Another New Experience

Our latest trip was to the lake to see extended family and have fun out on the water. Dan and Daniella did amazing. They loved it, surprisingly. Fun was had by all. Now it will take us a few days to recover from the sun and activities. The Aunts, Uncles, Great Aunts, Great Uncles, Grandma/Grandpa, Great Grandma/Great Grandpa just love seeing all the children and spending time with them. The kids love all the attention.

Have a great day,

Vickie

A Fun Filled 4th

I just love the 4th of July! What a great day of celebration and fun. The day started off with going to the TEA (taxed enough already) protest. I feel our country is in a state of transition. Many of our freedoms are being threatened, and it seems most of the U.S. is asleep about it. Frustrating.










The rally got us all excited about the day and feeling patriotic.











Then we slowly moved onto the RiverFest event. Here the children rode rides, enjoyed the park by the river, listened to music, watched dancing, and enjoyed spending time together as a family. This was one of our first major family outings, since the addition of our 3 new family members. It went quite well. Dan is able to fall asleep now while being held, in his own bed, or when snuggling with mama in the morning. He still has not mastered falling asleep in the stroller or car, when occasionally nap time is missed. This led to a bit of crying on his part at the Fun Fest. Thankfully the music and rides were loud, so most people did not know he was loudly proclaiming that he was tired. After a short time, this passed


and he/we were all able to enjoy the rest of the afternoon.



















Unbelievably, Daniella rode all the rides and slid on all the slides--and loved it!!































Way to go Daniella, you have come a long way from a yr. ago when you were afraid of the baby slide and swing. Before we left the park, the children got a large snow cone. The largest rainbow colored snowcone I have ever seen.

After a great dinner of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, and biscuits; we were off to see the fireworks. We were too late for the fireworks by our house, so we went on down the rode a bit further to the next town. It was a nice cool night (amazing for a 4th of July) and great fireworks.














Hope you all enjoyed the day.

art

Well ,there are a certain 2 young men (age 4 and 1) who are in the stage of getting themselves in trouble lately. You know the stage(around 1 to 2 yrs. old) where things are pulled out of drawers, toys are all dumped out, getting into things your not supposed to touch, etc. We are all very glad that these 2 are progressing in their development, but boy are they quick to get into trouble. Fortunately for the 1 yr. old, there is a 4 yr. old in the same stage who is taller and stronger. This means the 4 yr. old can reach more and pick up more; providing his 1 yr. old "partner in crime" more access to the unreachable. Thank you Dan!

Yes, it is a stage we all pass through. Mom just has to hang on and constantly watch them, until they pass out of this stage. Even with constant watching, you know how one turn of the head leads to another mess. We will call this photo Dan's artwork for the day. Yikes!! No that is not blood; it is red marker. Oh my!! If I could have put in a request, I would have liked a washable marker though. I'm sure it will fade after a couple of days. Lots of memories for mom to remember later on. I sure do love being a mom.

hope you are having a great day,

Vickie

home at last

Our big adventure this last week was church camp. It is a 5 to 6 hour trip one way (depending on how many stops we have to make). It is always an adventure. Camp includes lots of fun, ticks, chiggers, mosquitos, water, activities, singing, and church services. This year we decided to use tents to stay in. Well, there were some heat and wind issues that made that challenging, but we survived. Dan decided the week before camp that he wanted to start potty training. Yeah, go Dan!! He still hasn't mastered it, but he's making progress. That is a good thing. Here are some photos from the trip.

fun at the animal farm

I've been trying to take the children weekly to do something fun away from the house this summer. During the school year it seems harder to get away. These were some photos from the animal farm we visited. Hope your summer is going well.

Vickie

adoption

You never know who the Lord will bring into your life; the people you will touch, and those that touch you. I/our family was given the priviledge of sharing adoption with 2 different families this last month. The majority of people we meet or are around do not have a desire to adopt.
1. While meeting with our photographer, we began talking about adoption. I shared with her the website I found our children on, www.untilallhavehomes.org. Their family is in the process of looking into a little girl from the website. Yeah!!
2. We took the children to our local Serbian Fest this last weekend. We met many lovely people there, as was our experience in country last yr. We met a couple there who have a strong desire to adopt from Serbia. The wife is Serbian. They thought Serbia was no longer allowing adoptions with the U.S. How happy they were to hear our news, and how pleased we were to share it. I promptly gave them the contact info. they needed.
What wonderful opportunities we have had lately. I love to help bring other orphans home to their new families.
have a good day,
Vickie