From our house to yours

We wish you a Christ centerd Christmas...

My Girl

My girl, my Russian Princess as I call her is getting older.  She is such a happy girl and we are so blessed to have her in our lives.

Ava Grace before Church.  She just looked so grown up carrying her purse!

I love to watch how Ava Grace looks over all the ornaments

showing me a few of her favorites

Tinker Bell and a crystal church

A Russian Doll ornament that we picked up in St. Petersburg



With all the wonder and excitement this season brings

I am reflecting on our many treasures that

God has given to us....

His Son

Is the GREATEST gift ever

All I really want for Christmas

I saw this on another adoptive blog here , It really tug at my heart strings so I thought I would share it with you all...

All I really want for Christmas

God is good ALL the time....

Lets remember the reason of the season, we can not possibly give a better gift then the one that God has already given us...

Bass Pro Santa

Love this place!

I wrote about my dealings with the mall Santa last year here, so I made my way over to Bass Pro again and had another wonderful experience.  I'm telling you, this Santa is wonderful, so kind, so caring, dosen't wear any kind of wig, so real...so patient.  Ava played a little shy at first, but then Santa saw her holding a horse, and that was all it took for Ava to open up...she showed Santa her horse, made horse sounds and they laughed together...never again will I go to a mall Santa.

after seeing Santa,

they gave Ava Grace a candy cane

and a reindeer bracelet

(you see her holding the reindeer bracelet up

and the candy cane all over her mouth)

My happy girl, love her to pieces

So for those of you within driving of Bass Pro

go there instead of the mall

you won't be dissapointed!

Merry CHRISTmas

Fogotten pictures

Ava Grace enjoying her ice cream

who says Russians don't like anything cold?

This girl loves her some Ice cream. 

At the end of October

the ladies go on our annual

Door County trip 

My bff Kelly with her mom 

while shopping at Von Maur

Ava Grace jumped up onto the sleigh

she looks so cute... 

now no longer forgotten, enjoy this wonderful season as we celebrate Christs birth.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow....

I am overflowing with praises to God...He has blessed me so much just by being in my life...I looked around at Thanksgiving and I was so grateful for my family...



A few pics of whats been happening:

Trevor before getting his Varsity Letter for football

who is that???????

Ava Grace with Andrews mask

Tyler came home for Thanksgiving break

this is where he chose to sleep

I wonder why I bought beds for the boys?

That is him under the blanket 

Tom with Tyler before taking him back to school 

Trevor had a Thanksgiving Tourny for basket ball

Ava Grace was our cheer leader 

Loved watching Ava Grace eat spaghetti

soooo cute.... 

Well lets see, life around here has been busy, but yet not as busy as in the past couple of years. 

All of the Christmas lights are up, tree up, stockings hung, and now we admire the holiday season.

All is quiet on the home front

Not much happening here other than life...

Football season is done, attended our first sports banquet, it was no big deal...

Basketball season is starting...busy again

soccer never ends...

Gymnastics is going great for Ava, the instructor wants her to move up to the next level...

I miss Tyler, haven't seen him, miss him a lot, who knew?  He comes home next week for Thanksgiving

Austin got a ticket at one of those red light photo enforced intersection...What a JOKE.  those things are just cash gobblers.

Andrew got a nice 11 point deer with his bow and arrow...he was super excited

Trevor shot his first Pheasant...

Ava regressed and now is back to wearing a pull up, don't know why?

11-11

Veterans Day,

Freedom - what a price many pay...not only the men and women who serve our country, but the families and friends that support them in their journey...

My nephew Matthew is in Iraq right now, serving, we miss him very much...praise tho that Matthew will be home in about 6 weeks...God keep you safe!

Matthew is all the way on the left

Tigris River banks 

Ramadi 

Matt back in June when he was home for a few days (all the way left)

Tylers Graduation

Thank you to all the Veterans who keep my family safe

147 Million

Orphans that is...

ALL children were made for families. They were made to be loved. We were ALL made to be loved.


We ALL need a family.

We are blessed

Twick oh tweet

Trevor and Andrew

along with Ava Grace

carving pumpkins

what is that stuff in there? 

ewww, its slimy 

Ava helped Andrew

Samson, my Knight in shining armor 

Ava Grace as Belle

she always called herself Beast

she picked out her own costume 

Meema with Ava Grace

Trevor as a Mexican man in a soccer outfit

Andrew is a Jabawackeez dance man

Our annual Halloween crew

except we are loosing several as they get older



Who's That?

Well you know you hear about when kids go off to College and they gain 10 extra pounds?  Well not Tyler, he has lost 50 pounds since summer.  He looks awesome and so much healthier.  I'm proud of him and his determination to be healthier.

Tyler right before he had to go back to college this weekend

Trevor is missing, he was with Emily.

I got to see Tyler for a whole 2 hours

whoo hoo

he came home to visit some of his High School friends 

Ava saying goodbye to her oldest brother 



Hair, gone today for a good cause

Trevor and his football team were met with a challenge recently...no not on the football field, although they have had a losing season of 1-7...this challenge however was much greater...see the head football coach was diagonosed with a brain tumor and he has to undergo surgery on Monday.  Coach Wilson started noticing his vision was blurry but wanted to wait until the end of the football season before being checked out.  His vision was getting worse so his wife forced him to go get it checked out, and it is a good thing because they found a tumor sitting on his pituitary gland.

Well the boys on the Varsity squad  wanted to help him and raise awareness of brain cancer so they got together and all shaved their heads...Wow what a sight to see all these boys who have some great looking hair to shave it off for their coach.

We lift you up in prayer, Ben along with your wife and 2 small children.

As you have said God is good ALL of the time.  He is your rock and strong place, in Him you have found peace.