A High Ponytail

The Move

We had lots of help from friends and family - thank you.

Cinnamon rolls with SueSue

Leaves

SueSue and Grandma helped us pack.

Packing & Pizza

Milk Bubbles

At Home

New York City

We watched the Knicks v. Cavaliers (LeBron and Shaq), saw Yo-Yo Ma at Carnegie Hall, went to the Statue of Liberty (Bryan had never been), and met up with friends for breakfast.

"Dorothy" for Halloween

Due to Lucy's love of shoes and dogs, she was "Dorothy" for Halloween.

While I was in Russia, Lucy...

... stayed at Grandpa and Grandma's house (along with Bryan). She loved playing with Larson, Secily, Jane, Anders, Chaco the dog, and Aunt Yuriko and Uncle Erik. Erik made a fort, and Yuriko took lots of pictures and taught her how to plug her ears when Chaco barks loud. She also went to Baylor Homecoming with Bryan.

Russia

My Mom and I are thankful for the chance to have traveled together to Russia in Samuel's memory. We visited children at 1-2 orphanages or baby homes each day. We loved holding the babies and praying for them and getting the chance to buy diapers for them. We especially remember our time with the director at Luga Hospital, the older boys at orphanage #14 where we were able to share our testimonies, and at Orphanage #15 (the hospital) where they so sweetly presented a plaque with Samuel's picture and the verse (printed in both English and Russian) 1 Samuel 1:27-28.

St. Petersburg, Russia

My Mom and I are traveling with a group (14 people total) from Orphan Outreach to St. Petersburg, Russia October 22-31, 2009. We will be working alongside Russian believers to minister to children and babies living in orphanages.

Orphan Outreach is a ministry totally dedicated to glorifying the Lord in reaching out to the orphans He loves. Their program focus is to provide early intervention, education, and spiritual development and to improve the lives of those children living in substandard situations. James 1:27 describes their passion, motivation and commitment.

We are especially looking forward to going to Orphanage #15 where the program Hannah's Hands was started, which was dedicated in Samuel's memory. You can follow our trip and see pictures of our travels on the Orphan Outreach blog: http://missions.orphanoutreachblog.org/

Thank you for your prayers!

Breakfast with Friends

Friends

I LOVED the weekend with the girls, and I loved that our kids got to play together.









Porter, Lucy, Millie, Marley, Luke, Cade, John Andrew

Lucy slept in her big girl bed last night

This is how she woke up...

(she also did a handstand into a somersault today, too)

Rock Star

Lucy thinks it's hilarious to pour water on me

Visiting Daddy at his office

The Dallas Zoo

Karin and I took Larson, Secily, Jane & Lucy to the zoo.

Houston - SueSue's Birthday

Lake of the Woods

Jeff, Chandra, Anders, Erik, Yuriko, Bryan, Lucy & I all went to Canada. We visited the Thomas' (B's aunt, uncle & cousins) in Winnipeg before going to the "The Seven C's" lake house on Lake of the Woods in Ontario, Canada. Lucy got her first passport and traveled internationally, met her Great-grandparents in person, ate "putein", rode behind the boat for her first time (she's 19 months old), and played in the very cold Canadian water (she loved pushing Bryan in).














Bryan... found the skis he learned to ski on when he was 5, pushed me in (along with Lucy's help), and jumped off the boat house roof with his brothers.