.
Making Christmas cookies.

My favorite :)