Pictures from Auntie Blair...

Thanks to my amazing and talented sister-in-law, Blair, we had a "photo shoot" last week while our friend Kimberly was visiting. I LOVE the pictures! Here are a few of my favorites.....

Are these boys stinking cute or what?

I love Erick's expression here- are you kidding me?

KC Vacation :)

Our sweet friends from Detroit, Kimberly and Aeson Leclercq, have been here this week. Thanks to their visit, we've had a real week of "vacation" here in KC. The weather has been great and we've been out and about with the boys. We got to know Kimberly and Aeson in Guatemala as she lived there for six months fostering Aeson. So it was a bit of a reunion week- we just were missing a few other faces from Antigua!! As you can see below, the boys didn't seem to skip a beat and had a great time...
We hit the zoo on Wednesday. I promise the boys were more excited than they looked in this picture....




We went to Jack's Stacks so Kimberly could have some KC BBQ. Then the boys admired the trains that run behind the restaurant.

We also hit Crown Center's Wizard of Oz exhibit and Fritz's. Luke Williams joined us for this outing- here they are following the yellow brick road!

Last night we got together with six other families who have all adopted from Guatemala. Here are the kids... what an adorable bunch. This picture is missing Paulo Harris. I didn't get one that had both him and Otoniel in the same picture- they were on the run (at least in this one some of the kids were looking!). We ate at El Cipote which is a "Central American cuisine" restaurant owned by a man from El Salvador and his wife from Guatemala so they have Guatemalan food on the menu. Deliciosa....

And a group hug to end the night.... I think Erick and Samuel are going to be lost without the constant playmate they've had all week!

Happy Easter!

Just a few pics from the past weekend... we spent Saturday with Jimmy's family and Sunday with my family. It was a busy weekend, but a lot of fun. Samuel got the hang of the egg hunt quickly!

Last Friday we attempted dying eggs with Lee Anne and Erick. I think Lee Anne, Jimmy and I decorated 95% of the eggs, but it was a good attempt for the boys. I decked them out in old t-shirts which is why they look like they're wearing dresses :).

This is the post egg-dying dance party in Samuel's room!

Lately I have been reading Psalm 40 over and over. Just love the picture of God's redemption for me- that He lifts us up, sets our feet on a firm place and puts a new song in our mouth. It has been an especially meaningful reminder in light of what we are celebrating this Easter season. Jimmy would say that I'm stuck in Psalm 40 because it is also the lyrics to a U2 song. He is a passionate U2 fan and is so excited because he got tickets to see them this fall!

Handy Sammy

Forget the toys...

...give Samuel the tools! He was so obsessed with Grampa's tools, he would not look at me.... too busy "working." He figured out that putting pliers up your nose is comical.

I'm pretty sure Grampa appreciated Samuel's "help" in replacing our leaky faucet.

And some exciting news....

We are going back to Guatemala! There were many days when I thought I'd never say or write that sentence with excitment, but I can now say it with lots of enthusiasm! It looks like our church is going to send a team of people to Guatemala at the end of October to do construction at Kairos Christian School outside of Antigua as well as some other projects. Anyone want to go!? Details soon...

Happy Easter!