More August pictures...or See What Happens When You Don't Blog Often Enough?

This is the last of 3 posts that share our August with you. Be sure to scroll to the bottom so you can read an explanation of all these pictures. One day I will wise up and do pictures first so they will bump to the bottom.


Lauren and Shawn had fun playing in his bed. It was fun to see Lauren interacting with him.


This is the dock where we spent many hours playing, jumping, and swimming. Notice Lauren stretched out on top of the water with her face down. She mastered this over the week!


Sarah~my middle beauty

Emily~my first beauty



Lauren~my youngest beauty...for now! : )

More August pictures

Emily flying through the air!

Lauren and Daddy swimming in the Tennessee River

"Little Shawn" playing at the river

Emily got up on skis very quickly! And then decided she didn't really want to be skiing afterall. We were so proud of how well she did.

Emily Sarah was the pro on skis. She did it last year and was great!

August Fun

Lauren still gets excited everytime she sees Mrs. Lisa. It is so sweet!


Kendal got glasses and now she and Emily look like sisters. We have some cute little girls, don't we?


Being thrown in the lake is so much fun...this is Sarah flying through the air!

Well, August was a busy month for us...nothing new, right? We had the Brice Family from NC visit. We took a tour of DC with them. It was great. We saw things we had never seen before and learned a lot too. I've included a few of my favorite pictures from that day. We then left for Alabama. We went to Riverton, AL and don't bother mapquesting it because it doesn't even show up. It is WAAAAYYY out in the middle of nowhere, no cell phone, no cable, no internet....it was wonderful! We spent the week with the Privett Family relaxing, eating, watching the kids jump off the dock, eating, sitting on the deck swings, eating, well, you get the picture! Emily and Sarah had a great time playing with Emily Sarah, their 7 year old. Lauren made friends with Shawn, their 2 year old...yes, funny coincidence with the names. We are considering changing Anna's name to Jennifer just to keep it going! : ) It was so wonderful to spend a week with them. We have missed them so much since they left NC for Texas. We are hoping that one day we will live closer to one another. We did take one day to drive into Birmingham with Lauren so she could see Dr. Percy. He is a wonderful man. He spent 2 hours with Lauren and was so very encouraging to us. He loves little girls with Rett Syndrome. At one point he came walking in from the hall with Lauren in his arms and her head on his shoulder. I wish I had taken my camera. I will next time; we see him again in February. Both Dr. Percy and his nurse, Jane were happy to see Lauren's growth records and her hand use. They commented several times on how well she uses her hands. Of course, Shawn and I left UAB encouraged and thankful. From there we went to the offices of Lifeline, our adoption agency. Karla says we are getting closer! YAY! She thinks it is safe to say we will travel to China in 2009! WOW! That is only 4 months away! Please be praying for us as this nears. Shawn and I want God's will to be clear to us as we proceed. On our way home from Alabama we stopped in Wilmington for the girls to go to the dentist. All 3 went and all 3 did well, even Lauren. Our dentist is donating a check-up and x-rays for the silent auction at our fundraiser. They are such great people; we are hoping they will come to the Strollathon. Speaking of...our strollathon is only 4 weeks from today! It is going to be a great day with music, games, food, and of course, a huge group of people trying to help make our girls' lives better. If you are anywhere near Wilmington we would love for you to come. If you are unable to come, we'd love for you to captain a "virtual team" from your hometown and raise money in honor of Lauren. There are so many places that don't have a Strollathon locally. Would any of you consider joining us in raising much-needed funds for research? Please contact me if you have any interest in this at all. We would appreciate your help so much. Please be praying that the event will go well and that lots of money will be raised. It takes a LOT of money to do just one study on just one symptom of Rett Syndrome. It is terribly expensive but our girls deserve it! Oh! One more thing. I am including a picture of Lauren asleep in her glider rocker. This is where I found her on Thursday afternoon when we were leaving for music therapy. Now that she is in a big girl bed she can wander around her room before choosing where to sleep, sometimes it is on the floor or behind the door. The rocker has been the funniest choice so far.
Thanks for checking in and for your prayers. We appreciate them so much.

Busy weekend

We had a busy, busy weekend in our family. The big girls and I were in NC for a luncheon for our Rett Syndrome fundraiser. The luncheon was on Friday at noon. We had about 70 people in attendance along with 3 Rett families. We are hopeful that some of the attendees will want to help us raise money for Rett research. Research is terribly expensive and we cannot do it alone. However, with 400 people all helping a little bit we could raise over $100,000 this year...and that is what it takes to conduct just one research project. While not many people can contribute $1000, anyone can give $10 or $20, and that is exactly where the power of fundraising lies. If any of you would like to help, we would love to have "virtual teams" represented on September 27th at Wrightsville Beach Park. E-mail me with any questions... wrightsvillestrollathon@yahoo.com

While we were in Wilmington, Shawn and Lauren were in Virginia having a great time. They had pizza by the pool Friday night and went to IHOP for breakfast on Saturday, spent lots of time playing, swimming, and just having special Daddy-time.

This week is VBS at church. Our church does VBS like no other church I've attended. It is HUGE with over 300 kids just between 4 and 8 years old!! Emily and I are helping in the craft room while Sarah participates. Hopefully I can get a few pictures to post.

Life is busy around here but we are all healthy and happy. Lauren continues to do well in all areas. She is running up and down the hall many times every day and is learning to use her communication device more and more. We can't wait for the day she writes a message on it! One day.....
Thanks for checking in on us and for your prayers. We appreciate it so much.