Hanging at the beach

walking to the beach

Jenn and Ella doing storytime

Jenn does this with Ella and it is a great idea.... She starts
the story and stops periodically and Ella adds that part
then Jenn continues. With the group of kids she would let
them take turns doing the adding part... Look at Lily laughing
and how Cate is paying attention to the story too....

Paul and Joseph looking over the "farm" pond

One of the alligators or "crocagators" as Mya and Luke call them

Home.... How sweet it is to be Home

We got in last nite from our vacation to visit our daughter, Jenn and her family and Hilton Head Beach. She lives half way there and that was our stopping over... Okay we did really want to see our "grand" babies, Ella and Ezra too. They just moved to the "farm" and it is so beautiful there. Actually on our way in on Sunday we were joking we could just stay there for the week.... They have lots of wildlife (even without us visiting them :)

Then it was on to the beach.... Of course the kids had a great time. Although I have to say... when we checked in at the gate to our resort we looked to our right and saw a very large alligator swimming in the pond beside the gate..... I asked in true stupid form," Is that a real alligator?" Of course she said yes and smiled.... In the literature it stated not to feed the alligators or entice them... Oh duh ! When we got to the hotel entrance I asked about the alligators.... There response was they usually stay away from the hotel because the water is more salty than out there... only about a half a mile away. The joke all week was if you disobey you get to take a walk to the gate.... Funny everyone was on their best behavior :)

6 weeks to Ukraine

Well, we have just 6 weeks until we leave for Ukraine. That does not seem like much time now and it is already filling up with a mini vacation to the beach with Paul as he travels for work, our addition is moving along, the kids have medical check ups and wrapping up our school year. The boys and Paul worked with Jeff our friend/contractor today and were able to get the walls up... The kids love watching the building... It will be nice when it gets done. We have had beautiful weather and it is great to be outside. We are a family who loves to be outside most of the time and the weather could not be any better.

The kids are all getting over colds and I had strep again 4th time in 8 weeks... I have a rash that was triggered by the strep and it has been driving me crazy but I am hoping that these illnesses will be over soon with the return of warm weather. I am on a strong antibiotic and they have me taking it another extra 10 days. I am feeling much better.

We have several online friends who are adopting and we get so excited to see more children finding homes ... A family we know is in Serbia now adopting their 3d down syndrome son... and he is a cutie. She actually is advocating for some other special needs children so if you are interested email me and I will share more. At the least please pray for them. Another family who was linked to their blog returned home with 2 special needs children and their daughter has a heart condition and needs prayers as well for her health.

Luke is doing wonderful . You would not even know he had surgery... What an amazing healer and overcomer he is. I took Mya to her yearly appt. with her neurologist at Hopkins... the one who diagnosed her polio. He noticed for the first time that her r arm was also affected by the polio... He said he could not believe it. She was weaker in that arm and it looks smaller just like her l leg does. She is going to Dr. Standard for a follow up to help her maximize her ability to walk. So the neurologist brought out a walker and she did beautifully with it. We have Luke's old walker and she has been trying it and is able to walk longer amounts with it. She actually takes off fast with it on a straight way... :) Watch out world here she comes.... :)