What a year this has been! I can't think of any other year we have seen God work so mightily in our lives. The way our adoption process worked out and so many other things that we have been able to participate in and witness have blessed us tremendously. I hope we can live up to the trust God has placed in us to raise our boys to be great men of God.
We finished up the year with a few more firsts! We are fortunate enough to still have my grandmother with us who turned 98 in November. She told us she would only travel up as far as Myrtle Beach so if we wanted to see her we would have come down there. Well of course we wanted her to meet the boys and they had never been to the beach before so off we went the day after Christmas for that 7 hour drive. The boys did such a great job on the trip. They brought some of their favorite toys in the car and they got their fill of movie watching. Our cousins have a condo at the beach that is close to where they live so we got to stay there with my mother (the famous babushka) and my grandmother (matriarch of babushka's side of the family). We also got to see our other cousins from Ashville, NC whom we hadn't seen in quite some time. Their children are 17 (Django) and 13 (Lucy). They had a ball playing with the boys and the boys were equally as happy to have other kids to play with. The highlight for Vanya was going for a ride on Ama's (great grandmother) walker.
He thought that was a hoot! Yuri had a great time learning how to play the dominoes game "chicken foot" and he was became quite good at it and even won a few games. Veecha, as usual, was our little social bug whose smile could light up any room he entered. The beach was obviously the most exciting thing for all the boys. They had never been to the ocean and thought it had soap in it because of the breaking waves. They squealed and giggled for as long as we let them stay out there. The water was ice cold but that didn't deter them one little bit. Below is the very first beach experience to share with everyone.
We finished up the year with a few more firsts! We are fortunate enough to still have my grandmother with us who turned 98 in November. She told us she would only travel up as far as Myrtle Beach so if we wanted to see her we would have come down there. Well of course we wanted her to meet the boys and they had never been to the beach before so off we went the day after Christmas for that 7 hour drive. The boys did such a great job on the trip. They brought some of their favorite toys in the car and they got their fill of movie watching. Our cousins have a condo at the beach that is close to where they live so we got to stay there with my mother (the famous babushka) and my grandmother (matriarch of babushka's side of the family). We also got to see our other cousins from Ashville, NC whom we hadn't seen in quite some time. Their children are 17 (Django) and 13 (Lucy). They had a ball playing with the boys and the boys were equally as happy to have other kids to play with. The highlight for Vanya was going for a ride on Ama's (great grandmother) walker.
He thought that was a hoot! Yuri had a great time learning how to play the dominoes game "chicken foot" and he was became quite good at it and even won a few games. Veecha, as usual, was our little social bug whose smile could light up any room he entered. The beach was obviously the most exciting thing for all the boys. They had never been to the ocean and thought it had soap in it because of the breaking waves. They squealed and giggled for as long as we let them stay out there. The water was ice cold but that didn't deter them one little bit. Below is the very first beach experience to share with everyone.We had wonderful company, great food, and fun entertainment. What a good mini vacation to end a blessed year of first activities for all of us. Below is the gingerbread making activity with cousin Carol and babushka and Ama(while mama and papa got a rare opportunity to go out to dinner together. Thanks guys!)
When we got home we rang in the New Year with some friends. We found some great sparkling apple, pear, and cherry cider. The kids loved it! They all made it except Vanya who konked out in my arms at about 11:30pm. All in all a great year.
We hope you all have an incredible 2008 as we see what God has in store for us this year!
Mama mama mama
1 comment:
What precious boys you have! I am thrilled that the Lord has been leading you and showing you His power this past year in so many ways and that He has blessed you so abundantly. He has been working in our lives, too, and it always makes me so glad to hear how He's working in the lives of His children. I hope I will be able to join the "mama" ranks soon, or at least that we'll be able to *start* the adoption process this year. I still owe you that e-mail, Laura--I am SO backlogged! Happy New Year, Mama-Mama-Mama!
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