Stalling...

This just happened....
The kids just went to bed. Mike and I are downstairs, and I hear a small little pitter-patter on the stairs. Elia and Nico come downstairs... and Elia goes: "Mama, when is Nina BoBo coming?" I say: "This summer." Elia: " Uhhhh, why is this taking so long?" And off he goes again, back to bed. So cute!

Decided!

Here she is... our little girl with the name we as a family have chosen for her:

Nina means "little girl" in Spanish, but also "Grace" in Hebrew.

Gabriella means "God is my strength" in Hebrew.

FuBo is her given Chinese name, Fu meaning happiness and Bo is in the hopes that she will advance bravely like great waves

Beds and Promises

This is the bed we picked out for the girls. Up until now two of the kids had slept on mattresses on the floor, so this was a good time to buy some beds. We really liked this set up, as it will give them enough floor space to play. I see some airy fabric hanging loosely over that corner section, to make it a dreamy, girly hideaway.

Can't wait!!

But more so, I can't wait to have my daughters together.

I just emailed our agency, and the earliest update they can request on BoBo is May. Hopefully we will be able to get an update on her. God has blessed us with so many personal, special details during this adoption process, that I have no doubts he can do this too.

I came across a wonderful promise during my biblestudy yesterday, that I just have to share. I felt like the Lord was saying this over our adoption of BoBo:

See, I'm sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared . (Exodus 23:20)

God is AHEAD of us preparing not just logistics, but most of all, the heart of a little girl, who is undoubtedly loved, but who will go through some tremendous changes over the next few months! What a wonderful reassurance!

Another home improvement picture ;-)

It's amazing how empty spaces are enticing to children, isn't it? Especially when they're not ususally empty. I was re-arranging what used to be the little boys' closet, and what will be the girls' closet.

The boys had a lot of fun (I know it doesn't show in their faces, but HONESTLY, they were in there by their own free will :-)) )

The girl's room is just about ready to get painted - I think I have a just a couple of days of cleaning, patching and taping to do. I can't wait. It's going to be so nice in there.

Their beds are on backorder, but I will post a picture of what they will look like.

A new look

Here is our "new" Anya - she got glasses last week. Doesn't she look adorable with them?

She mentioned about a month ago that things appeared blurry, and we had her tested after that.

She enjoyed picking out the frames (they are light blue), and she can see much better now.

Going to the eye doctor was fun, especially when Elia tried to help her naming the letters correctly ;-))

House project Part 1

Here is the situation in our house: We have three bedrooms upstairs. Nico and Anya have their own, and Alex and Elia share a room. Now with BoBo joining our family, we had to rethink the room arrangements. The result? ALL the kids will switch rooms!!! Talk about a logistical challenge *ha*. And then Nico decided that he did not want to be the only one who HAS to be in a room by himself. Now THAT was a surprise! So we thought some more, and changed plans again.
Last week the project got under way. Elia was a great help, and all three boys loved to paint.

Here are the results of our efforts.


These are two "before" pictures. The one below shows my little helper masking off the outlets... and himself ;-))
The next three pictures show the newly painted room. It's a very "calming" feel in there now (and the three boys will need that!). I picked two different blues and the greenish color that is called Bamboo Shoot.


After the painting was done, Mike, Nico and our brother-in-law Jon put the new bunkbed together
And that night, the boys spent their first night in their new room. They were very excited. The two bunk beds are on opposite walls, and we turned Nico's bed more into of a loft bed for him (We 've had this bed for a few years already) It's very cozy in there now, and the smallest room, which is right next door, will be their playroom, so not all their belongings and toys have to be crammed into their bedroom. Anya was very tired that night, so she looks a little sad in this picture. All in all, it had only taken from Wednesday to Saturday to get this room done, so now the girls room will be next. Pictures will follow.


Only a couple hours after they went to bed, we found Elia sleeping on the floor. He has been sleeping on a mattress on the floor for a long time, so being ON a bed without a rail is new to him. I hope he will get used to it quickly :-))
Needless to say, our cat liked the new sleeping arrangment too!

Snow Days

Here are a few pictures of the Spring Blizzard we had last weekend. School was cancelled for 2 1/2 days, and we were completely snowed in. There was a 4 food drift in front of our garage, it was amazing! The kids loved going sledding one more time (hopefully!), and we just enjoyed the time off as a family, doing some indoor camping, playing etc.