One month home!

We are all still doing well. It's nice to have the 1 month home mark. We've come a long way in the last four weeks. We are enjoying our last few days of summer.

Carter has started flag football. He had his first game last week (we will not mention the score). He's enjoying it.


Go #33!!!!!






This is Ezra and Jackson's first haircut in the United States so of course I had to take pictures!!

Both Jackson and Durant got lightning bolts in their hair!




Ezra is into fixing his own hair so he just got the line. They didn't cut anything else.

The past 3 weeks have gone by pretty fast. We have all adjusted a little bit more to being a family of 7. We're figuring out more of what a family of 7 means:

• running the dishwasher daily
• going through a loaf of bread in one day
• making a dozen eggs for breakfast
• washing clothes.... always
• laughing a lot
• taking 20 minutes to get everyone's shoes on and to the car
• feeling happy but exhausted at the end of each day :)
• always having someone near by to talk with

10 years ago!

Ten years ago today I had the wonderful honor of marrying my best friend!! It's hard to believe it's been 10 years already. Living life with Matt is an adventure and I have LOVED it! Matt is not only my best friend, my pastor, my husband, but also my fellow dreamer, adventurer, and follower of Jesus. We knew that our journey together would be bigger then we could ever dream because our lives are not our own!!

Thank you Mattie for 10 awesome years! I have loved growing up with you and I look forward to growing old with you. I can't wait to see what other adventures God calls us on.

Happy 10 year Anniversary!!

Jackson's Birthday!!!

Today is Jackson's 6th birthday!! We are so glad he got home just in time for his birthday. We kept it low since this was his first U.S. birthday.

We had donuts for breakfast (his favorite) and McDonald's for supper (also one of his favorites).

His first Happy Meal




He got his own birthday cake to eat!

Yesterday we got to celebrate with Grandma Darla, Heather, Tony, Alisha, and Camden. (sorry Grandma Darla, pictures of you are on Heather's camera)

Ana's last day of horse riding!

On Wednesday Ana had her last day of horse riding class. She really enjoyed riding on her "puppy" Turk each week. Here are some cute pictures from her last day....

Cute Ana on Turk


Getting a little too comfortable


She got to lead Turk around


Stopping for a quick kiss


Ana even got to ride bareback the last day!! So fitting for Ana!


She got to feed Turk a treat for all his hard work!


And of course give him a kiss good bye


Thanks Turk for being such a great horse to Ana.

We will miss you!!

Week one almost done....

The first week is almost done. Here are some things we did!

We went to Irvine Park

Trying to get 5 kids to take a decent picture is hard

Had some worn out kids adjusting to life as a family of 7

Ezra had a chance to play some soccer. He really enjoyed that!


We even got to go to a wedding at the court house! Uncle Sage and Aunt Silvia got married!!

Our first week is going really well! It's so much fun watching Ezra and Jackson discover new things. Today I was vacuuming and Jackson was amazed by the "machine". The microwave is another interesting thing to them. The first day home Jackson kept taking Carter's hand and putting it in front of the vent. He was so amazed that cool air was coming out of it. He had to show Carter!! It was cute!

Thanks for following along with our crazy life!

The first few days....

Here are some pictures from some first moments.....

The van is full!!!


Walking into the house for the first time!

Seeing their bedrooms

Checking out their new clothes

Playing in the backyard

More coming home day pictures!!!

Here are some more pictures from Sunday!!















Sorry Pat, Sheila and boys - we took the picture after you left!!!