New Hair Cuts

It's back to school next week...and new hair cuts for all!

Julz and Ab decided to make a drastic change and as you can see...it worked!

They will be donating their pony tails to "Locks of Love"...following the example of big sister Meg when she was their age!

WOW~Do you recognize them?

Julz had about 14 inches to donate

Ab had about 12 inches to donate

Answered Prayers!!!

I know we've asked for prayers many times and I thought we should give you some of the news that I know is a result of your prayers.

Today Ben and I signed Adoptive Placement papers for Ab!

This is the first step in the adoption process, which is now underway! We can hardly believe we are finally here. The court date this past Wednesday went off without a hitch and her parents signed the papers they needed to,

allowing this to happen.

So, sometime in the next month or two we will be able to announce the addition permanently of our sweet Ab. It is amazing how God works in our lives everyday! We are so blessed!

Thank you for all your prayers~they worked!!

Visitor from Planet Family?

Uncle Jim came into town to visit this week! Here is the traditional family picture taken every year when all of grandma's kids are in town.

Aren't they a beautiful bunch?

Uncle Jim brought his bike...which is better than candy to my kids!

Here he is with Julz~she's so excited!

Now it's AB's turn...She just loves the bike!

(future motorcycle mama!)

Here is a picture of Grandma with her grand kids all looking lovely after a long day of play! Oh well what better way to remember the kids than dirty and messy from a good day at grandma's?

First Birthday!

Teag just celebrated his first birthday! I can hardly believe he's been with us for 11 months...

it seems like yesterday he was placed in our arms at all of 5 lbs.

Now here he is....just a big boy!

First he woke up and had a wonderful happy birthday pancake~

complete with candle (not lit)

The next day he celebrated at Grandma's with cake!

Here he's trying to taste it without his hands!

As you can see he figured out how to use his hands to enjoy the cake! YUMMMMMM!

Here 's a picture of his birthday gift:

option 1~it's a walker...and did he ever walk!!!

Here 's a picture of his birthday gift:

option 2~it's a car....

and he's a DEVIL ON WHEELS!

Out of the Mouth of Babes

As I am waking this morning, my son rushes into my room. He has a wad of tissue sticking out of the side of his mouth~blood on his chin~ and a cup full of what looked like water tinted with blood! Ok, so I'm not fully awake, but I quickly figure out that this is not an emergency, but rather a tooth issue. Jay loves to "show" all the wonderful aspects of loosing a tooth!

He sits next to me on the bed and I ask, "Did you lose a tooth?"

He nods, because he has approximately a roll of toilet paper sticking out the right side of his mouth.

We sit there for a few minutes and he eventually removes the tissue from his mouth, and the tooth from the cup of blood.

He sits looking over the tooth...and looking. I figured that he just likes to see the bumps in the tooth (or the blood underneath-he is a boy! )

He then says,

"You know... it kind of freaks me out-I'm like holding a part of my face!"

I Pause............Laughter!!!!!

~Yup out of the mouth of babes (literally!)

Camp Shady

We went on a family trip into the Adirondack mountains with our family friends the Teels. We stayed in Indian Lake right on the water~it was so beautiful! The kids had so much fun-visiting and going out into the water. They were able to fish out on the row boat and paddle the canoe...

It was a relaxing, wonderful week!

Here is the view from our back yard~beautiful!
The kids and the baby ducklings:

Meg, Sarah, Jay, Robbie, Julz, & Ab

Meg, Julz and Robbie venture out in the canoe!
Ab, Jay and Sarah fish with George!

I'll post more of our family fun soon!

Grandma News

Mom was able to take Grandma home on Monday(7/28) from the hospital. She was insistent that she not go to rehab, and I think mom was hoping that she would become less confused in her own home. It has been a long week of ups and downs.

Physically she is moving about the house with the use of a walker and as of last night seems like she's well on her way. She is able to get up and move with out needing us to help her. I'm sure there are many more weeks ahead of strengthening, but this much of an improvement is a blessing in itself.

Mentally she's battling with some depression, she has never been sick before and I think it scared her to be that out of control of her body. Now that we are home I plan to give her lots of "kid" therapy...nothing like your grand kids to keep you on your toes. Also uncle Jim is coming in soon, and then Aunt Agnes is planing to come in~so I hope just the company will make her think on other things besides being sick. The confusion seems to come and go. Mom said she still has times where she doesn't understand everything that's happening around her, but last night we stayed with her for a couple hours while mom was working and she was talking just as always and seemed to be right on track with her norm. This is something we will have to watch and see.

Thank you all for your prayers and well wishes. She's glad to be home and working hard to show that she's getting better. I'll keep you up on her progress. Please keep praying for her improved health~Also please keep the family in your prayers, It's been hard for everyone to see Grandma so sick and in need of so much care.

Everyone is pitching in to keep her busy~but pray for endurance and patience!