George is still working about 12 days a month in Philadelphia. It sounds like a lot but the majority of time that he is here he is off work so we are able to spend lots of time with him. He has been busy with yardwork and with maintaining the pond in the backyard. I believe he has finally got a handle on all the algae in the pond! WOO GO GEORGE!! Just last week he bought a riding lawn mower for Thomas to help with cutting the grass. George has a "fancy device" to cut the yard and we wanted something a little less complicated for Thomas. I know it is new, but at the present time, Thomas enjoys cutting the grass. We will appreciate this as long as it lasts!!
Anna is a Sophomore at Clemson. She transferred from College of Charleston and really enjoys it. I believe that she has decided to be a wedding planner. She will return to Camp St. Christopher this summer to work as a camp counselor.
We moved all the kids to a Christian school this year. We LOVE it and so do all of the kids. Thomas is in the 4th grade and has made the A or A/B honor roll all year with no ESL services. He has played touch football, soccer, basketball and karate this year. It's great because the school has intra-mural sports that are held after school once a week. He is able to try them all so he can decide what he would like to play when he reaches the 6th grade. He was picked for a Math Competition this year that was held in Mount Pleasant. He is such a great kid and a very good role model (most of the time) with his younger siblings. He doesn't always like our rules about TV, video games, etc. but he has learned to respect them. He also takes Chinese School on Sundays and has a person that comes here on Tuesdays that helps with the conversational aspect. Overall, he has had a great year and we are so very proud of him.
Maura is in the 1st grade this year. She is doing very well and really seems to enjoy school. She has also plated soccer and basketball this year. She is also in the church choir and takes piano lessons weekly. She also started participating in a Daisy troop this past March. Sports are definitely her thing. She loves to play anything outside. We are still helping her deal with some past issues in Ethiopia but she is doing remarkably well. She loves having a baby sister and is the first to "help me" feed her, tickle her, watch her, etc. in January of this year, she had to have some ankle surgery at MUSC to help clean out the tissue. She has always had chronic pain in this area of the ankle...therefore more surgeries are definitely in the future but at least for now it is feeling a little better. She is having ear surgery on May 22nd. She needs a cartilage transplant due to recurrent ear infections when she was in Ethiopia. Praise the Lord that she only has very minimal hearing loss. Maura has definitely come so far from the scared little girl we adopted 2 years ago. We are very proud of her progress.
Li-Li is also in the 1st grade. She and Maura are in the same class and it has actually worked out really well. She loves school and is very studious. She also loved to read and ask a million questions about what she has read! :) Li-Li DOES NOT play sports because, "I don't like to sweat" lol. Li-Li is in the church choir, involved in a Daisy group and takes piano. She LOVES piano and has progressed greatly in the past few months. I have let the kids try several new extracurricular activities this year to see what they like...next year they will have to scale down to a couple and only pick the activities that they like the best. Li-Li also takes Chinese lessons every Tuesday night. Li-Li has such a tender heart and is such a lovable child.
Bella...oh Bella...my strong willed child. Love her to pieces. She is in Pre-K this year and she learned to read!! I can't believe it. She picked it up immediately...of course it helps that she has so many older siblings and she wants to be like them! She is also in the children's choir at church and takes piano lessons. She loves sports and played intramural soccer this year. She is such a fast runner. We have been praying with Bella constantly about first time obedience at home and school and I think it is finally sinking in. :) She is growing up so fast and will be five in July. Tonight she was actually reading the little BOB books to me! sniff sniff
Last, but definitely not least...our precious miracle Carlee. She will turn 10 months old on May 16th. She is crawling everywhere...well kind of a scooting/crawling mix. She already weighs 18 pounds (which is what Bella weighed when we adopted her at 19 months lol). She is a chubby little thing with bright, big blue eyes and sandy light brown, curly hair. Her smile is definitely contagious. She loves books, going on walks and mealtime. We have kept in constant contact with her birthmother, Miss Ashley. She actually moved from New York down to North Carolina to be near her mother. We are glad that she is now closer to us. LAst Saturday was National BirthMother's Day. George and I took Carlee, Li-Li and Maura to North Carolina to visit her. We were also able to meet her mother (Carlee's biological grandmother) and her mother's boyfriend. What great people! We had a wonderful time visiting at the playground and going to lunch. It was emotional for all of us when it was time to leave..but in a good way. Carlee is so very blessed to have so many people that love her unconditionally.
Our wonderful au pair Juliana went back to Colombia on March 28th. We miss her terribly and she will always hold a special place in our hearts. We now have a new au pair, named Any. She is great as well and fits perfectly into the family. She is a very hard worker, has fun with the kids but also disciplines them when necessary. She is also from Colombia and speaks Spanish fluently which will come in handy since WE ARE ADOPTING FROM PANAMA/CENTRAL AMERICA!!! Yes, you read that correctly. We started the process last October and our dossier was translated in Panama this week. We can get a referral now at any time. We requested a daughter between the ages of 1 and 3 or a sibling group of two between the ages of 1 and 5. Even though we have EVERYTHING we need for another girl, we would love to have another son. Thomas has brought so much joy to this family! I will keep you posted as we hear more.
Since my last post, we have been on a couple of vacations. The first being a Disney Cruise back in November over Thanksgiving! It was amazing...we had a great time. We visited St. Martin and St. Thomas, as well as, Castaway Cay (Disney's Island). We took everyone but Carlee on a beach excursion in St. Thomas (Carlee stayed on the ship with Juli). We had a great time. We took the entire family out in St. Martin. This was special since that is where George and I went on our honeymoon. I could actually spend an entire week on Castaway Cay. What a wonderful island!
We had a wonderful, quiet Christmas at home! So very nice!
For the kids Spring Break, we spent the week at Disney Worls. We actually only went to Magic Kingdom once and spent the rest of the week at Orange Lake where we stayed. It was fun to hang out in the pool, play putt putt, go to the arcade and eat ice cream. We will be going back the first week of June with my Dad and Terry and my siblings. It is such a fun trip...having everyone together.
We will spend most of this summer in Philadelphia. That way George can work and we can be together as a family. We are also taking a trip to DC where we will meet up for an Ethiopian Reunion for children adopted from Bella's orphanage. We are very excited about this. George and I are excited because we will be spending 4 nights in Bermuda all alone....our second honeymoon! We will have Any and Katie (our wonderful sitter) taking care of the kids so we will not have to worry and can just have a great time.
Sorry for such a long winded update...hopefully I can update more frequently!!
Blessings to all!
Disney Cruise
St. Martin
