Feb. pics of the Girls

Don't you just love expressions like this? I often wonder...just what is she thinking?
Cheese! Our little beauty...
Seriously, you can't get any cuter than this... :)
Can you believe this dress used to be mine when I was a baby? My great aunt from Germany made this for me when I was a baby.
Daddy hanging out with his little girls!

Back home....

We arrived safe back in Hungary. It is hard to believe that we have already been here for one week. Jet lag with two kids...WOW! That is intense....I wonder if it is a small taste of what having twins is like..NEVER sleeping at the same time! It has been a pretty exhausting..but it is SO great to be back. Last night Bjorn and I each got a few more hours of sleep so that was greatly welcomed and appreciated. Hopefully, the girls are getting over the time change. "They" say that it usually takes you about a day for each hour time difference, so that would mean that by this weekend we should all be back on schedule.

The moment that we pulled up to our apartment, Lianna said, "Home!" Wow..that was amazing. Every time with leave the house and pass through the gate, she says, "Home!" It is really sweet to hear her say that. Today Lianna was "teaching" Alyssa how to complete a puzzle. She would look at Alyssa after putting in each piece and wait for her to clap (with Mommy's assistance of course) and in sign language say, "More, please." Lianna was so happy that Mommy was helping her use sign language to talk to her..she had the biggest smiles...I wish I could have taken a picture of the three of us sitting at the kitchen table. It was precious.

The night after we got back we headed to school for the senior auction where they served taco salad..it was a good thing that they were serving food, because we didn't have any food in the house and our car papers had expired while we were gone so we could drive to get groceries. :)

Bjorn is LOVING being back at school and I LOVED getting to see my Bible study girls yesterday. Yes, I think it is fair to say that it is good to be home...it is good to be home.

December 2009

Lianna and Alyssa had matching Christmas dresses and they looked stinkin' cute!
Seriously, could she look more like her Daddy? Where are those Stienstra genes?
Lianna was thrilled to get Barney videos to take back to Hungary..but now she is totally into Yo Gabba Gabba...good thing we got her one of those videos too!
Oma-ma and Uncle Richie admiring our newest addition, Alyssa Noelle
I wish they made these swings for adults...doesn't that look cozy?

Alyssa Noelle Olsen

Alyssa Noelle, our American born princess and big sister, Lianna Joy, our Hungarian born princess...we are soooo blessed!
Ga-ga Olsen and Grampa came to visit Alyssa in the hospital too!
Uncle Derek, Oma and Papa came too.. Uncle Richie and Aunt Denise came to the hospital to visit too, but I guess I forgot to take a picture of them holding sweet Alyssa
Uncle Tino and Aunt Jenny came too..they were actually the first to come visit. It was a lot of fun having family come and visit in the hospital with this delivery..and every doctor and nurse spoke English in the hospital too which was a HUGE bonus!
Sweet Alyssa Noelle sleeps as peaceful as this picture looks...really, we are so blessed by what a great sleeper she is already..now for the time change that we are about to embark on..hmm...should be interesting...

Ministry Presentations

Bjorn has been busy giving presentations at our supporting churches
Lianna loves to go up front and get to say, "Hi!" in the microphone

Sadly, with Mommy on bed rest now...Bjorn and Lianna have to do the presentation without Mommy, but thankfully Grandma and Grandpa have been coming to help out!

Pumpkin Farm and Apple Picking

On the hayride, Lianna had to say, "Hi!" to everyone we passed...too funny!
She loved all these apples right at her height that she could pick!
Lianna and Daddy like the tart apples, while Mommy prefers the sweet apples...This picture is really amazing to us to be able to see her jaw strength improve so much that she could actually bite an apple...wow...
Of course Lianna loved getting to go on Daddy's shoulders to get the apples way up high too!
There were too many pumpkins to count...
But, she tried again and again!
As you can see, Lianna had a great time going to the pumpkin farm, picking apples, and going on a hayride! She just loved being in the states to do such a fun fall outing...we don't get to do these fun things in Hungary!
Lianna stopped to give Daddy a sweet kiss..and I captured it on camera...I LOVE these moments
Lianna picked out the perfect little pumpkin!

Lianna saw her neurologist this past week and he was thrilled with all of her developmental gains! She thought it was hilarious to take his little wand and check her own reflexes...she actually got her legs to kick a couple times...it was pretty funny! After being seizure free for 2 years, the doctors now have us weaning Lianna off of her medicine. Please pray with us that God would keep Lianna seizure free! Lianna is also trying to talk more, and her walking and balance is getting better each day. Praise God!