Could We Be More Blessed?

So much has happened in the last few weeks! I'm just going to list things here and insert pictures every once in a while. And just so you're warned, I'll probably be annoyed by the fact that the formatting looks different in my editing window than it does on the published page, so the photos will likely be displayed in an annoying fashion. Anyway, here goes...

We took at trip to MO to see some family. It took me 6.5 hours to drive to St. Louis with the boys. Chet made the same drive the next day, and it took him a little over 4 hours to drive the same distance by himself. Hmmm.... Then, on the way back home again, our drive was equally long. We're scheduled to travel double the miles to see Chet's family in a couple of weeks, and for some reason, I'm dreading that car trip. It will be worth it to see everyone, but I'm not exactly sure how the ride is going to go. Maybe it will be faster when both Chet and I can go. Then one of us can help each child when we need to stop. I'm just SO GRATEFUL that neither of the boys is very fussy during the drive--it's just the stopping that takes a while.

Amber and Titus were able to come up from Texas to hang out with us too. It was so much fun to see Titus and Ladan play together. Even in the last two months since our March visit, they've grown in their ability to communicate and cooperate with one another.

Chet was able to come to STL for a couple of days too. We had a small celebration for Chet, Titus and Ladan since their birthdays are right around this time. Actually, Ladan and Titus exchanged gifts, and Chet received one lingering gift from Robyne (my step-mom), so it wasn't anything massive. The funniest part was when Titus laid his body in one cake while trying to blow out the candles in the other (see photo below).

Chet also retrieved our grill from my mom's garage. This is huge for us, as we've been not-so-patiently waiting to be able to use it for two years (our first apartment in Louisville wouldn't allow grills)! We've already used it a couple of times.

May 23rd marked the third anniversary of my dad's death. Amber and I got the boys ready that morning, took them to Garden Ridge to pick out some flowers for the grave site, and we took them to the cemetary for a bit. It was Gabe's first trip there. Man, Dad would have enjoyed him! He just sat in front of the grave stone eating grass! Our little rain boots were still there from last time, so the boys just used them for their vase again.

My brother safely traveled to and from Sudan! While he was there, he was able to be there for the opening of the second orphanage (located in Lura, Sudan). He was also able to tell two children that arrangements have been made for surgeries they need but cannot pay for. Please check out his blog for video footage of these two children.

Gabe started pushing himself up from his tummy into a sitting position. It's kind of funny, because he doesn't crawl yet, but he can get around. If he wants to get something that's out of reach, he sits up and then lunges his entire body at the item. If he's still not close enough, he sits up again, lunges his body forward, and repeats this until he can reach the item. He's going to be crawling in no time. Here are some cute photos of him:

We had a really great time hanging out with friends last night. We grilled, the guys played Baggo, and the kids did their thing. We were all able to celebrate with our friends, Donnie and Rebecca, who found out that they are going to be able to adopt a baby boy from Taiwan. They have been praying that the Lord would bless them with a baby for more than two years, and now they're parents!!! We are more than excited!

We tried having Ladan sit with us in the church service on Sunday. He did great! We'll have to work on having him sit still on his bottom (he complained a couple of times when we asked him to stop climbing down from his seat and back up again). Overall, I'd call it a successful experience!

I started my job at Old Navy, and I'm really enjoying it.

And, in closing, here are a couple of funny stories for you.... Tonight, Ladan had gone to bed, but he was crying out for me. When I went in, he said he had a scary dream and that he had to go potty. I brought him in to his potty chair, and he sat down. He saw my book in my bag and asked if he could read it. It's "Future Grace" by John Piper, which is a larger book.

Ladan asked, "Mommy, is this my Bible?" I explained that it was not the Bible, but rather, a book about things in the Bible. He replied, "This is the Word about God." And then he proceeded to "read" the book for quite a few minutes. Perfect potty reading, I guess.



And one more fun anecdote... When Ladan sees my brown purse, he asks, "Mommy, is that my brown person?" When I respond, "No, that's my brown purse," he says, "Oh, that's YOUR brown person." I think it's hilarious that he corrects his declaration of possession, but he doesn't notice that he's used the wrong noun. Man, kids are GREAT!