Divided

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1 year ago....

Last week marked 1 year home for Graham.  (Unfortunately our computer was not letting me access any photos, so this post is a bit late!)  What a year it has been! 

 

Graham and Daddy walking out of the orphanage forever!

 

 

in Moscow 

 

 

 

home at last

 

growing

 

learning

 

having fun

 

 

being loved

 

 

 

finding forever friends

 

 

having a family

 

 

makes a world of difference ..... to all of us

 

 

 

Happy Gotcha Day Graham!

Happy 5th Birthday Graham!

Our family is celebrating freedom in more than one way today.



We are so blessed to be able to have Graham here and part of our family.  And so grateful that he is home with us and not spending his birthday this year in an institution. 
 

 
 

Graham celebrated his fifth birthday with cake, presents, and lots of love.  We spent the day at a church picnic playing games, running around the park, swinging for what seemed like hours (one of Graham's favorite activities), playing softball (Graham helped daddy in the outfield), eating lots of good food, and enjoying an afternoon with friends we love.

 
 

This little guy has taught us so much in the last year.  I cannot believe all the ways God has opened our eyes since he brought Graham into our lives.  He is so full of love and life.  He is curious and busy.  He is funny and stubborn.  He is smart and sneaky.  He is learning and growing and changing so quickly!

Graham is a symbol of freedom to our family.  His is created equal by his Creator.  His mother chose life for him.  God allowed us to choose liberty for him.  And today our wish for him is that he will always have the freedom to pursue happiness for the rest of his life.


 

Happy Birthday Graham!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rhubarb and Onions

Chopping day!

 

 

I think we have already chopped up about 30 cups of rhubarb this year for breads and desserts.  There are still a ton more out there.  I pulled up the rest of our green onions the other day.  I hope we get a lot more next year.  I really wanted to get some into the freezer, but we have used them all up.  The kids walk by and sneak them every time I am chopping them up.  Weird.  Not much of a raw onion fan myself.....  They now want me to add onions to every dish we are cooking, but only if they are from the garden.  They still don't like onions from the store. 

 

I cant wait until every thing else is ready to harvest. 

 

In our garden this year:

rhubarb

green onions

4-5 types of tomatoes

green beans

broccoli

watermelon

green peppers

zucchini

 

We only have 4 raised beds for now, hopefully we can double that for next year.

 



A hole in the wall

The boys have had a hole in their bedroom wall for over a year now.  There was no door stopper on their door and the knob went right through the wall behind it.  We slowly began noticing that Ben's massive hot wheels collection was beginning to dwindle.  Many other toys had gone missing too.  Hmmmm, I wonder where they could have gone?  Yep, every time they played in that bedroom, the little kids were dropping toys down into the wall.  One of the big girls stuck their hand in at one point and was actually able to start pulling toys out.  The wall was actually full, between the studs, up to the hole!  We finally got around to patching the hole in the wall.  An extra hole needed to be cut at the bottom first to get everything out.  Ben was very excited to get his cars back. 

 

 

 

 

53 cars plus balls, blocks, legos, crayons, and random other toys and garbage.



Visitors

We have spotted lots of fun critters in our yard this spring.

 

Caterpillar forming a chrysalis on the back of a rhubarb leaf.

 

 

Its surprising how fast they do this.

 

When we first found it we were able to watch the caterpillar still moving around inside.

 

By the time we were done working in the garden it was completely closed in.

 

 

This thing completely freaked me out, but I had to take a photo anyway.

He had green fangs!  Poor caterpillar.

 

 

These ladies are supposed to be taking care of all those creepy crawlies.

 

 

 

Including these guys.

 

 

The one with the really long antennae got away.

 

Albert has deposited about a dozen mice on our driveway for us in the last few weeks.  Good kitty.  :)

 

 

Titus keeps the larger visitors away.  We haven't seen any fox, opossums, coyotes, bear, or ground hogs yet this year.  Hopefully we can make it through a summer with some hens still alive!

 

 



Days 30 to 33 - Creation Museum part 2

We spent two days at the Creation Museum.  It takes that long to take everything in. 

We were blessed by some wonderful friends that shared their membership guest passes with us.  Thank you!  We were really blessed to be able to share the experience with auntie Trista.  :)

 

 

Enjoying a ride on the camel!

 

And a ride on the dinosaur!

 

 

Ahhhhh!  If only I had seen those smudges on the lens sooner!  Everyone is looking!

 

There is so much to take in at the museum.  I need to go back some time to absorb more.  We were able to hear Ken Ham speak in person which was really neat.  He spoke on the difference in conversions between Acts 2 and Acts 17, very eye opening.  I bought a ton of books, which we have been thoroughly enjoying since we got home.

 

Our trip ended waaaaay too soon.  Only one of the kids was eager to get back home, everyone else wanted to keep going.  Do we really have to get back to real life?

 

Look at the picture God painted for us on our last night!

 

 

 

 



Days 30 to 33 - Creation Museum part 1

The last stop on our trip was to the Creation Museum.  We started out the morning by heading to the petting zoo before it got too hot. 

 

Feeding the alpacas....

 

Josie's expressions crack me up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The z-donk and zorse.

 

 

 

 

 

The camel was nibbling on Brielle's shoulder.

 

 

Josie was not too fond of the camel.

 

 

 

Brielle is the animal lover in our family.

 

 

Apparently there were a bunch of smudges on the camera lens, sorry!  Lots of alpaca slimmed fingers that morning.