Bessie turns 40!

Yesterday we had a great family time as my sister Bethany turned 40. I have been prepping her for this day for many years now and it seems she got the best me and deflected all of the taunting by beating me at Guitar Hero and then confirming that beat down by beating me again! Happy birthday to the greatest sister on the planet! I love you!

Cheeeessseeeee!!!!!

Mommy went grocery shopping so the boys are chillin' playing around with Photobooth.

Raise 'em up.

I love BBQ ans so do my boys. Evidence here of that fact.

Waiting.....

We have been waiting for our new couch to be delivered for over a month. I'm sick of laying on an air-mattress in the middle of our living room. Its very uncomfortable. One good thing about the air-mattress, it makes a great wrestling mat for me and my boys!

Bandwidth killer!

Penny and JJ were in a Skype video conference with Roman and I. We were about 15 feet from each other. The kids loved it, AT&T probably didn't. Good to know I can chat with my fam this week while away at Mission Camp.

Happy Birthday Jadon Paul!

July 11, 2006 our youngest son was born in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia. We weren't there and didn't know he was being born, but we were praying for this miracle boy! Thank you Jesus for bringing JJ into this world 2 years ago!

4:30 PM Today.

Firsts: Independence Day

Dad

My father is the greatest man I have ever known. He has always been there for me, whether it was driving hours out of the way to come watch me play high school basketball or talking about the current state of American politics. My Dad is a man of integrity, wisdom and sincerity. Dad I love you and I am forever grateful to you.

Walking with my boy

Potential best friends?

It's amazing how fast my sons are warming up to ol' Grommit. I really think that Roman has potential to be best buds with old faithful.

Rollin'

Roman and Jadon were out at Granny and Grampy's rollin' in their new whip. I can't get enough of these boys!!

Guitar Hero training

For all those legalists out there, don't have a heart attack! I know some are thinking "Great they have their children playing Satanic music on Guitar Hero!". Not so fast my friend! Roman wanted so bad to hold the guitar so we gave him a photo opp. As soon as he gets the whole video game thing I will have my niece Mollie introduce him to this game. Please pray for us.

Me and my boys!

My boys

Today we took the boys to the beach for a quick visit, it was their first official car ride since being home. We then came home and were visited by some friends who put together our new swing set (props to Art, Marcos and Wes-Dawg!). The boys seem to be pretty well adjusted and know that this is home and we arent going any where. It feels good!

9 years ago tomorrow....

Penny and I made a lifetime commitment to each other in holy matrimony. I can honestly say that Penny is my best friend and I feel incomplete when I'm away from her. Today we celebrated our anniversary early by getting lunch at Cheesecake Factory and catching a matinee, The Great Debaters. It was a great day just hangin' out with my girl!

Victim, again.

Living in south Florida means I have been effected by crime in one way or another. I have been a victim first hand many times. I have had my car(s) broken into on numerous occasions. Too many to count (at least a dozen times!). I have had my car stolen from in front of my house, broken into and busted up at a University of Miami game (a couple of windows broken and all my sound system ripped out, what a mess!!). I been held up at gun point and had my shed robbed (a pressure washer I had purchased THAT DAY was stolen!!). This morning I was walking out to my car to go to church for set up when I noticed something suspicious. A bottled water was sitting upright next to my car. Like someone wanted me to see it. Weird. So I proceeded to open my car door when it hit me. Someone ransacked my car. Took everything. One item of utmost importance, my iPod. Other items gone: a nice transmitter, a SunPass transponder (for those non-Floridians, this is an express toll payer), my sunglasses and about 20 cd's. I was ticked, to say the least. Too many times for one person. It's not like my neighborhood is a ghetto or anything but it's part of living in south Florida, unfortunately. The police came out for a report and told me that this is just the norm and it was most likely the work of some kids. Have you been a victim to a crime? What? Are you bitter?

Overwhelmed

The only word to describe the love and support that we received this weekend. Will share soon.

We're back!!!

After a couple of days in North Carolina we arrived back in warm south Florida last night around 11:30 PM. It's always good to be home! Here is where we were....

Yet another road trip!

We took the long way to North Carolina for Thanksgiving. We learned that if we could get our paper work to our adoption agency by Wednesday than we would have a chance of getting a sooner court date. With this in mind we decided to make another trip to Tallahassee to get some documents stamped by the state then we over nighted them to our agency who then sent them to Siberia. Crazy stuff huh? After our endeavor in 'Hassee we headed off the Penny's family in the mountains of North Carolina. Of course we did the Google Maps thing and used that route. Boy were we shafted. Google Maps through Atlanta at RUSH HOUR! After three hours of parking lot traffic we started moving towards our destination. Honestly, you Atlanta people, why? What the deal? Do people just take their time so much that the traffic builds up?a stinkin' nightmare. Penny and I decided we would never even consider a move even close to Atlanta. Curse Atlanta! Anyway, we arrived here at Serenity Farms around 10 PM on Tuesday. It's so beautiful here. More soon.