A few more vacation pics.

These pictures were taken at the condo. The view is amazing-the mornings are cool enough to enjoy the balconies and view, the evenings not so much. The pool has plenty of room for all the kids to swim, play and burn off some energy, it is also salt free which they enjoy. It has been a lot of fun watching them all play an imaginative game together as well as pair off with one another while we are at the pool. Sometimes the oldest together, sometimes the oldest and youngest, sometimes two sisters-it is nice that they all get along so well. So far the sunscreen has kept us all from looking like lobsters. We are having a great time, but a bit sad that Dad had to go back to the 'real world'.

Beach Fun

The kids love the ocean, the waves, the sand....not so much the saltiness that comes with it though. They have really enjoyed riding the waves on rafts and boogie boards. Lots of fun times with dear friends. Thought I would share a few pics of our fun-Grammy is a bit anxious to see them I think.

Deep Sea Fishing

We have all heard the bible verse "and he will make you fishers of men." Well today the Waggoners' were just plain "fishers" as we headed out to our first deep sea fishing trip aboard the boat Reel Believer. It was a true adventure lead by Captain Killingsworth and 1st mate Buttons. Yep, thats right, his name was Buttons. Super nice and a great pair who truly took time with the kids and let them truly find the fishers in each of them. Even Mom and Dad got to get in on the fun and caught a few. Alright, Mom beat Dad in the fish catching, actually skunked him pretty good. Dad just figured that the fish would rather be caught by a cute lady instead any ugly mug like mine. Either way, we all had a blast!!!

As you can see by some of the pictures we caught a bunch, and I mean a bunch of red snapper, a few mingo (pink fish, couldn't tell you much past that), one king mackeral (about 20 pounds), and a moray (the sucker fish that sticks to a shark, you know the one you see on animal planet all the time during shark week). The Princess is the lucky one who caught the moray, would not get near it, especially when the sucker part got stuck to the boat.

We then were blessed by a few dolphins that showed up. Abbie even fed one with a fish she tried to turn loose, it didn't quite make it-too small too keep so the dolphins got a snapper dinner. To top it all off all the kids were allowed to drive the boat, all 38' of it, Abbie was even allowed to go onto the top deck and drive from up there. Once back we cleaned our fish and enjoyed a dinner of fresh grilled snapper-so DELICIOUS!!!! What a day!

After such an exciting day we are wiped and heading to bed. Kade did ask me how long it will take for the ground to stop moving when he stands to go pee. He was the 1st brave soul to go to the restroom, while the boat was still going. I told him that I know he is a man but sometimes even a man needs to sit down to pee. 6 hours on a boat, no sea sickness, but all the kids can't quite turn loose of their sea legs.

More Adventures and pictures to come......this one was written courtesy of Dad before he heads back to work tomorrow evening.

Vacation time....

After many loads of laundry and lots of packing we are vacation bound. With all the excitement and anticipation of a road trip, new sites and lots of time to catch up with old friends....there is some 'ugliness' brewing. 'Ugliness' in our house is any behavior or attitude that is a bit undesirable.....from not sharing, hitting a sibling or calling one a name, being disrespectful.....the list could go on and on. Anyway, back to the point of this post. One child in particular is having a bit of a tough time with all of this vacation talk.....it is yet another adjustment, another unknown, another transition, a whole lot of unpredictability and a lot out of routine and comfort of the familiar.

So as we embark on our vacation my heart is aching a bit for 'causing' so much turmoil in a little life. I am praying that God will continue to provide us with the wisdom and strength to be the very best parents. I know we will have an amazing adventure and a few thousand pictures to share.

A girl and her dog

Our little princess has never been a huge animal lover, nothing in comparison to Big Sister, she mainly just tolerates dogs. Because we know she is not really fond of dogs, the thought of getting one bigger than her (95 pounds) caused us to wonder what she would think. That is why when we went to look at Boss for the first time we took Madison along. We figured pretty quickly we would be able to see if this dog would be an 'acceptable' addition to the family. Well it must have been love at first sight for the both of them-they are the best of buds. He follows her everywhere and will do just about anything she asks of him, including climbing a ladder into the tree house in our back yard. I am not sure what was funnier watching him climb up or Tony trying to convince him to slide down the slide to get out. We now have to make sure the 'trap door' is shut when we are not out there.

This weekend we took him to the lake and he loved it. He loves the boat and knows how to claim the 'best' seat in the front. I think he would swim all day if we would let him. Thankfully, he is pretty good at climbing the ladder of the boat to get back in too. The only 'trouble' we had with him was when the Princess got out of his sight. When she would jump in the lake and the boat would block his view of her-he whimpered and pranced around until he could see her again. I hope that he remains protective of her forever, especially come dating time ;-)

A compliment......I think

Kade was spending some one on one time with a set of his grandparents, they were watching Wipeout when I came to pick him up. Of course he was not ready to leave and wanted to finish watching the show. We do not watch a lot of TV around here, especially during 'primetime' However, the giggles this show caused in Kade might make it worth it. For those of you who live under a rock like me, Wipeout is a show about adults trying to make it through crazy obstacles competing against one another in the hopes of winning some money.

On the ride home, Kade said "Momma, how come kids can't be on that show?" Followed by, "When I grow up, Momma will you be on the show with me....I think we would make a great team and be able to get through all of the challenges." My response-"I would love to be on that show with you, and I do we think we make a great team" He even came up with a team name for us-The Spear and the Sword-Why? "You're tall and skinny, like the spear...........and I am shorter and tougher like the sword." It's official my little gentleman knows how to get what he wants..............dish out the compliments to mom. :) I even got asked out on a date.

He is my one and only little boy and as much as he likes to have his 'guy time' with his Dad and Grandpas I am so glad he loves to hang out with his Mommy. He is growing into quite the young man, he has such a sweet spirit who deeply cares for others especially his family and his child like faith continues to amaze me. I am so blessed by having him as my son and love watching him grow up........as long as that doesn't happen too quickly. Who knows, maybe one day we just might be on Wipeout for you all to get some good laughs on our behalf.

Fun Morning with the Sitter

We are so blessed to have a wonderful college student hanging out with our kids one morning a week. She is always very hands on with them-doing fun things, making stuff, going places (yes with all four of them), just being and playing with them. She is great and the kids LOVE her. Today when she got to the house, I told her the 'rules' about J, how she was still suppose to remain 'inactive' that we were on day 6 of the tonsils/adenoids removal. She said "You think the museum is too much?" Heck no-enjoy! So off they went to the Sam Noble Museum of Natural History (at least that's what I think it is called) Abbie took her camera along and took a few pics (that's why there are none of her) of the kids pretending to be stepped on by the huge mammoth. They had a blast and weren't ready to come home. Thanks, thanks, thanks-wonderful sitter!

July 5th Fireworks

It is truly amazing the changes that take place in just one short year. Last year, as I watched the fireworks or should I say slept thru the fireworks, I had just returned from Ghana. I spent an amazing week and a half serving the Ghanian people by distributing mosquito nets and falling in love with Ghana and her people. We flew home on July 3rd. So last year I was a bit sleep deprived and had a lot on my mind. There were forty kids sitting in a orphanage that not only needed families but many improvements needed to take place at the orphanage. My heart was still in Ghana, I was thrilled to be home with my family but the abundance of yummy homemade food was not only too much on my shrunken tummy but hard to accept knowing so many were going with out. But perhaps the biggest 'thing' on my sleep deprived mind was the little something my husband had told me just hours ago-"We are suppose to adopt Jennifer". My response-"I am not so sure that is what God is wanting, let's pray about it and see" (of course I had a thousand questions, 'what ifs' and she was not only over 3 years old, she was a 'she'-you see in my plans we would adopt someday-a boy under three. Well I think you all know that we followed God's path, not JJ's. Praise God for a husband who was listening and continued to pursue when I was still waiting for the clear sign from God of what we were to do (and as some of you know we were blessed with many 'rainbows' to remind us of His promises)

sorry for the blurry pics-but at least I took some

So this year as we watched fireworks-all 6 of us-on July 5th thanks to the rain last night, I spent the time thinking about what has transpired in one short year. We have been so blessed to have traveled the road of adoption that God has laid before us, continually paving the road. I am happy to say that 4 of the 40 children now have families!!! There is a local adoption agency pursuing Ghanian adoptions! I can not wait to see what the Lord has planned for our next year.

What has been going on

Sorry for the lack of updates. There has been plenty going on that is 'blog worthy' but I just have not taken the time to write. So here are a few blurps of what has been going on.

• Jennifer has experienced another first-a boat ride on the lake including tubing. I think we have another dare devil in the family. We are amazed that 6 months ago she was terrified of the water and now she would swim all day if we let her. Unfortunately I do not have any pictures to share-I figured 5 kids, with one who had never been in a boat and two adults (one who is driving) was not the best time to have my face hidden behind a camera. Oh well, guess we will have to go again.
• This past week was marked the year anniversary of meeting J. We have talked a lot about that day and I think she has enjoyed 'reliving' that day through stories and pictures. God is so amazing and His plans are so much better than our own. We feel very honored that he has led us down this adoption path and we now have another beautiful daughter.
• Kade tried out a new sport and loves it! He went for an hour a day this past week to tennis camp. He has his own racket and loves to practice. He wants to sign up for another week.
• I got to 'escape' for a bit with my college roommate-thanks husband! I am so blessed by our friendship and thankful that no matter how much time passes between conversations-we remain close. Between our four kiddos and her four (all a bit younger) we decided the last time we were together that if we wanted to finish a thought or conversation we needed some 'kid free' time. So our wonderful husbands said go and enjoy-we spent the day pampering ourselves, eating too much and ended the evening giggling like old times in a hotel room-we even slept in till 8:30AM!!! Amazing!
• On Thursday J had her tonsils and adenoids removed-poor kiddo her adenoids were blocking her airway 75%. This should have many positive effects for her-two biggies being no sleep apnea and being able to eat and breathe at the same time. She unfortunately did not handle the anesthesia drugs very well and yesterday was spent throwing up all day-thank goodness for a leather couch and hardwood floors. After a great nights sleep, today she is doing much better and has eaten breakfast and lunch-woo hoo! And a visit by her favorite teacher (with some time playing one on one in the playroom with out your siblings) was a highlight in her day-Thanks to our favorite Kindergarten teacher who continues to amaze us with her love for our kids.
• The pics in the slide show of K and J are of them sketching on the front porch. He has been so sweet with his sister-choosing activities that she can do with him. He really wanted her to play tennis-but since she is suppose to not be 'active' for 10 days he chose to draw. (not active for 10 days!!!!!!! I don't think they make enough drugs for her or I for that to happen. We are praying for some quick healing and no bleeding)
• We are looking forward to celebrating the 4th and enjoying the fireworks-another first for J. I will hopefully take some pictures to share.