Happy birthday, America!!

I thought I would add some photos tonight and add a quick update! We have been enjoying this past week. On Saturday I took the kids to the Green Forest Appreciation Day where they had a bunch of games, food, and a fireworks show. I love free events! We have made jewelry, watched movies, played games, put together a puzzle, and just spent a lot of time hanging out together. Jack is getting home on Wednesday, and we are all looking forward to that. We are all just praying that the local office calls him this week and offers him the transfer he has been waiting for.

The antibiotics and steroids seem to have done the trick for the spider bite. The swelling is gone, and there aren't any signs of deteriorating flesh, and hopefully there won't be anymore eight legged freaks who decide to turn me into an evening snack.

Things seem to be moving forward well with the house as well. We are getting all the rest of the paperwork together and waiting for the home inspection report to come back. If all goes well we will be in by the first of the month.

The best news for this post, though, is another reunion update. When we first heard where Jessica was, Jack sat down and he said to me, "Babe... I am getting my girls back.... both of them." He knew that as soon as he could reconnect with Jessica he could work towards building a relationship with Jocelyn as well. This week Jocelyn called and talked to him, and we have all had a chance to get to talk to her and get to know her. She has a little girl named Ariel that we can't wait to get to know as well... can you believe we're grandparents??? This has been a year of so many blessings for us.

Anyway... here are some pictures from this last week. The banner is a shot of Kyle and Todd running towards the monkey bars the other night at the park. A coupld of minutes after I took this shot I had to go rescue Todd from the top. He climbed right up there without any thought of how he would get down, and when he realized how high up he was and how big the spaces between each of the bars were he just perched himself on top of one and began to holler for me to come get him. He cracks me up.

We are heading over to Billy and Johanna's today to swim and set off some fireworks. I hope you all enjoy your 4th of July celebrations!


I had to go pick up an electric dryer the other day, and while we waited to get it loaded Todd tried his hand at the exercise bike. He didn't let the fact that his little legs weren't long enough to ride the bike properly deter him!

This has to be the biggest dandelion I have ever seen! It took Beth about ten puffs to finish blowing all the seeds off to make her wish!


This is the outfit I took Jessica shopping for the other day. It was so fun to see her picking things out for herself! The pink skirt has gold sequins on it, so the sandals were perfect with it. We came home and made her the necklace, bracelet, anklet, and earrings to wear with it.

This is my friend Marilyn and I. Marilyn came by and saw me at the show in Chantilly last week.

Tipsy had three kittens this week. I love that the mostly white one looks just like her. He even has the white tip on his tail that she has and is named for. The other two will end up being mostly black with white spots on them.


These are all from the appreciation day we went to on Saturday.
Jessica and Beth taking a ride around the park on a barrels and tractor train driven by a Mennonite farmer.


Faith and Todd took advantage of the face painting booth.


Todd wanted to ride the blue barrel, but by the time we were finally able to get him on the train, the green one was the only one we could commandeer. (there weren't any lines... kids just kept jumping in seats as soon as the train stopped in a free for all frenzy, so I had to help them claim a seat!)

Jessica and I
The girls dancing along to "Honky TOnk Badonkadonk"


Chet just being goofy. He spent most of the night hanging out with his new friends Rhett and Martin, so we didn't see much of him.


Just a random shot of Beth cuddling with CryBaby in an empty basket.

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