Easter pictures

We had a wonderful day celebrating the resurrection of Jesus!

Gotta love the new boat shoes!

Goodbye teeth...a tooth-throwing tradition

A while back I wrote about what we do when kids lose their teeth. Rather than a visit from the tooth fairy, we have a ceremony. Ericka lost 2 teeth from her lower jaw, so she decided to throw them under water at the lake at Camp Sparta. This was probably the most "official" ceremony we have had.

Getting ready to say goodbye to the teeth...

Proof that they were Ericka's and from the lower jaw

There goes tooth #1...

Followed by tooth #2

You can see how everyone is watching to see the teeth disappear into the depths below. So dramatic!! 

Florida Fun Music Video...I think I got it now!

Ok, so I think you can watch this video without going to YouTube now. It was my first time trying to upload a video, so thanks for your patience. I hope you enjoy it!

Florida Fun video

We just had our last Florida concert in Tallahassee tonight, so it is fitting that Steven finished a video he has been working on. Tomorrow morning we head to the Atlanta area. We're gonna miss the beach and all the fun things about Florida, but it's fun looking back at some of our favorite moments. I know there's a way to put the actual video on the blog, but I don't think it's in the right format and it's getting late, so the YouTube link will have to do for now (although I wish the quality was better...just imagine how great it looks on our monitor!) Anyways, here you go...ENJOY!!

Disney Frenzy

Our team was very blessed by churches and host families that worked it out for us to spend 2 days at Disneyworld. We hit the Magic Kingdom for a full day, and then did Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom and Epcot on the second day. We had a blast!! All the kids rode anything and everything. We started off slow on "It's a Small World" and ended up doing Space Mountain twice...and that was just the Magic Kingdom. At the end of the day, we all watched a million bucks literally go up in flames (give or take). The "Wishes" fireworks show was amazing. As it ended, we were staring at Cinderella's castle when Catherine looked over and said, "I just want to be a princess...if I could just have one wish, I would be a princess." It was pretty stinkin' cute!

Day 2 brought even more thrilling rides like the Tower of Terror and Everest Expedition. If you've never been on that one, I'd say it's the best ride at Disney! Anyways, we can't thank everyone enough who helped make this such an amazing time for us!

WARNING: if you look at this you're gonna be jealous!

We ended up having a few hours to kill on our way to Deltona. The weather was perfect, so we made a short side-trip to Daytona Beach. The kids had sack lunches, so we planned to have a picnic and then take a walk along the beach, just getting our feet wet. For most of our kids, it was their first time to see the ocean. Once Wilber "tripped" and got soaked, the rest of the kids gave that look..."can we 'trip and fall in' too?" We obviously gave in. The kids were thanking us profusely after we left. They had a blast...and we're in Florida all month!!

We're ready for the Winter Olympics!

An early attempt at a train...

Ritah takes a lap with Uncle Rick

I think this was taken right before they fell...

you should see Ashley's knee!

Uncle Josh & Esther practice for their pairs routine!

Auntie Jennifer & Catherine holding each other up

Juliet loves ice skating!

Everyone knows those toe picks don't work...just find a wall!

Look at that form! We had so much fun making trains 

that lots of other people hopped on.

We snapped this shot right before the zamboni came out. Notice Juliet (the girl farthest left and the one sleeping in the picture above) already has her shoes on by this point!! Oh well, 12 out of 13 ain't bad!!

Stuffed with Love!

The first Christmas gift came on Christmas Eve...a trip to Build-a-Bear. Centenary United Methodist in Shelbyville, KY sponsored the trip. The kids had a blast through the whole process, and they love their bears!

First you have to warm up the heart!

Then you make a wish...

Once your bear is stuffed, you have to give it a shower and a brushing...

Then you pick the outfit!


After about an hour and a half, we had successfully stuffed, brushed, dressed (and in some cases re-dressed), and named 13 new friends. Thanks for a special memory Centenary!

A baker's dozen...kids in the kitchen that is!

We have a family Christmas tradition of making painted sugar cookies, and the kids have always loved it. My mom found these adorable Santa aprons and chef hats which got us all in the sugar cookie-painting spirit. We decided to break it up into 3 shifts, so the last shift was baking in their pajamas...you'll see why I'm telling you that when you see the pictures!

Shift 1: Suzan, Esther, Juliet, Ericka & Wilber






Shift 2: Blanca, Ritah, Catherine & Matia






Shift 3: Suresh, Deepesh, Jonathan & Francis