1 Year in America (June 26)

Our Dear Leila,

Fish (for your love of swimming) and Turtle (for your snail like pace in some activities) are a few names we've affectionately given you as you've been thrown into a new country, a new language, a new family and a completely new life. You have been a star adjusting to so many things in a foreign land. There are times I forget how much you've had to learn and adjust to, but you or God quickly remind me. Grace. Parenting requires much grace and though sometimes I stumble (OK, a lot of times!) God has used you, your brother and your sister to show me that. 

Sweetheart, thank you for being such a trooper as we've learned many things along with you. You have had to have much grace for us. You have embraced us as your family and while we've had moments where you deeply miss Niger, you have never rejected us as your momma and daddy. My heart aches for all that you did leave. While the outside world may think you've gained the world coming to America - an abundant land - we know you have left your own family at the orphanage, cultural traditions and everything you were comfortable and familiar with. I'm thankful you remember many happy things about Niger, and I know one day when you're older, we will get to share both sides - the hard things and happy things - all of which have shaped you into this fun, bright, silly little girl that is eager to learn and experience new things.

We love you, Leila, and we know we are the blessed ones to have you as a daughter.

Momma and Daddy

Hello Kentucky!

Who knew Kentucky could be so much fun?! With Leila joining our family at age 10.5, we recognize the number of summers with her are too few! So, Geoff and I decided we wanted to hit some national parks. So, we made a list of ones we were interested in. We needed something fairly close this year since we had other time off this summer. We ruled out Niagara Falls because Leila doesn't yet have a passport, and that left us with Mammoth Cave National Park in Cave City, KY!

The kids were at great ages to endure the almost 10 hour drive (with no DVD player in Daddy's truck pulling the camper!), and they really were mostly engaged in touring the caves, hiking and learning about the cave world. Here's some pictures of our fun-filled, partly educational trip. We really created some sweet memories!

Famous castle outside of Lexington, KY.

Most of you know that I DO NOT SHOP at Wal-Mart (for company ethical reasons and how they have treated employees; I have heard they are getting better). It's been over 6 years. Well, it happened. I broke the streak and took my kids on their first trip to Wal-Mart. There's not many places in KY, y'all. The prices were SO LOW!! 98 cent flip-flops!

Waiting to begin the historic cave tour, which included 2 miles of walking underground and 500+ stairs.

Entering the cave. Mammoth Cave is the longest cave system in the world! 405 miles, I believe.

The lighting inside was incredibly low. 

Waiting for the Domes and Dripstones cave tour. 

The bus we took to get to a different part of the cave.

Going down a vertical shaft to get 300 feet below the surface.

These were so amazing. It takes over 100 years for these to grow 1 inch. Wow!

We took a 3+ miles hike in the park and enjoyed the Green River views. This is the river responsible for creating the caves.

The kids enjoyed completing a Junior Ranger wildlife scavenger hunt. 

And they all completed their Junior Ranger program and earned certificates and their own badges. Frazier's head got a little bigger, and he puffed his chest right on out when they presented that badge to him. 

We enjoyed staying at a Jellystone campground with our camper where we endured a family water balloon fight! We also enjoyed their pools, water slide and jumping bag (aka huge trampoline). 

Watch out Daddy!

And we hit our max!

End of School

Though 4 out of 5 of us were hit with the norovirus the last week of school (Leila was spared!!), Geoff and I managed to tag team to be at the girls' schools each day the last week of school. We enjoyed celebrating the girls' academic successes at awards ceremonies (no perfect attendance here with traveling and too many tardies because school mornings are so HARD!! Ha! Maybe next year will be better.), a math carnival and an ice cream party to celebrate the end of school. We left a few hours after school released for a super fun family trip to Mammoth Cave National Park in KY (separate post coming later)!

Frazier and I volunteered at Mary-Michael's math carnival where we lasted until he vomited behind a tree. At that point, we exited quickly. Up until then, it was a very fun day of the kids practicing handling money and budgeting. So important!!

Leila's school enjoyed their own summer Olympics, and her class picked Niger in honor of her. Love it!

She was picked to lead with the Olympic torch.

Daddy attended Mary-Michael's awards where she received an award for all P's! I was in bed hardly moving.

The girls really had a great first year in their schools. I am so thankful for their teachers who set high expectations for both of them, and we are so proud of all they've accomplished!! Hello summertime!

Lake Love

What a blessing to be able to return to Lake Anna where Geoff and his family created many of his favorite memories. Some good friends from church (who are also adopting a daughter from Niger - same orphanage where Leila was!!) have allowed us to park our camper by their house right on the lake this year. It's been awesome to fellowship with them and enjoy the lake together. Leila has learned to kneeboard, too!

Geoff and Dave - both share a love of Niger and the lake.

Abby, Frazier and Leila.

Mary-Michael prefers to ride...

Leila and Dave double knee-boarding. 

All 3 Lawrence's! Mary-Michael lasted about 30 seconds.

That's me hiding under that hat. I'm now thinking about wrinkles, ya'll - gotta cover up when I can!

I promise there is an adult nearby. 

Lake transportation.

Leila and Zalika enjoyed a day at the lake together a few weeks ago. Such fun!

Here's a video of Geoff and I kneeboarding. I think this perfectly describes our opposite personalities. :)

A Day in the Life of a Kindergartner

Though this momma made an unwise decision to have a thumb sucking appliance put in the afternoon before the production (yea, not my wisest move)...our sweet girl still did a great job singing at her kindergarten production where they sang songs telling about their typical day at school. She's been talking about this concert for months and singing songs at home just as long. Below are 2 short videos of the Recycle Rap and her personal favorite, Golden Rule. We were blessed to have many supporters, too!!

M&M with Mrs. Kilgore, her kindergarten teacher whom she adores.

Frazier's End of Year Preschool Celebration

He was all smiles for the program but refused to take a picture with me or anyone else. Regardless, he did a great job in his USA program that was filled with cuteness! He's had a great first year of preschool. He's definitely different from my reserved, focused and rule-following Mary-Michael! He's had some time outs for wrestling and being rowdy at the wrong times and he has no problem putting on a show. His teacher reports he's friends with everyone and above where he should be academically, which I attribute to his 2 older sisters that he loves to follow (aka pester)! This momma is thrilled for some summertime fun, which we've kicked off early while his sisters finish school. A little strawberry picking and Busch Gardens is always fun!