H:
Martin Taavetti [teacher; straight red hair, green eyes] (46)
W:
Adelaide Junia [nurse; wavy black hair, blue eyes] (46)
D:
Olivia Caroline [straight red hair, hazel eyes] (19)
S:
Josiah Thomas [curly brown hair, green eyes] (16)
S/S:
Ian Conor [straight brown hair, green eyes] /
Daniel Kieran [straight brown hair, brown eyes] [15]
D:
Isabel Xanthe [curly black hair, green eyes] (12)
AD:
Sofia Aleksandra [wavy brown hair, brown eyes] (10)
S:
Benjamin Luke [wavy brown hair, hazel eyes] (7)
AD:
Aviva Desta Alemayehu [curly black hair, brown eyes] (4.5)
AD:
Dalia Meklit Aberash [curly black hair, brown eyes] (3)
AD:
Maya Xiangli [straight black hair, brown eyes] (2)
Sheep:
ElsaSheep:
AnnaSheep:
ZivDog:
Liron
Martin &
Adelaide:
Olivia,
Josiah,
Ian,
Daniel,
Isabel,
Sofia,
Benjamin,
Aviva,
Dalia, and
Maya with
Elsa,
Anna, and
Ziv the sheep and
Liron the dog
Starting location: Denmark
Final location:
Israel
Year 1: We welcome a daughter,
Olivia Caroline!
Year 2:
Martin's job transfers him to
Israel.
Year 3: While in
Israel,
Adelaide decides to leave acting and go to nursing school. She starts working as a nurse in a local hospital.
Year 4: We welcome a son,
Josiah Thomas!
Year 5: It's twins! Fraternal baby boys,
Ian Conor and
Daniel Kieran, join our family.
Year 6:
Martin writes a book about his experiences as a humanitarian in
Israel.
Year 7: We decide to get a sheep.
Olivia names her
Elsa after her favorite movie.
Year 8:
Adelaide unexpectedly becomes pregnant. Much to
Olivia's delight, it's a girl!
Isabel Xanthe is born.
Year 9: Sadly,
Adelaide's grandmother passes away at 97. She travels home to Denmark to attend the funeral.
Year 10: After
Adelaide's grandmother's will is finalized we discover that she left a substantial portion of her estate to
Adelaide. We use it to pay off
Adelaide's nursing school debts and start college funds for the children.
Year 11: We've enjoyed having a sheep so much we decide to get another one! Naturally,
Olivia insists on naming her
Anna.
Year 12: We adopt a daughter from Russia! Two-year-old
Sofia Aleksandra joins our family.
Year 13: Our son
Benjamin Luke is born!
Year 14: We get a third sheep. This time it's a boy, and
Isabel and
Sofia name him
Ziv.
Year 15:
Martin decides to leave humanitarian work and go back to school to become a teacher. He finds a job teaching third grade at the children's elementary school.
Year 16: We adopt a daughter from Ethiopia! 10-month-old
Desta Alemayehu joins our family. We choose a Hebrew/English name for her,
Aviva, and keep her given names as middle names.
Year 17: A stray dog winds up in our backyard and the children fall in love with him immediately. We name him
Liron.
Year 18: We get a call from the Ethipian orphanage where we adopted
Aviva. She has a one-year-old sister who has been placed for adoption and they want to know if we're interested. Of course, we say yes immediately. A month later our new daughter
Meklit Aberash arrives home. We choose
Dalia as her Hebrew/English name and keep her given names in the middle like we did for
Aviva.
Year 19: We move to a new house to accommodate our bigger family.
Year 20: The final addition to our family, a two-year-old girl adopted from
China, arrives! We choose
Maya as her Hebrew/English name and keep her Chinese name, Xiangli, in the middle.