Why Ethiopia?

First off, thank you all for your sweet words over the last couple of weeks!  You are all so encouraging! 

I have been longing for our little one lately.  So many questions flood through my mind: Is he/she born?  Well?  Loved on? On his/her way to our orphanage? Being fed and clothed? Is the next Crenshaw going to be a boy  or a girl?

I love answering questions about adoption, and our journey specifically.  It just reminds me of God's specific plan to bring our child home.  Each detail of the story was a way that God lit the path for us to walk on to go get our child!

One of the questions we are asked sometimes is "Why Ethiopia?"  That is just a part of the story that God has for us and our family.  I love this video, though...so I wanted to share it (thanks, Alison!)

Please stop and pray

Words cannot express what I have been thinking, feeling, and processing over the last few days.  We know a family, the Harrison's, who have twin baby girls (20 months old), and Evie Grace went to be with Jesus on Thursday morning.  I can't even imagine what the Harrison's are going through.  I try to...I have bent my heart to Jesus, begging Him to be so tangible to them right now as they walk through this horrific time. Even in prayer, sometimes I just can't find the words.  I know and am trusting that the Holy Spirit is interceding for them.  I am trusting in God's Word and His character.  I cannot get this sweet family off of my mind.  I think about a lot of things that are hard and painful, and I cannot wrap my little human brain around them.  One thing that has stuck out to me over the last few days is my yearning for heaven.  Oh how beautiful to see all things new.  When all promises are fulfilled.  When there is true shalom.  When there is no more sin, and we see our Savior for all that He is.  Until then, I will continue to seek God with all that I am, even when things don't make sense.

Please keep the Harrison's in your prayers...Alicia, Jonathan, and twin sister Ramsey.

Here is their family blog:  www.threedoodles.blogspot.com

Good Morning!

Oh, dear!  Olivia is definitely my early riser.  She has woken up at 4:30 for the day many times.  We don't let her get up then, but she can read or play quietly in her room or the playroom when we know she really isn't going to go back to sleep.  I also love early mornings, so usually I am up reading, and she is doing something in another room until breakfast time.

Well, this particular morning, I come around the corner and this is how I found her:

Oh, I hope the details show up on this, but this is not my computer, so I had to get the picture on in a different way.  Anyway, she was wearing a purple princess crown that she made on her 3rd bday, pink and black butterfly wings, a sleeveless blue princess velour top, a random dress up skirt, pink camo slippers,  and a clear backpack as a "purse" with TONS of jewelry in it.  I turned the corner, and she just looked at me so normally, and said, "Hi."  What?  It is 5:30 am.  LOVE THIS KID!  She keeps me rollin!

My precious girl!

My sweet littlest girl got her first haircut!!  I have actually been begging for this for a long time, because the poor thing has had quite the mullet.  Her daddy wanted to let it grow to see if it would get past that awkward stage.  Well, it did grow out...but it was still a mullet...just a longer one.  Nice.

He finally caved and let me take her to get it cut, and it is so precious!  He even agreed!  Here are some pics: before, during, and after.  Excuse the quality, they were the only ones I had! :)

see:  a long mullet.  Business in the front, party in the back, as they would say (whoever "they" are!).  Sorry, Elle.  And, yes, that is me trying to back away to avoid any picture that day!

Sweet Monica (cutting her hair)!  When I got there, I told her she was cutting Eliana's hair today and she said, "I'm so excited!"  My response: "I am glad YOU are!"  

Anyone who knows my sweet girl knows she loves to say "NO!" to anything and everything.  I knew this would be a battle.  Sure enough, I take a couple of steps towards Monica's chair, and she starts in: "No, Mommy, No, Mommy, No!!!!!"  The screaming begins!

Anyone who knows my sweet girl knows her love of sweets.  Monica gave her a candy cane, and won her over.  She ended up doing great!  

Here she is right after the haircut:

You can't tell a lot from the picture, but it is adorable!

Bye-Bye, Mullet!

December #'s!

We got our December numbers from our agency this week!

Here they are!

Girls list: 69

Boys list: 47

Siblings: 34

In honor of the last day of November...

I am going to post our November numbers!!  Ha!  (We get them in the beginning of the month...) For anyone who is keeping up, maybe this will just make you extra-excited because it will look like we jumped a lot in just one week! :)

So, here you go:
On the girls list we are 75
On the boys list we are 48
On the siblings list we are 41

This has been such a sweet journey for us this far, and I am so thankful that the Lord has led us here...on a journey to pick up the newest little Crenshaw in Ethiopia.  We pray for protection so often, and just wonder what he/she is doing right now.  As we sit around the Christmas tree reading a verse for the Advent season, is he/she being read to?  As we kiss our kids goodnight and snuggle with them while we read, is he/she being cuddled and rocked?  As we eat and talk around the dinner table each night, is he/she getting regular meals?  We think about him/her all the time...and we can't wait to go to Ethiopia!!!


Here are some things from the last month...

Eliana turned TWO!  I still can't believe it!  She wanted a Minnie Mouse birthday party, so we had a little family get together at the park.  Here she is opening presents and then her Minnie Mouse birthday cake!







I am on a different computer tonight, so I can't figure out how to get these pictures positioned right!


We headed to Knoxville  a few weeks ago to see family and take Austin to his first UT football game!  It was awesome!  Here is a picture of all the cousins, and then us at the game!



(LOVE those sweet nephews!)






The next weekend we headed to Newbern to have an early Thanksgiving!  We had a great time at Mema's and then Aunt Blair hosted us for Thanksgiving dinner!

Here is a picture of Aunt Blair and Baby Joey (!!!) with our girls:






We had a great Thanksgiving in Memphis, and my grandmother, aunt, uncle and cousins all came up from AL.  I have no idea why I don't have any pictures, but it was a sweet time!

We closed the weekend with some Christmas decorating!  Here are the kids in front of the tree:






 Shew!  How is that for a November recap!?!   I will post our numbers in a few days when we get them!! :)



                                        

New numbers

It has been a while since we got these numbers, but I have been terrible at keeping up on here.
So...OCTOBER NUMBERS:

Girl list: 84
Boy list: 60
Siblings list: 51

I am so thankful so many referrals have gone out!  It seems like now that the courts have opened back up, there has been a lot of movement!  More kiddos going to their forever families!  :)

Here is a picture of my sweet Eliana thinking that she is as big as her brother and sister (don't worry...she was only pretending...I don't really let her ride in a booster!)

And, they opened up a "Greenline" in Memphis!  It is awesome!  A paved path for bikers, runners, walkers, etc...all through the city of Memphis.  One of the entrances is in our neighborhood, so we enjoyed that with Nana, Pa, Uncle C, Aunt K,  and the cousins last weekend! :