Skinny Braylen

Last night, I told Braylen to go upstairs and change her clothes before we left to run errands together. I was in the kitchen doing dishes when I heard Brad tell her that her shorts were too little and she needed to get another pair. I took notice of that wondering how any shorts in her drawer were too small since we just went through all her clothing last week. I had her come back down and figured out what had happened. Much to my surprise, she had a pair of Alea's capris on! Mind you that Braylen wears a size 4 short and Alea's capris were a size 6-12 months!!! I had to snap a picture because they really weren't that small considering the size! I know she is skinny, but I didn't know she was that skinny!!!!! It's never a dull moment in our household--the girls keep us laughing all the time :)

Splash Pad Fun!!

Sunday we joined the preschool group from church at the splash pad! The girls had a blast playing in the water and with friends. Braylen loved playing on the playground equipment as well!!

Silly Alea

Alea got a haircut and she looks sooo ornery!!! Mom fixed her hair in a ribbon and it looked so cute! She actually left it alone! She is standing all the time and walking as long as she is holding onto something. She has yet to take a full step by herself, but is close. She loves to stand and can do so without support. She should be walking soon. She likes her hippo. She can use it push and walk behind, but so far, she just crawls behind it. She prefers to be inside it instead of behind it! She also LOVES shoes. She will entertain herself forever by putting others shoes on and chewing on them (we are working on that part!!). I love it when she puts Daddy's shoes on, it's so cute :)

We're Home

Brad's surgery went well. We are all home together again. The girls stayed with mom and I stayed with my mother and father-in-law (they live 5 minutes from the hospital). Brad is sore and stiff, but that is to be expected. His throat is what hurts the most. They put a tube down his throat along with going in from the front and moving the esophegus out of the way. It is very tender to swallow and such. Other than that, as long as he keeps up on the pain and muscle relaxer meds he feels ok, groggy, but ok! His pain from the pinched nerve is gone. He is very happy about that!

The girls are trying to figure out exactly what happened! Braylen is very concerned about the "big Band-aid" on daddy's neck!!! Of course, she now has many hurts and needs band-aids too! Alea just wants to pick at it. Brad cannot lift either of the girls for a month, so he gets a vacation from night time wake ups by Alea (which happens 3-4 times a week still!!). She slept all night last night--YIPPEE...

Thanks for all the prayers, visits, cards and calls. We appreciate them all so much!

Where Do Babies Come From According to Braylen:

Tonight, Braylen said to Brad and I: Do you know where babies come from? I immediately thought, oh my, it is starting already. Before we could say anything she said. "You have to pray and pray and pray a lot and then the baby comes home!" How precious!! This is the only way she knows babies come into a family because that is how Alea came into our lives and as we tell Braylen her adoption story we always tell her that we prayed and prayed and prayed and God gave us her! I love the way children think! I love their simple faith! Thank you, Lord for blessing me with these!!

Our Fair Booth

We set up a booth at our 4-H fair to promote adoption and orphan care. We had several interested couples stop by and get some information! We love the idea that a few more of the 148 million orphans world-wide may get a forever family!! That is why we do what we do :)

For those of you wondering about Brad, he will have surgery on Monday, July 23rd at 2 p.m. at Lutheran Hospital. Please pray for a quick recovery!!

Fire From Heaven

Today, I taught Braylen the story from the Bible about when Elijah built an alter and poured water on the wood and then prayed for God to send fire from heaven to burn it all up. Of course, our God did and Elijah won the contest against the prophets of Baal. We made our own alters here at home and they were yummy!!! Tomorrow, I am teaching my class at VBS this lesson and I made these cupcakes to pass out to the kids on their way home. Braylen enjoyed helping create them. Alea on the other hand, got a little bored as you can see above :)

For those of you reading wondering why I didn't let the kids make these at VBS: I forgot about this idea when I told my snack coordinator what to make for snack and I didn't want to create extra work for her, but it is such a fun thing to reinforce the lesson, I couldn't leave it out, so the kids will see them as we review at the end of the day and take them home to enjoy and share the story with mom and dad!! The kids are building alters with crackers and pretzal sticks and squeezing cheese fire on them during regular snack time tomorrow!!

Fair Fun!!!

Tonight we went to a fair up north. We all had a great evening. Braylen loved riding rides!!! It was great evening of rides, elephant ears and cotton candy!!

Alea was so good watching Braylen ride rides. She

was unable to ride any!! At one point she

pointed and cried and cried because she wanted

to go too! We felt so bad for her.

Braylen LOVED the rollercoaster!!!

Can I ride now??

Yummy Cotton Candy...

Dino Ride

This is the game Braylen chose. She won a stuffed lamb

Bray's favorite ride...rollercoaster!!

Alea's first lollipop!! Well...if I can't ride, I can

at least have some sugar :)

Balloon ride...

Yeah, some friends to ride with this time!!

Boat ride

Bumblebees sure were fun, but I wish someone was with me!

Next week is our county's fair, so we will have more fair fun coming!!!

Pray 4 Brad

Yesterday we saw a Neurosurgeon in Ft. Wayne for Brad's herniated buldging disc in his neck. The doctor advised surgery. If insurance approves it, he will have surgery on July 23rd. Pray that this will go smoothly and that Brad will get the relief from pain that he needs. Thank you!!

Frisbee with Grandma

Tonight Grandpa and Grandma came up to swim. The pool water is 90 degrees! It felt soooo nice and is the perfect temperature for my grandparents! No, it's not refreshing on a hot afternoon, but an evening swim was perfect. They brought steaks to grill--it was a yummy meal! After swimming, Braylen and Grandma played frisbee while we all watched. Alea was very intrigued by the game! Grandma kept turning and talking to me while playing and Braylen kept saying "Don't talk to my mom and dad!!" She wanted grandma's undivided attention!

Thanks for coming up and spending the evening with us! Thanks for supper :)

Can Anyone Say Cute???

More Zoo Pictures...