We were surprised by Jenn and the kids on Sunday

Made our week... Jenn decided to travel the 6 hrs with the 3 little ones to come up for a visit... and we could not be happier. This is Eli's first time meeting everyone and from the smiles on his face I think he approves of us... Lots of pictures to come. We are having a blast with them.

The Vacume Princess....

Jonas let Gracie have the vacume as he was sweeping yesterday and she went to town... She loved it as you can tell. Funny what they think is cool at 7 yrs..

Ghana Adoption Update

I will be sharing very soon about our adoption. We have some new changes and I am anxious to share them. Just waiting for confirmation that I can. God has once again shown us how great and mighty He is and how much He loves children. We are all done with our paperwork - including our I 600a approval. I want to share pictures of the kids and to give the Lord all the glory for working out the details. As always they are in a state of change and we need to be ready with obedience to follow as He leads...

I should be able to share soon all the details.. can you tell that I am busting to ? :)

Jonas and his "Junk Yard"

Jonas called me in to the school room to see what he made....it was this " a junk yard" . It made me smile because if you knew Jonas he would be in heaven in a junk yard. He has a very creative mind and often will take broken things like irons, hair dryers and such and take them apart and reuse the junk to make something else really cool. So his "junk yard " creation is quite fitting.

Some of the girls wore these signs on their shirts today

Tonite before their daddy came home Lily and Tia wanted to add this to their shirts....But Leah had already put this sign on hers and came over to me... Some of the other girls were teasing Leah and I said... leave her alone you know she is my favorite one ( of course just teasing back). It is so sweet that they really desire to be "our" girls... and they are just that. Each one of them is a light of joy and beauty for our souls....I hope they will always feel like they are "daddys and mommys girls" always... no matter their age.

Remember that nebulizer that Mary uses.... well

Some of the kiddos are sick with a summer virus... high fever and cough. Josiah and Mya came down with it today...Luke had a few days ago and the past few days Ava has been very sick... She always gets her colds into her chest and often gets croup at nite...she has done this and the croup stayed during the day... So she went to the doctor and they think she may have had her first asthma illness. I went and got her last nite so Keith and MK could get better sleep... they have the 3 week old Mady and she is still not sleeping great... then you add a sick 3 yr old... Last nite Ava was up all nite with her breathing and cough...They did a nebulizer treatment when she went to the doctors and now has one to do as needed at home.. the only problem is it ( the albuterol) makes her hyper and she does not really like using it but she will let us do it ( notice the bribe of 4 lollipops in her hand while sitting on my lap)... ... hoping for a better nite sleep. Mya and Josiah are medicated and should sleep for awhile tonite....Praying that no one else gets this... and we can't see Mary until we are healthier.. because it cause her major problems and even to go to the hospital.... I hate this summer time virus....Oh and if you notice that Cate's eyes are puffy... they are.. she has poison ivy again... and she went with us to the doctors and is on a steroid ....

Mary is one amazing young lady... today she shared more about her life with cystic fibrosis

Mary read a book to the kids about salt.. because salt is important for sustaining our lives. It is also important to a person with cystic fibrosis. If you lick Mary's skin it would be very salty to you. Actually that was one way her mom knew she had this disease. Sometimes Mary has to eat something salty to help her feel better. We learned that this disease can effect other organs in your body like your spleen and liver.

It takes alot of daily mangement of medicines ( as I shared before) and breathing treatments as well as something she shared about today. She was actually "sick" today when she came... meaning she was not feeling well. She was more tired and coughing more with a slight fever on Monday... She said it was the beginning of a lung infection. To help her manage these infections that she gets she has a port in her chest where she can start her IV meds... and once a month she has to clean her port out. Today she showed us how she does it... We were all facinated by how easily she was able to do these things for herself. The port was placed surgically in 2005 and every month she has to clean it but inserting a sterile butterfly needle and salt solutions and heparin into the port... so it stays open for whenever she needs to get IV meds... She was fairly healthy until the age of 11 . She has shared very openly with us about her daily life with CF and I am amazed at all she has to do to breath more easily and to stay healthy. We have had lots of great discussions about this disease and why things like this happen... and always I am humbled by her precious spirit and love of the Lord.

God knew how sweet our summer would be sharing it with Mary .