It's FINAL!!! Israel is OURS!!!!!!!!

Whew....!!!!!!!!!!! We are now the legal parents of a wonderful, gorgeous 6 year old little boy! Since being granted (finally) custody of him in late July we have had MOSTLY wonderful days! As any little child who has suffered from starvation, abuse, neglect, and horrific illness, we have had some issues to deal with but he is an amazing little guy. I want to thank our Heavenly Father for allowing us this privilege to parent him and for "Miss Debbie" who was his incredible foster mom, and "Miss Shannon" who was his second foster mom. Both of these ladies are Christians and have been used of God tremendously.

 Here we areTODAY immediately after the judged granted the adoption! To the left is our attorney...a.k.a. Mr. Wonderful, me, Becca, Roger (The REAL Mr. Wonderful!!), and in front is the judge and Little Mr. Wonderful, Israel!

                        

One of the activities of this week was making a Gingerbread house with Brody and Israel. (ok...Brody has longish hair but he IS a boy....and a wonderful little one at that!) They did such a good job sharing and getting along with each other!

                                                

This is the finished product with some of MY favorite things in my house. The old doll was given to me for my birthday by my husband this year and the top sitting next to her is my oldest son's first Christmas present! 

  

  I decided to make spelling fun last week so I surprised Israel and squirted shaving cream all over the kitchen floor! He spelled his words with his finger!! (It needed a good mopping anyway!! The floor...not his finger. But it probably benefited, too.....) He said it was the most fun he had ever had!! 

                                            
Another wonderful thing that happened to us was the gift of going to The Nutcracker! I had been trying to find reasonable tickets for us but was unable to find a time that it would be affordable. (I did find tickets at a time that would work for ......are you ready???   $75.00 each!!!! Not in our budget! The very next day, Becca ran into the kitchen and told me that homeschools were now being given the opportunity to go for free!! We jumped at the chance! Israel had a good time and so did Jennie, Becca, and myself. Israel especially enjoyed it because a little boy he has gotten to know in our homeschool classes....also from the Congo....was seated right behind us!!

Well....dear hubby and I have a DATE!!!! So......I need to run! I hope your week has been as wonderful as mine has been!
Blessings, Beth