The Beginning

Home Study begins August 4!
In the meantime we have 82 pages of paperwork to complete!

WHAT?!?!?!

Kenyan Stories

This is my sister-in-law, April. I love her.

She just returned from Kenya.

She went with the organization: 410bridge

She LOVED it!

Here are few things she had to say about it (for a full note you may visit her on facebook):

It is only day 2 of being in Kenya and day 4 of the trip and so far I have already:

-experienced the joy of travelling for 40 hours

-seen a fight in an african airport (SCARY)

-seen Air Force One land in Ghana

-run over a thief in the streets of Nairobi

-met children that have more joy and love than I have ever experienced

-gotten real hugs and tangibly felt love through the hand hold of an orphan name Unice

-experienced Heaven in an unlikely place

-eaten a rib from an unknown animal

-seen God praised in a new way

-had my hair braided by Kenyan children - twice

-seen a chicken offering auctioned off in a church

-walked the 3 km journey to a 100 foot rock ravine where they sent their children to get water

-prayed with a family who just lost their son, which turned into a huge celebration

-seen giraffes on the side of the road......and it's only day two.

This place has captured my heart.

Day 3:

-danced into the community by a group of Kenyan women,

-helped dig a base for the water project
-got my arms and face painted at the worksite

-stood in the rain and prayed

-drank coffee in the home of one of the community members and learned about Kenyan "relationships"

-had a very extensive conversation about my accent

Things just keep getting better.

Day 4:
-taught children the story of Noah's ark and did a craft

-worked in the project for awhile, then sat with the women

-played banya with the women and jumped rope with them

-bought a machette

-had a Kenyan tell us one of our men was strong like chuck norris

How can this get any better?

During the last few days:

-went to a Kenyan funeral

-went a real safari - twice

-got kissed by a grosssss giraffe!

-had my first market experience and almost had a nervous break down if it weren't for the help of james

-experienced the terror of Nairobi after dark

-ate 5 pieces of the best pizza i've ever had....in a kenyan gas station?

Headed home, sad sad day.

The children climbed up and down this

with 7 gallon jugs of water on their backs,

4 times a day......barefoot.

This means "small and beautiful".

It could be important later. :)

Welcome Charleigh!

Charleigh Reese Colee was born today, July 16. She weighed 7.5lbs.

She was taken to NICU for about 4 hours with a little bit of fluid around her lungs, but she is doing great now. Brittany is also doing fabulous!

Charleigh is so sweet to hold. But I'm sure she will be a little fighter, esp. with her two older brothers who love to wrestle!

Ryder - above - he is really unsure about the new baby.

Gray - below - decided to hold her.

Wedding # 12

Brent performed wedding number 12 on Saturday. Ben and Ashley. It was a great wedding ceremony. The reception was also very nice. Afterward the newlyweds, the wedding party, parents, and a few other family and friends went to the bride's parent's house and enjoyed a luau, complete with a wiffle ball game! Thanks for letting us be apart of your day, Ben and Ashely!

The not-so-glamourous life of us, so far

So far this summer, our life has been less than glamourous. I will spare you the gory details, but for the past month and a half - actually I can tell the you exact date it started - May 30 - our life has been one thing after another. Really, I'm not kidding, you would laugh if I told you everything. At least once or twice each week something different has gone wrong. I know things go "wrong" in life, but now it's to the point where each week we wonder what will happen next! Nothing is a surprise anymore! HAHA!!

So this week, it was a biggie, Brent's car blew up. Yep. We bought it last fall and thought it would at least last for about 2 years. It was running hot and we kept putting water in it. Greg looked at it and then a week later, Brent is driving and the car quits accelerating and then the entire car locks up and Brent cannot turn the steering wheel. So he manages to manually turn the car into ....dum, dum, dummmmm....a funeral home parking lot, where it promptly died. HA! Appropriate, don't you think? We found out there was water leek that was sending water directly into the engine, so the engine cracked, some belt was completely worn out, and I think something else was wrong. So maybe the mechanic will give us a few hundred for it to use for parts. MAYBE.

On the flip side, youth camp was so great. We took 7 kids. 6 girls and 1 guy. We did camp with two other churches at Shocco Springs. It was great! The kids that went with us to camp are fabulous! We had such a great time getting to know them better. 4 are going into 9th grade and 3 are going into 8th grade. I will post some pics later on.

Also, on Tuesday we have a meeting with Renee at Lifeline. We have changed somethings about the adoption. So more to come on that.

Well I just wanted to give you the update our not-so-glamourous life, so far. Perhaps, August will bring better tidings.
Later.