Our Liberian Brothers . . .

The first time we listened to this group of young men sing, the kids had only been home for about 2 or 3 months. Then about 2 years later I called to see when they were going to be back in the area and soon got enlisted to book their tour through the Northwest portion of Oregon. In doing so I would have to find them housing which is not a problem but we had enough room that I figured why not just have them stay with us??!!?? Well, my husband does not like to have a lot of extra people and he had never met these guys so about 2 weeks prior to their arrival I went to him and said, "Oh yeah, by the way, we have 12 people coming in 2 weeks to stay with us for 2 weeks and then another week in December." The look on his face was utter shock! Ok. I should not probably have made these arrangements without his consent, but I KNEW he would say no and I KNEW that if he met this group of amazing young men he would fall just as much in love with them as I did!! I was right!!! We had an amazing time of fellowship with this group. We made a dorm room out of the largest of the bedrooms in our house by putting 3 sets of bunkbeds in it and then borrowed another bed for Joe and Barb (the directors) and had my mom and dad pull their 5th wheel out for another 3 beds and we were set. These guys come from the country next door to Sierra Leone called Liberia. They were in civil war longer than Sierra Leone was and these men all have a remarkable testimony as to what God did to save them! They are incredible. Not to mention that 5 of the 7 guys that sing are blind!! To my amazement they never ran into anything and even ironed their clothes and did their own laundry. I determined after getting to know them that WE were the ones that were handicapped, NOT them!!! They loved to sit out under our covered porch. One day I peeked out to see what was going on and Josiah was teaching them to shoot his b.b. gun!! I almost lost it!! BLIND GUYS SHOOTING A GUN!!! Come one!! But, they were having a blast and were being very safe, besides, how much damage can a b.b gun actually do??!!? I guess it was just the thought of it more than anything! So we had an amazing month as they stayed with us two different times for 2 weeks at a time. This is truely a time the entire family, my folks, my mother-in-law, and the kids will never forget!! There are so many stories to tell, just beware if you ever ask the kids about it that you have time for all the funny stories they have to tell you! : )

And 4 makes for a FULL house!

Here are a couple of pictures of all four of the kids together! Boy does it make for a full house!!

The Early Years . . . Tate and Shelby

Here is a precious picture of a brother who adores his baby sister. . . He still does, but he would rather no one knew that!! Now she gushes and tries to love on him to just to torment him!

Sisters . . .

Here are some sweet pictures of sisters. . . I always wanted a sister when I was growing up and I love to watch the girls as they grow together in sisterhood! Aren't they cute????

The Early Years . . . Shelby

Well, not much to say about the baby of the family. Isn't she cute?? The last one is of her with Taylor (my niece) on her back. Oh how Taylor loved to come and play!

The Early Years . . . Mabinty

Gosh how she has grown into a lovely young lady! She has really lost her baby face which she had for a long time. She was such a cherub!! Those big brown eyes and darling dimples who couldn't love her???

The Early Years . . . Tate

Here are a few more of Tate. When Shawn had hunting hounds Tate used to get in their dog house or dog box on the back of the truck with them. He loved those dogs as much as Shawn did I think. : ) He also LOVED his baby "sither" who was named Porky Pig by him before she was born! Boy are we ever thankful that nickname did not stick!! We did not know if we were having a boy or girl but he would tell ANYONE who asked that he was having a "sither and her name was Porky Pig." He was such a funny kid . . . and still is.

Early years . . . Josiah

Here are a couple pictures of Josiah that I found. Unfortunately I did not have a lot of time to go through everything so there are only a couple. He loved the swing set when he came and he loved the cowboy vest and hat. Such a funny kid. . . he still is too . . . still loves his cowboy hat too! Josiah also LOVED the animals. This is Bo our little bummer lamb that we fed. Bo had no idea he was a sheep and would come when you whistled at him!! I guess he thought he was a dog! : )

Years gone by . . .

Shelby got me going through some pictures the other day and just for fun I thought I would post some oldies but goodies! Gosh how the time has flown by! My babies are now teenagers and soon, all to soon, will be flying the coop! How I wish I could have made time stand still only to have them little a little bit longer! I hope you enjoy my reminicing as much as I did. I will try to post more as all of these are preadoption pictures so you can see Josiah and Mabinty when they were young also!

The first picture of Tate and Shelby on the steps just warms my heart and makes me laugh. I can still hear Tate giggling at his sister and she did not have to do anything at all, just look at him and he would crack up laughing!! The two of our little princess. . . what more can I say?!?!? These are precious! She was such a fun little girl dressing up, curling her hair and she did the rest. The one with her in the pink tutu was at a photoshoot for a baby contest which she ended up taking Grand Prize for. I will have to find that picture. It is similar to this one, only she has her hand up as the photographer was blowing bubbles to get her to keep still. He snapped the picture as the bubble was between her thumb and the rest of her fingers right before she grabbed it. It was more phenomenal on his part than hers, but nonetheless, she won Grand Prize!

Okay, probably enough bragging on these two kids. I will search for more pics and post more later! Thanks for taking a walk back in time with me.

19th Anniversary

I am a few days late getting this posted but it was 19 years ago, August 13, that we were married. Wow what a 19 years it has been. I love my husband more today than I did 19 years ago when we married. We have been through a lot, having babies, loosing a baby, adopting babies, loosing a parent, helping raise a niece, just to name a few! I would not change a bit of it! We have a great life and a wonderful relationship! I have the BEST husband and know that he is the ONE God chose for me. I cannot wait to see what the next 19 years (plus some) holds!

Happy Anniversary Shawn! You're the best! I love you and thank you for the beautiful bouquet of lilies, roses, and gladiolas. They are gorgeous and smell wonderful!