Tessa's B-day post cont.

Please scroll down to the first part of this post entitled, 'Happy Birthday Tessa!!' before reading this second half, thanks!

Ahem.....that didn't work out the way I wanted to! :) I sort of forgot that the first picture you upload always has to be last, at least with our computer, and it would have looked weird to say, "Judge for yourselves on the pictures and photos I'll share with you above." Anyways, Tessa's birthday post continued! (And no, I'm not blond...:P)


Right off the bat, I'll start with six facts about Tessa.


Favorite food: Italian and Chinese


Favorite color: Blue


Favorite subject: Math


Favorite animal: Dog


Favorite season: Spring

Favorit sport: Ultimate Frisbee

In the summer Tessa enjoys gardening and taking pictures of the flowers in our yard.


She's a pretty gifted musician, and plays the Violin and Dobro as well as the Banjo

Tessa is a wonderful business partner! We sell our jewelry and various crafts at our concerts, and it's always fun to see what creative idea she's come up with next!

Tessa is definitely the early bird of the family, and how she does it ....well...ahem...let's just say I'm not a very good person to ask! Her alarm goes of promptly every morning, and because I am always to tired to climb off our loft bed and turn it off, she always has to do it, and once Tessa is up she is, (more or less,) wide awake! Believe me, I know....:P She is also the sleep walker of the family, (although I have also been found guilty before,) and because I share a room with her, I am the put-her-back-to-bed-er! She also delights me (NOT!!) by mumbling and acting out very unclear and abstract parts of her dreams in the middle of the night!

Tessa is pretty good at making people laugh, even without trying to, and is called a 'ham' by many of her friends! :) We did many plays when we were little. (Above)

When she was little, Tessa loved to pretend. We have many memories playing Little House on the Prairie together, and being that Tessa was the youngest of our foursome, she usually played Carrie, and a pretty cute Carrie at that!

Tessa is quite the crafty girl! =) She enjoys knitting, quilting, sewing, jewelery making, sketching, and card making. She has won ribbons for her quilting and knitting abilities, as well as various art projects. Recently she has picked up the hobby of drawing, and as we are taking an art class together she has come up with some remarkable sketches, especially of people.

I love you like crazy, Tessa! Happy 13th Birthday!

Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. -Psalm 106:1

Happy Birthday Tessa!!

Happy 13th Birthday Tessa!

As of Febuary 20th, my sweet sister Tessa is a teenager! This markes an important day for the Alzen family history.....because now, for less than a month until Ize turns 20, all four of the Alzen childern will be teenagers!

Tessa is a darling sister, and she adds so much joy to our family. Although she may seem shy at first, her smile and happy outlook on life will convince you otherwise. Judge for yourself on the photos and facts I'll share with you below about Tessa Katelyn!

Nikolai

About three weeks ago, Nikolai once again left for Ukraine. This Christmas's hosting program went even better for us, because Nickolai was used to his surroundings and it wasn't quite as bewildering for him. We loved having him with us for the festivities of the Christmas season, and he loved giving and receiving gifts! :) Nikolai picked out an adorable pair of slippers for me, and practicly glowed as I unwrapped, squealed, and thanked him for his sweet gift. He added so much to our celebrations, and was the best li'l 'Christmas gift' I could have asked for! Below are a few random and cute pictures of Nikolai.

Our little 'fish' swimming with Grandma

Nickolai adores riding on any type of boat or machine, particularly Jet skis....it was hard getting him away from them!

Nikolai's buddy

Nikolai certainly wanted to belong! He would get out his mini guitar, banjo, egg shaker, or croaking frog and diligently practice along side us. He sure brought the cute factor onto the stage! ;)

Speaking to one another in Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual songs; singing and making melody in our hearts to the Lord. Giving thanks always, for all things, to God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 5:19-20

Happy Birthday AnaLise!

Happy 15th birthday AnaLise!

AnaLise has been such a great sister through the years. What a blessing it is to have her as a role-modle. AnaLise has such a loving heart for children. She is always ready for a challenge in some sort of sport. Her talents for music, crafts, sports, and cooking have been very apparent. She plays the violin, mandolin, guitar, and picking up a few other instruments. Her bright voice is a great blessing to our band.

Happy Birthday AnaLise!

Love, Tessa

Oh Christmas Tree!

I love this picture!

Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree, how lovely are thy branches!

Nikolai stepped off the plane into a winter wonderland, and absolutely loves the snow! He loves to play in it, to throw it, to climb it, and to eat it! He also is excited about Christmas. To think that probably never had a real Christmas tree and real Christmas presents blows me away. So in order to give him the 'full' affect, we waited till he came to go chop down our tree from our woods in the back.

Isaac carried the tree all the way back home in the blizzard, it didn't help that the wind was blowing the opposite direction down the hill when we were going up it, and that the huge tree acted like a sail to his disadvantage! :P

All of us gathered around the tree in the pine tree forest behind our house owned by our neighbor. He has wonderful trees for wonderful prices at a wonderful distance! :) (My snow pants do NOT normally look like that!! That was totally the light of the camera...trust me. :)

Dad and Lucas took turns pulling Nikolai in the sled. The snow was so deep that it would have taken a year to get him there and back, so we found the perfect solution...a sled!

The not quite finished product! (Photo complements of Nikolai ;)

Adoption Benifit Concert

About two weeks ago we did our fourth benefit concert for the adoption. We were so amazed at what the Lord did that night. To GOD be the glory! Our friends the Garms family graciously agreed to put on a double concert with us, and did a fabulous job! We had around 400 people show up for the fundraiser...what an answer to prayer. Along with the concerts there was a huge silent auction. Mom, Tessa and I had been soliciting donations from local businesses for the past month, and it really paid off. We are so thankful to all the companies, businesses, and friends who so generously donated; what a blessing!

To save time, I would like you to visit the blog of our friends the Armour family, who came to our concert. Their daughter, and my dear friend, Hannah, did a great job of taking pictures and then tried to send them to us, but the attachment files were having problems. The Armours put up a really nice post about the benefit concert, so visit their blog at http://www.armourclan.blogspot.com/, scroll down to the November 30th post entitled The Alzen Family's Adoption Concert, and just pretend I posted about it! :P Or go to the Garm family's blog at http://www.greatadventurefamily.blogspot.com/ at check out their November 23 post called Alzen Adoption Fundraiser as well!

We are so grateful to all of you who helped out, either by donating, performing, cleaning, cooking, announcing, or just attending, for you are playing a big role in bringing our two little boys home. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

Sincerely,

AnaLise for the Alzen family

Vist from the Kenneys

Our new D.V.D is now released all because of Hannah Kenney's filming and editing talents, and her determination. We were hoping to have it finished by our fundraiser this Friday, so last week Hannah and part of her family stopped at our house on the way to fix Hannah's harp. Their family greatly blessed us with their helpfulness in preparing for our fundraiser. A week later we found a box on our doorstep the day of the fundraiser all ready to go! So if you need someone to get the job done well and fast, ask Day Star Productions!

Hannah at the computer desk

Playing outside in the fresh snow.

Ethan

Lydia

Tessa showing of our, ahem, beautiful sled. =P

Our (lame) sledding hill. :)

Thank you for all the wonderful cooking and hard work!