Say "YES!" to God's call.
When He calls, He always enables.
When Ric first said that he wanted to ride the fiiretruck and throw candy rather then collect candy I was pretty sure he would change his mind. I know he loves firetrucks but I was pretty sure he liked candy more. By the time of the parade he had not only continued steadfast in his resolve to ride, he had also convinced Andy and Nellie that it was the prefered thing to do. As I don't ride on top of open moving vehicles
(unless they are pulled by bicyclists in China) Jerry and Matthew accompanied them.
As it turned out, since they rode in the beginning of the parade, they managed to collect a pretty good sized bag of candy from the rest of the parade. By the way, is this candy throwing thing a Southern thing or just a Franklin thing ? I don't remember ever picking up candy on the ground at parades while I was growing up in NY. Maybe it was just because my mom didn't let us eat candy.
The paperwork had finally arrived! Nellie is ours permanently. She is a wonderful ,sweet girl and everyone is delighted that she is now an official member of our family.
Andy and Ric had a blast with Sing Spell Read and Write today. That Treasure Box will make sure they will keep coming back for more !
It has been an emotional week. Our oldest son, Ryan, married Julia last weekend. It was a beautiful wedding, with wonderful worship beginning the ceremony, demonstrating Ryan and Julia's determination to put Him first in their lives. Ryan will begin seminary in January. We are so proud of them both.
Our oldest daughter,Camila, resigned from her job as an Assistant District Attorney and moved to Amsterdam today. She will begin a program in International Law. She has been living just down the street from us since she finished law school and has been a tremendous blessing to our family. We will miss her terribly - especially Ric and Ariel (although I think Ariel may have figured out a way to keep in touch texting).
That's our kids Camila, Everett, Katrina and Ariel, in the second picture.
Here are my two handsome boys - which leads me to the next annoucement. We are beginning the paperwork for another adoption ! One of the boys we originally tried to get from the orphanage near Cheryl has been on the shared list for a year. His name has gone out every month to agencies all over the world that adopt from China and no one has chosen him. That is not terribly surprising, since most people want to adopt girls and this boy is already ten years old.
It seems to us that we have a responsibility to help those God puts in our path and we think this child is in ours. I love the Starfish Story (google it) where the little boy says "I made a difference for that one !" We think God is giving us the opportunity to make a difference in one more child's life and we are very excited.
MyDad, my sister and I at Ryan's rehersal dinner.
After living in America for nearly 11months and watching nearly all of the rest of our family have birthday parties
Andy asked nearly every day when it would be HIS birthday. Finally on his 8th birthday he had his first real party. He wanted a firetruck birthday cake and we patterned his party after a book series we love called 'Henry and Mudge' which meant balloons, games and a pinata. His big present was a bicycle with trainig wheels which he was able to ride even on our gravel driveway. Pretty amazing for a kid who didn't even know how to push the pedals on a tricycle a year ago ! He is already asking for the training wheels to be taken off.
Ariel, Lindsay (Travis's wife), Camila, Julia (Ryan's wife in August) Katrina, Amber, Catherine
Andy celebrated July 4th as an American for the first time. All the kids came in, so we spent an exhausting day at the Factory and the Rec Park.
The Factory allowed us to practice target shooting, race motorcycles, go bowling and rafting, and play minigolf in the comfort of an airconditioned building , all within walking distance of the fireworks. No wonder everyone comes to Franklin on the 4th!
(unless they are pulled by bicyclists in China) Jerry and Matthew accompanied them.
