Happy 1st Birthday Charlie!

Today our little guy turned 1 year old.
It doesn't seem possible that he could be 1 already. The days sure do go by quickly and we have enjoyed our days to the fullest with him.

He is a perfect fit to our family and we love him dearly. Charlie is an easy going little guy that enjoys keeping up with his brother and sister. He hasn't started walking yet, but I am sure he will be soon. He walks around when holding onto things and stands on his own in the middle of the room. I can see him processing the thoughts about walking, he just hasn't managed it yet.
He moves at a quick pace in crawling and covers all the territory he desires. Since being back in the States, he has become a champion going up the stairs.

Our family 1 year ago today

He is loved by all, including the children at The Village.

Charlie is great fun, full of smiles, giggles and keeps us running. We are looking forward to another fun year of watching him grow-up. We love you Charlie! 

Birthday Cake Fun

Charlie has his first celebration on Thanksgiving day

with grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles

This was his practice cake for getting messy

Thanks Grandma Susie for the cake!

Today, I made Charlie his 1st Birthday cake 

Charlie dove right for the frosting

you can see that he had both hands in the cake and feeding his face

 We had a fun afternoon watching him eat his cake

THANKFUL FOR THANKSGIVING

THANKSGIVING BLESSINGS!

We are so blessed to be back with our family during this special time of year. Our time back has been filled with so many great events, funny comments from the kids, beautiful memories made with our family and so much more.


This time last year I was very pregnant with our little Charlie boy and we were fixing a Thanksgiving supper with our South African friends. We gathered in our house for a great night of food, laughs and light hearted comments about having the British sitting around our table sharing a Thanksgiving meal with us. We have been blessed that our dear South African friends have embraced some of our American holidays with us. There are many traditions we have given up, created many new traditions with our growing family but have also kept some of those important traditions that we grew up with. Thanksgiving has always been one of those special holidays we have continued to celebrate and have always shared this day of Thankfulness with those that are around us.

But this time, this year, we are here to enjoy our mom's cooking, to sit around the table with our families, to eat a lot together, to enjoy the crazy family days, lots of loud cousins playing together and to embrace our new memories. This year we are Thankful to be celebrating Thanksgiving Day in Iowa.

Lindie making pie with grandma

Indian Hats for Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving lunch with my parents and sister's family

Liam playing with a few cousins

The late afternoon was spent at Brian's sister's house and we enjoyed Thanksgiving

Supper with Brian's parents, Amy's family and Stephanie's family

Charlie had an early birthday celebration

Lindie and Jael coloring together

Blessings!

We have been back in the States for 6 weeks now. At times it seems like we've been here a lot longer than 6 weeks because we have already traveled more than 6 thousands miles and have been in 10 States along the way.

Counting our blessings.
1. Safety as we have been traveling many miles and for my parents who graciously have given us their van to use while we are back in the States.

2. For the encouraging church meetings we have already had. It is so heart warming to return to a church and hear that so many people have been praying for us and that people really do read our updates we email out.

3. For our family and friends. We have been blessed by all our friends and family. The wonderful get togethers, conversations and reminiscing over old times.

4. Liam and Lindie have LOVED getting to play with cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles-it is such a treat to all of us.

5. We spent almost 2 weeks out East in Ohio and New Jersey area because we had 2 church meetings on consecutive Sundays. Our dear friends in New Jersey graciously blessed us with a week at their home on the Jersey shore. What a wonderful week our family had together. We did nothing but relax for the most part. We were blessed with nice weather allowing us to brave the chilly ocean water and play in the sand.
We also thank the Lord that he guided us to go to New Jersey early in our visit. If we would have been much later the most recent hurricane could have interfered. Now we ask you to keep those along the Jersey shore who are facing great devastation in your prayers. Our dearest friends are praising the Lord as their house was spared from any major damage.

Picking pumpkins at Grandpa's farm

Fun with cousins

Lindie and her cousin Jael

Papa with Charlie-lots of fun for both of them

We stopped in Ohio to visit family on our way to New Jersey. 

Aunt Mary took us on a walk to this water fall. 

Uncle Ed with Lindie and her favorite animal-a donkey

Uncle Ed on the Jersey shore with us at Sea Isle

Thank you Ed and Sue for a wonderful week at the shore.