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Maga got the boys a trampoline our first Christmas here in NC 2001. It has been 7 years and the kids still love to spend time on it. Thank you Maga for the trampoine we have truly enjoyed it.
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I know it has been a long time since I have posted. Hopefully I have figured out the posting of pictures and I will post more often. Or I could just have Ron be my blog manager. Camden had his state meet a few weeks ago and did really well. God has truly blessed him with a gift for gymnastics. Camden placed first in the state of North Carolina for level 5. He will be going to Alabama for regionals (7 state represented) to represent the state of NC. We are very proud of him. Here are some of the pictures we took.
This is a back leaver on the rings.
A handstand on the pbars
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Word can't even begin to express the great awe and love I have for this young man. Ron is growing into a godly young man and I couldn't be more proud of him.
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We just got back from a 10 day vacation in Florida. We had a wonderful time. We spent the first few days at Maga's (Andy's mom) and so enjoyed our time spent with her. She is a wonderful woman who loves the Savior and desires to live her life giving him glory. The kids enjoyed being spoiled by her, after all that is what Grandmas do best. :) We got to spend some time with our sweet friends the Robinsons (less two of the girls). Any time we get to spend with them is a treat. Andy and I competed in a Triathlon on Sunday and I was surprised at how much fun it was. It was hard work but so rewarding to see that the months of training really paid off. I am already looking forward to the next one. After the race we spent the day with family and were glad we got to spend the time with them. Sunday evening we got to the condo on St. Pete Beach and spent the rest of our vacation there. We spent our mornings at the beach, afternoons at the pool, sunsets at the beach and evenings back at the pool. We had some visitors: Granddaddy, Maga, Sabrina (we picked her up from the airport) and Papa. Some of the memories we will keep with us are: Body surfing on the large waves compliments of Tropical Storm Barry. Water war with Granddaddy. Dinner at Spinners, a resteraunt on top of one of the tallest hotels. The floor rotates around a complete glassed in room overlooking the water. We started looking at the sun and within the hour of spinning we were back looking at the sun but this time it was setting. All of the boys agree that this was their favorite memory. Collecting shells at Venice Beach. Seeing a Palm Shark. A story for another blog entry. Swimming late at night. Visiting beach shops. Getting necklaces and aloe gel with pain killer. :) A day spent with Sabrina. Time just spent hanging together. This one was taken at our private beach at the condo.
THE END
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Copied from our journal
May 22, 2006
What an amazing day. We started out to Nanchang at 9 this morning and arrived in Nanchang at 1. We were greeted by Cindy, our guide, and told that we would get Adrianna at 4. We got settled in our room and tried to keep ourselves busy but couldn't. We decided to take a walk with our guide down the street. I will save the culture for another day, we have 7 days here so we have some time and you want to know about getting Adrianna anyway. We got to the Civil Affairs office and went straight upstairs where she was waiting. We were the only family and she was the only baby. It happened so fast that we didn't get any great shots of the hand off but Andy did get some video. She was handed to me and right away she looked at me and seemed content, NO tears. She went to Andy without a tear as well. It was amazing the emotions that we felt. It took me a moment to comprehend it all and take it in, but once I did, I began to cry. God is so good and we have our little girl. All of the above happened in a matter of 10-15 minutes. She is very thin and weak, with time that should improve. Our biggest concern is for the sores all over her bodies, we think they might be scabies. Please keep her in your prayers and pray that we can treat her and bring her some comfort. We haven't seen another white couple nor have we found anyone who speaks English here so I can be challenging trying to get things. God is sovereign and the creator of languages so I do trust that he will provide all that we need including understand between the two languages.
Well, I wish I could type more but I am very tired and can't wait to lay down next to my sleeping sweetie. Please excuse my spelling and poor English, my mind is not working very well since I have been here. Boys we have your little sister. You have a big job ahead of you to chunk her up and get her muscles strong. She will need lots of your sweet lovings too. She loves to get and give kisses so you are in luck. We miss you and can't wait for your sister to meet you all. On our way to the civil office building to get our precious little girl.
The anticipation is almost more than we could handle.
In her daddy's arms for the first time.
One year ago.
Today
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Adrianna is a total hoot. Sunday I curled her hair, which she loved. After curling her hair Daddy took some pictures and you would have thought she was at a photo shoot. She kept striking different poses, it was too funny. Here are just a few--enjoy. Here she is telling Daddy "aren't I just a sweetie"
This shot is the one that the boys love. She would put her hands on her hips and swing to the side. Where she gets it, I don't know.
Cracking herself up.
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Well Andy is 35 now. What a wonderful man, I look forward to celebrating his 50th and 100th with him. I am so proud of who he is as a Godly man, husband and daddy. I love you honey you inspire me to do better in what ever I am doing and to do it all for the glory of God.
Here is Andy blowing out his candles on his cake that was given to us by our friends, the Schaafs. He needed some help blowing all of the 35 candles out that the boys put on it.
On the morning of Andy's birthday, he and I ran a 5K and the boys ran one mile fun run in our town of Davidson. The weather was perfect for running. Andy beat his all time best and Camden ran a mile in 7 minutes, I gasped my way over the finish line and we will leave it at that. :) Grandma got Adrianna a set of drums......hmmmm.......what did I do wrong for her to punish me so. (just kidding)
We also finished our last report to send to China. We had to include a picture of Adrianna in her room so here we are reading in her room. She loves books, and I love reading to her.
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Saturday the 28th the boys completed thier first triathlon. They have been training for about a month and they did a GREAT job. One month ago Camden and Drew couldn't swim one lap in the pool and on Saturday they both swam 100 meters. We left the house at 6 am
Camden swam first
Then he rode 1.5 miles on his bike
Then he ran about a mile
Drew did the same as Camden just during a different wave of triathletes :)
Drew's bike ride
Drew's run--he is a good little runner.
Ron swam 200 meters
Ron biked 3 miles
Ron ran 1.5 miles
Adrianna and I ran back and forth from the pool to the transition area catching each boy at each leg of the race. She was a trooper.
I am so proud of my boys. They are already ready to do some more triathlons and even want to do a 1 mile run this weekend. I love you boys. |
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Adrianna's birthday was March 25. We had a lot of events going on the two weeks leading up to her birthday, two of which were a wedding rehersal and reception that we were doing the food for. Needless to say we were very busy. While talking with the boys about having a party for the girl, I said that I didn't think we could pull it off because I was simply too busy. Ron then suggested that he organize the party to which I enthusiatically agreeded. Ron did a WONDERFUL job. He had $50 that Memaw sent him to spend. He right away made his lists, invitations and started making his calls. He lead well by recruiting the help of Mrs. Dunham to make the cake and showed humility by calling Mrs. Humphrey to have her go over the plans he had made and took her suggestions with great teachability. He budgeted everything out and had enough money left over to get Adrianna some helium ballons, which she loves. I totally left everything up to him and he did a beautiful job, I couldn't have done a better job. I am so proud of him.
The day was a pure joy, thank you Ron. God has been so kind to our family. We enjoyed having friends over to celebrate our little girl. |
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Here we are just before we leave for church. What a beautiful family if I may say so myself.
Our four blessings...
Daddy and his girl
Mommy and her girl |
