Long time, no blog!

Well, it has been way too long since I have compiled my thoughts to put down on this blog! I have had many friends and family asking me to provide a blog update, but it was finally getting on here to read two friends' brand new blogs that got me motivated to update.....

So, here goes! We have now been home almost 10 months and my how the time flies. There were moments (still are) when Greg and I truly didn't know if we were going to make it. We were so overwhelmed with the added stress of 2 new non-English-speaking sons. That stress has pretty much dissipated and now we are on to the stress of raising 3 sons as God would have us do it! I never cease to be amazed at how hard being a parent is. But, enough about the negative and on to the 3 positively awesome blessings the Lord has granted us!

Jackson is doing well in 1st grade. He loves school (most days) and is a great student. As most of you that know him can imagine, he is a rule follower and loves reminding us and his brothers about the rules. He has made lots of new friends, one of which lives in the front of our neighborhood. His name is Landon and his parents are Christians. We are so happy that God has blessed Jackson with a friend at school whose parents and background are similar to his own. He has lost a total of 7 teeth now, but only 3 haven't started coming in yet...his mouth is pretty gapped up right now, though! Most importantly, he has been able to commit the first 26 verses of Psalm 119 to memory. We are so proud of him and his hard work on his scripture memorization!

Philip is also doing well. We got the added blessing of his kindergarten teacher being a member of our church. She has been such a blessing to us this year and has really gone above and beyond to help Philip as he is learning English. Philip is definitely blessed with a creative and artistic mind. His drawings are much better than mine could ever hope to be and he has not had any formal classes yet. We really hope to foster this talent of his and help him use it for God's glory! He can also take anything apart and put it back together again and he builds huge lego sets in just a couple of hours! He is definitely going to be skilled at working with his hands. He has grown a ton since we came home. His legs are the longest part of him...and they are almost as long as Jackson's, so he has grown into size 6's. Thank goodness Jackson had made it into his 7's so we have plenty of pants to go around!

Ryan is enjoying his time at Valleydale/Noah's Nook Mother's Day Out. He is getting some good education on his English and his alphabet besides just at home. It is great! He is our little tumbler and just flips and flops all over the house. He developed a limp that he was trying to hide from us, but I guess it finally got too painful to hide. We took him in for bloodwork and x-rays and all were clear, Praise the Lord! So, the doc felt like it was just some deep bruising and it did indeed get better a few days after the appointment. It was very hard to try to keep him still and off of his leg so it could heal! He is very bright and seems to learn new words almost as we introduce them to him. He has also memorized about 4 of his memory verses. Honestly, Greg and I have not been working on scripture as hard with them and were just planning on initiating that once he and Philip were more adept at their English. But, God has proven to us just how much they can learn. Ryan learned his verses just from the work they do on them in class! So, scripture memorization is now going to be part of all 3 of their lives!

I realize that I have not posted in so long and that there is a ton more to say....but, I will just say what a blessed Christmas we ALL had this year. It was just so amazing to me and Greg that we had 3 boys to love on this Christmas. It was truly the best Christmas ever...even if it was not the most plentiful in "stuff"! And just to let you know, Philip and Ryan have amazed everyone with their mastering of the English language. They still have their accents, but their word base is huge! I don't ever really notice them not understanding us anymore. It's now just individual words that might be new to them! It's absolutely amazing how quickly they have improved! And the brothers all 3 get along well....they have moments as all siblings do. But, overall they love each other and enjoy each other's company! It's great!

Thanks to anyone who might be reading and following our family's story! I will try to keep it updated more often!