Day 4

This was our last day in Charleston , before we headed home.
We went to the Magnolia Plantation Audubon Swamp Garden first.


Walking through the swamp.

We saw lots of these!

We also saw alot of Great Egrets up in the trees too.



A cute piece of art work floating in the swamp.

Then we went to Drayton Hall 1 mile down the road.

This house was built in 1738. The only surving house that lasted the Revolution and Civil War. All the other Plantation Houses were burned. Karlton and I have been here once before. We like this house because it has not been touched since 1865, no redecorating only some TLC.


A huge old oak tree in the front of the house.

Lilee resting before our tour. She gets ring in wet in Charleston. She does not do well with the humidity there.


View from the front door.



View from the basement where most of the house hold duties were done.

Back of the house.


Joel getting his picture taken with another huge tree. Then we headed home.

Huge Prayer Request!

I just received word that Willy should have his Guardianship papers next Friday! Please Pray this happens there have been alot of complications so far and has taken alot longer then planned!

You know there are always complications when dealing with Guatemalan adoptions. This is the first good news since this has started. Praise The Lord!

Our proud school girl!

Roxana is our school girl we sponsor through Mayan Families. She lives near Panajachel in Guatemala, in a Mayan village up in the mountains. With out our help Roxana could not afford to attend school. She is 9 yrs. old and just now in the 1st grade. This is the first report we have gotten since sponsoring her.



She is so proud of her report card!

Our Special Day!

We started our day by having Josiah take some pictures of us.

We went shopping all day and even though we had 4 of the 5 kids we made the most of it.

We ate at the Ramano's Macaroni Grill for our Anniversary dinner! MY FAV place to eat ever!!!

For Dessert we ordered their most wonderful delicious chocolate cake! MMMMMM!

On our way home we stopped by the park where we got married and Jordan took pictures of us in the exct spot by the lake.

13 years and still going strong! We ended our evening by watching "The List" which is a great movie! It is kind of special to us because while we were at the theaters watching another movie when "the list" first came out the man who wrote the novel and the movie was there signing autographs. He is from Charlotte (I heard he is a lawyer) and the movie takes place in our beloved Charleston.

Our Happy 13 Years Together!!!

These pictures are from our (10 year ann) renewing of our vows.

You are my BFF, my sweet heart, the father of my children, my everything! I Love You so very much!

Here is what the last 13 years of our life together looks like. Just the 2 of us, with out any of our kids in the pictures! We hardly have anytime together by ourselves so I wanted this to be all about us. We have had one wild and wonderful ride over our 13 yrs. together, and I would sooo do it all over again! I hope the next 13 yrs. are even better then the 1st.

At our reception July 95. We were so young!

August 95

Our 1st Ann. July 96 ( Jordan had arrived 6 wks prior, Josiah was born 15 mo. later)

Nov. 2001 ( parents to 3 boys, Joel was 9 mo. old)

July 2002 - Charleston , SC.( 7 year Ann trip)

Summer 2003

July 2004- Savannah, GA ( 9 year Ann trip)



Christmas 2004


July 2005- Renewing our vows on our 10 yr. Ann. Since we eloped we waited until our 10 yr. ann. to have a wedding. It was so special to have our boys in our wedding.

2 1/2 mo. before the referral of Sara Ava


July 2007 - Panajachel, Guatemala ( on visit trip visiting Lilee)

Christmas 2007 ( parents to 5 children , 1st christmas all children home under one roof)

April 2008- Charleston, SC ( first family vacation as a completed family)

Our Cell Phone Fundraiser Has Come To An End!

We want to Thank Everyone who donated their Ink cartridges and Old Cell Phones to our help out our left over Adoption Expenses of our 2 sweet Guatemalan Princesses! The Grand total to date that was raised is $250.00 . ( Enough to make one monthly payment) That is truely a blessing to our family.

Josiah is away at camp this week.

Our 2nd oldest son Josiah has been at church camp all this week. Please pray for his safety and safe arrival back home tomorrow. They will not let you talk to them while they are there and that never makes me feel at ease. I know they got there safely and as of yesterday all are fine.
Our church had 17 to go with them this year. 1st-5th grade. (Josiah is the only blonde boy in the light yellow shirt standing under the B)

I know he will have a great time. When ever they have free time he will get to fish, swim, canoe. ect.

More pics from the 4th

Family Picture time....the kids with dad...

and now with mom.

A little ring around the rosie anyone?

The girls thought this was so great that their brothers were playing too!

They all fall down.

Hey guys while you all are down there let me get your picture!

"I can't believe my eyes!!!!! "

"Oh my gosh daddy , did you see that giant explosion in the sky?"

We watched fireworks at our church this year and this was Lilee's first time seeing them. This is how Lilee looked every time she say one. She would cover her eyes and ears and did not know which one to do first. The first one that went off I guess she thought that it was falling on her because she hit the ground and threw her arms up like they were falling on her.She was not to fond of the fireworks. Especially after we had one come into the croud right next to us. After that she would say "RUN" or "Scarwey" everytime one went off. Poor child was so exhausted after them she told me " bed" she had had enough.

Happy 4th of July Everyone!!!!

We started our day out by taking the kids to a parade.

Joel is saying the pledge of allegience.

Front row seats.....

This is Lilee's 1st 4th of July . Waiting for the parade to start with Daddy...

and Mommy... ( this picture was taken by Joel)

This was Lilee's first parade. She is watching it start....


And this is what she thought about it! This was her reaction to the Harley's that were in the parade. Poor girls were sweating terribly. It was 94 and we were on the black top.

Karlton took the kids to the pool while Lilee and I stayed home to rest for our Church's big 4th cook out and firework show tonight.