Family Pics

We took the opportunity to take some family pictures while they were here. Clay did great as always!

Best Buds!

Emma and Carolyn came to visit last week. Jackson was SO excited. We took them to the beach, Savannah, The Sea Shack, and lots of other fun local stuff.

Football Fans

So opening weekend we had a house rival. Chiefs vs. Texans. As you can see the kids were really cooperative in taking the pictures. They do however love to watch football. They usually reenact it while its on. Jonah will get his football and get down on one knee, holding it. When the ball is hiked on TV, then he will get up and start running around and then pretend like he's been tackled and fall to the ground. It's hilarious to watch. We will work on getting it on video for all to enjoy!

A 2 year old's favorite word!

Why is it that 2 year olds automatically say no before they have really even listened to the question. This video is a prime example. He says "no" to Clay and then says "cheese" and then when I ask him about a fry, he says "no", but then after thinking about it, says "yes".

Fun with Grandpa!

They caught a lizard on our porch. Jackson decided to give it a kiss. I have to thank my dad for telling Jackson that you can pull off lizard tails and they will grow back. About a week after my parents left, Jackson comes in telling me that he pulled a tail off a lizard, but that its okay b/c it will grow back. I went outside to look and sure enough, there was a lizard tail.

More museum fun!

Scary Pirates

The boys dress up like pirates at the kids museum. Some of them are scarier than others!

Jackson's gymnastics

Jackson has started gymnastics again. This is Coach Guy and he also has a female Coach Zuzana.

Hungry Boy

We had blueberry muffins the other day for breakfast. An hour or so later, Jonah appears in our bedroom with a muffin in hand. He had pushed a chair over to the counter, climbed up, and helped himself to one of the leftovers.

More Birthday Pics

A Thomas tent from Granpop and Granginny.











A Cars race track from brother Jackson.














We got some Diego party favors including animal sunglasses.

Jonah's 2nd Birthday!

A candle in his blueberry waffle (that's what he asked for). He also got his first taste of chocolate milk!







The boys opening matching presents... Cars t-shirts!! They were very excited.














He got a puppy that is now affectionately called Snuggle Puppy.


















Check out the loot!















Talking Scoop from Uncle Clay and Aunt Amy!

Jonah had lots of fun opening presents on his 2nd birthday. Here's a quick clip of him opening his echo tunnel.

Our Big 2 Year Old!

Okay, I know everyone says he looks like me, but until this first picture I hadn't really seen it. For some reason, maybe its the look, I do see myself in Jonah. It's hard to believe my baby is two.

A Big Week!

So Sunday marked the first anniversary of our church in its new building, and it was also the first Sunday of our new campus on Hilton Head Island! All very exciting. Today was my first MOPS meeting and I think things went really well. I have a great team of people and they really shined today. I guess I'm officially over my fear of being up in front of people. Next week is my 30th birthday and 8th Anniversary! We have had a busy couple of weeks. I hope everyone out there is doing well.

Clay and me!

We never get our picture taken so we resorted to this :)

Jackson at the beach

Jackson is suddenly in to drawing and writing letters, so the beach is the perfect place to practice. You can see him below jumping into the big hole we found and being a human bridge.

Jonah at the beach!

No one shows enthusiasm like Jonah! Since our small group moved to Monday nights, we've been going down to the beach on Sunday nights and just walking and playing. It's gorgeous this time of year and most of the tourists are gone. The last picture is Jonah being a human bridge over a huge hole that we found.

Jonah's Ants

Jonah got bit by an ant a few months ago. Since then he calls every bug an "ent". A few days ago, he comes in from the garage saying "ent, ent" and holds out his hand. When he opens it, there's a dead cockroach. It was all I could do not to freak out! I tried to explain to him not to pick up bugs and certainly don't bring them to mommy :) Gotta love boys!

Savannah Train Museum

We visited the train museum in Savannah while Wanda was here. We didn't realize most of it was outside and its was 100 degrees out. The boys still loved it. They are renovating it too, so by next year it should be even better. The gift shop had more Thomas stuff than Toys R Us. We couldn't get the boys out of there. Clay and the boys posed in front of a steam engine with its tender. (i've seen way too much Thomas).



this is the back of the officer's car.









There was an caboose you could go in and the boys ventured up in the loft.






















And, of course, there was a huge model train that mesmerized the boys.

Fun with Grammy

Clay's mom was here last weekend so we did all the local fun stuff. Here we are at The Sandbox, our local kids' museum. She and Jackson did quite the art work. Jonah would stay the whole day in the sand.

More News From Russia

Our social worker emailed me yesterday and we are number 4 on the list of 25! Clay and I were excited about this b/c we really had no idea where we fell. We also don't have to re-do any paperwork at this point which was also good news. If you're bored one night and need something to read check out the US Embassy in Russia's website at http://moscow.usembassy.gov/consular/consular.php?record_id=adoptions
It tells in much detail the procedures that we will go through when we're there. Most of what it describes will be on our 2nd trip.

Good News From Russia!

We got this email from our social worker today. This is very good news for us. It means things are finally moving along. Woohoo!

We have just confirmed with Dr D that Adopt A Child in PA (one of two agencies accepting Bethany home studies) has received written confirmation of their re-accreditation. This is indeed good news for all those families who have been waiting and other families who are interested in a Russian adoption but hesitated to apply because of the delay of accreditation.

Dr. D will begin submitting the dossiers of waiting families in the order that he received them. Sam will be contacting you if your family needs to update documents at this time. It will probably be a couple weeks before we can determine how quickly submitted dossiers will be acted on in the regions. It is summer and many officials are still on their vacation. We have approximately 25 families in process at this time for Dr. D regions.


Thank you all for your prayers! Keep it up!