The girls and Mamaw (mostly Mamaw) worked on planting some flowers around the borders of our house.  I conveniently miss the messy work by being the photographer. This is what we had by April 14.

 We waited rather impatiently for our flowers to grow and by the time June arrived we didn't hold out much hope for the dried up, drought-stricken ground.  Then we had to leave and go to VA for a month.  While we were away the Lord graciously revived many of our plants.  When we arrived home yesterday we were greeted with some pretty flowers and butterflies also enjoying the flowers! :) Here is Hannah with the flowers she planted.

As you can see a couple of the flowers are as tall as her!  She was very thrilled to see them.  Sarah's favorite was the yellow flower! 

Mary picked the orange flower for her favorite! 

Lydia also enjoyed the flowers.  Here she is trying to look up at some of the blooms!

So she decides that she will pull this one down where she can see it

 - or was she trying to eat it or smell it?? Who knows the mind of a 16 month old!  Probably all three options were in her plan! 

Well, I may not have a green thumb, but I am thankful for the growing children God gave to my care!  Thank you everyone who has been praying for us.  We have our final home visit with our adoption homestudy representative on Friday.  After she turns in the last evaluation and recommendation papers then we will be waiting for a court date.  We will be in the judges chambers for about 10 minutes to finalize the adoption.  We are so excited about that!

We have no definite news on our next place of service but we are thankful that God has many children and we know He has work for us.  We are praying to stay in His will as we prepare to move in the coming months.  We will have our final church service with our Joppa family and it will be very hard to officially say goodbye.  I am tearing up now because I know what it will be like. 

Yet, I am looking forward to whatever God has for us next.  Coming to Joppa and learning and growing was such a wonderful time in our lives and we are so thankful for it.  We want to please God and look forward to learning more as we move on through this life He has called us to live.

My mom is doing very well considering.  She is gaining more strength each day.  She will have a 6 to 12 month recovery so it won't happen over night but she is so thankful to feel much better and wants to glorify God in all that happened.  She is working very hard to do all that she needs to do - eating right and resting as much as possible.  My dad has been wonderful too.  I am so thankful for their example of marital love, loyalty and sacrifice to each other!

Well, here is one last picture.  These were the tallest flowers we found when we arrived home.  Needless to say they were in Mamaw's (champion gardener) yard!

By the way, I know I should know the names of the flowers we planted but I can't remember.  They were complimentary gifts in some valentines and I forgot the names.  We also planted marigolds, which I wanted because I hear they deter bees and mosquitos, but they didn't do very well! So if you know the flower names feel free to tell me!

Blessings,