She says MAMA...

...like she means it!

And it melts my heart!

She also plays, "How big is Amelia?" (Answer: Sooooooo big!),

waves bye-bye, claps, and points her cute little finger.

Albertine

I heard this amazing song on this amazing blog that I read.

The song is by a young artist named Brooke Fraser. The song is called, "Albertine." Albertine is a young orphan girl that Brooke Fraser met while she was in Rwanda.

The haunting refrain goes like this:

"Now that I have seen I am responsible

Faith without deeds is dead

Now that I have held you in my own arms

I cannot let go..."

Father, what is next?

Too beautiful

I love this girl!

So many thanks to Ross from our small group (that's Ross Greiner Photography) for this picture of Amelia. He took it while she was watching the Christmas program at church.

I can't decide if we should book a "family Christmas" sitting, or a "family in January" setting. Ross's work is so fantastic, it's hard to choose!

Advent Conspiracy

Dave found this website called The Advent Conspiracy. The concept is this:

Christmas can (still) change the world.

The Advent Conspiracy challenges us to worship fully, spend less, give more and love all. Could it be more simple?

The idea is to reduce consumerism and change the world. Watching the video clip (below), I learned that Americans spend $450 BILLION each year for Christmas.

Elsewhere in the world, 1.8 million people die every year from water-borne illnesses. This includes 3900 children every single day. In fact, the lack of clean drinking water kills more people every year than anything else.

The world's water problem could be solved--once and for all--with just $10 billion. A small fraction of what we in America spent on Christmas last year.

I'm convicted and I'm challenged. I want to change the world. My heart hurts to change the world.

Amelia and the Angel....and angel hair

This is one of the paintings we got at the Art for Ethiopia fundraiser. It’s the one Amelia loved so much. In fact, she couldn’t take her eyes off it! There was a huge mix-up, and we almost had to give it back for another buyer. So many thanks to our friend Shawn, who saved the day!

We don’t know what it reminds Amelia of, but the rest of us think of the statues and art we saw in Rome the week before we met Amelia. It’s a pretty big painting, and we have it hung in the entry. When Amelia is in her high chair, it’s so cute to watch her crane her neck to get a look at her angel. And when we go up or down the stairs, she likes to pause to get a look, do a little giggle and smile.

Speaking of angels....Amelia has something happening on the top of her head. I wouldn't call it regular "hair" yet. And "bird's nest" seems a bit harsh. So let's just go with "angel hair." (Aside from the difference in color, it does look a bit like the pasta.)

Physical Therapy

Amelia has been working really hard at physical therapy. Our physical therapist, Jessica, is incredible. She comes to our house each week and plays, er, works, with Amelia. I think we had all underestimated how malnourished Amelia was when she came home. Not because of her life in the orphanage--but because she was likely premature, and her first mom was likely so malnourished, and her serious reflux only made everything much worse. But she is thriving now, thank God!

Something we have learned about malnourishment is this: When a young child is malnourished, her body feeds her brain first. And then her organs. And finally, her muscles. Isn't God amazing? We wouldn't be able to help Amelia catch up when it comes to brains or organs. But muscles? No big deal!

Here she is, poised to crawl. (Just overlook the drool.)

She has a belly--yea!

She loves her sissies.

Bath Time--Before and After

Here are pics of one of Amelia's most favorite activities: Bath Time! (Or perhaps more appropriately called, Sink Time.)

Bath time is the one time in the day when Amelia doesn't have to wear a bib....because all her drool just drains into the sink!

Look closely at this one--see what I mean about the drool?
And now here is a picture of our very first bath, when we were in Ethiopia. It was taken exactly four months ago. It's hard to recognize her as the same baby. Hard to believe it's only been four months...because it seems she has been with us forever. Thank God for His love and grace to all of us!

Hanna is (almost) in the house!

Hanna Fanta, founder of Children's Heaven, will be in the States for just a couple of weeks. We found out today that she will come to our house tomorrow, and she'll stay for a couple of days. We are thrilled to have the chance to spend a bit of time with Hanna, and we pray we will be able to bless her while she is with us. If you are in our area, and you would like to meet Hanna, let me know. She is such a wonderful, humble, beautiful and faith-filled woman.

Here's a bit about Hanna's work:

Children's Heaven serves orphaned girls ages eleven years and older. Without the safety net that Hanna provides, these girls would fall through the cracks, and they would be forced to make their way by begging or even prostitution. Children's Heaven ensures these girls can go to school (providing uniforms and supplies as well), tutors and teaches the girls, teaches them about God, and makes sure they have access to health care and plenty to eat. These girls have been orphaned and no longer have mothers. Hanna truly shows them a mother's love. Because of Children's Heaven, these girls have a chance!

As an example of the incredible work that Hanna does, click here to read about the Dumpster Girls pictured below. Hanna had just met these girls in July when we were in Ethiopia. If not for Hanna Fanta and Children's Heaven, there would be a lot more Dumpster Girls in Ethiopia.

Living as we do in the U.S., it's hard to comprehend that anyone, especially children, lives like this, isn't it?

Finally, I leave you with a two minute video about Children's Heaven.

Again today, be INSPIRED!

Art for Ethiopia

An organization called Ethiopian Orphan Relief held a fundraiser for Children's Heaven Saturday. You may recall that we spent a fair amount of time at Children's Heaven, and a lot of time with its founder, Hanna Fanta, when we were in Ethiopia.

The benefit was called Art for Ethiopia, and the goal was to raise funds to help Children's Heaven build an actual, permanent building in Addis Ababa for the teenaged girls they serve. (Children's Heaven currently puts up temporary buildings made of tarps and other materials, which the Ethiopian government occasionally makes them take down....)

We went to the benefit and had a good time. (Well, Amelia thought it was a bit too crowded and noisy, but it was her first fundraiser, so she's not yet experienced at these things.) Hanna Fanta is visiting the U.S. right now (a requirement for her U.S. Visa), and she was at the fundraiser. It was soooooo wonderful to see her!

We picked up some art for such a great cause. Amelia loved one of the pieces in particular....so her daddy couldn't stop himself from getting it for her. (Dads and daughters...what can I say?) Ethiopian Orphan Relief had set a "high" goal of raising $10,000. We heard today that $12,800 was raised. That's so fantastic!

Here's Amelia at "Art for Ethiopia," taking time out for a little snack.

(I think she was stress-eating.)

Need inspiration?

If you could use some inspiration today, and if you have some time, check out this blog:

http://toliveloveandlaughtoday.blogspot.com/

It's a well-written, inspiring and often funny blog about a family and their incredible adventure. This family recently adopted from Ethiopia. But that's just the beginning of the story....of God's calling and involvement in their lives, and of the big assignment they have accepted.

Here's a "Lory's notes" version to get you caught up on what's going on in this family now:

This family had accepted a referral for an Ethiopian baby, but she passed away before they were able to get her. Then they accepted a referral for Ethiopian twin babies....who almost passed away, too. In the process, they managed to befriend and bring to the U.S. an Ethiopian woman--married, former Olympic athlete--who was experiencing a high-risk pregnancy after losing one baby already. Well, Baby Christiana was born this week, with many complications.

It's amazing, what this family, and the larger family of adoptives families and Believers in Christ, have done. And what they continue to do. They all demonstrate what happens when we choose to love and serve outside of ourselves. And how beautiful and wonderful (and difficult, too) it is when we respond to God's call.

Stories like this make me want to be chosen to help change the world.

Be inspired today!

America votes today

I hope you voted. We don't all agree on everything, but I hope we can agree that we have a wonderful country. We are the most generous country in the history of the world, for one. I love America!



Even with an almost-always-at-work husband and three daughters, I found time to make some calls last night. And I'm on my way to my poll-watching gig here in a few minutes.

And then I'm sure we'll be up late into the night, watching it all unfold. (I'm a political junkie, by the way.)

God bless our country!

Tammy D.--are you out there???

Hey Tammy,

I got your message, but can't find your email address / phone number. And I don't have the spelling of your last name (which to readers who aren't Tammy might sound lame. But her last name could have many, many, many different spellings), or I think I could track you down. Grrrrr!

I can't believe you found us! I would love to hear more about your family and what you're up to. Please post here or send your email / phone to our gmail account--thehowletts5@gmail.com. And I hope you'll send a note, too, of course.

Waiting by the keyboard,
Lory

She's a big 'un

I had Amelia weighed today: Drum roll please---she gained ONE POUND, TWELVE OUNCES in the last month. She's up to 14 pounds, 4 ounces. All of her eating is starting to pay off!

Also, she had her second physical therapy session today. It's great, the physical therapist comes to our house and they have a big ol' play date together. She is already making progress. She rolls and rolls and rolls. She's a great sitter-upper (but working on soft landings and getting to sitting) and she's now a pre-crawler. The therapist says crawling is a really important developmental stage, so we want to be sure she crawls.

Amelia has made so, so, so much progress since she came home just three months ago. In a way, it's hard to believe that she still has some catching up to do. When she came home, her gross motors were probably like a 3 month old's. At this point, I think she's in the 7 to 8 month range. We know she'll catch up. As the physical therapist says, "She's a hard worker!"

Amelia thought it was awfully fun to read the paper with Dad the other morning. (Don't be fooled by the newspaper section she chose--we're not making her get a job!)

Lil Pumpkin in Photos

Our small group went to Longmont's Halloween Parade yesterday, followed by a trip to the pumpin patch. Here is the morning in pictures:

It was still chilly when we set out,

so Amelia was in full pumpkin regalia.
Taking it all in...

I love a parade!

Mom, can I have some candy? (No!)

With her junior babysitter, Lucy Weber...

The Howletts 5

Pumpkin patches are exhausting!

The end!

First Cabin in the Mountains

With Dad working all weekend, the Lady Howletts (plus friend Rebecca) joined the Peratt family at the YMCA's Snow Mountain Ranch over near Winter Park.

Here's the view from our deck. We love Colorado!

Breakfast time...

...where Amelia discovered the joy of pancakes!She's just hangin' out, enjoying the view.

A first

Amelia has a sippy cup!

The Cost of Beauty

Allison came home the other night, concerned about bushy eyebrows. She asked me to thin 'em out. I don't think she had ever considered that beauty could hurt!

(Note: She's laughing, not crying...that said, she does have quite a flair for the dramatic. I'm not sure where she gets it--ha!)

(Here is our outcome. Understated, non-bushy brows.)

Woliso (Amelia's home town)

My heart has been yearning and hurting for Ethiopia this week.

Going through some of our paperwork today, I found a document that sheds a tiny bit of light on Amelia's first days. She was born (or at least, she was found) in a place called Woliso. Woliso is in a rural area about seventy-seven miles from Addis Ababa, the capitol city.

During our time in Ethiopia, we never left Addis Ababa. I looked around on the internet, and found some photos from Woliso, and also a YouTube video. I have to say, it really strikes me and haunts me, to see where Amelia would have lived (or even died), had her first mom not found a way to give her a chance.

Here are some of the pictures I found:

This would be a kitchen area. I recognize the various pans and the

coffee pots that are everywhere in Ethiopia

A beautiful, but primitive, hut on a hillside.

It looks like there are monkeys in Woliso!
Such a sweet little girl.
The countryside looks green and beautiful.
Another little girl (can you tell I'm a girl mom?)
This is the school.
A beautiful place.
Another sweet little girl (yep, I'm still a girl mom).
I think that is coffee on the donkey's back.
On the way to town...
I think this would be "in town."

Finally, here's the link to the YouTube video I found. It was made by members of a humanitarian relieft organization who visited Woliso. More than anything, for me, it provided images and insights into life in the place of Amelia's heritage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxgjMxDozCc

A year ago this weekend...

....we told our small group that we were considering adopting from Ethiopia. We asked them to pray for God's guidance as we sought Him in making this decision.


One of our dear small group friends keeps a journal of our group's prayer requests. It was amazing last night, as he reminded each of us where we were just a year ago. I would have to say we have seen God in action among each of the families in our group over the past year. We saw a family sell a too-small house and move to a lovely family home (and it's a good thing, as they are now expecting their third baby!); another family has experienced the joy (and a few trials) of raising a teen-age daughter and a baby daughter; another family has experienced blessings at work, delightful daughters and the mom's move from part-time to full-time teaching; our own family has covered a lot of ground over the past twelve months, too....And all of this by God's provision and direction.

Thanks, Derek, for marking our moments!

I would like to share a bit about small groups. Our church is called Rocky Mountain Christian Church. It's a big church, and now we have two campuses. I work at the church as the small groups coordinator. We currently have about ninety groups, each with around twelve members. I have the privilege of training leaders and equipping groups, helping new leaders launch new groups, helping folks get connected in groups and more. Here's what our small groups are about:

"Small Groups are a safe place to grow

in relationship with God and others.

RMCC Small Groups 'do life' together through

fellowship, learning, prayer and caring."

My big love for small groups stems from a personal love for small groups...most love is pretty personal, huh? Here's a bit of history: Dave and I have been involved in small groups since we got married. But nearly fourteen years ago, God used small groups at Rocky Mountain Christian Church to change our lives forever. We were new to Colorado, having moved here for Dave to participate in his dream of working for a start-up. He was delighted with his transition from big company guy to start-up guy. On the other hand, I was miserable and lonely. We didn't know anyone here. I had had a good job in Kansas City, but elected not to continue with the company here in Colorado. I thought I would find an entirely new kind of job instead, but what I actually found was that I was pregnant.

Being pregnant was a delight, something we had been hoping for for over a year. But I knew I wanted to stay at home with our kiddo(s), so getting a job wasn't really a good option. I spent much of my days gestating alone and feeling lonely. We had visited several churches, but none of them seemed like "home."

I was so lonely and so afraid to have a baby with no friends and no family nearby. I began to pray that God would give us a "home" by the time our daughter was born. One Sunday, we were driving to another church, and we drove by Rocky Mountain. On the spur of the moment, we decided to pull in and give Rocky Mountain another try (we'd been there before and graded it a "no.")

Well, thank God for second chances. During that service, we met the people who would become our first small group leaders at Rocky Mountain Christian Church. Our lives began to change in every way. I had friends! We had a group of people who we knew, and who knew us. When I developed pregnancy complications, new friends brought us dinners for six weeks. When I was on bedrest, new friends would visit me, bring me books and magazines, pray with us....and just "do life" with us as we waited for our new baby. When I had surgery when Allison was a baby, a new friend came to our house and took care of me, so Baby Allison could be in her own home. Since that season almost fourteen years ago, we have moved to and from Colorado three different times. But we've always been so thrilled to come back to Longmont, and to our family of friends at RMCC.

About three years ago, when our "baby" (that would be Abby) went to first grade, and I found myself with too much time on my hands each day, I decided to return to school and get a master's in social work. No sooner had I applied and was accepted to the University of Denver's (super-expensive) program, did RMCC offer me a job in the small groups ministry.

It was pretty much a no-brainer. God, and all He does in and through small groups, is my heart. So I have had the joy and high calling (for which I am not worthy) to work in the ministry for a few years now. In this super-transient world, small groups are an amazing tool for helping people build community and grow in their faith.

I don't know where our family would be without our small group. Who else would keep our kids on a moment's notice? Or better yet, meet us on I-25 early in the morning to take some of our kids as we raced Amelia to Children's Hospital? Decorate our house as a "welcome home" to Amelia? Love us and pray with us and laugh with us and cry with us? Take us to Estes Park to watch the Fourth of July fireworks? Make time in busy, busy lives to be together each Friday night? Love our kids almost as much as we do?

We love you, dear groupies!

My alma mater...

...hosted the vice presidential debate last night. My time at Washington University is plenty of years ago and 800 miles away, so it was fun to see various shots of good ol' Wash U.

Life has turned out to be very, very different than I ever would have anticipated. For example, I always assumed I would give birth to a few kiddos. God turned that assumption upside down. It has been our joy to give birth to Allison, to adopt Abby at birth in such an incredible and miraculous way, and to go around the world to bring Amelia into our family.

We have had our share of difficulties--many that I wouldn't recommend--but I wouldn't change things. God has used joy and sorrow and loss and redemption to begin to make of me the woman He has in mind. He has truly brought me out of captivity, may I always praise Him.

When the Lord brought back the captives to Zion,

we were like men who dreamed.

Our mouths were filled with laughter,

our tongues with songs of joy.

Then it was said among the nations,

"The Lord has done great things for them."

The Lord has done great things for us,

and we are filled with joy.

Psalm 126:1-3

Update

Amelia just gets better every day! Last week, her little trick was to blow raspberries--by the bucket-full--at anyone within striking distance. (I trailed along behind and passed out wipes to the, er, victims.) This week, her little trick is to pant like a puppy when she gets excited. It's really cute! The big sisters question her loyalty because she's not making kitten noises.

Amelia had a well-baby check yesterday, along with round two of shots. People say she looks really tall, but she has only grown one inch in length....she's a whopping 25 inches long now. She gained eight more ounces, too. She weighs in at 12 pounds, 13 ounces. If the doctor measured hair, he would be happy to report that she's finally starting to get some!

She broke a dozen

We took Amelia to the doctor to be weighed yesterday. She finally exceeds twelve pounds! To be exact, she weighs twelve pounds, five ounces. I thought this was great. Our doctor was so-so: she has gained ten ounces in the past seventeen days. I know he would have liked to see more ounces. But we're not losing anymore! She only spits up once or twice per bottle or meal, but she's still only able to have small bottles. She does love to eat!

Amelia is becoming a real, live baby. For instance: it's absolutely more fun to be held than to not be held. She has realized if she hollers, I'll pick her up....especially when we're at work. She gets down-right indignant if a family member walks by without stopping to talk. And she has realized riding in the car seat with a big sister back there with her is way more fun than riding in the car seat with just Mom up in the front seat.

She's awfully smart, our girl!

Mountain Lion!

So there was a MOUNTAIN LION within a block of our house last night. Yikes! "They" (I don't know who "they" are, exactly--the animal controllers or the police or the department of wildlife?) had a hard time catching it. Eeek!

I didn't personally try to catch him, but I was able to snap this shot:


Ha ha, just kidding! (I actually googled the shot.)

For those of you who don't know, we live in the suburbs near Boulder. Who knew the suburbs could be so exciting?

She's BRILLIANT!

So we know Amelia is super-smart, and we're pretty sure she's multi-lingual. As far as we can tell, she speaks English, Amharic and....CAT.

The girl yowls and meows and carries on like you wouldn't believe. She's such a little vocalizer. People who hear her when I'm on the phone, or who are in other parts of the building when I'm at work, have truly been known to ask if it's a cat! (Her big sisters are so proud.)