Minte

No pictures yet, but I will share a little more on how Minte's doing.

He's as cute as can be. Has the sweetest toes and beautiful, huge eyes. He is very ticklish on his side and especially his underarms. He likes wearing clothes! Yesterday Dad and Mom put on his shirt and Minte freaked out because his legs weren't covered. He pulled down his shirt as far as he could!!!

Minte loves papers and dropping or throwing them on the floor. It makes him laugh really hard when someone gasps or says, "Uh-oh!" or "Oh No!"

Seeing people hurt themselves by pretending to hit themselves, makes him laugh. He cracks up, too, when Ana or Ethan fall down when he throws stuff at them, (a good game to get him started on!!! :-) One time they ran across the foyer and slid on their knees. Minte thought that was hilarious and fell down to his knees too.

Minte really likes music. Dad and Mom bought him an Amharic children's c.d. and when we play it, he starts bouncing with his arms in the air and shaking his head. He has some cute moves!

This kid is also very smart. He needs to see someone do something about once, and he gets how to do it!!!! He likes buttons and loves pulling the lever on his Elmo plane.

Minte also gives occasional kisses, (mostly to Dad when he doesn't want to him to do something!!!) and will pucker up his lips.

We are Home with Minte!

Minte is adorable! He is so cute and lovable! We just love him!

We are so excited to have him home and TO BE home. It's nice to have our own, soft beds and our own hot showers, AND we can brush our teeth under the faucet!

I feel like I'm not sharing enough about Minte on this blog, and I want to show pictures and videos, but we are waiting to show the kids and everyone the pictures before we share with everyone else. So hopefully tomorrow I can share some pictures!

Thank you all for your prayers during our journey!

Mom is sick with some sickness she got during the last few days of our trip. Everytime she went up the stairs to our room, she would have to sit down and would feel nauseous. The plane trip was not fun for her obviously. So although she's glad to be home, she is still not feeling great.

Hope to share more with you guys later.
Emily

Today is Ana's Birthday!

 Today Ana is turning SIX! She's no longer a baby, she's a big girl.

 One of Ana's favorite things is to play with our cats, (she's holding Collar Dude in this picture).

 She also likes posing for pictures.

 Here she is being a goof ball.

 If you get to know Ana, you are bound to see her cracking up as she is in this picture.

 Ana baby, (whoops!)

6 years ago, Ethan, Luke, and I went to stay with our friend's until our Grandma got here, because Dad and Mom were leaving in the night to meet their new baby girl. They named her Adriana Mae Vander Hart. When they brought home our new, chubby, sister with so much hair, we were thrilled! And today we are so thankful for Ana Mae.

Happy Birthday, Adriana! Have a great day! We love you and will see you very soon!

VanderHarts are in Ethiopia!

Hi everyone! It's Lindsey here. Emily just called us and asked me to write on her blogs because she has no internet access. 


They arrived in Ethiopia safely and are adjusting well to the time change. Emily says Minte is ADORABLE! They got to see him three times the first day and the third time Minte ran to Mrs. V. with his arms up. They are so thankful for the prayers on their behalf. They went to the the market today and bought quite a bit. They had to bargain a lot which Emily says was strange. She says Minte is a big tease and that he smiles and rolls his eyes at his Nannies. They aren't allowed to take pictures until he starts to live with them in the guest house.


I'm off to write on Em Wants More. Keep praying!

Today is the Day!

Right now we are waiting to board our plane. We are way early, but that's good I guess.

We packed forever today! We filled 6 suitcases, 3 carry-ons, and have 2 "personal belongings". We began at 6 this morning. Dad and Mom still had some papers to get ready, but that's done now. They double and triple checked all their papers so we should be good.

Mom and I have to wear skirts as much as possible. We have to dress up too, at least 2 times.  I can't believe today is finally the day we've been waiting for for MONTHS! Minte, here we come.

We made friends with the people who checked us in. The one lady had to wait on a phone for a while so in the meantime, she talked to us about where we were going, why and eventually we showed her a picture of Minte. She and another lady thought he was cute and were sorry they weren't working the day we come home so they could see him.

Today I heard someone talk in another language and it made me think, hey wait, we are going somewhere where there isn't going to be many people speaking our language. How cool!

Right now I have pretty good internet access, so hopefully this will continue so I can keep you updated on our traveling. There are tons of business men and women over here. No kids. Not that I'd say anything to them anyway.. :-) 

Sorry about how random all this is. It was just whatever popped in my head as I typed. Another random thought - laptops make cool noises when you type fast! ;-)

Talk to you later when I'm able to again!
Emily

Leaving soon for Ethiopia

 I will copy and paste the Em Wants More post over here or you can just go there yourself. Your pick. http://www.emwantsmore.blogspot.com/

Everything is starting to look more and more like we are leaving. Right now our huge counter is PACKED with diapers, toys, wipes, toys, batteries, waterbottles, and toys. Under the counter are suitcases! 7 or 8 suitcases! We are so thrilled to be leaving so soon. Today was our last Sunday at church before we leave. It's SO COOL!


Bob, Sports Dude, and Miss Bossy are at Papa and Nana's right now. Miss Bossy was so cute on the phone today. She asked Mom when we were leaving. Then she had to talk to me just to say bye and then she wouldn't hang up until I did.

Dad is planning on putting up the crib tonight and I think I might try to help him and/or clean the house. It's messy and you don't want to get stressed from the messes while you're packing! I don't know what Mom is planning on doing tonight. Probably more packing for Belly Boy.

Please pray for us. That we will get all our packing done, that the trip will go well, and that Belly Boy would bond to us quickly!

Today Mom and I were reading the blog of another family who is in Ethiopia right now. It was so cool to read the lady's view on the trip and know that we were going to experience that soon, too. Her posts were so easy to picture and they got me so excited to go.

I also spent the afternoon with my friend, Rache, who has been to Uganda on a mission's trip and had the most amazing time and plans on going back someday. Talking to her about her trip, looking at her pictures, and listening to her excitedly talk about our leaving so soon, has got me excited. I can't wait to go see another country, but most of all meet my brother who I already know is SO, SO CUTE!

Ana's hair

Boo, it's Ana's hair.

 Ana and her hair

 This is what it's like crazy afro style.

 Then we put her hair in braids

 Aint it pretty?

Now we put them in twists. They look like braids, but are roundy. My computer won't let me show a picture. Oh man. But they're cute.