Labor Day Weekend

Just a quick recap of our Labor Day weekend...We had tons of fun with family and friends who traveled many hours to come and see us - OK, they really came to see/meet Grace! Luckily, Grace was in a great mood all weekend and had a ton of fun hanging out with wonderful friends and special family members who she had the pleasure of meeting.

Just hanging out and waiting for our friends to come.

It didn't take long, and Mr. Bruce was a good enough friend to play with Grace on the swing set. Our friends came from Minneapolis - we don't see each other as often as we would like, but when we get together, we have the best time!

Two cute little girls...

The kids got to do a little fishing. Our boys love to go "fishing" with their dad - we use the term very loosely- they can fish in a puddle and think it is a great time.

Grace got to experience her first hotel swimming pool. Of course, she LOVED it! One funny comment at the pool...(keep in mind we do not live in the most diverse community)...an older lady came up to me in the pool area and said, "is that your little girl -insert long pause-in the pink swimming suit? She is so cute..." I laughed to myself because I know what she was thinking - is that little black girl yours? She was being nice and paying Grace a compliment, but it was just sort of funny. It is funny how I forget that we don't "match" when we are out in public. The first few days that we were home with Grace and we started to go places, I was much more conscious of it. Now, I just sort of forget until someone makes a little comment or smiles at us in an unusual way. Most people are super nice about it...one little girl at the mall today came over to Grace and touched her with a quizzical look...her mom was super embarrassed...

We had a ton of fun with our Minnesota friends. Thanks for a great visit!!!!


On Sunday, we were blessed with a visit from our relatives from Omaha, NE. They are the sweetest people you could ever meet. They are so sweet that when they heard that Grace was out of injera, they made a trip to an African market in Omaha to bring her a boatload of injera! What a great first impression they made on Grace. She was smitten with them from the start!

Grace has so many hidden talents that we are discovering. One of her talents is playing marbles with great aim and accuracy. Is it possible that she played a game like this in Ethiopia?

Playing marbles with Uncle Tex

What a sweet big brother!

Drew and Uncle Tex share a love of the New York Yankees - especially #25...Tex's nephew Mark Teixeira plays for the Yankees!

Aunt Shari knows just what she is doing. She brings a box of candy for each child every time she visits. Injera and candy...Grace was so fond of her new found relatives...

We couldn't have asked for a better Labor Day weekend. We even had time to do a few fun things today. The boys went fishing and the girls headed to the mall. To top off the night, we went to Bryce's baseball game.

We are so thankful for all of our family and friends this Labor Day weekend...we are truly blessed!