Scenes from a Beach

We're OFF!

We're off for a week to the beach at Oak Island and to much needed rest and relaxation (as much relaxing that can be done with 2 kids!).

This is the view from our condo balcony!

Toot Toot Chugga Chugga...

Maggie and I had a girls night out and went to see The Wiggles. We also invited our neighbors Julia and Julia's mom to come with us. Needless to say, the girls had a fabulous time dancing and singing.

Julia and Maggie waiting for the show to start.

"Look Mommy, it's the Wiggles! Can they see me?"

My tiny dancer.

Future rock star!

Ethan's Update

This is Ethan in China (February 2008):



This is Ethan today (August 2008):



We went to the doctor yesterday for Ethan's 2-year old checkup, and his doctor is really happy with Ethan's development. He is 25 pounds, 31 inches tall and doing fabulous! Ethan is FINALLY on the growth charts for his weight - 15th percentile, but still less than 5th percentile for his height. So, as John says - he is short and stocky!

Yes, this is our son asleep in the lake, holding a fun noodle. Who does this???

For Hayley!

Friday night we headed over to a free concert at the local library. Usually they have local bands scheduled, but this past concert was a special one for being the last one of the year...

Yes, folks - Justin Roberts!

For those of you not cool enough to know who he is, Justin Roberts is a very popular kids' singer and is Maggie's most favorite singer ever (for this month). He might even be better loved than the Wiggles - and that's saying a lot! Our good friend Hayley (Piper and Paisley's mommy) introduced us to the wonder of Justin's music. All in all, it was a fantastic concert (despite the heat)!

This was my view of the concert for the majority of the time.

Even Ethan was getting down and dancing his little butt off!

Maggie being a kitty cat - face painting during the pre-show!

Goal: $1 challenge to save a child's life!

Love Without Boundaries is launching a $1 challenge to kick off our new Unity Fund for impoverished, rural families in China. So many times over the years, they have met families who have had to make the painful decision to abandon their child in the hopes of getting them the medical care they need. It has been a dream of theirs for many years to begin such a fund, so that when they learn of families in true crisis, they can provide their children with the surgeries they need so that such a painful decision does not have to be made. LWB has met so many of these families in person, and they love their children completely, but they simply could never afford a $5000 heart surgery to save their child's life when their family is living on less than $50 per month.

The Unity Fund was created to keep these families united and to give a second chance of a healthy life to at-risk children living in poverty. Join with us on this dream, and actually help prevent children from being orphaned. We challenge everyone to send just ONE DOLLAR during this challenge period to LWB's Unity Fund. Is it possible to find 5000 people to donate $1? With your help, we believe it is. If we meet that goal, then together we can impact a child's life forever. Pass on this message to everyone you know!

Pop just $1 in the mail to Love Without Boundaries and help change the world, one child at a time.

Love Without Boundaries

P.O. Box 25016

Oklahoma City, OK 73125-0016

or donate $1 online at http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/

A Nice Weekend Visit

Last weekend, we had Uncle Jeff, Aunt Nora and the girls come into town to visit us. We had so much fun and it was so great to see them - their first official visit to Columbus! Maggie was so sad to see them leave, she cried. Then on Friday, she asked if her cousin Presley was coming to see her again.

The first part of our weekend was spent at the Splash Pad, a water park that is free admission (yay!). After a hot summer day and being in a car for 3 hours - this was a welcome relief.





On Saturday, we headed over to the Columbus Zoo and to 90 degree weather. Ugh! But it was a really enjoyable day, although everyone was "zoo tired" by the afternoon.