Happy Birthday Handsome!!

Happy Birthday Handsome!!!
Some of Handsome's Birthday cakes.

Handsome, Austin, Beau and Liam

Austin got Handsome a very funny card!

Handsome and Austin

Handsome and Beau

Handsome and Beau

Handsome and Liam

Handsome, Brewster and Liam

Yurixy

Meet our exchange student from Mexico! We are enjoying her visit. I'm very impressed with the program she and others are working on.
Yurixy and Liz. Liz stayed with us for the weekend, her host family was out of town. Having 2 teen girls was fun.

I'm looking forward to seeing how their town changes and improves with this program. I'm also excited to meet the next exchange student from Mexico next summer!

My Sweet Corps

Not only a mom can love this face!

Corps is the sweets dog.
For some odd reason every exchange student and some of our guest are afraid of this sweet boy.

Yes he has a long tongue. Yes he drools. But that is the way God made him!

He has some of the cutest freckles!

Another lesson of don't judge a book by it's cover...you will miss out on knowing one of the sweetest dogs!

Jedi Bubble Popper

Liam enjoying the bubble maching his way!

Love you Liam!

Kung Fu Fighting

I found Beau dancing to Kung Fu Fighting from Kung Fu Panda ;-)

He didn't know I was taking pictures until he got on the floor and saw me...LOL!

I love you Beau!

Heat Wave

We are having the hottest summer in six years! I'm pushing water on everyone and trying to come up with fun indoor stuff. I usually love having the curtains open in the back of the house. We love to watch all the birds come visit. But even at 7:30 in the morning the heat outside is too much. I haven't been able to pull out the bouncy house once! I'm praying this fall is more than a couple weeks long. I bought a pool last fall for this summer but I can't find it. I'm so thankful for our air conditioner. Remembering those with out air conditioners. Praying for those who are homeless. Praying for those who are serving our country miles away in a desert far away from their family and wearing so much extra to stay safe...because they might get shot at today.

The Yard is Blooming

We got 2 free trees in the making this year from Lowes. It will take a couple years before they are big enough to be planted. But for now they are slowly growing in pots on the front porch. I'm going to add these to the other house. I'm looking forward to adding lights to them this Christmas!
I love the beautiful blue flowers we have all around the yard!

Each year the hydrangeas are more beautiful!

Our daylilies

Our baby weeping cherry tree...it's gotten bigger already!

Our tree in the front has started to give us some shade! WooHoo!

Our newest flowerbed. The bushes are very young but they will grow quickly. I'm going to add compost this weekend.

gardenia

Butterfly bush...we now have 5 butterfly bushes!

Our surprise flower...this one popped up from the squirrel restaurant

Crape Myrtles

Every year the yard gets more beautiful. Every year more birds come to visit. Every year the back yard becomes more enjoyable.

I still hope to add a firepit to the back. I hope to do that this fall.














My rose bushes...I love them!

Mohammed and Mustafa

We have hosted two sixteen year olds from Iraq for the last ten days. This is our second time hosting someone from Iraq. Both of these boys are from Baghdad but didn't know each other until this program. Baghdad is a very large city. They live 50 miles apart and their schools don't play each other in sports. We have had some good times together and some frustrating times. What I'm going to take from the frustrating times is that it is easier to host one at a time. Hosting just one allows them to spend more time with the family and get to know our America and culture. When there are two they get homesick together and spend a lot of time in their room. I'm sure that isn't the case every time but this is the lesson I'm going to take from this time. We learned a couple new things about their culture. I know each child that comes to our home God brings them here for a reason.

Hi Again

Austin

Liam


Beau
Beau

Liam

Omar

Austin and Omar

I haven't been keeping up with my blog. Oopss. I'm going to try to do at least a weekly post and see if I can't improve. So much has happened since I did my last post.

Austin is now 17! He is so close to 6'2 or taller now. This school year coming up he is going to be a senior. I can't believe he is going to be 18 this year. Time has gone by so fast. He is running with Cross Country this summer. I have a feeling this school year is going to be very busy.

Liam is now 7 years old and going into 1st grade. He is looking forward to seeing his friends but not to getting up early. He is learning cursive this summer and doing very well. We have also been working on adding and subtracting in columns and the times table. I'm looking forward to seeing what this year will bring. One thing I do know is Saturdays will be full of birthday parties! I hope he gets to have some of his friends in his new class.

Beau is now 5 years old. He is going to start school in 5 weeks! It's going to be strange to have all the boys in school. I'm excited for Beau and a little nerous for him. Beau is more of a follower than I would like. I'm hoping when a peer tries to talk him into something he knows is wrong he won't listen. Beau is reading and spelling pretty well. Sometimes when he is spelling he will mix up an i for an e and an e for an i. Not bad for 5.

We had a exchange student for the last school year, Omar. He has gone home now and we miss him greatly. Dinners just aren't the same without him. We learned so much about his country and culture. We now have 2 short term exchange students from Iraq. They will be with us another week then off to their next stop. In August Robert will be joining us for the school year. I look forward to getting to know him and his culture.