Father's Day

We spent the whole weekend celebrating Father's Day with all of our dads...including Jeff! What a blessing to be able to celebrate with loved ones. I pray that Jack will learn to love and cherish his family and heavenly father as he grows to be a man and father someday.

Swimtime!

I haven't published much lately now that Jack is on the move and with all of our travels sharing about our mission in Romania. This is a snapshot of what we do in our free time - and Jack loves the water!! More pics and updates coming soon.

Slumdog...

Jeff and I just finished watching Slumdog Millionaire for the first time. Wow! What an incredibly moving story. My stomach was in knots as I watched the young man unfold his life story as it reminded me so much of the kids we have worked with in Romania. It is amazing how resilient children can be when they see more than most of us could ever create in our worst nightmare. It is astonishing how in the end they continue to long for love, to be loved and to have someone to love. We pray each night that our kids, the Livada kids, find that love first through their heavenly father. That they know they are not alone, no matter what 'slum' they come from or what millions they fall into. What a touching story and a great reminder of how fortunate we are to have our health, have others to love, and to know God's supreme love that covers all.

Some of the last teens who left Ludus orphange on a visit back to say their official good-byes. This place that so many remember as a horrible place was the only home these young adults ever knew. Despite the terrible experiences, it was still familiar and home to them. Now they are living in foster care or on their own...and most of them are doing much better because of it...it was special for them to reunite and say good-bye so they could move on.

This is one of the little guys living in the baby hospital in the town of Ludus. Since he just learned to walk, this is his first time to walk outside of the hospital room. To many he maybe considered part of the slum of Romania, but to us he is precious. I can't wait to see him again!

These are some of the Livada group home kids sharing with the town of Targu Mures all about Livada during a town festival for non-government organizations. It is always encouraging when the locals respond so well to our efforts and want to help these sweet kids! To read more about all of these adventures, check out www.livada.org or livada's blog, both are listed on our links.

Trip to the Mall

On Saturday Jeff and I took Jack to the mall to do a little shopping and play on the kiddie playground. Jack loved the hot sauce in honor of his uncle who loves to put hot sauce on everything he eats.

While we were out and about we spotted Nastia Liukin, the gold medalist from this year's Olympic games. Jeff asked if she'd be in a picture with us and she was sweet to do it!

Getty Up Cowboy!

Loving to ride the horse at Yaya and Granddaddy's house!

BIBS

Seems like I do a daily load of laundry just so Jack can have clean bibs to wear. He has been a drooling champion since he was two months old. Although we have 6 beautiful pearly whites to show for it - they all came in within the same two weeks. We have no idea why he drools so much, but here are just a few...yes...over 50 of them!!

Aggie Girl's Weekend

This last weekend my girlfriends from college got together to hang out, enjoy fabulous food, treated outselves to pedicures and play with the babies. We had so much fun catching up and sharing what all is going on in our lives. One of the highlights was watching the new babies play. Jack got to meet Kathryn. She is so dainty and cute as a button. Jack loved trying to love on her..and tried really hard not to crawl all over her! My sweet friends were so helpful and cracked me up as they played with Jack and even chased him around on their hands and knees! Even when it is a short time, we know how to cram in a good fun. I miss them terribly when we are apart, but I'm thankful it never feels that way when we get back together. To life-long friendships!