Happy birthday Micah!!

One of the fun things about adopting older kids is helping them celebrate their first birthday. Obviously, Micah has had many birthdays to get as old as he is, but he's never been able to celebrate them. We had a wonderful day..All of his siblings went to the dollar store to purchase him a gift, so he had plenty of things to open. Everyone made him cards telling him how much they loved him...oh what fun it was to watch everyone LOVE on Micah for a few hours. He beamed from ear to ear most of the time, especially when he got to blow out his candles on the cake...We heard him proclaim, "You I LIKE!" as he took his first bite..

I love being a Mom, it is the best job in the world. I love being a Mom who gets to make kids feel special- kids born of my womb and kids born of another's womb. To me it doesn't matter and I think it's mattering less and less to those that God has placed in our home. Happy Birthday Micah! I am so thankful that Daddy met you last June and used you to get us to go back to Ethiopia to bring you all home. Your smile lights up the house. Your enthusiasm for life is contagious.

On another note- some dear friends that we met in August are heading back to Ethiopia in two weeks to bring home their second son- you see, they adopted their first son and found out that he had a very dear friend, a best friend, in Ethiopia who didn't have a family yet. I was there the day these two boys had to say good-bye to each other- it was one of the hardest things I've ever watched (reminded me of when we left with Gavin last year and his best friend was so very sad). When the Hammons got home, this other little boy was on their hearts and on their son's. They just accepted his referral and will be going to ET for court VERY SOON~~ the speed of all of this could make your head spin, but God knew. He knew that he could use their sweet son to bring yet another child home. Please hop on over to their blog and follow their story...better yet, help them out, this weekend, as they are doing some FUNdraising to bring him home. You might win an i-pad while helping a sweet, sweet boy find a forever family!! Just click on the light grey words, Hammons House and it will take you right there. Hammons House

I've seen over and over how God uses children to do what HE knows is important- caring for the orphan...God used Micah a year ago to open our hearts to having more kids. He then used our kids at home to ask Mike and I to consider adopting again. He used sweet Tariku to get his family to go get his friend. Do you see the smile on Micah's face in these pictures? He is loved, he is safe, he has a hope and future-EVERY child deserves this. Please consider bringing another child into your home- really, in life, nothing else matters..not until all 147 million orphans have a home. 147 million kids who are like my Micah, waiting, hoping and praying for a family to decide to come and get them.