Two Years in the USA!

Can you believe it that it has been 2 years ago that we walked off that airplane with 2 beautiful children from the Philippines?  July 17th is the date stamped on their passports!  Some days I thought we would never get here but also think what an amazing journey.  Only by God's goodness and mercy did we make it this far.  Such a marvel as I look back to see how far we have come.  Josh & Cate are really so strong and brave to have conquered some of their fears.  We are starting to see a lot more trust and smiles coming from them.  We talk about "forever family" alot but I think they are just now starting to believe it.  Yes, Josh & Cate, first of all you belong to Jesus, but secondly you are ours!  We love you forever.

This week has been very hectic.  The kids were in a daycamp at The Chapel called Springhill.  We hosted 4 of the Springhill counselors in our home and the kids really loved this.  They couldn't wait to have dinner with Ben, Zach, D'Wayne, and Jason each night.  These guys were great role models and we really appreciated the way they loved on our kiddos.  It was hard to say goodbye on Friday.

 

Josh & Cate play Wildcat baseball.  On Friday they had Mr. Mac day.  Cate signed up to go early and help run the games.  Josh was chosen to play in the All Star game.  Both kids were very excited for Friday to come.  Here are some of the fun pictures from their day.

 

Saturday was a fun day.  First off, breakfast at Bob Evans.

 

 

 

Next up is Putt Putt and arcade games. 

 

After that we stopped by Uncle Kirk's and Aunt Jenni's house. We swam in their pool, ate lunch, and celebrated Grandma Carol's birthday one more time. It was a great day. Thanks Uncle Kirk and Aunt Jenni. We loved being with you.

 

 

Well today we took Josh to church camp and he will be gone all week. 

 

 

 He has never been away from our home before and I miss him already.  Be praying for him this week that he will have a blast, feel safe, and learn more about Jesus' love.  Here's a cool thing that happened.  As we walked into the area for the campers, Josh's counselor walked up to Josh and then looked at me and said, " I think you were my math teacher."   Can you believe it?   This young man that I taught in 7th grade (he is now in college) is going to be teaching my son all week.  I love it when God brings people back into your life like that.  You pour into someone and then you receive the blessing back when you never expected it.  Thank you God for giving me peace about Josh's counselor for the week and also for showing me that you are watching out for Josh every second of everyday!

 

Choosing joy,

Chris & crew