Walle

We went to the movie the other day. It is really cute, the kids love this little clip of the curious little robot.

I DO!

Are we dreaming!!

How could 13 years of passed so quickly?

We celebrated our anniversary last night with a wonderful date and the time spent together alone was so valuable!

We reflected on things God has taught us together over the years, places He has taken us, and things we've done. We both agreed that we have a lot of growing to do.

I don't think you ever stop learning how to be married! I am soooo thankful for Tanya and the person God has made her. She is the most AMAZING wife/mother/friend! I thank God for her everyday!

Layne

Finally Finalized!

We had our court date today at 1:30. It went really well. We were a little early getting there so took some pictures. Then Grandpa showed up-What a blessing from God. Shortly after our lawyer showed up. She informed us that the judge wanted us to testify on the stand about how children are decreed orphans in Ethiopia. He allowed us to both testify. Most of the questions were yes or no, but she asked Tanya, "Tell me about your trip to Ethiopia to meet your sons."
Needless to say the tears were flowing, Tanya grabbed the Kleenex box and answered the question. The judge was great and I loved hearing him say that "Layne and Tanya are deemed the legal parents of Levi Geremu Henn and Jesse Habtamu Henn."
We were so glad that Wally could be there because Levi and Jesse were up with us in the area in front of the bench, but Kaylee, Isaac and Erin had to sit in the audience area. They were able to sit with Bompa, Isaac took some video, but I haven't seen how it came out yet :)
I took the rest of the afternoon off and we went to Minerva's (fancy restaurant) for a late lunch celebration (it was about 2:30). The kids were sooooo good and soooooooo hungry! Levi at a whole 10" pizza, Erin ate a huge grilled cheese sandwich on Texas Toast! We went home and napped- Jesse fell asleep before we got out of Minerva's parking lot.
After naps, we went swimming at Cook Pool, then came home and watched movies on airbeds!
What a wonderful day!
Psalm 118:24 This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

I Can Do All Things Through Christ Who Strengthens Me!

My cousin posted this to a family blog we have and it brought tears to my eyes. I thought I would share it with those of you who read our blog. May it be and encouragement to you.

July 7th was 1 year Anniversary

On 7/7/07 the became a family of 7!
What an exciting year it has been.
We snapped a picture of the kids all together at church on Sunday.
There is so much more that we want to write about. Hopefully, this will be a 2-3 part post. However, it is VERY late, so off to bed I go!

Home Improvement

We're trying to expand our house and make our porch more usable.
First step was All-season windows, next was an all weather door.
Now we are changing the way you get into the room and putting in french doors to the dining room.
It's really jazzing this place up!

Radish Harvest

We have our first harvests from the garden, radishes! They are plump and beautiful. Too bad nobody in our family is a big radish lover, but the kids LOVE to grow them. We have little green balls on our tomato plants. Our jalepenos are looking a little ragged, but the cantaloupe is flourishing.

pics from chicago trip

Here's some pics from our weekend trek (as promised). The shady ones are from a downtown park with fountains in Chicago. The boys met up with the girls right after they finished their shopping at American Girl. Needless to say, they were a bit delayed after getting an "unplanned" bus tour of the city :)
We ate a lunch (that the MEN packed and brought) The girls were way hungry. We then proceeded to the Taste of Chicago (big waste of time, don't do it with kids, especially on a 90 degree day, 100%humidity) The best part was Isaac coming out of the spot a pot screaming "DAD, you gotta see those things!! they have their own washing system for your hands where you pump with your feet and the water trickles out!!) Levi was baffled by the BLUE water in the bottom and why we couldn't flush away the big piles! We spent $22 on some tickets for 3.5 oz of frozen gelatin/yogurt. Oh, did we mention we didn't bring enough water for eleven people and a baby. The $5 water bottle was rationed very sparingly!! We ended our city time by walking another 12 blocks back to the train station. The lines for the busses were INSANE and getting all of us on one bus with our ginormous strollers was too much to ask. We needed our OWN bus!

The picture in the racecar was from the Downer's Grove Heritage Festival on Sun. This was a homerun! It even rained, but the kids didn't care!

Where ever we go, we seem to be a bit of a conversation piece. It is fun though, because we get to talk about Christ and the reasons behind our family. For example, at McDonalds on Sat., a woman asked us if we had a daycare! The conversation started there but continued towards adoption and why we adopted from Ethiopia. What a blessing our kids are!! What a testament of Gods grace and the joy He brings!