History happened

I just had to include this picture of Stephanie's grandpa, after 67
years of playing cribbage, finally got his first 29 hand. To those who
don't play cribbage or understand the significance, sorry, but to
those who do, it was an amazing feat to witness and on Christmas, as
well!!!

A first time for everything

One fun thing about having an adopted daughter is their is always a first
time for almost everything. I was so thankful to get home in time for the
Rhoda's first foray into the snow. And she handled it like a champ... It
was a busy hour of both videoing and photographing my family as they dove
into the snow, literally. Thought I would share a picture of my
videoing... I am putting together a sweet video of my kids in this suprise
pre-thanksgiving snow in next couple days, so stay tuned!

Our time at the beach

A trip to the pumpkin farm

Great to be back home and visiting the pumpkin farm!

7 years of beauty

Thought I would include Julia's birthday present from her grandparents
and a really cute picture from our trip to England.

Sesame Street:Song: I Love My Hair

My mother in law saw this and showed it to me... Perfect for Rhoda to watch in the midst of a family of blond ladies... Maybe you know someone who would like to see it to.

More cuteness

Just having some easy, quick, painless fun with Picasa... Unfortunately, I
don't have any of the other girls with Jo...:(

A decade of beauty

One more picture of the oldest and youngest Allens...

Fun with google picasa

I love when our girls play together... Here is one such snapshot...

JoJoJoJo

Jo Jo. Wow. What a character. She is an incredible young girl... My wife is
probably going to kill me when she sees this picture of herself on the blog,
but I just wanted you to get the perspective of me, sitting with some
friends of ours, and watching Jo-Jo in the background playing with a little
girl who was sitting nearby... I think this was the first time I have ever
really seen her play with a stranger on her own accord... So cute. Wish I
had it on video.

Happy Birthday, Julia!

Our BABY for five years who is now the middle child turned 7 today... Every
day this miracle child who could/should have died before and at birth, is
alive and joy to our lives... HAPPY BIRTHDAY JUJU!!!

Studenting

Rhoda has joined the homeschooling crowd. (If three is a crowd, what is
four?) Anyway, she is working in this picture to get done with her letters
so she could eat lunch:)

Bray turns 9!

Just wanted to share a few pics of our birthday bash with Brady. She has
entered her last year of single digits and the age is bringing with it a
beautiful maturity. She is a real sweetheart. We had a great day as a fam
on her birthday, including a special lunch with just Mommy and Daddy, and
then had 14 little girls over to watch a movie and eat pizza the next day!

Just two of my beauties

pajama buddies

Words only detract from the cuteness... So, I will leave this pictures
alone:)

When one is not enough

1, 2, 3, 4, and uh, 5?

Who needs where's Waldo when you have Where's Jo-Jo!??!

You see her?

Julia Philosophy

Mommy combing Julia’s hair

 

Julia:  “Mom, why do I say ‘ow’ when you comb my hair, but I don’t say ‘ow’ when other people comb my hair.

 

Mom:  “I don’t know Julia.”

 

Julia:  “Is it cuz they aren’t part of the family so they do it gentlier?”

 

 

Monkey cuteness

Jo-Jo is sporting the spoil from her second birthday. You gotta love this
little monkey sweatshirt and the little girl inside it!

Thought I would make your day again

I love this picture

You are welcome for making your day! I love this picture so much!

Our little (big) birthday girl!

It seems pretty much impossible that our baby is now 2 years old! We had a
fun party with the AZ team and the Northlake short term team.

Despite her only being 2, Jo-Jo is holding her own amidst four other sister.
She is an amazing young lady, who is a fearless adventurer and a wonderful
snuggler. She is so sweet when she prays and tiresome as she discovers
endless things to break, misplace or destroy. Through it all, we love our
little Jo and couldn't imagine life without her!

Happy Birthday, Johanna Jae!

(The picture of Jo in the upper left is her entering the rabbit cage! We
didn't take a picture of her in the chicken cage!)

Hair's a picture for you...

Our girls got a haircut courtesy of our friend, Nathanja. Julia got the
most cut off and it is pretty cute...

Horse Show

The girls had a horse show the other day, kind of recital+games for weekly
riders. It was really fun to watch the girls on the horses... A great way to
spend a Saturday morning!

Farmin'

On Kamryn's birthday, there was a farm field trip planned for all the
homeschool families in Lusaka. So, it became her birthday activity. It was a
great day of watching corn be harvested, as they rode on a combine, watched
it get dumped into a truck and then had fun "swimming" in the maize. The
highlight though had to be the thoughtfulness of the directors of the farm
to make a cake for Kamryn and then for all the homeschoolers to sing to
her!s

Hair Days

Still a skill we need to learn. Until then, we get helpers!

A face only a mother could love!

Three pretty ladies

Kamryn's Birthday

Kamryn and Mommy planned an awesome 11th birthday for Kamryn, a beauty salon
in Lusaka. There was nails polishing, feet washing, hair styling and lots of
good food and dancing and laughter! Probably the best birthday ever done in
Zambia:)

Quotable Rhoda

Another anecdote from Stephanie
Rhoda:
It is snack time and I had made a snack for Rhoda and asked her to sit out
on the patio to eat it. She comes back in and tells me that it's too hot
out there. I said, "But, Rhoda, you're an African, you're supposed to be
okay with the heat." She said, "No mom, member the 'doption. I'm not an
African anymore."

Quotable Julia

Stephanie writing:
The girls are getting ready for bed and Steve is with them, and I'm grabbing
my daily 5 minutes on the computer to check email. Julia comes in and says,
"Mom, what is it more important? Being on the computer or kissing us
goodnight?"

Kickin' it at the dinner table

Classic Jo-Jo!

Daddy and his Daughter

We got chickens!

We have chickens, 4 of them... More pics later, but just had to tell you! 

Just when you think she can't get any cuter...

Her bags are packed...

Not sure where she is going, but something (or somewhere) spurred Rhoda as
she found two bags and proceeded to play "walk around the house with two
bags on" game.

a new friend

Thought this was a cute picture of Jamie walking with Rhoda...

A few days to remember

As it is custom when we have a visiting friend/pastor/speaker, we like to
put them to work doing lots of ministry (when Jamie is finished, he will
have spoken at two churches, a conference and a week at our bible school).
But, we also like to give them an opportunity to see a bit of Zambia. So, we
took Jamie and his two kids down to Livingstone for a little culturation!
We had a pretty amazing time. I am not sure even where to begin. We prayed
the first day of our time there that we would see a Rhino. And we did. An
amazing story of following a safari jeep, a guard meeting us and walking us
into the bush with his AK-47, and there, right in front of us, was the
biggest Rhino I have ever seen or dreamed of seeing... It was huge. These
guard have walked with the Rhino for 16 years, protecting humans from the
Rhino and the Rhino from poachers. We had an amazing sunset that evening. I
thought this was a sweet picture of Kamryn. We had cokes on the Zambezi at a
five star hotel (Only $2.50 a coke... Kamryn complained about the price,
until we told her that we are paying not just for the cokes but the scenery
and the zebras that roamed freely in the hotel grass!) The next day we went
to Botswana for another safari. We saw just about everything you would
dream of seeing, including two lions, just feet away from us, resting and
digesting after just killing and eating a huge Kudu. We saw Elephants and
Giraffes and I saw a Cape Buffalo which finished off my BIG 5!!!! (Elephant,
Lion, Leopard, Buffalo and Rhino!) Never dreamed I would ever see these
animals...

The best quote of the day was Brady after seeing incredible animals, witnessing the power of Victoria Falls, and watching the sun come down over the Zambezi, when talking to my wife over the phone, the first out of her mouth, "Mom, we ate lunch at 2:30!"

It was an encouraging week, dampened only by the fact that Stephanie and Rhoda and JoJo couldn't come. (Rhoda's passport still isn't ready!) So, Steph stayed back and we missed
them. Anyway, don't mean to rub it in, but thought you might like to hear
about it all...