It's 4 am in the morning and I just dropped Shelby off for her trip to Guatemala. A group from our church with several of our dear friends is headed to work in an orphanage for a week. So very excited and nervous for her at the same time. I know this trip will be life changing - you cannot leave an orphanage without seeing life a whole lot differently. But in order to wear those "Jesus glasses" as I like to call them, there is always a sacrifice- for her it is flying without her family way out of her comfort zone with no cell phone. (The no cell phone part is harder on me than it is on her!) She was so nervous the past day, but I am so impressed that she fought through and was determined to still go. I wish one us could have gone with her, but that just wasn't a possibility this year with all our travel and with a little guy at home who is still very sensitive to change.
It wasn't that long ago that Matthew was the recipient of visits from mission groups visiting him in China. Still amazing to think of even as we approach him being with us almost 6 months, he is such a different kid. Still such a sweet little boy though! I am so happy that his hair has finally grown in! Lots of new words popping up each day, too. During the day, he still doesn't like to be in a room without one of us there with him. But at night, Matthew is now sleeping in a "big boy" bed usually by himself. He hasn't figured out that he could get out on his own and calls for us to still get him out. Since he has finally mastered climbing up and down on chairs and the sofa, the bed shouldn't be too far behind. We were worried that he only used to whisper, no problem, he found his voice and loves for us (and anyone within 500 feet) to hear him. He went to VBS with us all week and spent time in the nursery with his buddy Kaden. Matthew actually did pretty well, thankfully a set of grandparents watched over the nursery and they were able to give the boys lots of attention. I of course peaked in the windows regularly.
Now that VBS is over, we have spent the last week visiting the McKinley Museum, the Cleveland Zoo and the MAPS (military and aviation museum). He loved the museums, but Matthew has no great fondness of mannequins that they use in their displays. The zoo ended up being crazy busy and hot, not a great combination for a cranky 2 year old who decided he didn't want to ride in the stroller anymore (started giving me flashbacks of our visit to Chinese Walmart). Thankfully, we all had enough and we headed home.
So I will be ball of nervous energy the rest of the week until my girl is back home. Hopefully I can channel that into some cleaning. We also have another visit to surgeon #2 for Matthew's cheek. His team feels that the cysts/tumors may be a lot more jumbled up in the muscles, nerves and bones than we previously thought. Regardless, he still looking at surgery sometime this year.
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| This was kind of like the Tea Cup ride |
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| This is how the man usually sleeps |
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| Love that his hair is finally coming in |
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| 1st 4th of July |
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| At VBS, Matthew with cousin Leland and Robbie. Matthew loved the crowns and he wore out three of them this week. |
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| They all wore red white and blue on accident - Robbie is quickly overtaking Shelby in height |
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| At the MAPS museum |
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| In the Goodyear Blimp gondola |
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| My good looking husband |
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| This is what it would look like if I was packing my airplane for vacation - everything but the kitchen sink... |
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| The "twins", probably the closest I will get to dressing them alike |
