T minus 13 days!!

We will be a family of 5!  We were issued Travel Approval August 21 and after our agency received it, we were confirmed with a consulate appointment for September 22nd!  I spent most of the day Wednesday booking the flights… we leave September 10th from Jackson and will return on the 24th! We want everyone to meet us at the Jackson airport on the 24th!!

We sent Samuel and his orphanage a cake last week and they sent us pictures back… look how much he has grown!!  This was his first time in his entire life to eat cake…

Not sure about the customary first cake face smear… but from the other pictures, looks like he and his brother share a love language: cake!

Yesterday we had a wonderful day with our small group at church - at Lake Bruin. Everyone had such fun!

Yes, that's daredevil Avery on the ZIP LINE.  I closed my eyes the first time… then finally realized she really would hold on the whole time after she did it 15 times. ha!

Who doesn't love an inner tube ride with friends!

Silas, my boat buddy and first mate. He keeps the ship on course.

Canoe/Kayak rides, you name it.  Fun day with fun friends!

I do plan to update the blog while we are in China… stay tuned!

Kkkkkkindergarten...

Wednesday was the big day:  Meet the Teachers!!  The night before, I lay in bed with both of them and asked if they were ready… I told them I had met their teacher that day (Tuesday) at the parent meeting. Both were so excited and a little nervous. Avery asked, "Mommy, what does she look like?" I told her one had brown hair and one had blonde hair and she wouldn't let it go at that. She kept asking, "But what does her face look like?"

This year will be the first year they've ever been separated. I told them last weekend what their teacher's names were and Silas couldn't understand why they had different ones. He kept asking, "but why??" Bless his heart. 

Avery standing at her seat:

And with her sweet teacher…  (Silas denied every one of my requests for him to take a picture with his sweet teacher… oh well, maybe at back to school night)

He was timid, but warmed up after the punch and cookie were served!

My little man in his seat...

Avery quickly made herself at home. She is in the Fox room, and felt comfortable enough to sit on the mascot's head and look at the books.

Then, just like that, it was the first day of Kindergarten.  

One was so excited that she could barely contain herself… and the other was a little nervous, but trying to be so brave….

Nothing like a little "pump you up" from sister!!  (I dare you to try to be anxious or timid around this girl… it won't last long.)

On the way, I asked them if they wanted to go through carpool or have Mommy walk them in… you can guess what each answered. It was a different answer for each of them.  Avery wanted to sing Joy To The World the whole way there… (go figure!) so we did…
Silas was quiet, and I asked him in between verses, "Little Buddy, are you excited??!" He replied, "I'm just a little scared."  I parked the car and they led me quickly to the door.

Avery the fox (ha!) in the front, Silas the bird closely behind…

Silas asked to go to Avery's classroom first, so we did. They each hung their bags on their hooks in the hallway and with a quick hug, they each quickly ran off with their new friends…
And I walked back to my car smiling… then got in my car and cried a little… went to work…

They were all smiles in the line after school and quickly hopped into my car, both talking nonstop about their day. I'd say each had a great day!  They chose Rooster's for lunch, so we enjoyed burgers and lemonade… and a little picture time for these two best friends.

Best Buddies!! 

I asked each of them what their favorite part of the first day was… Silas was actually the first to answer: "When I saw Avery in the hallway…"

Cheers to a wonderful year!

Almost to China

Our precious friends, the Chappell's, and our wonderful Sunday School class hosted a shower for Samuel last week. We walked into the front door and I teared up at the table Anna set up with Samuel's picture (we are anxiously awaiting new pictures, to arrive any day now) and a book on Noah's Ark for everyone to sign.

It was a fantastic night of fun and fellowship with friends and their children (running around everywhere!). We cannot thank everyone enough!!

What has to happen for us to book our airline tickets:
 - Our Article 5 pick up (picked up by hand by a representative in China) is scheduled for August 18th and it will be sent to Beijing
 - Beijing will issue Travel Approval. This usually takes between 1 and 4 weeks… we had a friend receive one in 2 days this week… and others with our agency have taken 3-4 weeks. So we'll hope for the short track!
 - Once we receive TA (travel approval), we will request a consulate appointment (with the US Consulate where Samuel will get his US Visa). Once we have a confirmed consulate appointment, we can book our airline tickets!

Soaking up the last few days of Summer

We are enjoying every single minute left of summer… as school rapidly approaches.  The first thing Silas and Avery want to do when they awake is go outside :-) and here we are enjoying a breakfast picnic before camp:

The kids picked PF Chang's last week for dinner… and proved they're ready for chopstick use!  Avery is a champ using chopsticks with her rice!

Silas enjoyed figuring out how to fleck rice across the table at his sister… Uh oh. We will work on that.

Last Friday after work, we headed up to Grenada for a quick visit before school began. These two are never more excited pulling out of the driveway than when we are on the way to Mimi and Papaw's house!


And Eleanor and Garnett were there…. look at these four having a late night tea party with Mimi.  Too Fun!

We were excited to attend the reading of Aunt GG's new book The Princess and the Crab, a precious children's book she wrote for Micajah about The King and Prince on Saint Simon's Island, GA. 

She had the cutest page turners! What helpers:-)

Then last Tuesday, I took off work all day to spend a fun day with the kiddos. We had tons of fun running all over town, shopping for back to school things, visiting our new baby cousin Grace Talty (!), and then we went to the Healthplex to refresh technique from the swimming lessons a month ago.

I told them as we went in:  "Mommy isn't going to get her hair wet." They said "Okay Mom". Famous last words entering a pool with two little fish… My hair was wet before theirs was.

We all went home to take baths… then these two decided they wanted to have a dance party.  Cutest thing ever!

With spinning and everything!!

Love these two more than words can say… can't believe they'll be FIVE years old in a few short weeks.  I never imagined life would be so full, so fun… and never imagined my heart could grow so much every day watching these two grow.  What undeserved gifts they are. Thank you, Jesus.

Last week of July… and Happy Birthday, Bruce!

We always enjoy hanging with friends… dress-up is almost always involved, of course: 

 Avery has a bathrobe she likes to wear after her bath. "you know, mom, that white thing girls wear after bath"… she wanted to show Moppy one night on FaceTime, and ...would you look at that… great minds think alike, eh?

I came home from work one day and Silas had a surprise "booby-trap" set up for me… too funny!  He pulls on the trophy and the bucket falls down spilling all the contents to the floor. Pretty clever, if you ask me!

I've been hearing about this $2 movie at Malco during the summer, and have been trying to take off work one morning every other week or so… last week we decided to try out the morning movie!  What a fun morning we had! 

And Friday was Bruce's 36th birthday. We didn't celebrate until August 1st because Run for the Son was Saturday morning the 1st and he was busy getting ready for the big race. But Silas, Avery, and I baked him a little chocolate cake, of course, Friday night. Happy Birthday, Daddy, cha, cha, cha!  

We did celebrate at La Finestra with the Sturdivants Saturday night. Thirty-six looks good on you, Bruce!

 Early Saturday morning, I had to pry these two out of bed for the big race. (Bless their hearts, I basically dressed them with their eyes closed). They were great sports and piped up after we got there. There may or may not be a box of brownies in Silas' lap. One must do whatever it takes to get him out of the bed…

These two make a 5K race more fun than you could ever imagine!  Talk about commentary the WHOLE time… entertainment for all, that's for sure.  It seems like yesterday the stroller nearly swallowed them… and now they barely fit in it!  And… I no longer run, but walk… we're talking 100lbs here! I think they'll be walking with me next year… Samuel will be the one riding:-) 

Then, both Silas and Avery wanted to do the 1 mile Fun Run… and would you believe both of them finished it!! Avery ran the whole time, and Silas ran some of the time (and maybe did some of the mile riding piggy-back), but both of them ran across the finish line! 

After a brief rest, we waited on Daddy to finish up things at work and enjoyed some music time… this one loves his guitar. He does always like to do things "by the book" and doesn't like to practice without his instruction book in front of him.  ha!

 We then moved on to the piano. I think we see who will be the instrumentalist… and we ALL know who will be the soloist (not pictured).

We had a session with Allison for pictures - can't believe these two precious gifts are 5 years old a month from today!!