The Three Amigos

As I look over our pictures we finally got downloaded, I realize we had a very busy May. T-Ball started, Pre-K graduation, Crawfish Boil, and Birthday Party. All of this is to come, but for now I will stick with my Three Amigos!

Sorry about the blurry picture. There were lots more options, but I love this one. It is Evie to a tee.

Brother and Sister had one of their "we want to hold Averi" moments recently.

Thankfully Averi had lots of fun!

Evie cracks me up. She is unintentionally funny, which makes everything even more funny.

I don't know what was going on here to cause these two to be so loving to each other. They play very well together, but here lately they have needed a mediator more so than normal. Stress levels have been high here.

I love how children keep us grounded, especially in the times when we need it the most.

Do You Remeber This?

October 2008...

...has expanded to look like this.

How do you like the "looks" on Greg's face? And the naked baby?

It's a good thing Greg never looks at the blog, since his face is hilarious in both pictures.

I had to add this one for good measure because she was not being cooperative in the family photo. She kept covering her face with the bowl.

Proverbs 27:17

"As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend."

We have been asked many, many times why we love Tennessee so much, and we have never been able to communicate the fullness of our hearts on the matter. However, a friend summed it all up in an email the other day. I hope this friend does not mind me sharing a little piece of their story that has been such a blessing to our family. This particular set of friends have been on a journey to adopt not one, but two children from Rwanda. They traveled in May to bring their children home to their forever family. Their homecoming proved to be a great blessing to them, and this is a piece of the email we received the following day:

"Just wanted to let you all know that your kindness and generosity has blessed us greatly. The welcoming crowd was amazing and we certainly appreciated seeing so many familiar faces after a long tough journey emotionally and physically. Our home and car were professionally cleaned, our refrigerator/freezer and cabinets were fully stocked. We had diapers, wipes, pull-ups, clothes, toys, beds, car seat, booster seat, high chair, baby gates, strollers (2 doubles) swim diapers, baby monitors, swim suits, picture frames and a beautifully painted canvas with our names on it and so much more not only at our house but set up. Our yard was mowed and our flower beds mulched. I had new candles waiting to burn (i love candles) and new sugar scrub and lotion... no detail was left undone or not thought of. I am still very tired and not sure I have processed it all but it was overwhelming in good way, we felt the love that was poured out and know that was the love that Christ gives so freely. We have meals set up for 4 weeks 3 time a week... amazing friends. The process of cleaning our pool was started and all the chemicals purchased. We truly have been blessed beyond belief. We want to and will thank each of you personally but wanted to just let you know that you efforts and sacrifices were a true gift that are appreciated."

After reading the email, Greg's exact words were, "The next time someone asks us why we love Tennessee so much and would love to move back, we need to show them this email."

"As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend."

There is no better way to say it. When you are daily sharpened and lifted up by the friends that surround you, it makes life a little easier and lots more enjoyable. What our friends came home to was a collective effort of friends and family alike. We do not know all of the people who helped and contributed, but we are blessed to call many of these people friends. And they live this type of servanthood daily, not occasionally.

What a privilege it is for us to call you friends. We love you all and want to say thank you for the blessings you are to our lives and family.

Frustration

No pictures for today. Our computer has been graced with a virus, and we have to send it to the beloved computer doctor one day soon. We cannot open any program besides Internet Explorer directly. We have been able to "back door" programs except of course any type of security or system restore. Joy! Joy!

We have been busy bees lately. John Reagan had his Pre-K graduation last week. I can't wait to post a few pictures from that. It was a fun and very sad time. We cannot believe our little boy will be turning 5 in two weeks. T-ball is also in full swing, so we are running the roads. We are supposed to be keeping up with cousin's/nephew's games too. We have failed at that task so far.

Evie and Averi are happy to follow along in tow. As long as they can go and check everything out, they are happy. Averi FINALLY has 2 teeth now. She will be 8 months old next week. She has fallen right in line with John Reagan and Evie. I have to say I am quite surprised she is not crawling by now. From the first time she watched them play, she has been anxious to join in. Those will be the "interesting" days.

Our minds have been a little boggled for the past several months, and we have not done a good job of keeping up with everyone and everything. We are hopeful we are moving out of this season of our lives VERY soon! Shoot us a "catch-up" email. We would love to hear from all of you!