kindergarten

Yesterday was the first official day of school, which means we now have an official kindergartner! I, like most parents, find it hard to believe that my little girl was off to kindergarten. Jennifer was very excited to start school and she had a great first day!

Mikayla is not really sure where her sister has gone all day. Yesterday and today she would crawl somewhere and sign J, which is her way of "saying" Jennifer, and look around. Even at lunch the past two days Mikayla has been signing J, wondering if it is time for Jennifer to come home yet. The house is kind of lonely all day without one of the girls here.

We are looking forward to a great year of kindergarten!

fun at the fair

Sunday afternoon we were off to enjoy some time at the fair. Jennifer, of course, was very excited to be heading to the fair. She had a long list of things she wanted to see and do.

When we got to Papa Jim and Mama Sue's camper Mikayla was very excited! Not sure if she was excited to be at the fair or just to crawl around the camper.

Of course one of the things on Jen's list was to ride a horse, much to her disappointment this was as close as she got this year.

One of the reasons to go to the fair is to eat all that yummy food! Mikayla was loving Mama Sue's turkey leg, it was very funny to watch her eat this.

After all that turkey this sister needed a little nap.

All four of us went down the big slide together. Jennifer sat in between Bill and I and needed to hold both of our hands as we went down, very sweet, gotta love even these little moments.

Riding the trolley back up to the camper after a fun afternoon/evening at the fair. Jennifer loved riding "the big green tractor" as she called it.

After a good nights rest we were back for more! First on the list was Little Hands on the Farm.

Kayla girl even got to do it this year! (It will be even more fun for her next year when she can walk!)

Jennifer thought these were the greatest thing this year. As soon as she saw it she needed her picture taken.

Mikayla was almost jumping out of the stroller wanting her picture taken too!

Oh Clifford. Last year Jennifer would hardly stand next to Clifford for a picture, this year I think she would have stayed with him for an hour. She was super excited to see him and have her picture taken and then she just wanted to chat with him, about everything.

Mikayla just wanted to pet Clifford.

The girls each got a pack of tickets and included in that were a few tickets for rides. This made Jennifer very excited because this was one of the things she really wanted to do at the fair. Her first pick was this ride.

Next was the bumper boats. Really it was just a lot of spinning in circles, she thought is was great though.

The last choice was hard but finally this was the one.

Mama Sue took Mikayla on the carousel. She thought it was great!

After seeing lots of animals, eating lots of fair food, riding some rides, having fun at Little Hands on the Farm, Jennifer making some new friends at a show, seeing Clifford and doing lots of walking another year at the fair came to an end for us. Jennifer has already asked to go back about ten times since we've home!

Xio's Voice

Xio's Voice is a new Adoption Ministry (not Adoption Agency) running through Bethany Alliance (which is the church Bill serves at). The goal of Xio's Voice is to be a voice for the orphan in the Charles City area by encouraging families to "welcome one of these little children in His name" through prayer, adoption support and financial grants.

Xio's Voice: The Beginning

A few years ago a friend of ours traveled half way across the world to pick up her daughter. While at her daughter's orphanage a boy followed them around, hanging on our friend's leg, asking in his native language, "Will you be my mom, will you be my mom?" Our friend inquired about bringing this little boy home with her but it just couldn't happen. That little boy's name was Xio (pronounced Joe). After returning home our friend and her husband began to have their hearts stirred about how they could help kids like Xio come home to their forever families and how they could reach out to families who have gone through the adoption process. After much prayer Xio's Voice Adoption Ministry was born and is now ready to start impacting families!

You may be wondering why I am sharing this story with you. Well for obvious reasons our hearts are stirred for adoption and for the orphan. We long to see families able to bring home their children. We long to see the hearts of those around us long to help the orphan. Below is a video that stirs my heart each time I watch it. If you think that adoption is something that is just for others and that it can't touch your heart, think again. Listen to the words the man in the video says, begin to think of your own child or a child that you are close to. There are millions of kids who are longing to be held, longing to the hear the words, "I love you, you belong to me." (If you are an emotional person you may need a tissue handy, I cried my eyes out recently while watching this.)

Calling All Golfers!

Xio's Voice will be holding a 9-Hole 4-Man Best Shot Golf Fundraiser on Saturday, August 13th at Cedar Ridge Golf Course in Charles City. The tournament will start at 3:00 PM with a meal to follow at 6:00 (for those who don't want to golf, but want to be apart of supporting Xio's Voice). This will be a very non-competitive golf outing for the whole family. The cost is $30, which includes your 9 holes of fun, your cart, prizes and meal following the tournament. If you are in the area, could be in the area, love to play golf or simply want to support this great ministry, let us know. We'd love for you to join in on all the fun. We would be happy to get you all the details. Before the meal, there will also be a silent auction with lots of awesome items on it. Xio's Voice will be using ALL the money raised to provide grants for families going through the adoption process.

kids day fun

Friday was kids day uptown and Jennifer was loving it!

First it was the kiddie parade and we decided to see if Jennifer wanted to ride her bike this year. Of course she did, so off she went. Bill said he pretty much pulled her for the first part of the six block parade but by the time they made it to where I was watching she was doing great!

I am pretty sure at some point over of the past few years we said we would not wait in the long line for our kids to ride this train. However, for some reason this year we broke down and hopped in line. Jennifer was very excited to ride the smiley train. So I guess the long wait was worth it!

We went home and cooled off for a few hours (you may have noticed how red Jennifer's face is in the previous two pictures) and then went back up town for some inflatable fun.

This game cracked me up. Jennifer didn't really get that she needed to run to pull the person on the other side but she tried really hard.

She finally was able to run a little bit and tired to make a basket.

What was Mikayla doing this whole time you maybe wondering? Well, she was being her sweet self and just hanging out in the stroller. When she got bored she would ask for some crackers and be content again for a while. Someone did point out that if she was walking she would not be that content to just sit in the stroller and yes they are right. Next year may be a little different.

Jennifer did the big slide several times in a row.

Despite the heat of the day the kids had a great time!

planting flowers

Last weekend we finally got around to making the front of our house look a little prettier. Mikayla loved helping us by playing in the dirt. She was a mess by the time we were done and had dirt everywhere but it was cute and she had fun.

She is helping prepare the pot for the flowers. Notice the dirt on her shoulder, she got a little crazy with the little shovel.

Jennifer got in on the helping for a little bit as well, she did not last as long as Mikayla though. Jennifer had other things to do like ride her bike and play baseball.

"Here you go dad, there is some dirt for the bucket."

Bill filled up a bucket of dirt and Mikayla sat in the yard for about twenty minutes just playing in the dirt, as dirty as it was it was sweet to see her being so content. When the planting was done it was inside for bath.

last vacation pics

Our last day of vacation was wonderful! We had great weather and so we pretty much stayed outside all day.

Jennifer and papa enjoyed one last time of fishing together. Something was wrong with Jen's pole so poor papa did not get much fishing in but of course being the sweet papa that he is he didn't complain because he was helping his grand-daughter!

Bill and Nick got a little tubing in the last day.

One last day of playing in the water and on the beach.

One last picture before everyone is packed up and ready to go home.

Thanks to my sweet family for another great vacation!