Bath Time Before & After

This is a picture of us giving Jonas a bath in Ethiopia. I don't think he liked it! Poor little guy... he didn't understand what we were doing to him.

This is Jonas after getting home and taking a sink bath .. my favorite way to do it. Right after he gets all messy after dinner we just put him in the sink .. yes it does make a little mess as he LOVES splashing the water everywhere, but worth it to see his priceless smile:) Isn't he the cutest thing ever?!

The twins enjoy taking a bath with him too.

Bath time is a fun time at our house as all the kids really love to play in the water.

Ahh and his laugh just gets me every time. It's just impossible when Jonas laughs I have to laugh... it's like he's just touches my funny bone.

Plus we have one funny daddy to bring us some funny giggles.

My Sweet Sisters!

God has a funny way of designing families and he sure did make mine complicated to explain to people. But without sharing the confusing details he gave me two beautiful sisters with a heart for Christ that I admire. Allee is just 19 years old with a much older and wiser soul than most teenagers I know. Her love for Christ is so contagious! God has lead her to an opportunity of a lifetime. Right now she is hiking through the jungle from Uganda to Kenya. She is on a mission trip for 2 months, the end of the trip is to Tanzania. I just know this trip is going to rock her world... she is going to see Jesus throughout his people of Africa. She is going to change lives and give hope to the suffering and bring them to know Christ. She is doing work I only can dream of. I'm reading the book RED LETTERS by Tom Davis wow it's a must read! Boy how it puts some fire in your heart to want to do something to make a difference, to walk to the ends of the earth for Christ. It talks about how the gospel wasn't only meant to be read -it was meant to be lived. It gives us a great perspective to being Christ's hands and feet to the poor, the weary, the ill, the fatherless, the prisoners. It's our job as Christians that your attitude should be the same as Christ Jesus.. Phil 2:5 This is exactly what my sisters are doing .. while one is in Africa the other (Dana) just returned from Haiti. She saw the hurt hanging onto life in a wreaked city. I want to encourage you to read this book .. to let your holy spirit guide you as you read the RED LETTERS from Jesus and see what God is telling you to do with a world that is truly struggling. What if we all lived out our lives according to the "RED LETTERS" (Jesus' words) in the bible? Let's get out of our comfortable lives and make a difference. What might be tugging at your heart? How is God calling you to act?

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. James 1:27

Read about Allee's adventures on her blog http://aheart4africa.blogspot.com

What Will You Do For The Lord?

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

This is a video from our local friends. They have been such a blessing to us and inspire me everyday to better serve the Lord.

9 Months old & 2 Months Home

Our precious Jonas turns 9 months old today. I just can't believe how quickly his babyhood is going. I want to cherish every moment as I feel as quick as a wink it's going to be gone. This past month he has learned to wave hello, hold his own bottle, scoot backwards on his belly, reach for anything in his sight, put his own passy in & out of his mouth, know who is mama and dada, and my favorite he said MAMA just this last week! We met with our social worker and she thought he is doing great with attachment to us and his new life here. Things are going really smooth and it seems like he's been a part of our family forever.

I want to share some 1st pictures we have of Jonas.

This is our Referral Picture .. the very 1st time we saw him at 3 1/2 months old

One week later we received this picture 3months 3 weeks old

Then Jessica and Nick visited Jonas at 4 months old while getting their girls.

The director of our agency took these at 5 months old

A few families took these for us at 6 months old

At 7 months he's in our arms

8 months old

9 months old

Happy 9 months Jonas! We love you so much!! You complete our family so perfectly

MAY-Days

I know I haven't posted much about us being home .. I was trying to get our trip details out but so hard to find the time with the end of school year, birthday parties, and three little ones under the age of 4 running around:) I wanted to share what we have been up too this past month. It has been full of family fun!

Brooke is one proud big sister!

There is a field near our house our dog Lucky loves to run in but I think the kids & daddy enjoy just as much

Happy boy as usual

This is Daddy's new way of walking Lucky or Lucky walking him?

Brooke is a little mama feeding Jonas one of his 1st meals

Uncle Boogie has been in town visiting

Our 1st meal out as a family

Jonas sits in a high chair for the 1st time. He did such a great job never fussed once during the whole meal .. crazy it was hard to eat out with the twins.

Another cute picture of a proud big sister

We went to the park with our friends after church for everyone to meet and play with Jonas.

Lots of little mamas lovin on J man

The girls think it's fun to dress the same

We went to a neighborhood festival

They loved the bounce house

Pure cuteness

They had a Hot Wheels race track you could race your cars

Relaxing by the lake

My Aunt Susan and Uncle Doug came to visit

We went on a boat tour which started out to be a beautiful day then the rain came while we were on the boat.. always an adventure

Aunt Susan took the kids to Toys r Us to pick out a toy. They had never done this before and was pretty fun to watch .. Brooke knew exactly what she wanted a pink princess scooter and Parker changed his mind a few times but ended up with a cool hot wheels track. Jonas got some new Thomas sunglasses. Thank you Aunt Susan they loved their gifts! The next morning we couldn't find Parker because he was already downstairs playing with his cars.

Our Memorial day weekend continued with a day a the beach with our friends. Again another 1st for Jonas. He liked the sand a little too much he wanted to eat it.

Jonas loves the water especially splashing the water in his face and dies laughing.

Pinic Lunch Time with our Friends

Ready for dinner

I hope everyone had a great month of May..ours has been a very blessed one!

Thank you for the men and women that have defended our country past and present. You have made it possible to live in freedom today. I'm so thankful to be an America! God bless our country and Lord please be with the love ones left behind. Happy Memorial day!