McKees' in Ethiopia

Just a quick update to let you know that we received word around lunchtime today that Paul and Stacey arrived in Ethiopia. They were headed to meet the children shortly thereafter. We'll provide more info as we get it.

Thank you

It's very early Sunday morning. The plane leaves this afternoon. Before we take off, I want to say a few public "thank you"s.

Thank you to all who have helped put our house back together...especially Jim and Robin (my parents), Wes and Shellee, Kevin, James, Shirley (Paul's mom).

Thanks to all the girls (Corey, Deneise, Emily, Leigh, Kelly and Shellee) for the wonderful surprise shower. I am overwhelmed by your generosity.

Thank you, Tracy, for all the clothes and travel goodies. Thanks for spending countless hours on the phone with me over the past ten months listening to all my agonies. Thank you for sharing my sorrows and my joys.

Thank you, Deneise, for the very first adoption gift...the photo frames. You have blessed me so many times with your thoughtfulness. Thanks for doing my shopping, the travel bags, and all the cute clothes. Thanks for stepping in and taking up my slack in SS.

Thanks to all who will be loving on and taking care of my boys while we're away...especially Shirley.

Thank to all who have lifted us and covered us in prayer...our LifeGroup, our family, our friends.

Thank you, Lord, for the journey of this past year. Thank you for the joy, the pain, the agony, and the celebration. Thank you for blessing us with these children. Thank you for your abundant grace that has been sufficient through everything.

I'll see you all when we return!

Love,
Stacey

It's official

We are now the proud parents of two more children. Our adoption passed court on Oct 20. We get to pick them up Nov 9th.



Here they are... Gebriel Nahom McKee(age 2) and Abrihet Nardos McKee (age 4)

It's a whirlwind of activity...travel, immigration documents, arrangements for the boys, and throw in a little more remodeling!

We couldn't be happier!!!!

Construction update

I've had many requests for updates on the house. So here are some before and after (or somewhere in between) photos.

kitchen before

kitchen before

kitchen after

kitchen after

living room before

living room before
living room after

This is the last e-mail photo we sent to Abrihet Nardos and Gebriel Nahom. It shows what the exterior looks like currently. It still needs to be painted and rock added. But it's getting closer!

Shoppers

My mom came up at the end of September to take Kellen on a train ride over in east Texas. The day before she decided to take Hayden and Preston on a shopping spree. They headed off to Old Navy and had a blast. This was one of their favorite purchases.

Cheap labor

There has been a huge pile of lumbar in the back yard since February. And when I say back yard I don't mean just somewhere out on the three acres. I mean 10 feet off the back porch and right in front of the steps onto the deck. Besides the fact that it was huge and unsightly, it gave me the heebie-jeebies everytime I walked by it because I was sure it was a large multi-family dwelling for snakes. Hayden and Preston have been wanting DS's for quite a long time but I refused to buy yet one more gaming media. So they have been saving up. Preston already had enough but Hayden was still short $22. He came to me the other day and asked if I had any jobs he could do to earn some more money. He was super pleased to find out that I had just such a job and it would pay exactly $22! Preston and Kellen both wanted a job also, so we struck a deal and the work began.

I am so proud of these boys. (Kellen quit after a few trips. He decided he could be content with just a Wii, Gamecube, and Gameboy.) To be quite honest, I didn't expect them to be able to finish it. But they were so determined. It took two days and they never asked for any help!

Most importantly of all....two DS's came in the mail on Friday!!! Their first taste of the American Dream!

What to do when it rains

Rain is not very good for construction projects. We've had quite a bit of it lately which has caused no small amount of anxiety. However one day as the rain was coming down, Paul said, "Enough. I'm just going to enjoy it." So this is what ensued. A trampoline party!

Who do you think was having the most fun! I just love that guy!