This has been a really fun month for our family. This past Sunday, of course, was Joshua's 30th Birthday. On Saturday we got a babysitter for the kiddos and went to see Josh Turner in concert at Sea World. Afterwards we rode on the new roller coaster ride called 'Manta,' which I was totally freaked out to go on. You dangle upside down in the air, like 200 feet above the park, for a good bit of it... On Sunday we got Cold Stone and took the kids to the park. And then on Monday we had some good friends over to celebrate with a taco dinner and carrot cake (his favorites). The bast recipe I've ever had for carrot cake, here's the link: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Carrot-Cake-III/Detail.aspx. I made it into a two layer round cake instead of a 9 by 13.
The kids have been growing up so fast! We've started going to Bible Study Fellowship every tuesday morning. It's been wonderful on every end, and Azariah has been learning so much. Evalyn began walking...or sprinting, to be more accurate. She's into everything:) So I've been quite busy simple doing damage control. She has started using sign language to communicate more and tries very hard to form words. She also say's "hi" and "by" to people, waving her right hand in the air. I can hardly believe she'll be 1 year old in a week! We have a lot of fun on days that are pretty low key, yet I'm still learning how to create a warm & loving home environment. God's been so gracious to remind me often to love them tenderly & affectionately, which makes 100% difference in their responses to me. Quite the process of learning, but so worth every second.
Her cake in these photos is gone because someone else ate it...no telling who. She ate a couple bites but was never too interested. Maybe next year. After eating cake we went for a family bike ride, the kids pulled behind. Evalyn wasn't too sure about it at first, but had fun riding through the sprinklers at one point.
We have had a wonderful week of vacation here in Orlando. It was great to spend so much time together as a family, and setting everything else aside. We swam every day, which was the highlight of our time together. Joshua's been teaching Azariah to swim. He loves jumping off the edge in the deep end....and of course we are there to catch him. Evalyn spent most of her time entertaining others at the pool. She'd walk up to people and talk to them as if she'd known them for years. The older women ate her up! 
And today we Celebrate Evalyn's amazing life. We feel so blessed by God to be her parents and have her in our care. She is the sweetest little thing, we literally stare at her all day in amazement of how God has created her. She loves her older brother, and has shown no sign of being hesitant to stand her ground around him. She has developed THE tightest grip, and hardly ever lets a toy out of her hand that he attempts to steal. She's feisty and charming...and loves her mommy! We'll post more photos and hopefully videos later on today, as the celebration continues!
The kids have been growing up so fast! We've started going to Bible Study Fellowship every tuesday morning. It's been wonderful on every end, and Azariah has been learning so much. Evalyn began walking...or sprinting, to be more accurate. She's into everything:) So I've been quite busy simple doing damage control. She has started using sign language to communicate more and tries very hard to form words. She also say's "hi" and "by" to people, waving her right hand in the air. I can hardly believe she'll be 1 year old in a week! We have a lot of fun on days that are pretty low key, yet I'm still learning how to create a warm & loving home environment. God's been so gracious to remind me often to love them tenderly & affectionately, which makes 100% difference in their responses to me. Quite the process of learning, but so worth every second.
