First Day of School and Kindergarten

September 1,  Rose started Kindergarten.  I can't believe my baby is in Elementary School.  She really wanted to ride the bus to and from school.  We compromised, she gets to ride the bus to school, and Mommy gets to pick her up afterschool.  Here are some pictures from the first day.

Neighborhood kids waiting for the bus

 Rose getting on the bus

 Rose sees one of her friends from 4K at school.  She really was happier than she looks

 Rose and her teacher

 Rose and Mommy on the first day of school.

Standing in line to go into school.

Agencies

Received some more adoption agency information today. Combing through it all trying to figure out what agency to go with and what country to adopt from. At this point we are leaning towards Haiti and Ethiopia. As I learn more, I'm reading that to adopt from Haiti, a family needs to be childless or only adopted families, so by that criteria we would be out. Think I'm going to call a few agencies next week to obtain more information.

Please pray for direction in adoption agency and country.

Graduations

We had two graduations in June. Rose graduated from preschool and Ryan graduated from High School. Both have big plans for the future.

- Rose will go into Kindergarten next year, and is hoping she can ride the bus to school.

- Ryan will be joining Americorps for a year or so, volunteering in the California area. He is waiting for his assignment, so he knows exactly where and when he is going. Check out the pictures.

Rose getting her diploma from her teacher Miss Cindy

Walking across "stage" with her diploma

So proud of my little girl

Ryan's Graduation - We were able to go out to Portland for a quick trip. Very proud of him!

The "brothers" - David, Ryan, and Kevin

Ryan and Rosie

Grandma Donna, Ryan, Papa Paul

One very PROUD family!!!!

Adoption

Andy and I have been thinking and talking about adoption for about 2 years now. This year, we decided to move from talking to making progress towards adoption. At this time, progress towards adoption means raising funds for adoption, researching adoption agencies, and being in prayer to follow God's will for our family on our adoption journey.

We'll see where God leads us in our journey, and are excited to be letting people know this has been on our hearts for quite sometime now.

We will be posting updates on our progress as they become available. In the mean time, please pray for us. Pray for our family, the process, and the journey ahead of us.