Greetings -
Often times I find myself thinking - Gosh that would be so good to blog about, or wow I need to share the photos (which there are currently 900+ on my camera) and somehow the time gets away and the moment passes and than I think well - I will just put a quick snip it on facebook and that will be good! But the truth is that is not good enough! I need and want to express this journey of life that Kenneth and I were chosen to experience. So my goal for the year is one blog post a day - whether it is one thought, one photo, or a long drawn out story. I want to chronicle all that 2012 is to our family! I hope along the way I will find some revelations about me but mostly I hope that one day I will be able to look back and re-live 2012 like it was yesterday because I feel this is the year the Hammons Family was created for!
Wishing you a Magical Day~
Courtney
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Thanks for the reminder
Greetings -
I spent the better time of today running around trying to find the "PERFECT" outfits for the boys to meet Santa in for the first time! And as any mother of boys apparently knows and I learned today - boys clothes at ages 5 and 6 are just not all that perfect! If I looked at one more plaid shirt and jeans I thought I would scream!!! So I came home from the mall empty handed and a little sad. You see I want that perfect photo. You know the one you see in Martha Stewart and Parents Magazine. I want to make up for all they have missed in their short lives, I want them to have the awe and wonder that is this holiday season. And I thought that would all come with this "PERFECT" outfit. Than I logged into facebook to distract myself from the fact that the boys may be going naked this weekend to brunch (okay not really but you know what I mean) and there it was - a shared video from a dear dear friend. I watched this video for the first time (which amazes me since I am a HUGE SCC fan) and there right in front of me was the answer I had been searching for all day. The boys don't need a "PERFECT" outfit they needed a family and this Christmas that is what we are. So I still have no idea what they will wear but I do know I am not going to loose sleep because I know there are 2 less orphans in this world and GOD will answer there Christmas list!
I spent the better time of today running around trying to find the "PERFECT" outfits for the boys to meet Santa in for the first time! And as any mother of boys apparently knows and I learned today - boys clothes at ages 5 and 6 are just not all that perfect! If I looked at one more plaid shirt and jeans I thought I would scream!!! So I came home from the mall empty handed and a little sad. You see I want that perfect photo. You know the one you see in Martha Stewart and Parents Magazine. I want to make up for all they have missed in their short lives, I want them to have the awe and wonder that is this holiday season. And I thought that would all come with this "PERFECT" outfit. Than I logged into facebook to distract myself from the fact that the boys may be going naked this weekend to brunch (okay not really but you know what I mean) and there it was - a shared video from a dear dear friend. I watched this video for the first time (which amazes me since I am a HUGE SCC fan) and there right in front of me was the answer I had been searching for all day. The boys don't need a "PERFECT" outfit they needed a family and this Christmas that is what we are. So I still have no idea what they will wear but I do know I am not going to loose sleep because I know there are 2 less orphans in this world and GOD will answer there Christmas list!
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Happy Thanksgiving
From the Hammons House to your house we wish you A very Happy Thanksgiving 2011! May the holiday season be off to all things MAGICAL
Kenneth, Courtney, Tariku, Teddy,
Oliver, Annie, Touchet and Pepsi
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Last year at this time -
Greetings -
WOW O WOW! What a difference a year makes! As I sit in my brothers New York condo writing this today - I am thinking back to where I was last year at this time. While friends and family were busy preparing for Thanksgiving Kenneth and I were once again in Ethiopia. This trip a little more unexpected than all the rest! We were there for court for Tewdros "Teddy" Joshua Hammons. Little did we know the journey that God was about to send us on. So today I sit in the condo and watch my dad play basketball with his two little Ethiopian princes and I pray for all our friends still on this journey. May they know the love that comes with these children.
Wishing you a Magical Day ~
Courtney
WOW O WOW! What a difference a year makes! As I sit in my brothers New York condo writing this today - I am thinking back to where I was last year at this time. While friends and family were busy preparing for Thanksgiving Kenneth and I were once again in Ethiopia. This trip a little more unexpected than all the rest! We were there for court for Tewdros "Teddy" Joshua Hammons. Little did we know the journey that God was about to send us on. So today I sit in the condo and watch my dad play basketball with his two little Ethiopian princes and I pray for all our friends still on this journey. May they know the love that comes with these children.
Wishing you a Magical Day ~
Courtney
Sunday, September 11, 2011
My 09.11.01
Greetings -
As we reflect today on the American Tragedy of 9.11.01 Kenneth and I reflect on a very different 09.11.01 At the time Kenneth and I were both working for Walt Disney World - we had been seeing each other for a few months and 09.11.01 was the day I was scheduled for surgery at Celebration Hospital for endometrosis. My recollections of 09.11.01 are small (at best!) When Matt Lauer came on the T.V. about the first plane hitting the world trade center I was being sedated for surgery. I woke up to news that the pentagon had been hit and that Celebration Hospital was being shut down to any voluntarily scheduled surgery. Celebration was the fall out shelter should anything happen and Walt Disney World and so they needed to prepare in case there was to be an attack on Walt Disney World. It turns out I was the only elective surgery to have taken place that day because of the attacks. While America was wrapped in the tragedy unfolding on TV Kenneth and I were learning that a biological child was not in my future (remember Kenneth and I had only been together a few months so who knew if he would stick around with this news!!!) And yet there was peace amidst the tears there was the belief that God had a different type of family in store for me. And so we headed back to my apartment - roads bare of cars, news blaring about the terrorists and our own silence. Today 10 years later I look back on that day as a new beginning - AMERICA rose to the challenge and was not defeated by those terrorists - Kenneth did eventually propose and we were married - and now on this 10th anniversary we have 2 AMAZING boys from Ethiopia that are not only our pride and joy but also our rise to a challenge. Tonight we will talk to the boys about 09.11.01 - we will tell them about the city that Uncle Josh and Au ntie Megan lives in, we will tell them about the boys and girls that lost their moms and dads that day, we will talk about the heros that came when they were called and we will tell them how it began the journey to today. From our family to yours we pray for God's blessings and peace during a monumental moment in time.
Wishing you a MAGICAL day ~
Courtney
As we reflect today on the American Tragedy of 9.11.01 Kenneth and I reflect on a very different 09.11.01 At the time Kenneth and I were both working for Walt Disney World - we had been seeing each other for a few months and 09.11.01 was the day I was scheduled for surgery at Celebration Hospital for endometrosis. My recollections of 09.11.01 are small (at best!) When Matt Lauer came on the T.V. about the first plane hitting the world trade center I was being sedated for surgery. I woke up to news that the pentagon had been hit and that Celebration Hospital was being shut down to any voluntarily scheduled surgery. Celebration was the fall out shelter should anything happen and Walt Disney World and so they needed to prepare in case there was to be an attack on Walt Disney World. It turns out I was the only elective surgery to have taken place that day because of the attacks. While America was wrapped in the tragedy unfolding on TV Kenneth and I were learning that a biological child was not in my future (remember Kenneth and I had only been together a few months so who knew if he would stick around with this news!!!) And yet there was peace amidst the tears there was the belief that God had a different type of family in store for me. And so we headed back to my apartment - roads bare of cars, news blaring about the terrorists and our own silence. Today 10 years later I look back on that day as a new beginning - AMERICA rose to the challenge and was not defeated by those terrorists - Kenneth did eventually propose and we were married - and now on this 10th anniversary we have 2 AMAZING boys from Ethiopia that are not only our pride and joy but also our rise to a challenge. Tonight we will talk to the boys about 09.11.01 - we will tell them about the city that Uncle Josh and Au ntie Megan lives in, we will tell them about the boys and girls that lost their moms and dads that day, we will talk about the heros that came when they were called and we will tell them how it began the journey to today. From our family to yours we pray for God's blessings and peace during a monumental moment in time.
Wishing you a MAGICAL day ~
Courtney
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
GOTCHA Day - 1 Year Later
Greetings -
Hard to believe but it is GOTCHA day! Here is the video of what was happening in our life a year ago!
Wishing you a MAGICAL day~
Courtney
Hard to believe but it is GOTCHA day! Here is the video of what was happening in our life a year ago!
Wishing you a MAGICAL day~
Courtney
Monday, August 1, 2011
One Year Ago.... Today
Greetings -
One year ago today was a HUGE day in the life of Kenneth and Courtney Hammons. It was the day that would start a new chapter in our family! We would no longer be Kenneth and Courtney Hammons - we would become the Hammons Family! One year ago today we met "meetcha day" Tariku James Hammons at the transition house in Addis Abbaba Ethiopia. We waited with wide eyes and wonderment for our son to appear through those magical doors where we had seen so many other children loose their orphan status! And like we had seen so many times during our process out walked a pensive, nervous little boy. Unsure about what the future held for him. Sure he hugged us and played with us but you could see in his face the questions - is this for real? will they take me home? am I finally a child of a family?
So to answer those questions I fast forward one year to TODAY!
Yes Tariku it is for real, Daddy and I will take you home and love you everyday. We will listen to your stories and compare transformers and their speed 1,000 times a day to reassure you that you are home! Yes Tariku you are a child of the Hammons family and in so many ways you my sweet sweet boy are what made us the family we are. Daddy and I are blessed and honored to call you are son. We will forever be grateful to your African Mommy and Daddy for bringing you into this world. For loving you those first few years and than for realizing that they could not care for you any further. We will continue to honor your past and speak about it when you wish. But we will also move forward with your future - filled with Nana and Papa, Papa Blue, Uncle Josh and Auntie Megan and Grandma and Grandpa, Nanny, Grandma Taco, Nana Pat and Auntie Kristin. For it is in these people your future will come to life!
To everyone who has touched us this past year THANK YOU! I could never name everyone who has made this journey with us and supported us in ways I never knew possible!
So from those that have loved you in the past and to those that will love you in the future! Welcome to your first American year Tariku James Hammons! We look forward to so many more years with you!
Wishing you a MAGICAL day~
Courtney
One year ago today was a HUGE day in the life of Kenneth and Courtney Hammons. It was the day that would start a new chapter in our family! We would no longer be Kenneth and Courtney Hammons - we would become the Hammons Family! One year ago today we met "meetcha day" Tariku James Hammons at the transition house in Addis Abbaba Ethiopia. We waited with wide eyes and wonderment for our son to appear through those magical doors where we had seen so many other children loose their orphan status! And like we had seen so many times during our process out walked a pensive, nervous little boy. Unsure about what the future held for him. Sure he hugged us and played with us but you could see in his face the questions - is this for real? will they take me home? am I finally a child of a family?
So to answer those questions I fast forward one year to TODAY!
Yes Tariku it is for real, Daddy and I will take you home and love you everyday. We will listen to your stories and compare transformers and their speed 1,000 times a day to reassure you that you are home! Yes Tariku you are a child of the Hammons family and in so many ways you my sweet sweet boy are what made us the family we are. Daddy and I are blessed and honored to call you are son. We will forever be grateful to your African Mommy and Daddy for bringing you into this world. For loving you those first few years and than for realizing that they could not care for you any further. We will continue to honor your past and speak about it when you wish. But we will also move forward with your future - filled with Nana and Papa, Papa Blue, Uncle Josh and Auntie Megan and Grandma and Grandpa, Nanny, Grandma Taco, Nana Pat and Auntie Kristin. For it is in these people your future will come to life!
To everyone who has touched us this past year THANK YOU! I could never name everyone who has made this journey with us and supported us in ways I never knew possible!
Wishing you a MAGICAL day~
Courtney
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