Thankful Thursday

This Thankful Thursday I am thankful for the precious memories that I made with Brianna last Saturday. We went to a Jonas Brothers concert together in Atlanta. It was bitter sweet because we weren't sure we were going to be able to go at all. You see, several months ago we bought tickets for their concert in Birmingham as an early birthday present for Brianna. She made us shirts to wear and we had been looking forward to this concert for a long time. Well, the week of the concert we got word about Gary's mom and we knew the concert wouldn't be possible to attend. We quickly found someone to give the tickets to because we couldn't stand the thought of the tickets not be used. At that time, we didn't know when we would be able to attend another of their concerts because those around us were already sold out. Well, as you can see, Brianna received the desire of her heart and God provided us with tickets for their concert in Atlanta the very next weekend. The last time I had checked the concert was sold out but we were able to find tickets 6 days before the concert and they were even better seats than we had before. So this Thursday, I am thankful that my ears were ringing for 2 days after the concert because that meant we were there and we were making memories!

We are ready for the concert!!

Brianna signing one of the tour trucks.
Brianna modeling the shirt she made!

"I'm Gonna Marry Nick Jonas..."

"He Just Doesn't Know It Yet!"

The shirt Brianna made for me.

"Nick's Future Mother-In-Law"

Our view of the stage.

Here they are!! The Jonas Brothers!

Nick - Brianna's favorite!

Nick playing piano..

Nick on drums..
Kevin and Joe spraying the audience with foam..

This is how Brianna looked most of the night!

Curtain call..

The concert is over but our ears are still ringing!!!

Thankful Thursday

It is Thankful Thursday time again. This Thursday I am thankful for:


~All of you! Thank you to all of you who lifted our family in prayer last week. Thank you for your prayers of safe travel and for peace for our hearts. We left our house last Tuesday and met our Georgia family in Nashville. From there we traveled together through the night and arrived in Kearney, Nebraska around 1:00 Wednesday afternoon ( 20 hours later!).


~For family! This past week was the first time all of Gary's brothers and sister had been together since 1997. It was way too long but it was great to reconnect with all of them and with extended family that drove or flew in from around the country.

The Siblings - Marcia, Wayne, Gordon, and Gary
Gary and I, Gordon and Kathy, Myron, Wayne and Teresa, Marcia and Andrew
The entire gang!

~Cousins! All of the cousins were together except for Ryan, who was in summer school at Michigan State. We missed you Ryan. It was great to see them interact and hear them talk and laugh together. They spent hours outside hanging out together!

The cousins before the water fight started!Nathan and Claire.
Claire loved "boy". We tried to teach her a sign name for Nathan but she insisted on calling him "boy"!
Brianna and the Georgia girls!
Michaela, Nathan, and Mallory
The cousins all cleaned up pretty good!

~Grandma Evalyn! I am thankful that we have the assurance that she is in pain no longer and she is breathing free without the help of oxygen! I am thankful that we will see her again! I am thankful that Claire seems to understand that Grandma went bye bye and was with Jesus. It was heartbreaking when we first arrived in Kearney. Claire searched the house looking for Grandma and was asking everyone where she was. We told her that she was with Jesus. After that, every time Claire saw a picture of Grandma she would sign bye bye and Jesus. I am thankful for Nicholas reminding us all of what Grandma always said to us when we were leaving. I will close with those words "hugs are always good!" Evalyn, we will miss your hugs but we will carry on your legacy until we see you again!

Urgent prayer request

Updated - Evalyn passed away earlier today. We are headed to Nebraska with heavy hearts.

Dear Friends,

We have just received word that Gary's mom, Evalyn, is not doing well. She lives in Nebraska. Hospice has been called. Her lungs are filling up and she is struggling to breathe. I just talked to her last Friday and had a nice lengthy conversation so she has deteriorated very quickly. I know she is ready to go but it is hard for us to say goodbye to this beautiful woman. Your prayers are appreciated for the entire family during this time.

Thankful Thursday (prayer request at bottom of post)

This Thankful Thursday I am thankful for..
~Updated pictures that we received from Korea!!! Our little guy is just adorable and I can't wait until I can show you his picture! We have almost all of the paperwork done for our home study and we are getting our fingerprints done on Monday. The kids have to have physicals and we have them scheduled for later this month. We are trying to have everything done so that once the physicals are done we can send everything to our home study agency. We've completed all of our education requirements already. Once we have an approved home study we can be officially matched and the countdown to Caleb can begin!!
~Summertime fun!!! Now that we are settled I finally feel like we can enjoy some normal summertime activities. We found a fun park nearby that has great play equipment, a pond, a creek that leads to the pond, and a lot of ducks and geese.

Claire is our little monkey. She loves to do the monkey bars and she is so strong!

Can you say "AFLAC"

Claire isn't crying, she was yelling because she thought they were leaving her behind!!

~Fun craft projects. Brianna and I have been having fun being somewhat crafty. We got a lot of the work done while the men of the house were working. Nicholas was mowing and Gary and Hunter were organizing the shed while Claire supervised. The boys want to be crafty too so we are on the look out for boy approved crafts! I, however, enjoyed the one on one time with Brianna while we worked on our projects.

This is a board we made for Claire. Since we are military we can't really measure the kids on a door or wall of our house so we decorate a fence post and measure them on it. We can then take the board with us when we move. Well, we finally got Claire's done and it turned out really cute. We even have her first measurement on it. She was so proud. Her full name is on the top, that is why I cropped the picture. :)

Brianna painted these for her bedroom wall..
These are the shirts Brianna and I are going to wear when we go to the Jonas Brother's concert on the 16th. They turned out really cute.

At the end of this thankful Thursday post, I have one small prayer request. Claire hasn't slept through the night since the move. She will play in her room all day long by herself but when it comes time for bed she freaks out and won't go to bed. If, she does happen to fall asleep in her room it usually only lasts until about 1:30 and then she is in our bed. However, she sleeps soundly if she is right in the middle of us, which we have been allowing. Gary does have to get up in the morning now that his classes have started and we just aren't sleeping very well with Claire's sleeping (or lack thereof) issues. We aren't sure what to try anymore. We have given up naps for her because if she naps she is up until the wee hours (the other night she was up until 1:00). I know this has been her first move with us and she has a lot to adjust to but we are at our wits end on how to get her to sleep. WE NEED SLEEP!!! So, your prayers and advice would be appreciated. Thank you!!

Wordless Wednesday

Family, Food and Fun!!

We had a great weekend of family, food and fun. Our Georgia family came to stay with us this weekend and boy did we have fun. They came to help us celebrate Claire's first birthday in the Un*ted St*tes! We spent a lot of time eating, talking and playing games! We stayed up until 1AM last night playing cards and laughing together. We can't wait until we see them again later this month. To see each other 2 times in one month is a luxury for us. We usually live so far away we are lucky if we see each other once a year. We are going to take advantage of being so close and get together as much as possible!

Michaela and Claire playing Mancala..

Nicholas, Michaela, and Brianna (taken by Claire!)

Claire and Michaela making brownies..

Almost done...

Claire decorating Uncle Wayne (but he started it!)

Do you like our chocolate mustaches?

Nicholas and Hunter wanted to join in the fun!

Turner, Alisha, and Uncle Wayne..

Self portrait of Michaela and Claire..

What!! You mean this is all for me?!!!

Blow hard Claire!!

Look how proud she is!

Claire drinking her homemade ice cream!!

Claire was so excited opening presents..

Claire before the sugar high (she ate the frosting only!)

Time for an exciting game of croquet..

Or gymnastics.. take your pick!
Mallory, Brianna, and Nicholas plotting their strategy!
The croquet players!
Beautiful sisters; Michaela and Mallory

The guys turn to play (I do believe the young ones won!)Nicholas reviewing the rules with everyone..

Claire bored with croquet is playing with her new bubble gun!

Mallory and Claire playing with her new legos early Sunday morning!

Thanks for coming Georgia gang! We had a blast! We love you all!