After a long few days wondering about whether or not we would be able to travel we got on the plane and trusted that God would work it out. He did and we met our kids for the first time. We spent the week getting to know each other and finishing up the visa paperwork. The 4 of us got on a plane ready for a long flight. We had a good time in Ethiopia, everything worked out as planned. There were a few small snaggs in the paperwork that were able to be fixed before they caused any real issues. Big thanks to everyone who had a direct hand in getting everything ready, and to everyone who sent prayer up for us. A few pictures.

Traditional Clothes
Dinner with friends

View from our room

The 4 of us at Toto Mtn.

on towards a family of 5

On Friday Adam and I begin the long journey to arrive in Addis to meet A & L. We are leaving D with gramma and nana. I am in the panic/worried/nervous/excited/anxious/every other emotion you can feel before going to meet your children mode. Too many things to do and it seems like the days/hours are going by fast at sometimes and slow at others. I've already cried twice(short cries) about leaving my baby bear for so long. I can't go a day without him, let alone 10 days. I sure that he will grow leaps and bounds while we are gone. Please pray that he will cope and adjust to the HUGE change that is about to happen in his life.

We covet your prayers while we are gone, especially for our health. I do not want a repeat of what happened last time.

Well, I'll leave you with a sneak peak of our precious ones.

The dancing ninja. (L)

Beautiful one (A)

Baby Bear (D)

Thoroughly blessed,

- Katy

in the life of a Shatto

Well, we are still here, just too busy to post as you can see. I am finally updating due to some prompting by others.

Quick & concise, so here you go...

- D is healthy, happy and a thriving two year old who is adventurous, outgoing and into everything. The new swingset at Gramma & Grampa's is the new big hit. Just got his hair braided because the fro' was retaining so much heat and I just can't get myself to cut it. So this was a compromise.

-A & L are waiting to come home. We passed court May 10th, but we are still waiting for our I171H immigration paperwork from the U.S.

- Adam & myself are off for the summer, but keeping busy with side jobs.

- Hoping to travel to Ethiopia in July, if everything keeps moving along.

- The dogs are still around, but more neglected everyday( we are so in trouble with them).

-We are still raising support to bring the kiddos home, so if you feel led to give, you can contact us.

- Things needed to take with us to Ethiopia: medical supplies, flattened balls, hand pump, medicines, snacks, goodies for orphange kiddos.

-Having fun hanging out with the kiddo, now that there is more time to since school is out. We visited the Nature Center the other day and he had a blast. He idolizes his Daddy. They are best buddies.

So there you go!

life & support

Things here are trudging along like always. We are currently in the process of two more and just found out that Ethiopia made some big changes to their program, so that throws a wrench in our plans, but not in God's plans. Just taking that news one day at a time. Remembering to breathe too.

Diesel is becoming a wonderfully, independant two year old (next month). He definatly shows that he can do it and no help from mama or daddy is needed. He cracks us up constantly and is talking up a storm.

I'll leave you with some shots from everyday life with Mr. Diesel Alazar.

trying to be like daddy growing up too fast mr.chill

(he wanted the flower pink glasses, but we went with blue instead) this is how he walks around some days, why? i have no clue ready for school. he asks to go now.

*Thanks for all the support from everyone. If you want to donate you can do so easily through the paypal button. Thanks

Just the facts

We are healthy.

We are busy.

We are moving forward on our next adoption.

We are thankful.

We are blessed.

We laugh everyday due to the pictured kiddo above.

We don't get time to blog, so this post is short and to the point.

We covet your prayers.

Thanks!

Coffee

We are starting our fundraising again(honestly, my least favorite part of this whole journey). We are trying to expand our efforts by doing multiple different fundraisers(more to come later, stay tuned). If you like coffee, check out our store here www.justlovecoffee.com/shattofamily (I know the page comes up with memeberships, but if you go the side bar and check out other merchandise, there is options for just single bags.)

Most importantly THANK YOU for your prayers!


- Shattos

Happy Holidays!

We hope that everyone has a WONDERFUL holiday season!

Quick Santa story: We were in Wal-mrt and there was a santa taking pictures with kids. I specifically avoided him becuase I knew D would be scared. So we were going down the isles and then who should come up from behind and scare the begezzes out of D, no other than the santa that we were trying to avoid. D jumped from the cart basket to up around me neck and then just clung there. the santa just kept talking to him, not clueing in on the fact that D is terrified of him. Anyways, we will just say that his first "santa" expereience may have scared him.

Onto the story behind the picture: Our friend's mom and dad are Santa and Mrs. Claus for the holidays. Larry looks like santa 365 days out of the year. D is so used to seeing him that when they went to change into their outfits, he didn't think twice about sitting with Larry & Carol. Our own personal sitting session with Santa & Mrs. Claus. (thanks larry & carol)

Diesel has been growing faster than a weed. He is talking up a storm and has been adding about 2-4 words per day to his vocabulary. He also has started to exert his independence. He is strong willed, determined and absolutely is a daddy's boy who is showing signs of seperation anxiety again. Glad to know he is typically developing :)

We hope that everyone has a great time with family and friends. Happy New Years too!