Rain,rain,rain!

It's raining in Knoxville today! It was pouring rain today when Madison came home from a friends house and decided she wanted to stand in the rain! And of course, we couldn't let her stand out there by herself so we sent everyone outside for a party in the rain in their pajamas! FUN! It was so fun, but so wet! Madison, was of course, out going, and plunged right into the rain! Matthew liked standing in it with a towel and then running through it, Nate, was adventurous and ran up and down the street in it! and Kiya was timid and scared at first, but as soon as he knew it was okay for his pajamas to get wet, he loved it too! Rain is always fun to play in! but especially in your pj's!  

                                                                Madison and Kiya in the rain!
Madison, sitting in the rain! In her pajamas! In the front yard!Matthew, Madison. Nate, and Kiya standing in the rain with pajamas on! 


Madison and Nate laying in a puddle of cold, wet rain! In their pajamas!!!!

       This is Kiya laying down in a BIG puddle in the cold rain! Madison and Nate are watching in amazment. :)

  

God Makes The Front Page!!!!

Only God could 'move mountains' to get the headline on the front page of our hometown newspaper, The Knoxville News-Sentinel! This article ran on the top of the front page of our Sunday edition with the large quote at the top: "We serve an amazing God." WOW! Go, God, go! May He continue to get ALL the glory for anything good that comes out of our journey!

You can read the article here:
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2009/aug/23/ut-athletic-director-tells-how-he-and-his-wife-wer/

Also look for the slide show on the same website for some more pics of our trip and our time since we've returned.

Lastly, please pray as I will be returning to Ethiopia Sept 13-18 to bring our sweet McKinley Kalu home at last. I am excited that my sister will be travelling with me. Pray for safety, health and sleep on the long flight! Also, we will be meeting our children's birth grandmother...we are so thankful to meet her and hope to be able to learn more of our children's heritage for them to know someday.

Thank you all for your continued support and prayers. The steps of our journey have not all been easy...but the challenges are definitely worth it and we know we are on the exact path God has called us to. He is growing and stretching and blessing us in so many ways.

Madison directs Kiya Isaiah in his debut motion picture

Madison made this great video of Kiya Isaiah the past few days and we thought it was really cute! If nothing else we are having fun around here! 

P.S. Madison says..."Enjoy! And after it says THE END...keep watching!"

New Bedtime Routine to the sounds of TobyMac!!

We may have begun a new Hamilton boys' bedtime routine tonight...to the rockin' sounds of TobyMac! If you have 3 minutes to spare, you might enjoy the awesome moves of these three guys...Hilarious! (I'm also hoping it will wear them out a bit to help them sleep just a little later in the morning...hee!hee!)

The Beach...continued

We are home now and wanted to share a few more pictures from our beach trip. We had a wonderful, fun week at Rosemary but we are so glad to be home!!  School starts in two weeks...so we hope to enjoy the last 'carefree' days and then get settled in to whatever our 'new normal' looks like.  We'll keep you posted on that one! :) 

Here is our beautiful princess!  Wasn't she four just yesterday?

 And our serious fisherman...nothing but nibbles! But he sure did look handsome trying!

Another handsome boy.  This one LOVED the ocean.  

The 'baby' beach boy...not a serious bone in his body! What a face!

Long-time beach buds...Christian and Matt.

Wow!  Two beauties!  Where did our baby girls go?

The Hamilton Family...for now

We debated whether or not to take these photos since our sweet Kalu is not with us...thus our family is not complete.  However, since this is the boys' first beach trip, we decided it was worth documenting in this way.  We will, of course, have another photo session when she arrives...or photoshop her in! :)  

Wow...hard to believe it is reality...but here it is in FULL color...we are a FAMILY!  There are many more to share...but here's a few for now! 

Now that we have seen...

Wanted to share this powerful video from a dear friends blog.  God is at work all over the world...in Africa, in Peru, in Haiti, and in our great United States of America...even right next door or sitting in the pew beside you. He calls His people to be involved.  All to pray.  Some to give. Some to go.  Some to bring home babies. We each have the PRIVILEGE to use the gifts He has given us to love the least of these. What seed of adventure has He planted in your heart to love the broken? It is NOT easy.  But if you are called...it is MOST definitely worth it!