A New Home

We have a new home in Kansas!  For those of you who did not know James has to complete a clinical year somewhere in the US and he was placed in Kansas.  Manhattan Kansas to be exact.  I am so excited but also nervous about what lies ahead. 

One of the very exciting things about being back in the US is that our adoption will most likely move faster here than when we were out of the country.  We are excited to get this process moving along more and can't wait to update when we are further along in the process. 

May I mention here that I do not like moving and setting up a new house?  Well I don't.  I really don't like doing it without my husband around and after 3 long days of driving with two small children, a cat, a dog and a very loud bird in the car, but we made it.  YEAH.  The house is almost completely set up and the boys are loving the big house. 

I will keep you updated as everything moves further along.  God is faithful to see us through it all and I am glad that he has us all in his hands.  Let me see if I can find a few pics of the kids for you.  They are amazing!

Family photos at a shipwreck in St. Kitts before we left.

I am gonna miss this place.

Funny boys

Up close and personal!

I told them to splash the photographer!  Luckily it was the talented Leann Hill and she is a good family friend.  She was great!  Thanks Leann

Time is Slipping Away

When we came home for this visit (6 weeks) I thought it would feel very long.  We are only a few weeks from leaving for our long and huge trip to Kansas and I can't help but feel that the time is flying by.  I can't help but feel like time is speeding up.  I am so glad that we have the opportunity to come and visit family and that we have gotten to do so much together. 
Gabe is struggling going from napping everyday to not having a nap most days.  He is just in that transition period and that is so difficult.  On a side note he absolutely LOVES my sister's cat named Jezebel.  He calls her "skinny kitty" and holds her whenever possible.  As I type this he is lying on my bed yelling "I want the kitty, I want the kitty!" because he wants to hold her while he is resting. 
Eli is loving all the time with his best partner Nana.  He wants to spend all of his time with her and thinks that no one else even comes close to her. 
We are all enjoying our time here but we are missing Daddy!

We Got Them GOOD!

OK, for those of you who do not know the story the boys and I came home early as a surprise to all of our family.  They thought we were coming home on July 31st for 10 days before moving to Kansas.  Well James and I discussed it and decided that the grandparents needed more time with their grandsons.  So without telling anyone we decided to take the boys and myself home on June 25th and stay through August 9th.  This took a TON of planning. 

We bought first class tickets so we could have more luggage since we were moving home from another country.  This meant that I had to wrestle #9-70 pound suitcases, #4- carry ons, @2 large suitcases, a dog in a large dog crate, an in cabin cat and a 7 year old and 4 year old boy through 3 airports lasting more than 24 hours.  Let me just say that this was not the easiest or best trip, but I was sure it would be worth it in the end. 

We had arranged with our families to have a group Skype date so that we could determine what we wanted to do for the time the boys and I would be home and James' parents, my parents and my sister would all be there to Skype with us.  Meanwhile I was flying home and my uncle picked us up at the airport and we were driving home.  My sister called much earlier than anticipated so my husband told her that I had run to the store and would be home soon.  All the while we were talking on the phone so I knew what was going on and when to show up at the house. 

As soon as all the people arrived they began the Skype call with my husband who told them that I was on my way home from the store.  Moments later I walked in the front door and said, "Wow the store was really busy, I am glad I finally made it home!"  Let me just say that the looks on all of their faces were worth the unending trip and all the frustration.  Above all I could see the gears working in my sister's head thinking "I thought James said they were at the store in St. Kitts?"  It was amazing.  Then there were more tears than I can  possibly tell you about and a great deal of relief on my behalf.  I was so glad to finally be home and they were thrilled to have us. 

Of all the good memories I have of my life I am so excited to add this one.  I will forever remember the looks of confusion and the tears of joy on each of their faces.  I am glad we kept it a surprise.  Now I just wish for my husband to finish up his classes strong so I can see him in 6 weeks in Kansas. 

Let us know if you want to see us while we are home and we will make it happen since we have much  more time than everyone thought we would.  (P.S. I did the trip in the middle of my finals week for my masters and still did well in the class so praise the Lord that he saw us through all of our regular duties while allowing us to make amazing memories.)  (P.S.S. Gabe is still not very much fun to fly with.  Good thing I don't have to do it again for a while!  Especially alone!). 

Have a great day. 

Busy!

It has been busy.  We are trying to get housing set up in Kansas, plan how to get everyone and everything home/to Kansas and planning our driving trip to Kansas.  It has been a little crazy.  We are also trying to sell our stuff here and keep some sense of normalcy for the kids.  We are all excited about the new adventures and can't wait to see our new home.  Some more cute photos!

We are Moving!

I have been so busy I forgot to tell you that we are MOVING.  We all knew it would happen but we did not know where.  So for those of you that don't know Ross students complete their clinical year at a partner school in the states.  Two weeks into 7th semester the students find out where they are going to be placed for the next year.  Students chose 3 schools they would like to go to and the administration does it's best to place students in one of those schools, but there is no guarantee.  Students could be placed anywhere.  So James decided to put in for; Kansas, Florida and Colorado.  We got Kansas.  So we are moving to Manhattan Kansas in August if everything goes according to plan.  YEAH.  I did not care where we ended up, I just wanted to know where we are going.  James on the other hand really wanted Kansas State so he is THRILLED to have received his first choice.  So that is the big news for now and we will let you know more as we get housing secured and make plans. 

Wishful

I am so grateful for the two amazing sons that I have, but I can't help but wish that I had more children on this Mother's Day.  We had the most amazing afternoon including a water balloon fight that included the hose and several buckets getting involved.  I love these precious moments.  I will post photos soon, but I have homework to finish up tonight.

I was a little sad that I have not been able to see my own mother for the last 3 Mothers Days.  I miss my Mommy.  I called her and we talked for a while but I just wanted to hug her and love her.  I can hardly wait to see her and the rest of my family again.  The boys are ready to see their family too.  Thanks Mom for all the years of memories and love you have given me!  See you soon!

Pupdate!

Alright I promised updated puppy pictures to many people so here you go.  They are getting huge and most of them gained over 1 pound in the last 3 days.  I can't believe how big they are getting.  See for yourselves.

Rocco and Toby having a cuddle.

Peek-a-boo

Did I mention how much this guy loves his dog?

We had to bottle feed 3 of the puppies because Mommy did not produce enough milk. 

Mommy looks much better!

They are all little ankle biters.  Eli is getting his toes nibbled too.

Learning to walk.

Falling down

Benjamin

Ben

Elly Mae

She is getting so big!

My patented belly washing method. 

Gideon

Beautiful Blue Eyes.

Delilah

Caleb

Tiny Adam

Francis (Now Rocco)

All 7 of them.

Wrestling

Elly Mae sleeps a lot.  I guess you need a lot of rest when you are growing so much.  She is the biggest of the pack.

 

 

They are a ton of fun and a ton of work.  I can't wait until their new parents are here next week to come and get them.  I wish them all the best.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Plan for the Present

As our adoption process is slowly moving I want to focus a great deal of time and energy on the amazing children that God has given me.  So the plan for this blog, until we move further along in this adoption, is to use this blog to tell you about the amazing times we have.  I already told you about camping at the 300 year old fortress and the puppies.  I wanted to say that we have an amazing island family.  In the midst of not being near our families we sometimes get a little sad.  But, we have island family that are amazing and some of the greatest people I have ever met.  For them I am truly grateful.  God has sent us some amazing friends.  Today we spent the vast majority of the day with "Aunt" Loren at the pool having a great time. 

We had a splash contest, she taught us the colors game, we went round and round the whirlpool, she and I got to play the trusty steeds for the jousting knights and my tiny Gabe swam completely unassisted between the three of us so many times I got tired.  I love having island family that will do what we love with us and loves our kids.  Since we do almost everything with them it is very important to have friends who like them.  We are so grateful. 

We also got invited to watch the meteor shower at Banana Bay the other night.  We had a great time on the beach with 3 other families and tried to see the meteors but the moon was far too bright to see the meteor shower.  The men all hunted down fire wood and we had a great bonfire where we roasted marshmallows and ate smores.  Since I know you all only look at my blog to see all the great pictures of my kids I will post a few more right now. 

Roasting marshmallows. I spent 10 minutes roasting Gabe's and he took one tiny bite and was finished. Nice one.

Eli wanted to collect things to burn all night long.

A man and his fire!

Yep he did it!

One bite of smore and there is chocolate everywhere.

Enjoying the fire.

If you look closely there is a beautiful butterfly in this picture.

Swinging on the vines at the old sugar mill.

Trying calamari for the first time.

Calamari is yummy!



We had such a fun day on the island.  Thanks for reading.  God Bless.  ~Missy