Happy Thanksgiving! We are thrilled to have the entire family here in town for this special day! Zoie’s first American holiday with her new family was a JOY!

Zoie loved her Aunti’s sweet potato casserole & corn bread stuffing!!

Bloggy friends…we pray that you have a wonderful Thanksgiving with family & friends! We have so much to be thankful for…
1 Corinthians 1:4 ( Thanksgiving ) I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus.

What are you Thankful for today? I want to hear…

How is it possible that *my baby* hit 6’1 & received his driver’s permit all in one week:)))) Congrats MG on this amazing milestone in your life!! We are sooo proud of you!!!
You’ve been dreaming of driving since you were 2 years old!!! whooohoooo

We had the honor of meeting an Ethiopian princess named Etsegenet (Sege) when we traveled to Addis Ababa in July. She is home now with her amazing family *VanWettens* & we just wanted to say WELCOME HOME SWEET GIRL!!

ps: Zoie’s 3rd new tooth just peeked thru…that makes 5!!

Family…Zoie sat up in her crib for the first time today:) Her 2 top teeth have peeked thru & she had her first visit from a real Christian rock star (Phil Joel:) & family. We swear she said “sissssthy” to Hannah & “buubbuuub” to Michael! She saw her first movie “Madagascar” and first Ozark Christmas show featuring Lennons & Tony Orlando…

Phynley, thanks for the tiny red pillow!! We love you Joels!!

Roger & I need your help…..iQuestions.com wants to advocate for adoption & foster care.
Please give me your feedback….

• If you could ask ANY question about adoption….what would you want to know? List as many ?’s as you can think from A to Z!!!

We want to help make this new site to be a helpful source to encourage, support, educate and provide quick answers from a lot of difference sources!!!
THANKS for your help!!

We had so much fun at the Neal’s fundraiser for Wide Horizon Orphanage!! It was at a yummy pizza rest. w/ tons of family & friends. By the time we left, I think the count was at 210 people!!!! We are so proud of the Neals & congrats on their beautiful new sweet boy, Cruz!!! Zoie had another *smooch* with darling Jaden…2 yr old from ET!

Congrats Blackwells, Halls & Forrests who all received referrals last week!!! whoooohoooo

Calling all AWAA ET families….Duni is moving permanently Dec. 5th for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. She’s going to be a new addition to the ET in-country staff:)
We want to give her a big thank you, we love you, we appreciate you….our dreams came true cuz of you, going away gift “happy”
“send money”
**add any amount of $$ & add “Duni’s gift” in the notes.
We’ll keep it open for contributions all this week. We’re thrilled to purchase a special gift certificate (shhhhh:)

Its brrrrr cold here in the Ozarks!! It feels like snow! We’re taking advantage of a lazy Sat. indoors…changing light bulbs, napping, baking scones, watching HGTV-how to sell your house that’s been on the market for over a year (I’m taking notes:)
Zoie had her first sip on her sippy cup….more like deep gulps!! Way to go!!!

We had a wonderful night of fellowship & meeting new friends. Welcome Van Druff family to the Ozarks:)

There are 7 more AWAA families traveling to ET this week to pick up their children.

Armstrongs - http://armstrongs2ethiopia.blogspot.com/
Juvinalls – http://www.bearla.com/talk/
Gambles – http://www.bjgamble.blogspot.com/
Pridemores - http://www.pridemore5.blogspot.com/
VanWettens – http://yellowblackandwhite.blogspot.com/ (traveled two weeks ago to pick up
their baby and are now going back to get their older daughter)

We have finally joined the ranks of my fellow blogspot bloggy friends!! We thank Nikki for making it look sooooo good:)) I think it might take me a few days to add some of our things to the new spot, but you can still take a peek *zoiegibson5.com* until the end of the month.

We had so much fun meeting up with the Davids in Tulsa Monday. Sakari & Zoie met for the first time & LOVED each other. You can obviously tell by the kissing:)

Stay tuned…

Michael, you have been the JOY of our lives since the day you were born. Your strength as a first born, your heart of gold, your LOVE of life and your passion for Christ is a daily reminder of God’s incredible miracles!!!!!!! You can never do anything that will change our love for you….nothing!!!! We are yours forever!!!
You have made us so proud watching you soar this year in High School…you have exceeded all our expectations & more!!! You have taken personal responsibility of your academics, as well as your golf game!!! The thing that makes our hearts melt the most is your love for your sisters. I know it was a bumpy road for you the past 2 years preparing for the unknowns of adoption, but watching you become a man in Ethiopia and heart burst wide open for your Zoie has been an answer to prayer!!! God gave you an incredible gift for photography…thank you for blessing our lives with your talents!! We will never forget the moment you stood on the stage with your grandpa at JRA and spoke on Father’s Day. We were so proud….how did you do it? (8,000+ people attended!) We embrace your gifts, talents & passions in life!!!
We love you just the way you are from head to toe!
All our love, Mom & Dad