I guess first I should take a step back and let you know what we've been up to this past month.
Soon after my last post we had a little bit of snow, well it was enough to cover the seemingly dead grass and that in my opinion is a "good" snow. The kids were off of school for a few days and David was the only one to venture out with Jason to play in it. They had a wonderful time sledding, and here's the proof!
Next we decided it would be prudent to get moving on switching the kid's bedrooms (Ella and David's) in preparation for Masamo's pending arrival. We started by emptying out David's smaller room, which by the way all his things went into the upstairs hallway and bathroom, and changed it from an olive green to a cheery yellow for Ella! Jason and I decided that since we were hard at work with the room that we would play Jason's favorite home improvement game of "What's Under the Carpet?" David's room was the only room in our house to remain carpeted and we were told that the wooden floor underneath sloped into the middle of the room and so another floor was built on top and carpeted.
David helping to paint his old bedroom yellow for Ella!
Jason playing "What's Under the Carpet?"
Having that challenge in front of him, Jason proceeded to pry the carpet, padding, and subfloor up to see what the original wooden floors looked like. We were happy to find that the slope we had been told was so drastic really wasn't that bad. Once we had everything up and out of the room it was certainly apparently that the slope was there but as a couple decided the floor was worth resanding, finishing and leaving original to match the rest of the house. Jason spend the whole next day (a Sunday) sanding the floor, which needless to say made a very dusty mess.
The room (almost) finished, just needed the polyurethane!
Our home improvement projects were put on hold over the next weekend as we as a family were gone from home. Jason did sneak in putting down a couple coats of polyurethane on the bare wooden floors in David's old/Ella's new room before we all left. Jason and Emily went on a ski retreat in Pennsylvania with our church's youth group. I went to NY to visit my best friend and her family to help out after the birth of their fourth child. Ella and David spent a fun filled weekend with Mimi and Boppy watching movies and going to Build-a-Bear!
Me with the newest member of the Apthorpe family!
Emily on the ski trip (photos taken from Facebook, so the quality isn't that great)
The next weekend we were back at painting. We emptied Ella's room into her new yellow room to make room for painting. It was a challenge to cram all of her things from the larger room into the now smaller room but with some creativity we did it! Ella's old purple and lavender room was soon transformed into a nice blue room for David and Masamo. It was a nice surprise to find that it only took one coat of paint for this room unlike the three coats of paint we needed to make Ella's new room yellow! Just a FYI, it turns out that the shade of blue that we chose for the boy's room was the exact shade of blue we painted our upstairs bathroom two years ago (a fact we did not discover until we had already started painting).
Sorry no photos of this room yet!
David and Masamo's room was halfway put together the next day with David's things put into place. I am in the process of getting a bunk bed and all other necessary items together for Masamo so that it's ready for his arrival.
Speaking of Masamo's arrival we were informed on Tuesday January 26th that we passed our Ethiopian court date and that we were officially granted custody of Masamo! His birthfather obviously made it to court and all paperwork was in order for the judge to be able to make his decision! This absolutely wonderful news was also delivered with the dark cloud that Jason and I would have to be in the country of Ethiopia on Febuary 20th (as long as Masamo tests negative for TB). This is the exact day that my brother Thom is getting married to his wonderful fiance Katherine.
It took me some time to process all of the information coming at us and for me to deal with the grief of missing my little brother's wedding but after talking to him, getting his and Katherine's blessing and working out a few details I am feeling much better about the whole situation! Plus, it will be a day to celebrate for years to come, gaining two family members on the same day!!! I can honestly say that the days are passing in a flurry as Jason and I try and make all types of arrangements and packing for this exciting, life-altering trip. There are so many things to anticipate and plan around it's almost overwhelming!
We also had another fun event in the last month, the annual Pinewood Derby at our church. We had both Ella and David participating this year. Normally with David being in kindergarten he would not be qualified to join in the derby but because he attends the Wednesday night boys activities with Jason he was allowed to enter!
Ella decided to make a mouse car this year! Here it is below!
She ended up getting sixth place in craftsmanship for the girls (getting a certificate) and I'm not even sure where she placed in speed!
David and Jason also decided to design a car centered around craftsmanship and so made David's car into a wrench! Here's his car!
David ended up in second place in craftsmanship for the boys and was thrilled to get a trophy in his first Pinewood Derby! I'm also not sure where David placed in speed but I do know that both of them did not end up in last place in that category!
I'm sure that my next post will not be until we arrive home from Ethiopia with Masamo. I apologize now for the delay that the next post will probably be but I'll make it as intersting as possible once I do post it! Here's praying for safe travel for us all! Until next time!
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