Surgery Date

Great news! Juline's surgery is scheduled for this Tuesday. Please pray that things will go perfectly. :)

Kiss

Coming back from Ohio this past weekend, the kids watched The Little Mermaid in the car. After the ending kiss the prince planted on Ariel, Caden laughed out loud and said, "He doesn't know how to kiss! He just put his mouth on her like this (he demonstrates the wide open mouth) But I guess she liked it! "

Juline

Many of you know we'll be hosting this little darling for several months this summer. Here is her official introduction. Juline, meet blog. Blog, meet Juline.

Juline is in the United States while she has surgery for Hydrocephalus, and through her recovery. She is from Haiti, and came to the US through an organization called Angel Missions Haiti. See the website here. http://www.angelmissionshaiti.org/
She is staying with another host mom right now, and will be with her perhaps until she has had surgery. Please pray this will be scheduled soon! Her parents are waiting for her back in Haiti! (above picture).
She came over for a quick visit this morning. We were so pleased to finally meet her! She seems rather laid back! This face below is a reaction to a funny sound we were making...sort of in between smiling and fright! :) More info as we get it!

Stan Hywet Hall Gardens

Yesterday, we visited the gorgeous gardens of Stan Hywet Hall near Akron, Ohio.

White Birch Way


Before we entered the butterfly house, we wanted to see how we'd look as butterflies!

More photos from Harrisburg

Kisses

Caden loves this jeep. He can drive it...

And squirt the unsuspecting with the water gun!

Cousin Reid!

Earlier this month, we got to spend some time at Shann's parent's house with our nephew Reid, and Shann's sister, Sharra, and her husband Ryan.

Isn't he so darling? I can say that since I'm his Aunt. :)


Reid so big!

Such a cute family!

3 in 1

So Caden is totally confused by the Trinity. I'm content to not understand, but he cannot let it rest. I tried to describe it to him recently with the egg analogy - 3 parts, but still 1. I'm afraid the egg didn't help, as now he is also saying, "How is Jesus a layer in an egg?" A frequent question is "How can Jesus be God, AND God's son?" He also seems to think that Noah is part of the Trinity - I guess because of the long beard in the pictures? I keep telling him Noah was just a guy that obeyed the Lord, but it seems stuck in his brain.

Everyone has to come to grips with not understanding things perfectly sometime in their faithwalk. On this side, I don't think we're meant to get every mystery.
But to a 4 year old sponge who wants to know it all, the fact that he may never understand is the hard concept to explain.

Week 19

Magical, isn't it? I know very few of you agree, but I'm quite sure several of you feel the same as me. This week, week 19, is the week my parents own a timeshare in Hilton Head, SC. We've traded it this year for a week in the Poconos in July so that my sister and her family can join us when they come home from China. And Hilton Head sure wouldn't be the same without them.

But this week, I'm dreaming of Hilton Head. For the last many years, we've been in the church in Hilton Head on Mother's Day. We always laugh about how that pastor only ever preaches about mothers. I think about how the frogs sound in the lagoon at night. About biking through the golf courses in the twilight, trying not to get hit by the sprinklers. About spotting our alligator, Albert, who grows every year. About playing in the pool. About going to the Monday night free dinner by the not-as-nice-as-ours pool. About sitting in the hot tub under the live oaks. About riding on the bike path to the beach carrying an amazing amount of beach gear. About walking around Caligny, eating Rita's. About sharing the cooking. About our night out. About playing games at night. I could go on and on.

It is one of my very favorite weeks of the year.
Week 19, we'll be back someday.

Career Counselor

Caden said to Shann, "Daddy, you should be a doctor when you grow up." Shann asked him why, and he said, "You're good with bandaids."

Deportment...or lack thereof

In the grocery store today, we walked past an employee who was up on a ladder, stocking shelves. Caden and Alyssa both cheerily greeted her, and as we passed her, Caden said "I wasn't sure if you were a boy or a girl - I thought you were a boy!"
I'm still cringing. Hopefully the lady didn't hear him. Mercifully he sort of said this under his breath.
Yesterday, both of them pointed to a lady in Walmart, and said to her, "You're a grammy!" She was of the Grammy age, and Caden and Alyssa pointed this out repeatedly. Luckily, she acted like she was amused by this, and hopefully she was.
Its hard to reprimand then and there without making the person in question feel more embarrassed. So, needless to say, we're working on saying hello without pointing out ANYTHING about that individual in the greeting!

Circus!

Here we are at the circus! As a friend said, it looks like he saw a clown! He was a bit unsure of all the hoopla at first.

The Cage of death - 6 motorcyclists rode around inside this steel cage!

Here are the boys, Shann and Caden with Barry and Antonio

Los Tigres

Birthday cake

Alright, who can tell what this is? You may get a clue from the transformers...

Its supposed to be a spacecraft, specifically the one the transformers came on. I know it also resembles a merry-go-round.

She is excited too!

Honestly

Mom, I sleep with my eyes open.

a hug for me

Caden has just learned of the custom of asking someone to give someone else a hug for him. He has asked me several times recently to give someone a hug for him. This seemed so sweet and cute, but now I'm thinking he is just starting to get lazy. Today he asked me to give our friend Michelle a hug for him. I told him he'll be seeing her tomorrow, and he could do it himself. He replied, "yeah, but I'll be busy, I have a lot to do tomorrow."