Papa's new toy

We spent the day at Callaway Gardens on Hunter's actual birthday, then he wanted his birthday dinner at Papa and Tita's house. When we got there, Papa had just gotten a new toy. The kids loved the mule and had a blast riding around the neighborhood on it. Hunter thought that was a pretty nice birthday present. Anyway, Hunter had a great time eating his hotdogs and hunting frogs. He is such a boy.

Emily Left us!

I know that when Emily arrived, she thought time was moving so slow. However, in the end, time had moved to quickly. On June 11, we made our tearful goodbyes at the Atlanta airport. It was really hard to let Emily go. When you open your home up to someone for a year, they really become family. Emily is like another daughter to me, and we miss her so much. We learned alot this last year with Emily, and we really enjoyed watching her grow. She learned so much while she was here, and it was fun to watch her progress into a true American teenager. We are most excited about the fact that Emily learned about Jesus while she was here, and gave her life to him. She has already found a church in Taiwan, and is going every Sunday. Please join me in praying for her parents, that they would see Christ in Emily and the she can be a light that leads people to Jesus! She is truly a special girl, and we are blessed just by knowing her. We get to talk to Emily through the webcam. The kids get so excited when she is on the computer. They miss their "Emmy". We can't wait til she comes back to visit next summer. I'm sure time will fly again, and it will be time for her to be here! Oh yeah, she would still be here, if Anna Ruth and I hadn't packed her stuff for her. That was a major ordeal trying to get all that stuff packed up. Thanks Anna Ruth! We love you Emily! We miss you lots!

Time out at Chick-fil-a

LeeLee loves Chick-fil-a. Here she is taking a time out from the playground, but she made it clear that she was not ready to leave. She cracks me up!

Party for Emily

We had a good bye party for Emily at the lake. It was alot of fun. We had the best hosts, the Giffins. Their daughter, Katie, has become a special college student to us. They graciously offered their home, and took care of two meals. We all had fun, and only a few of the girls returned home with sun burns.

Hunter turns 5!

When our kids turn 5 they get to plan a special trip of their very own. They get to pick one parent and pick what they want to do. I was very jealous when Noelle picked Paul and they went to New York. They did all the fun little girl stuff that I would love. Well, I lucked out, and Hunter picked me for his trip. He wanted to go Iquana hunting. So we headed off to Cozumel, Mexico for a week to hunt iquanas. We took Tricia along with us so we wouldn't be alone. We had a blast. Hunter became a celebrity at the resort where we were staying. All of the staff knew him by name. Half of the staff went Iquana hunting with him one day, and that was alot of fun. We made some special friends while we were there. We loved Yazmin, Arnold, and Omar, and were sad to leave them. Hunter also made friends with Paco, who was a firefighter in 9-11 and was in the middle of the tragic events from that day. Hunter and I found over 200 iquanas and about 20 tolocs. We had a blast. The highlight of the trip for me was swimming with the dolphins. I had a great time with Hunter. He is such a fun kid, and he really enjoyed being in the spotlight without his sisters!

This is a video of Noelle doing a speech at her school to celebrate there 50th birthday. She was so cute, she was representing the 1950's. I felt bad for her when she went blank on the word Topeka. However, she delivered her speech with such confidence and boldness. All the local dignitaries who were on hand commented on how good she was. School has just ended for Noelle, and we are sad. We have had such a great year, and the best teacher. At the end of the year, Noelle got nominated for the County Character in Education Award. Each School can only nominate two students and Noelle was one of them. Her teacher wrote, "I'm nominating Noelle because of her great overall moral character. She has taken time to reach out to a girl that didn't fit in. She has helped the girl build up her self confidence so that she could fit in with the other girls. Noelle also stands up for two boys in the class when she can see that they are being treated unfairly. And I know this can't count, but she shares about Jesus with the other children during recess (I only pray my children could be so strong)." Noelle got recognized in the newspaper, but she didn't win the overall award. However, after reading that, I knew she didn't need some fancy award to hang on her wall, I knew that her true reward comes from her heavenly father. And yes, the thing that counts the most, is that she is willing to share Jesus with others! Noelle, I am so proud to be your mom, you are the greatest big sister ever!

Soccer

Noelle had a great season playing soccer. It is something she has wanted to do for some time now, but I have put it off. She really developed into a little star on her team. She scored several goals, and assited with many more. She also became a good defensive player. She took blocking the goal very seriously. We were very proud of her hard work!