Sunday Snapshot {The big Belly Flop}

The pool in our little town always opens on Memorial Day Weekend and it starts with the tradition of a Belly Flop Contest. This year, Abigayl, Nate, Eli and Shawn all signed up. It was 105 here yesterday so cold pool water felt good. Shawn was in the "old" category:)

I missed the kids because I was watching closely as this was the first time in the pool for awhile but I caught Shawn and since he doesn't get a lot of time here on the blog... just thought I share with you his winning flop!

The cannonball up high...

 Moving to flop form...

 Almost there, getting his head up and arms ready...

 The splash...

Check out the judges face...

Here is the judge a little closer:)

 Eli was just as excited...

Nate just enjoyed the time sitting in the shade of the lifeguard stand and dangling his toes in the water...

 poor daddy... 3 hours later his belly still showed the after effects but he had fun and was great entertainment for the rest of us! We finished the evening with a night at the drive in. Great snacks and a good movie, Kung Fu Panda 2! Heghine's first drive in experience!

Stop by Stefanie's to check out some other Sunday Snapshots!

Hip Hip Hooray!!!!

If you have been here long, you have heard us mention our dear friends, the Choates, who serve as Bible Translators in the Solomon Islands. Last summer, the kids at our VBS raised money for the Choates' kids for school supplies, etc. When we talked with them after the kids raised the money, they actually had a request for another use for the money. Clean water is in short supply often on their tiny island in the South Pacific. The Choate kids ask if they could use the money to purchase a large water tank for their village so that is what they did!

Check our their family blog and see the pictures!!!

Leave Joanna a quick note as well- Today here (yesterday there) was her birthday!!!

HOPE... {According to Merriam-Webster}

intransitive verb

1: to cherish a desire with anticipation

transitive verb

1: to desire with expectation of obtainment 

2: to expect with confidence : trust

Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him. ~Psalm 62:5 (NLT)

Thanks for praying our sweet girl home.

We have a few requests specifically right now...

 

* for our sweet Clara and her foster mother caring for her. We are so thankful that Clara has this special woman in her life to look after her until she comes home. That she will continue to be healthy while she waits.

* for our paperwork to move forward so she can come home soon

* for our family as we prepare to grow again, the kids are so excited and talk about her daily and pray for her. They are ready for the process to move forward (and so are we:)

*for our planning and preparing for me to travel when they needed paperwork arrives, that I can have everything organized here on the home front for everyone and for a possible travel partner to join me for the trip.

Yesterday, I heard this song again by Chris Tomlin, as I listened, it was comfort to my waiting heart... I changed the words a bit as my own prayer...

How can I Keep from Singing

There is an endless song
Echoes in my soul
I hear the music ring

And though the storms may come
I am holding on
To the rock I cling

How can I keep from singing Your praise
How can I ever say enough
How amazing is Your love
How can I keep from shouting Your name
I know Clara is loved by the King
And it makes my heart want to sing

 

I will lift my eyes
In the darkest night
For I know my Savior lives

And I will walk with You
Knowing You'll see me through
And sing the songs You give

I can sing in the troubled times
Sing when I win
I can sing when I lose my step
And fall down again
I can sing 'cause You pick me up
Sing 'cause You're there
I can sing 'cause You hear me, Lord
When I call to You in prayer
I can sing with my last breath
Sing for I know
That I'll sing with the angels
And the saints around the throne

Yesterday...

 The last 2 days, we have spent outdoors in God's amazing creation! Sunday was spent in ranch country looking for fossils and rocks for the kids 4-H boxes, that to 2 ranchers taking the time to take us out to remote places on their land. Let me tell you, every time I go to one of these places, I can't help but think what it must have been like for early settlers. Life was hard and in some of these places, it is still so challenging!

On one of the ranches, we drove for miles, up and down canyons, rugged, dry land, no houses for miles, no fences, just huge sky above and the vast roughed prarie. At one point on Sunday afternoon, we stood on a hill top and you could see about 30 miles, out cross the canyon, to the river valley and the foothills beyond...

And here, on top of these hills, the kids picked up fossilize sea shells... Yesterday morning started early as we headed north to the chalk beds... again finding shells, shark teeth! I am always amazed at His creation and it's roughed beauty!

From the highest of heights to the depths of the sea

Creation's revealing Your majesty

From the colors of fall to the fragrance of spring

Every creature unique in the song that it sings

All exclaiming

Indescribable, uncontainable,

You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name.

You are amazing God

All powerful, untameable,

Awestruck we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaim

You are amazing God

You are amazing God...

(words by Chris Tomlin)

It was an awesome day... lizards, shark teeth, Prong horn antelope, laughter, friendship, blue skies, hiking and exploring...

"Look Mama... I caught it with my bare hands!"

These were the sweet words that Nate greeted me with yesterday as he came running inside. I must admit, I was a little worried what he had caught with his "bare hands!"

I mean, we live in snake country... rattle snake country and just last week we saw a good sized one out on the highway! 

And since we moved to this house... I have seen a mouse! The field kind that lives in the milo feild out back... the one I don't want to find my house- at all!

 It turned out to be a moth- there has been a huge hatch of them, literally hundreds flying everywhere outside the last few days!

 They fly around you constantly and have been known to make grown men scream like a girl in our house... He was so proud that he wasn't afraid of them.

Everyone hates them in our house... except Nate! He loves them and finds great joy in catching them... and then flush them down the toilet! They need swimming lessons according to him!

A lasting gift...

Today was the last day of school for Heghine, it is hard to believe how quickly these last few weeks have gone it all the craziness of spring! One of the classes she has taken while she has been here this year is wood shop, a class that she would never have the chance to take at home in Armenia! After making several small projects to take home with her, she decided to make a big project for us to keep this spring in class.

This is it!

  Isn't it awesome!

 The picnic table has a total of 4 benches (one not shown) and will easily seat 8! I can't wait to get it set up out back so we can have school at in the early mornings while it is still cool, to enjoy summer outside on a summer evening... What an amazing gift! Thanks for all your hard work Heghine!

A spur of the moment trip to the zoo...

Shawn had  meetings on Wednesday in a bigger town a ways down the road and ask if we wanted to come along and enjoy the zoo while he sat in class. The weather was beautiful and we definitely got the better end of the deal:) We had an awesome day!

Checking out the animal tracks in the mud to see if they guessed right...

 We liked this little guy and he let us get pretty close!

 One of my little monkeys...

 Lenna was so sweet, she brought some of her quarters along because she knew we would go by the duck pond. She bought food to share with everyone so we could feed the ducks. She has such a tender giving heart...

Just saying hello!

They are redoing the Lion/Big cat area so this was the only lion we got to see... They kids were pretending it was Aslan!

Another friendly "hello!"

We love this tree at the zoo and always end up taking tons of pictures here and playing for awhile!

Siblings and friends... a special thing!

Brothers...

Eli's favorite animal of the day... the Addax Antelope

Thanks daddy for letting us tag along!

A HUGE Thank You & the winners...

First I want to thank Sarah for doing a fundraiser for us through her shop! I love her little items and hope you all will go back and think of her if you ever need little gifts! We ended up selling 41 necklaces, which is awesome this time of year. We hoped to raise the $500 needed for Clara's airline tickets and transportation home. I am excited to share that we did reach this goal with the sales of necklaces and some individuals who gave directly for her ticket. I honestly do not know how to say thank you enough for helping us in this part of our adoption journey, we truly appreciate each of you!

Now for the necklace winners...

Lenna did our drawing and the winners are...

Marsha

and

Kim

Thanks again to everyone! 

Almost Wordless Wednesday...

 

Good friends are like stars. You don't always see them, but you know they are always there. ~Author Unknown

The last night of tumbling with our 2010-2011 teacher...

The girls had their last night of tumbling and gave a presentation to parents, family and friends. They did a great job and had a lot of fun!

 

 We are proud of you, you worked hard and did a great job!

 There is about 24 hours left on the fundraiser that Sarah is having in her online shop for us. Stop by her shop, and if you find something you like- use the sales code- SPRINGSALE2011 to get 20% off and then put 4CLARA in the comments box! Sara will send $5 for each necklace sold to our adoption agency to help cover the cost of airfare to bring sweet Clara home!

Sarah's Treasure Box- http://www.etsy.com/shop/sarahstreasurebox

Happy Monday!

I hope that everyone had an awesome weekend. Ours was good, lots of graduation parties to attend, another birthday in our house and a little rain the end of last week!

My kids were so excited to see rain that they were out playing in it and the mud that followed!

Yesterday was my birthday! We had a great day, quiet at home with just a few friends stopping by. I have a cupcake book that I always let the kids pick something out of for their birthday so they picked something out of it for me...

 Hopefully this is not what they think of me... that I have the personality of an alligator:)

Here are their alligator faces...

I also got this sweet gift for my birthday...

Pictures of Clara from her birthday last weekend...

How we love this little girl we haven't even met yet...

I am so glad that God as brought us to this place and that I can call her...

I am also very thankful to my friend, Sarah who offered to host a fundraiser to help us bring Clara home. Our goal is her airline ticket- we hoped to sell 100 necklaces, as of this morning, I am excited that we have sold 25! You can check out her web store in Etsy here!

Her necklaces are great for teacher's gifts, small thank yous and just little special moments. I lov ethem because they are very well made and affordable little gifts. 

Leave 4CLARA in the comment box and you can use this shopping code to get 20% off your order... SPRINGSALE2011

Here are a few of my favorites in her shop right now...

 Thanks to everyone who have been and continue to pray for our family on this journey. We also appreciate your help in "Operation Airline Ticket" for Clara. You have until tomorrow night to visit Sarah's shop,share about the fundraiser on your blog, face book, etc. and don't forget to leave a comment on this post to enter your name in the drawing for one of Sarah's necklaces!