Thankfulness...

We instill that characteristic as best we can into our children. "Say thank you," we tell them. However, saying "Thank you" is different than being thankful. There are so many things that we experience here that are different from where we came from. I must admit being slightly discouraged at times by my circumstances. I am reminded during those moments of where my Joy and Hope come from. There are so many thing to be thankful for here. I am trying to model for my family a heart of thankfulness.

So, what's up with us?

Shelbyanne starts 1st grade tomorrow. We will all go to take her and then she gets to ride the bus home. Excited and nervous for her. She will have about an hour ride each way to and from school. She says she is excited about seeing animals out the window as she rides. (cows, chickens, goats, cats, dogs, etc...) She will have to be at the bus at 6am every morning. We found out that the private bus company that the school has a contract with parks all their buses 1 block from our house. That is definitely something to be thankful for.

We had our first hospital experience last week. Don't worry, there was no emergency. I took Shelbyanne for her 6 year routine visit. I am so glad we didn't take all the kids at the same time. Now I know the routine and it will go smoothly when I take the others. The doctor was great. He spoke English perfectly and even asked Shelbyanne if she missed going to Chuck-E-Cheese for her birthday.

Here are some pictures of us lately. Actually I am not in any of them because I am usually the one taking all the pictures.

Shelbyanne opening birthday presents.

She is so ready for school.

Donovan and "his" stick! It's just his size.

Picnic after playing in the "pool" and playing with bubbles sent by Aunt Charlotte!

Donovan crashed after tiring himself out looking out his window at nap time. He didn't even make it out of the curtain.

Being a kid is tough.

The girls got their faces painted at the mall last weekend. Emily was a bunny and Shelbyanne was a puppy. Reminds me of Monday nights at Chick-Fil-A, except there weren't any waffle fries.