Now I am officially in trouble!!!!!!!

Lucas started to crawl and with vengeance. He was waiting until he knew he could give it his all!!!!!!!
So now there are 2 crawling around here at the speed of light.
And I swear they talk to each other and plan on how to maneuver so that its
physically impossible for me to get them both. I am thinking it has to look
hysterical me chasing them around and them both laughing.

I will hopefully have some fun xmas videos out here soon.

The Gift

What Christmas means to our family is all about the ultimate gift.
And being Christian that ultimate gift was the birth of Jesus.
God gave his only son. Nothing can or ever will come close
To the gift of ones child. Bottom line it’s the reason Christians celebrate
Christmas. The gift of a son to the entire world.

So this Christmas means that much more to me. Because
this Christmas we were given 2 of the most precious gifts . Two gifts
that have brought so much joy into this home that its bursting
At the seams. Our gifts will last a life time. Our gifts bring never ending
Joy, fun, excitement and adventure.
Our gifts were given by a beautiful young Ethiopian woman. Someone so
Selfless so kind and so amazing. She gave us the ultimate most precious
Gift one could give. She not only brought indescribably joy to me Tom and Zac
she brought joy to so many others.

I think about her always, every time I look into Jackson’s eyes and every time I see Lucas smile. This Christmas no matter what joy I am feeling my thoughts will constantly be with that wonderful mother far away from here yet right here in our hearts. One of the Most important and meaningful moments of my life was meeting her. And the best part is I get to share that meeting with my wonderful sons.

I want her to know how healthy her boys are. I want her to know how happy they are and how much fun they are to be with. I wish I could share every minute of their lives with her. Her selfless act came with so much pain. Pain that I pray I never know. For one to love their children so much that they would make the choice she made

This Christmas I would love for all my family and friends to please say a special
prayer for our extended family in Ethiopia. Pray for their health and happiness.
For all of you that are a part of Jackson and Lucas’ life remember their family back in Ethiopia and keep them in your prayers.

Every year I cannot wait to give presents and yes get presents too I will admit it
I love everything about Christmas. The lights, music, family, food everything that goes with it. But thanks to our wonderful little boys Lucas and Jackson and the gift we were given It really brings me back to why Christmas is so special. And that it all started with a gift
Of a son.

I want to thank all of you for everything you have done for us, the support the friendship, helping us with the babies. We are so blessed and could not have done this without family and friends. We love all of you so much!!!!!

Merry Christmas to all of you out there in Blog land.

Another news flash!!!!!!

Jackson has his first tooth!!!!!!!!!!
Lucas is now working on his second....

ya hoo

Here is another video of Jackson laughing

I wish I had some of Lucas but his laugh is quiet and tiny.
but he does laugh its just hard to get it on video

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Another little slide show.

Here are some photos of the boys in their santa hats and our court day.
Wish we had pictures of the party afterwards but it was a little hectic
so this is what we have folks...

The one of my brother donny signing papers is him doing his football picks while
we waited for the judge to come out. He is trying to look official.
He cracks me up..

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ITS OFFICIAL!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here we are with the judge. She was so much fun and really sweet to us.

Uncle Donny, Grandpa Garner and Nana (nancy) and my mom were all there with us.Not everyone could make it but they came over tonight to celebrate.
The Judge said it was official and everyone started clapping. And of course I start crying. It was just a really fun day and a very happy day.

Tom and I are so honored we get to be parents to these 2 little stinkers.

Santas little helpers.

Thank you for coming to play with us today Nana and for taking the cute picture

NEWS FLASH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lucas has his first tooth!!!!!!!!!!!!
this would explain why he has been so fussy.

And Jackson well he is all over the house.
He crawls all over. Last nite went to make their bottles
and i look down and he was crawling aroudn the corner he followed me
into the kitchen.

Since we are snowed in and the boys finally fell asleep i am playing with the blog tonight. I know we add music to all of these but we like music in the family and it just makes the videos so funny besides I need something to do other than change diapers tonight :)

Here the boys are in Jacksons crib they had both just got up from a nap.
Lucas has been very fussy lately. Hoping its a phase. He either cries or
throws a fit about everything. Jackson was doing that about a month ago but
has been a perfect little saint lately. Other than trying to eat magazines and plants. So I am hoping Lucas will be out of this little phase soon and on to
a bigger and better one.

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They love bath time. They do end up fighting over everything in the tub.
Sorry about the background talking and Tom dumping water out of a cup. They will smile at tom doing that for ever.

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Great grandma Bernice came to see us!!!

Here is a picture of the boys with Great Grandma Bernice. Thank you for coming to see us!! We love you

Boys have been keeping me a bit busy lately. I dont know how my forum friend
Cindy with the triplets does it. GOD BLESS HER!!!!!!!!!!

Here are some new photos.

The boys with my friend Becky and her 2 girls. Breanna and Sierra. We had so much fun that nite. The girls were really good with Jackson and Lucas.

My brother Don thanksgiving day.

Their cousin Julia who came for a visit.

And Jackson peeking over one of his toys.....

OH MY GOSH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay we had a rough day with the boys.. with naps and eating it was just rough.
Well........ as grandma garner was trying to calm Lucas down i had put Jackson on the floor to play and hopefully get tired enough to fall asleep. Daddy is in the kitchen and what happens??????????????????????? Jackson crawled for the first time.
We thought it wouldn't be until after thanksgiving.. but that little guy surprised us...... it was awesome...yes i know i wont be saying that in a month or so when both of them are tearing it up around here but it was sooo wonderful to see them doing things we were told wouldn't happen for awhile yet....
We all actually got to see it. Big brother zac grandma and daddy... it was just so cool and Jackson was as proud as can be.. a little bit on the smug side actually.
it just made my day.... i will have to post a video of it for sure..
oh i know how boring all babies crawl but i am just really excited...... wasn't expecting it for a few months....

Lucas is right behind him.. he crawls backwards well he scoots backwards. Lets put it this way he can get where he wants when he wants and as fast as he wants.. :)

Lots of fun visitors this weekend we are excited most of which have never met the boys so we cant wait

My friend Becky and her girls who are all just adorable and aunt Maryanne and their beautiful cousin Julia!!!

well gotta run...

More Pictures.

Our good friends with the babies Vicki and John and Kathy and Mark.
Toms mom with Lucas. When Grandma Marybeth came the boys were really sick
so we didnt get as many cute pictures as we would have wanted : (


Boys are doing great. Mom is tired... dad is beyond tired but we are all very very happy. Cant wait to sleep through the nite again.. wow miss those days but wouldnt give this up for the world...

Great weekend

We had a really fun weekend. Grandpa AL came for a visit and met the boys for the first time. They loved him.
Thanks for such a fun time Grandpa and for taking such good care of the boys
while you were here :)

Hey I miss the comments

Is there anyone out there???? I will have to step things up with this blog
to keep everyone awake.... I miss our comments sooooo much.........


Want to say hi to becky who i know was out there today and loved the blog

Jackson and Lucas cannot wait to meet you...

The boys with their Uncle John!!!

The boys get to meet their Uncle John!!!!!!!!

Here is a photo of the boys in their spider costumes.
My friend Missys little boy Jake was the same thing. I wish I had
a picture of the 3 of them!!!

I hope everyone had a great Halloween. We are getting so excited for
the holidays this year with the boys being here. I cannot say in words
how excited we are for Christmas. I love Christmas anyway but to have
these 2 here is going to just be amazing.

Zacs version of the boys in halloween costume

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Regular halloween version of the boys in costume

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Hey everyone

Update on the boys. Lucas has gained over 6 lbs and Jackson over 5 since we have been home. They are doing so wonderful. Now if we can get Jackson to sleep more than 2 hours straight. We got to see all the girls from work last week and it was so much fun. The boys soaked it up. Everyone was so happy to see them and it meant so much to me. I felt bad there were a few girls not there that I really wanted to see.

I am heading back to work this week and really not dealing well with it. Praying for a miracle that something happens that I can be home with these little guys. Just feel its what I should be doing. We have had one miracle after another with these 2 so who knows.

I want to say a special hello to my friend Dean who I just adore I missed you and Tom and both want you to know your in our thoughts and prayers!!!!!!!!!!!!!


We hope to have some fun videos out here of the boys for Halloween.

Jackson in the jumaroo

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Lucas in the Jumparoo

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Some more photos of the trip

It was rainy season so there are no sunny bright pictures.
We took the one trip south other wise the trip was mostly in
the city of Addis.

Zac got some really pretty pictures on the way home on the plane. Click speaker for
music.

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OUR BABY SHOWER

Sorry this is sooo late folks. Had to learn how to do a slide show.
The boys dont like me playing on the computer so much so i have to sneak this
blog education in when i can.
thanks for every ones patience.
Its a little bit long...

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This was us driving through a village. The drivers really knew what they were doing and had to. Any of us back here in the US would have killed someone or something for sure. list of things we almost hit and some we did knudge a little bit
1. people
2. goats
3. donkeys
4. dogs
5. cattle

I am the queen of backseat driving so this was almost impossible for me to just shut up and ride. But i did it....
Held my breath and bit my tounge and hung on,..

NO ANIMALS WERE HURT IN THE MAKING OF THIS VIDEO.
The van ahead of us wasnt so lucky.. we wont go there...

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tom has the feeding thing mastered!!!!!!!

Hey everyone, Tom is digging this dad thing! Never seen anyone have so much fun.

The boys both slept for 7 hrs straight last nite. We all did a happy dance this morning. I know I know it wont last but it was a nice surprise.

They are both feeling so much better. We are planning on heading up north next weekend so Grandma Bernice can meet them she has been so supportive through this we are lucky to have such a wonderful Grandma . Then we are hoping Grandma Egesdal will be here for a visit., oh boy grandmas 2 weekends in a row... can we say SPOILED!!!! These kids have some really awesom grandparents they are very very lucky. We love all of them so much and are so blessed to have so much love and support.

Nobody in toms family has gotten to meet the babies yet we are sooooo excited for her to come.

Tom wants to show these guys off to his bunch in the worst way!!!!

thank you everyone for everything

Hi to auntie Chris from the boys!!!!

Even tho its very late. My next goal is to attach the slideshow of the babyshower.

Okay if i wouldnt have started laughing and talked this would have been so cute..

jackson laughing at his daddy being silly

Found a photographer thanks everyone!!!

Here is one my favorites we did of Lucas.

Jackson didnt want to play the photographer game but I did snap a cute one before he took off.

A message from the Daddy

Greetings everyone, I thought the least I could do is post a message to thank everyone for your support and give a true heart felt appreciation for the blessing we have received. Kerry, Zac and I just embarked on a trip of a lifetime and the results are lasting throughout our new and improved lives!! Given the opportunity to step "out side the box" and venture to Ethiopia helped reassure us that we gave small and received big!! Gods blessings have been consistent and ever present and we are grateful. It has been two weeks now and the schedule is coming together a little bit. We have all readjusted to the time difference and our digestive system is slowly responding back from Ethiopian foods (which were wonderful). We are trying to get a sleeping schedule established so next month when we are both working it will go easier(by the way if anyone cant sleep from midnight to 6 a.m. let us know...we have a job post ion available for the next few months!!??!! ha,ha). I will make another post in the future to give another dad update. From the blessed new father of Gods two wonderful gifts, take care, Tom

Here is a picture of daddy and Lucas on the plane ride home.

Quick update

Hey everyone,
Wanted to fill you all in Lucas is not feeling so well. Lucas has a few health issues and he isnt as strong as his brother yet. I am sure its just a virus and he will be okay in a few days however the Dr thinks we may have introduced him to the public too soon. Too many people too soon. So for the time being we are going to have to give it a few weeks before we can have people visit. Once he has a strong immune system again we can start having people over again.
I am sooooooooo bummed.... as much as i love the little guys the only break i have is when
people are here to hold them and play with them. And one of the funnest parts of having those boys is sharing them with all the people we love so this is a huge kick in the pants for us but we really want to do whats best for them....

Thanks so much everyone for understanding and we will let you know how things are going.

Little bit of info about our trip while i have a chance

A few things about the city of Addis is its busy busy busy busy. I have never seen so many people and so much traffic and it wasn't traffic like our traffic in the big cities it was cars, trucks, people, vans (which they used as buses) donkeys, goats and dogs everywhere and going which ever way there was very little organization. We were constantly almost hitting someone or something. The first few days you hold your breath and close your eyes then after that you just get used to it. The weird thing is it seemed to work. A van in our group did run over a dog and our van hit a donkey.. We only nudged it.. it was okay. The dogs were very over populated. And seemed to be wild not pets to anyone.

There were goats everywhere. Young kids herding goats right in the city. You did see wealthy people all over too depending on where you were.

We saw so many children with no parents. Thousands of them. The people there were soo beautiful. And so kind. Everyone smiled and treated us with such respect. I would go back
in a heartbeat if I could to see more of the city and more of the country. We were so busy the entire time we were there.

I do pray that some day we can go back with the kids to see their mother.
She was a sweet and beautiful girl. The trip to see the mother was the most beautiful trip ever. We got to see what Ethiopia really looked like and it was breath taking. I will never forget the beauty everywhere.

The meeting of the mother was amazing as well. However that is a story for the boys to share when they are older its not our story its theirs . It will be up to them how much and when and we really want to respect that. We did learn so much from her and what an amazing person she really is. I pray the boys get to meet her some day.

We visited an authentic Ethiopian restaurant the food was soooooooo good. And the music was so cool there were Ethiopian dancers and they blew our minds!!! They were so amazing and beautiful. I was afraid Zac wasnt going to come home with me at that point. Its dark and it was smoky from the incense they burn. So the video isn't real clear but this dance she did was soooo cool. But OUCH!!!

Top 10 reasons everyone should have twins

1. You get peed on twice as much


2. You get to do laundry every day instead of just once a week


3. You get to try the wonderful perfume "similac in the nite" relplacing my "clinique happy"


4. You never have to take another work out class again. Lifting babies and changing diapers around the clock are more cardio than any class can give you.


5. Instead of watching Oprah you get to watch Tellitubies


6. Instead of sleeping you get to wake up and enjoy the night air many many times.


7. You no longer remember what the smell of clean is the scent of diapers is in the air....but most of all............


8. twice the smiles


9. twice the hugs


10 and most of allllllll TWICE THE LOVE!!!!!!!!!!!




Zac the first nite at the guest house with his little brother. They both fell asleep after a very long day :)

Twins are so much fun!!!!

Oh my gosh tom and I are having a blast. We are so busy but its so much fun.

The boys are so wonderful. They do keep me on my toes to say the least

I just wanted to post more pictures

From Ethiopia to Wisconsin

here they are. Today has been a fussy day and they have pretty much worn me out and its only 3:00:)

Newest photo of the boys!!!

Africa was amazing!! But so happy to be home!!!

I really wanted to type the entire experience and I will just not sure when.

The boys are not feeling well. I think between jet lag and everything being so different

they are not adjusting so well. They are waking up every hour at the most and they are not on the same schedule yet. Thank GOD for Tom. He has been wonderful.

Ethiopia was beautiful and eye opening as anyone would expect. So much to share with all of you and I promise I will once the boys are doing better and things have settled down here.

Here is one of the many many pictures of kids we met while over there. These children were goat and cattle herders they are out there all day doing this morning until evening. They had no shoes or socks and it was so cold that day. All their little noses were running . They were so sweet and so happy to see us all. They loved getting their picture taken. You seen kids like this everywhere they start as early as 4 years old doing this.

I have so much to share with all of you but for now I have 2 screaming kids that refuse to sleep.

I will try to post this weekend.

Dulles

We made it this far. We are in DC. We get up at 5am to head out again. Tom and zac just left to get their i think 4th or 5th big meal since we left. I have finally calmed down a bit. The flights were really short. The waiting in the airports was a tad bit longer. I think its all starting to really sink in and we are really wondering how we are going to do this airport thing with 2 little ones. There were 2 or 3 kids on the last flight that were just screaming.. I am just trying to imagine a 20 hr flight with 30 or 40 of them. WOW.
Thank you all for the awesome comments it cheers us and gives us so much encouragement.
We love you all.

We will be one again tomorrow but will be in Ethiopia.. ya hoo...

luv you all.

Kerry

ET OR BUST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay folks today is the day. And my only wish is for VALIUM!!!

Did not sleep last nite. Hopefully on one of the many plane rides I can get some rest

Please pray for all of us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And that the babies are healthy!!

Hopefully next time I am out here I am safe and sound in Ethiopia!!!!!!

Love all of you

oh and here is our luggage!!!!

TOMORROW!!!!!!

So is this really all happening???? I feel like I am watching myself in a movie. Can something this wonderful actually be happening to our family? I am actually going to be holding my baby boys in my arms in 3 days.
Today was my last day of work for 2 months. I am going to miss my friends from work so much in the next few months. They have been so much support. Who needs to pay for therapy?? I got it for free everyday. For all of you co-workers reading this I want you to know I love you all so much and you have all been angels sent by God to get me through this. You have made the happy times 10 times better and got me thru the rough times. I adore you guys and I am so truly blessed. HUGE SHOUT OUT TO MY HUMANA HOMEGIRLS and BOYS too!!!!

Okay i dont think i ever said homegirls before i my life.. yikes..

I posted the picture of the map my friend vicki made for us at the shower. It was the coolest thing. We all put a tack on where we came from or our ancestors. I will keep this map forever.
I just loved it.

Special hello to my Aunt Mary and my Cousin Kim. I LOVE YOU GUYS!!

Packing and more packing oh and dont forget packing!!!

I have never had to pack for 5 before. God Bless all of you out there that have.
Next week this time we will be driving back from Hosanna Ethiopia. I will probably
be still in the middle of a major UGLY cry from the entire experience.

The house is as ready as its ever going to be for our 2 miracles.
We packed 2.5 pieces of luggage with all donations. The rest is for the 5 of us.
I will be adding photos of that once we are done packing. That should a sight to see.
The luggage completely fills the babies room right now I have no idea how we will
ever fit that into a vehicle. I suggested we rent a Uhaul to get us to and from the airport.

Tom and Zac are relaxed and ready to go. I on the other hand have my undies and a bundle
havent slept in days. Having minor panic attacks every few hours or so. My mom came over today and probably saved tom and zacs lives. Thanks mom!!! she helped me pack and organize had me do some deep breathing and I am ready to go : )



Here is the most recent photos i have of the boys. Lucas looks like a angelic little doll and Jackson well you can see by that grin he is going to give me a run for my money :)

Our TWINS!!!!!!!!!!! Cool Hand Luke and Jumpin Jack flash !!

Lucas on the left and Jackson on the right.

This is their first picture and only one at the present time I have.

I cannot wait to meet you my little miracles.

2 weeks and counting. We are flying out of Greenbay Thursday afternoon off to Chicago then to DC. Over nite in DC and then we fly off to ET. I will try to journal as much as I can.

I will keep you all up to date and post as often as I can,