Nine Years

Nine years ago today, the Lord blessed our family with two sons! The God who knows every hair on our head, and every thought before we think it, had a plan for two precious little boys thousands of miles away. Before we even saw their first pictures, or knew their names, our hearts were already inexplicably interwoven with theirs. Then, when we first saw these initial pictures of a sweet dimpled grin and rosy soft cheeks, we knew we would never be the same.

Several months later, and thousands of prayers later, we held these precious treasures in our arms for the first time. The enormous weight of first time parenting combined with all the uncertainties of attachment and language barriers brought us to our knees even more than before. 

Today we were able to celebrate this special anniversary with our boys by taking them out to eat dinner at a local Ethiopian restaurant. It is their favorite place to eat. The owners are beyond kind, and although it has been two years since we have visited that particular restaurant, the owners remembered us and all came over to welcome us back and treat the boys like celebrities! :) They love that the boys still adore the foods of their cultural heritage.

Luke and Ben even got to enjoy some traditional Ethiopian coffee! I don't know if they loved the coffee....or just the idea that they were allowed to drink such strong coffee so late in the evening!

Still, now nine years later, we are still learning what it means to parent and nurture these gifts, Luke and Ben. We are far from perfect. We rely on God's grace and model of how He loves us as his children, adopted into His family. Thank you Lord for the gift of our sons Luke Mirtus and Benjamin Mihereteb nine years ago today!

Eight years!

Eight years ago the Lord started us on an amazing journey as a family. He brought two amazing sons into our home.

 

Happy eight year anniversary to us sweet boys!

Happy Thanksgiving 2015!

Happy Thanksgiving 2015 from the Morgan Family! Thank you Lord for the many blessings you have given to us, the giver of good and perfect gifts!

Toby

I just wanted to take a moment to share a sweet story. If you've known our family for even a short while, you know our heart for adoption.  In 2007 we began our overwhelming and sometimes incredibly stressful step of faith to bring two young sons into our family. Adoption is one of the most beautiful pictures of the gospel this side of Heaven. In 2013 my sister Reagan and her husband Adam added precious Danny from Ukraine into their family!

Now, our extended family is growing again. This time my sister Kameron and her husband Josh are adding to their family! You can learn about Toby from the Ukraine here. 

This is huge step for their family. They have an enormous amount of paperwork to complete and funds to raise. There is a particular sense of urgency right now to bring Toby home as quickly as possible. Right now he is living in a home for special needs children. He will soon be moved to an orphanage intended to toughen him up for life on the streets. This sweet boy does not even know yet that he has a family praying for him and loving him already!

Their adoption blog linked to above lists several ways in which you can help them bring Toby home. They have several fundraisers going on, and links to sites in which to donate towards their costs. Above all, please join our family and commit to praying for Toby!

7 Year Anniversary!

Last week Jeff and I were able to take the boys out to celebrate our anniversary. Our tradition is to celebrate with Ethiopian food to recognize their birth heritage. We love to take the whole family but this year we were grateful for a babysitter for the youngest four. It was quite a treat to have just the four of us together.

Ethiopian food is delicious! Luke and Ben both love the entire experience and so do we. It is always fun to interact with the staff of the restaurant as well. They are always so loving, kind, and excited to see the boys!

Look at all this amazing food! We love sharing and celebrating our oldest sons' birth heritage!

Seven years ago we became parents!

Seven years ago today, Jeff and I became parents! It seems like just yesterday that we held these two in our arms for the first time!

 

 Luke on our first day together.

 

 Four months later!

 Luke- age 8!

  

Ben on our first day together.

 

 Four months later!

 

 Ben- age 8!

Thank you Lord, the giver of all good gifts, for these two precious sons!

A week of celebration!

Six years ago, on April 7th, God brought our first two sons into our family. The memories of those first few days as a family are still so fresh in my mind. We were so overwhelmed by the awesome responsibility we had been given to parent and love these two sons. There was no newborn stage to deal with, but we jumped feet first into toddler-hood with two new little ones who were already busy and active and on the move!

God continues to teach us so much through both of our oldest sons. They, like all of our children, are a joy and a challenge!

God's precious plan to start our family with the adoption of Luke and Ben has continued to bless not only us as their parents, but each new younger sibling that comes to our family as well.

In the past, our family has celebrated this special adoption anniversary by going out to dinner at a local Ethiopian restaurant. If you are not familiar with Ethiopian cuisine, it is wonderful, and something we truly look forward to enjoying. However, a normal meal takes between two and three hours. There is nothing quick about this meal at all! So, this year, for the sake of preventing melt downs of younger siblings who don't have the attention span for a three hour meal, we chose some other ways to celebrate as a family all week long! It was also our last week before Jeff went back to work and we go back into school full time since Isaac's arrival. We decided to celebrate and have fun as a family all week long with some special outings.

We started the week out with a visit to one of our favorite local parks with a carousel and train ride!

 

Then on Friday we loaded up the car and headed to the NC Zoo!

Then, Jeff took Luke, Ben and Jacob to Ben's belated bday present, the Monster Truck Jam!

As you can see, it has been a busy week, enjoying time together! Thank you Lord for your unique design of our family!