What's Up?

Hey y'all, just wanted to pop in real quick to say hi. Our "summer" busyness kicks off tomorrow as our 11 iGo interns arrive! We always enjoy having high school/university students around, it's so neat to see their eyes opened as they serve with us in this city. They will be going non-stop till August 1st when they head back to America. At the end of their time we will have a retreat in West Wales at a beach house, this year our whole family will be going so the girls are looking forward to that. Ok, I am too. Let's hope and pray against any night terrors for Addison!

In other, less exciting news, I'm now a brunette or dark blond. I am not sure yet. I have had my hair highlighted for years but alas the time has come where it's just too expensive to keep up here. So, I put up with my dark roots for as long as I could then I stood in the hair product aisle at Tesco agonising over which color to choose. I did buy one, but after a few days of staring at the box I decided I needed professional help.

My girl at my salon helped me out this past Saturday by putting a semi-permanent color all over so the "grow out" phase won't be as nasty looking. I use to be naturally blond, but after each kid my got darker (my mom's hair did too!) and wavier. Is that word? My hair use to be straight as a board, but now it's got some curl in it. So, as my girl was trying to match my natural color to her color chart and chose a brown I was offended and refused to accept it! Ha. She kind of gave me a "bless your heart" look and then got on with it. I was in a bit of a shock when she took the towel off my head! It was DARK. I didn't like it at all on Saturday or Sunday, but today it's already faded a bit and I'm getting use to it. Depending on the light it can look really brown or kind of dark blond/golden. It's weird. When I walk by the mirror I have to get over the shock all over again. I know, bless my heart. It's only hair, Charity!!!

In this picture of me and the girls below I was surprised to see that it's very close to their hair color. It's going to take some getting use to, but Marc likes it, so I say that's a good thing.

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Hope y'all have a great week. I'll leave you with a verse I'm memorizing right now, may it encourage you as it's encouraged me.

"The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my victory." Psalm 118:14

Big Week!

It's been a big week here at our house! Cerys AND Bailey learned to ride their bikes without stabilisers! Marc took the stabilisers off and they were playing around in the back garden going in tiny circles when we realised they were balancing for quite a few seconds, so we ditched our dinner plans (it was about 5pm) and we went straight to the park. The park behind our house is about a 5 minute walk, if that, and it's all green grass and flat areas.

They just took off in the wide open spaces and Marc and I were shouting and cheering like crazy people. It was so fun and quite emotional for me! Ha. I didn't realise how choked up I would get, you can kind of tell in this short video Marc made for the girls. Learning to ride without stabilisers is a huge deal, a sign my babies are growing up way too fast!

Since that day last week, we have been at the park practicing every time the sun is shining. We've had quite the rain this week and it's been a bit cooler, so we are not taking the sunny days for granted!

Hope your week is as fun as riding your bike for the first time!

Just Some Stuff

Well, the girls are back in school now for the final seven weeks! I'm thankful they like school- when I announced on Sunday night that we would be in bed on time because we had school the next morning they both shouted "YAY!"

Yesterday was our 13th Wedding Anniversary! I can hardly believe it's been that long, in some ways it feels like just a few years ago. Am I not 21 anymore? I told Marc yesterday that I knew I had found a good one (husband) but didn't know how good! I love him today more than I did on our wedding day, and I didn't think that was possible. We've had our ups and downs like every married couple but the past few years have been really good. Full of laughter (he always makes me laugh, even when I don't want to!) and growth on both our parts. We went out for dessert last week while Marc's parents were here so yesterday was just like any other day. I took the girls to school then went birthday shopping for Bailey and we ended up eating lunch (hot dogs) at Costco because it's cheap and right next to the toy store. Plus Addison was about to lose it, so it needed to be quick! But I'm thankful we were together yesterday, even running errands with Marc is fun! (Yes, I'm being serious. I just like being around him.)

Bailey turns 5 years old tomorrow! How can this be? Let me just tell you about the events surrounding her birth. Cerys was 9 months old and we had just moved back to the States after living in Wales for three years. We had no house, no car, no furniture, no money. A few weeks later I found out I was pregnant with her and I cried for a lonnng time. I was also just coming out of some post-partum depression and the thought of having another baby made me ill. Or maybe it was the hormones? God did a mighty work in my heart and our lives while I was pregnant with her. It was a tough few months of living with family and Marc trying to find a job- turns out no one wants to hire someone with a college Biblical degree and Masters of Theology! God used every one of those circumstances to break us, teach us, and love us. It was a broken, beautiful mess. I was so scared of giving birth again after everything that happened here with Cerys, but my doctor in Dallas was fabulous (and very loud, I think everyone on the floor knew everything about my labor progressing) and our little 7 pound 1 ounce Bailey was born with one fist in the air as if to say "I'm here, now move over!" She sure lives up to her name - "fortified, able." (That is, until Addison arrived. She's pretty "able" too) The epidural was real nice too.

So tomorrow, June 8th, I will think of that early morning driving to Medical City Dallas with Marc, both of us absolutely terrified... and then seeing her sweet, tiny self...and I'll also think of how wonderful Medical City was. It was a vacation compared to my experience here. I remember asking my doctor if she would let me stay a few more days. She laughed her outrageous, loud laugh and I said, "No, I'm serious!" The chocolate cake I got each night for dessert was pretty awesome. But no, I had to go home and face reality. An 18 month old and a newborn. And I wouldn't trade it for anything! I had no depression after Bailey- it was amazing. I kept saying "So this is how you should feel after having a baby!" It's amazing what a clean hospital, a wonderful doctor and being surrounded by friends and family will do for your hormones! God is so good.

I read somewhere, in a book or her website, that Jen Hatmaker referred to one of her son's as the family mascot. I thought that was so funny, and I think it's true for Bailey. She is most definitely our family mascot...always having fun, saying funny things and snuggling up to us.

One last thing. The Queen was in Cardiff today and we missed it. I knew she was coming but Marc ended up having a meeting right at the same time and it just wasn't going to work out. It's also been raining a lot today, so Addison and I went to the (indoor) pool instead. I just watched the lunchtime news on BBC and I'm kicking myself for not going to see her. They said the crowds were "modest" which means not many people were there. Oh well. Maybe she'll be back again and I will make it a point to see her!

Hope you have a great week!
Thanks for caring enough about our lives to read!

Our Week O' Fun

While Marc and Cerys are taking his parents to Heathrow airport, Addison is napping and Bailey is coloring so I'm going to blog! We've had a wonderful, fun-filled week and it's always hard to say goodbye. It rained most of the week, but it was fun anyway!

One day we went to Warwick Castle in England. We went here in October, you may have remembered. It was cool and overcast as usual but no rain this day!

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Bald Eagle at Warwick Castle, isn't she beautiful?
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We met a REAL LIVE PRINCESS!
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Ariel, riding her scooter
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This is Marc's mom, Ann, also known as Mimi!
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Aww, they do love each other!
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This is my new favorite picture!
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Right behind our house in a little park, they have a miniature railroad association and a few times a year it's open to the public. Marc's Dad loves trains, so of course we had to visit the day they were opened.
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This is a little game called "the neighbor kids throw balls over the fence for us to hit them back over" and Marc and his dad joined in.
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One day we went to St. Fagan's Welsh Museum of Life. We take all our visitors here, ha! If you time it right you get hot bread from the bakery and it's to die for.

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And of course, our week o' fun would not be complete without a KK visit! Addie's serious about her donuts.
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We let the girls get a creme filled donut, which I don't allow usually. They were so happy!
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I don't know why but they like to dress up and prance around the back garden.
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Can I just freeze time please?
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Since Marc's parents were here we decided to introduce them to some of our school friends- one of them being from France. They had a fun time speaking in French together. I also kind of last minute decided this would be Bailey's birthday party since 2 of her classmates would be coming over. So, I made Taco Soup (on the sunniest, warmest day ever, go figure!) and we bought some cupcakes from Costco! Voila!

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Between us and the other two families, we have 8 girls and no boys! They had fun dressing up and playing outside. They played till close to 10pm because the sun was still up and it was just such beautiful weather!
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Yesterday we took a picnic to the park- can you believe that sky? Not one cloud!!!
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Cerys finally conquered the climbing frame and made it to the top!
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Handsome Daddy and Bailey
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Mimi, Gan-Gan and all the girls!
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This was after-nap hair. Riding bikes in the alley!
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It was such a fun week, it was hard to see it end. The girls are back in school on Monday for 7 weeks and then we are done for the summer (7 weeks long). Yahoo!!!

(I realize this post does not really flow together very well, but hey! Enjoy the pictures!)

A Royal Tea Party

One good thing about coming back from France a day early was that we could have our Royal Tea Party! The weeks leading up to the wedding were so exciting! We bought our decorations and we were ready!

Our Union Jack Bunting
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My mom and aunt skyped in with us for part of the party. They were all dressed up in fancy hats, hilarious.

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The girls wanted to dress up as Princesses and we had our fancy Wills and Kate paper plates!

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The girls oohed and ahhed at Kate stepped out of the car. They didn't move for about 10 minutes as they watched her walk the long aisle at Westminster.

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Marc, ever the introvert, joined in. He's such a good Daddy. Cerys was sad he didn't "get to" dress up so she found this paper crown from an indoor play place just for her Daddy to wear. Marc put it on and put up with us girls and all the wedding talk for days. He's a good sport! He might have rolled his eyes a time or two, but he loves us well.

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I really was happy to be home, not only to get Addison back to a normal sleeping environment but also to watch the wedding live!

France, Part 4 (way too many pictures)

This will be the last France post, I know you are glad. Probably my favorite day was the day we visited Mont-St-Michel. It's a huge Abbey on a mini-Island. We were just driving along and all of the sudden you see it, kind of like Disney but not quite.

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Thankfully a friend of mine here let us borrow this backpack carrier for Addison. The streets on the island were so narrow and made of cobblestone that there is no way a stroller would have made it.

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Hello, isn't that amazing??

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Riding in style!

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Later in the day after we had sustained ourselves with yet another crepe, we drove just down the road to Alligator Bay! The girls LOVED it.

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One kind of cool/freaky thing was the snake (cages?) (homes?) had these tunnels you could crawl through and look up into, it was scary but fun. I asked the girls to make scared faces.

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Bailey thought this snake was so funny because it would do whatever she did and would follow her. Scary if you ask me. There is nothing good about snakes.

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The alligators were inside this huge building, made to make you feel like you were in the middle of the Louisiana bayou. Hot and steamy. It was so hot in there, we were sweating and the girls faces were turning bright red. As we were leaving the place it said they kept the temperature in the mid 90's. Well folks, we have adjusted to Welsh life because we were so hot we had to get ice cream afterwards. It was hotter in Texas last summer, but we are sure not use to that anymore. The girls and I were practically running for the door. Ok, we were a bit dramatic, but still it was really hot.

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Here are a few more pictures of cemeteries: This is the England Cemetery graves:

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This is the German Cemetery:

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We decided to come back a day early because of Addison's sleeping issue (not sleeping!) and what did she do on the way home? She fell asleep just as we came back into England! She must have something against France?

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I know it's totally late, but I need to post our Royal Wedding Tea Party pictures too! Coming back early was a good decision because we sat in front of the telly all day long ooohing and ahhing!

France, Part 3

Easter Sunday we drove about half an hour to Omaha Beach, Normandy. It was a bright, chilly day and all I could think about was the opening scene in the movie Saving Private Ryan. I just can't imagine. I watched our girls run, laugh and play on the beach all the while thinking of how gruesome that June 6, 1944 morning must have been.

Addison on Omaha Beach:

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The one thing I wanted to do was visit this cemetery. You've seen it in movies and read about it, but I wanted to see if for my self. It was beautifully landscaped but so overwhelming to see so many little white crosses in rows.

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This cemetery sits high on a cliff, overlooking the beaches that American troops landed on early that June morning.

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I came away feeling so proud to be American and so grateful to our troops- then and now.

France, Part 2

Here are a few more pictures from around the holiday park-

Funny, this was in the caravan:

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Enjoying our first crepe of the week: a crepe sucre! (Sugar crepe)

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This would be a pain chocolat- YUM. (French bread in the background!) Amazingly, I continued to lose weight in France. Ten pounds total so far!)

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Wow, this post seems to be all about food. We got ice cream one day after swimming.

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The good thing about the holiday park was that they had swings, a playground, a sand pit and an indoor swimming pool.

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Watching a DVD one night in the caravan. Bailey chose that outfit on her own.

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This is the view from the caravan site- the arched building is the swimming pool. It was nice that they had a kiddie section with a fence, so Addie could splash and run around in about a foot or so of water. They had these big fish that sprayed water out, quite forcefully, and when they would come on Addison would stand right in front of it while it pelted her in the face and chest. It alarmed me, but she thought it was hilarious. She also didn't want to be held in the big pool because "I do it! I do it!" This child has no fear.
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The rest of the posts will have pictures from the war cemeteries we visited. This area would be a really neat trip for older kids, however we must not have been thinking clearly taking three young kids to this area. Explaining WWII to them was difficult and seeing all the graves in the cemeteries confused them. I would love to go back one day with just Marc so we could take our time and tour the museums. It being Easter weekend, we had the cross on our minds and had been talking about it of course, so when Cerys saw all the white crosses at the American cemetery, it greatly confused her. I won't tell you what she said because it may seem disrespectful, but it did make me realize she was not old enough to understand!

Honor Your Mother

Hey, just wanted to jump in here and give you an idea if you are looking to honor your mom for Mother's Day. My friend Amanda and her husband are on the board of directors for As Our Own, a ministry in India that "rescues vulnerable children from certain enslavement and exploitation, caring for them as our own." What better way to honor our Mother's than to give to this organization, to help rescue young girls.

If you go to this post by Amanda she will tell you how to give (at the bottom of the post) and you can even print a certificate to give your mom on Mother's Day. I mean, how amazing to make a difference that lasts!

Go!
Posterous theme by Cory Watilo