8 Months

Eight month sure flies by fast when you are in the thick of life.  And that's what it feel like right now.  It isn't always easy but we have a front row seat to what God is unfolding not just in Sarah's life but in all three, four, of our kids lives.  June- July have been busy and fun.  We've kept fairly busy but have had planty of lazy summer days.  We hit some MAJOR milestones in Emily's adoption.  It's been a good summer!

We started off June with a BANG!  VBS was so much fun and Sarah did great in her class.  We have been putting her with the 3 yr olds at church and that seems to be working well.  

The best part of VBS though?!?!?  Our precious church raised over $4,000.00  for the new foster home Lifeline is opening for the kids from Sarah's orphanage.  We were so blessed to be able to share about those children in church and our church responded in a huge way!  We are blessed and humbled and grateful!  The foster home is scheduled to open this week so keep that in your prayers!

Boys and Girls were dead even!

Next up, Sarah "ran" in her first 5K.  Actually she was pushed in a stroller by her Aunt Cam and uncle Josh but you know… it counts!  Sarah went to the Flash Dash with them while we took Will and Jenny to see Tim Hawkins.  Fun was had by all that night!

  

Sarah has continued with her gymnastics and is doing great, pretty good, getting better, getting in some good practice on her listening skills as well as gymnastics skills.  Girl still can't find the Big, Green wall and she can do a mean front roll.

On your belly Sarah- or not- whatever

We said goodbye to our boys for 16 days during June! Shane and Will spent 16 days in New Mexico on the Philont Scout ranch.  I have known this was coming since before we even started the proess for SArah so I had been praying for almost 2 years about those 16 days.  We did just fine and Sarah even slept pretty good. I was sure happy to see them home though!!  

Sarah also had her first taste of the ice cream man when a new ice cream truck made an appearance in the neighborhood.  Jenny was thrilled as well and used her quick math skills to figure an ice cream treat into her daily sugar/carb/insulin balance.

Enjoying the ice cream truck treats.

We played at the park with cousins.

And made a few early morning runs for biscuits.

We finally made it to the pool and Sarah has slowly learned to like it.  I can't imagine what was going through her head the first time.  You can see her clinging for dear life to Jenny.  But she has warmed up to it and squeals when we pull out her swim suit.

This was her favorite spot for awhile

While the boys were gone we made a road trip to Collins mississippi.  I know, living on the edge!  We went to the water park for the day and then drove over to Hattiesburg and spent the night in a hotel.  We ordred pizza, swam in the hotel pool and watched TV.  It was a fun, little road trip with my girls!

Sarah got new pink, sparkly crocs and to say she was thrilled would be an understatement.  They don't fit with her AFOs so we mostly use them for the pool or a quick errand but she has gotten better at walking in them and she just loves them!  

She went to her first MS Braves game.  In her pigtails no less! Her hair has finaly gotten long enough to put in pigtails and I love it!!

We had a special treat this month too!  One of the biggest blessings of our adoption journey has been the new friends we have made.  These relationships have been invaluable to me especially.  Most of these frienships have been "cyber" in nature.  Finally we were able to all get together.  We will add another sweet face to this group in just a few weeks!!  And then Emily will join in as the big kid this fall hopefully!

This was the best we could do

Fourth of July was so much fun.  We spent the fourth at home (and at the ER- Will popped himself in the eye HARD with an exercise rubber band making what should be a round pupil really really not round.  All was well though.)  We ate and played outside and watched fireworks later that night. It was a fun, family day.

Making Blueberry muffins

Enjoying the muffins out on the porch.  The weather was fabulous!

Corn on the Cob!  Even with no front teeth she can do a number on the corn!

Swinging with Daddy!

Legos with Daddy!

Sarah discovered the joy of poppers!

Fireworks!  She is still not sure how she feels about fireworks but she tolerated them for us.

It was a fun month full of lots of firsts.  She has made some big leaps in her language and I will post about those separately.  For now, I will leave you with what is my favorite picture from the last month.

 

Happy summer y'all!