Off to College!

 

So the last few days have been all about Shad leaving for college!  One night the guys took a boat trip on the Chain of lakes in Winter Haven.  I LOVE this picture!

He had to say goodbye at work!

It was Selah's birthday- so for 1.5 months we have 3 kids the same age-this time it's three 16 year olds~

When we came home from China we stopped at this Denny's off I-4 so our family and friends could meet Shad.  Ironically it was the best spot for Steve to pick Shad up to leave for the airport as Steve had a meeting that morning.  

We had about 5 seconds to say goodbye!  That was probably good!  We had one last prayer as a family and they were out the door!

Since Shad is going to school in Phoenix they had the opportunity to do some sight seeing at the Grand Canyon.  I LOVE this picture of my two cowboys.  They rode a mule into the canyon.  

And even at the GC they found an animal to help!  Poor squirrel wanted their water.  

They have tons and tons of amazing pictures-it's hard to chose which ones to post!

Please pray for Shad as he is starting school two years early and is quite far away from us!  He has almost all his year paid for thanks to several scholarships he's gotten.  Pray that he will make the transition to college life and keep his grades high!  Pray that he will draw closer to God and find his calling for his life!  

Family Beach Pictures & Shad's Party

 

Pictures are so important to me, especially as time goes on and kids grow up....

For many years I was not a very nostalgic person.  But as I grow older I began to  miss everything about the past.  In the past few months I've found myself really missing my "Boot Mama" my great aunt that raised me.  For most of my life I only looked forward to the future and didn't pay too much attention to the past.  The way I looked at it, there was nothing I could do about the past and I was too busy to think deeply about the it.  Now with one son grown and basically on his own & the second one leaving for college in a week, the past is a happier place for me!  Not that I'm not thrilled to see them pursue their dreams and have fun but I miss the simple days.  We had a great time for many years and we still have a great time but it's different  And it begins when they leave for college.... nothing is ever the same.  So knowing that in the back of my mind I get ready to watch another one leave.  Every day I think "this is the last time" for this or that.  Shad is a VERY strong willed kid believe me we have had our moments!  One of my close friends loves to tell me that I met my match and had to go to China to get a kid as stubborn as me LOL  She is right!  Despite that, I will miss him very much!  

Last weekend we had a combo Grad/Going Away to college/Birthday Party for Shad.

We rented out our local theater & surprised him :)  We watched Jurassic Park in comfort.  the theater is renting out it's smaller rooms.  It was great and we want to do it again.  

Surprise!

But this is what I see.....

Beach Day

BEACH DAY!

The hotel was so sweet and offered us a motorized beach chair....it didn't work too good for us.  Sam ended up having to walk and I ran along side of it guiding it... and it got stuck....

it's hard taking our little folks to the beach!

But once we are there.....

THIS!!!!  I love it so much!  Shad took all of these pictures

I love her sandy Florida girl feet!  Sarah is a beach girl!

And she know how to chill

My babies!

Today is the 17th anniversary of the day I found out I was  pregnant with Sam.  Remembering that day, way back then at our old house with just one child in it....  Little did I know what was about to happen to me and my family!  I credit Sam with every thing that has happened since that day.  Having him turned my world upside down in the best of ways!  Because of him our eyes were opened and we saw the need for families for special needs kids, especially internationally.    About a week after he was born I had an epiphany in the hospital corridor & determined I was not going to become bitter about Sam's disability-and back then I JUST thought he was blind and premature..... I was so innocent....  But Sam toughen me up!   And in dealing with his life I realized there were kids like him going through life without two parents holding them.....  Now we have 3 adopted kids, we've been involved in helping other families adopt, we've supported orphanages and ministries to children around the world and meet some amazing folks!  I look back and am grateful that God keep my heart soft as I grieved the child and family I thought I wanted.   ***** Theologically speaking I do not think God CAUSED Sam to be born with all his challenges, but we live in a fallen world and things happen.  God has been faithful to walk every single step with us and I am so grateful for that!  I've come to Know God in a way I never did before.  Before I did not need to depend on God but now I know my Help comes from Him....  I didn't need a Comforter.... but now I do.  Even the hope of heaven is so much brighter to me than before. 

So with thankfulness we celebrate the beginning of our relationship with Sam all those years ago :)  Thank God for keeping him safe through a terrible pregnancy and an early birth and all the complications that arose.  We love this boy so much!  And by the way he weighs in today at 95.6 pounds!  It has been so hard to get him to gain weight and we are proud of every ounce.  He is about where his endocrinologist wants him to be weight wise since he is only 4'10 and is done growing.  He was stuck around 82-83 pounds for a long time and we did worry.  We also had to deal with a gastrologist who wanted to put in a g-tube.  That was not going to happen!  Now the endocrinologist has written a letter explaining Sam's growth plates are finished and due to his chromosomal issues he is not going to grow any taller and the doctor does not want him to gain too much weight!  We have been feeding him more junky food than he has ever had before as we normally eat low fat.  For some reason it does not keep us as skinny as it kept him. LOL   We've even given him some soda since that's the only sweet thing he likes.  He hates cake or ice cream or candy so those obvious higher fat/calorie foods are no use to us.  He used to drink pedisure but we can't get him to drink it anymore.  He loves vegetables and we are so happy about that but it's hard to gain weight on veggies!  We've started putting butter on his food.  that's something we would normally never do but we were getting so worried about his weight.  Now we will back off and see if he can keep the weight up.....before anyone freaks we discussed his diet with several doctors!  They all wanted us to add fat and some sugars for now.  He has low cholesterol and there was no concern about it for short term


There are still more beach pictures to come:)  For years I kept up our photo albums....now this blog has replaced them  I'm 8 years behind on picture albums!