A few more pics of the last couple weeks!

SOOOOOOO BEAUTIFUL!!!

Dad and the little kids!

Katelyn.... glamorous as always!

The kids in Gram's backyard

LOVE!

Brotherly and sisterly love.... at least for a few minutes!!!

Pics from a couple weeks ago!

How Kiah feels about another picture being taken!!!

Fresh and clean after a bath!!!

She think she is a secret agent.... however the glasses need a little fixing!!!

And today she is a mine worker!!!

I have been very bad at updating this site! HOWEVER... I have a great excuse!!! On August 22nd we were officially matched with our new son! You can see him at http:ournumber4.blogspot.com !!!

Pics from Kiah's past.

I just wanted to share some pictures that we were sent by Kiah's foster mother a couple of months ago. We did not get these pics originally as they were taken FOR the foster family. One is of Kiah and her foster mother Xia Chun Mei. The other picture is of Kiah and the foster mother's daughter and her son. This picture was a mystery when we received it. The foster mother had never mentioned having a daughter so we began to wonder. We combed the internet for pictures of the officials and nannies at the Yingtan SWI trying to figure out who she was. We actually paid our translator to call the foster family to find out if they received the package we sent AND to ask questions about this picture. The picture was taken on GOTCHA DAY morning. Kiah is wearing the clothes we received her in and the date matches GOTCHA DAY as well. The last picture was submitted to our Jan/Feb DTC group as a before and after picture. The left side is of Kiah the day after we received her and the right side is Kiah last week. She is a spitfire!!!

Katelyn's pics from Mexico.

Katelyn and Isabelle.

FINALLY A BURGER!!!

Look at the drywall we hung!

Katelyn, Travis and Sijbren.

Katelyn, Danny and Christina in "touristy" Mexico.

The girls relaxing.

Katelyn's trip to Mexico.

Sijbren, Katelyn and Christina with some locals.

Katelyn and Sijbren on their way to Mexico.

Sijbren and Katelyn ready to work hard.

Local family in Mexico.

Park Valley Girls!

Katelyn returned yesterday from a week long missions trip to Mexico. She had been worrying about it for weeks before the departure date. She knew she would be "roughing it" and that worried her. However, she also knew that there were many families in Mexico that needed assistance building houses and hearing the Lord's Word. So, so 13 teens, Pastor Kevven (Teen Pastor) and 3 chaperones from Park Valley Church left on July 29 heading out to Tijuana, Mexico. They flew to San Diego and took a bus across the border and to their compound. Before Friday the last we had heard from Katelyn was when she was on the bus heading to the compound. We were hopeful that she would have cell service and we would hear from her for a couple minutes a day. However, we quickly discovered that there is NO CELL SERVICE in the middle of nowhere in Mexico! On Friday afternoon we finally got to talk to her after praying for her and the team all week. The living conditions were harsh.... they showered with garden hoses, used outhouses, only drank warm water (READ: no soda!) and they ate rice and beans EVERYDAY. They slept in tents with their sleeping bags and evidently the tents leaked! But depsite all of this that Katelyn is absolutely NOT used to.... she was able to bond with many of the Mexican children, she helped build a HOUSE! She did drywall, roofing, etc. Things she would have NEVER done here! She saw what it is like to live in a desolate poor area. The kids arrived off of their flight at Dulles airport tired weary SMELLY travelers. They talked about having McDonalds Big Macs, sodas and warm showers. However, as they kept talking and as they thought about their time in Mexico.... their emotions changed a little. I think their time in Mexico may have been harsh personally (Katelyn has NEVER been camping!) but I think they forged friendships with the people they met, they grew closer as a group, they discovered wonderful things about themselves and most of all (at least for a little while) they are appreciative for all that they have here at home. Katelyn even emptied the dishwasher (her only REAL chore here at home) without being asked! We are thankful to the Lord for watching over this team as they went to Mexico to do His work. We are thankful that the Lord's favor was upon them.

Here are some pictures from their time in Mexico.

The kids in their new underwear!

Kiah multi-tasking.... she's posing for her picture and counting some quarters she swiped from Jake's quarter collection!

Posing with a vaccuum cleaner attachment..... Whatever makes her happy!

Jake giving a thumbs up for his new Superman underwear.... which he has on BACKWARDS so he can see the picture better. He has been doing this for months and let me tell ya.... it LOOKS uncomfortable!!! Sorta like an almost thong on a 4 year old boy!!!

Up close and personal! SIDE NOTE: This picture was taken 3 minutes after Kiah has successfully pee-peed in the potty. 10 seconds after this picture was taken she christened the hard wood floors!

Both little ones recently got some new underwear and for SOME REASON this was a HUGE deal to them. Jake got some Superman underwear (to add to his already 20+ pair collection of various superheros, Spongebob, Cars, Batman, Spiderman, etc.) and Kiah got her first pairs of "big girl" underwear. At 17 months of age she has been showing signs of potty training for a couple of months now. She has done both types of stuff on the potty so we decided to try some underwear on for size.

Kiah and her first corn on the cob1

Tonight for dinner Kiah was interested in trying my corn-on-the-cob. This was after Jake gave her one of his purple markers and while we were eating... and I admit.... mesmerized watching Mulan for the 100th time.... she colored both hands a nice shade of dark purple. That's our girl!

More pics from Great Wolf Lodge.

Kids posing in the lobby.

Jake had no intention of sitting anywhere near that bear.

Kids eating dinner at Sonic's for the first time!

Kiah sharing a soda with Sissy.

The kids on the bunk beds in the Wolf Den.

All smiles waiting for her food.

Uprising in the ranks!

Pics from Great Wolf Lodge.

Brandon, Jake and Katelyn looking for turtles.

Daddy and Kiah sharing an Icee.

Jake, Kiah and Daddy. Yes, that is Brandon INSIDE the turtle exhibit. You'd have thought the KIDS would have been interested in climbing inside and having thier pictures taken but no.... it was the DADDY that wanted to do it!!!

Kiah in the hotel room.

Enjoying the last bit of ICEE.

Well I am finally posting pics from our vacation that we took the last week in August. The whole family and my parents went down to Williamsburg, VA to Great Wolf Lodge. This was an AMAZING hotel with a fabulous indoor waterpark! It was such a good time! We had a great room which included a section for us parents and a "wolf den" which was bunk beds in a seperate little room for Jake and Katelyn. It was well worth the money! The kids even had their own flat screen TV, video games and movies on demand! I was originally a little outraged that I would be paying $300/night for a hotel. I am not a Hotel 8 person... I like to be comfortable but not usually $300/night comfortable! Well, the price of the room included daily passes to the waterpark and the whole experience totally exceeded my expectations. During the day we went out and about including Busch Gardens, the Virginia Living Musuem, Go-Kart racing, etc. The afternoons and evenings were spent in the WATERPARK! Both the little ones are just little FISH! It was good to have so many adults to keep up with the 2 little ones! The other interesting thing was that Rachel Ray from the Food Network was at Great Wolf Lodge filming part of a show! We didn't see her but we looked! Check out our pics!