Visa Appointments Set!!!

Yea! We heard news this morning that Levi's visa medical has been set for July 27th and his visa exit interview for July 30th. I was hoping for the dates to be scheduled a little sooner as we had hoped to travel the first week of August. At least they are scheduled. It looks that we will travel now travel around the 3rd week of August if everything continues to move along smoothly. Please pray that his medical review goes well and that he passes with flying colors so that there won't be any hold-ups.

~ Hot Springs, AR ~

We had a fantastic 3-4 days of relaxation on our Hot Springs, AR trip. In fact, I kept reminding myself which day of the week it actually was as each day felt like a Saturday. Papa J.R. & Mama LaLa treated us to a great time away.

Here are just a few of the pictures from our trip. Most have been placed in the slide show.

The Gang


As Mama Lala would say, "our little piece of heaven". This vacation home was gorgeous and completely furnished. There was even a toy box for the kids and sippy cups in the cabinet.


The Arkansas heat was sticky HOT! Even at 10:00 at night it would still be in the upper 80's. We spent each morning and late afternoons in the water.


Swim bugs! They barely wore anything but their swimsuits all weekend.


I am so proud of our little Addy. She swam all by herself all weekend. Usually she clings to Wes and I the entire time in the water, but this weekend she finally realized that with a lifejacket she will stay above the water while swimming. Her confidence is growing stronger each and every day.

Thanks to my sister-in-law, Haley and her great friend Ashley, who just happens to be Sara Evan's sister and also sings back-up, we got to attend Sara Evan's concert on Saturday night. We sat about 6 rows back from the center of the stage, had "Meet & Greet Sara" passes, and hung out with Ashley until her tour bus pulled out of the parking lot. I have to admit it was interesting to see first hand how the "stars" live on the road. I was very impressed with Ashley. She is sooo normal and you could tell that she truly valued Haley's friendship.


Seriously, wouldn't you love to have her legs?


Sara singing with both of her younger sisters.




Thanks Haley & Ashley for the wonderful evening!


After eating at the Pancake Shop, the kids gave out several more hugs and kisses before we loaded up for our 6 hour drive back home in Missouri.


Our minivan worked out great for the trip and I think it will work out nicely for our family once we have little Levi around.

Hot Springs, AR Vacation Slide Show

Shots ~ Pesos ~ Lake Weekend Pics

Following the advice given to us by the Nalagan family, I received 4 immunizations from the doctor's office today. I received the Hep A, Hep B, and Tetnus shot in one shoulder and the Polio booster in the other. Ouch! I wish they could have combined them all, but no such luck...all individual. My left shoulder is a little sore tonight and has a little tingling sensation. Wes is scheduled to receive his on Monday. I am curious to see how macho he will be having to receive all of them. We also got a prescription for some Malaria pills and something for upset stomach (or what comes along with an upset stomach).

I also ordered Filipino Pesos from our bank today. I think both the Nalagan's and the Ribar's suggested doing this since we will more than likely arrive very late in the Philippines from our flight and it will be one less thing to have to worry about once we get there.

The weather cooperated for a portion of the 4th of July weekend and luckily we were able to get out on the water and enjoy some lake time with family and friends. Wes made it down for several hours on Saturday, but his work schedule kept him at home for most of the weekend.



















On Thursday, we leave for a weekend get-a-way with Wes's side of the family. He has 5 days off from work and I am glad that he finally gets a long break away from work. Hot Springs, AR, here we come!

Tomorrow night, I officially become a mini van mom. Oh my gosh, did I really admit that??? We are picking up our van tomorrow after Wes gets off from work. With 3 kids still in car seats, a mini van seemed like our best option. We will definitely get a feel for how well it rides as we are taking it on our trip.

~ 4th of July Weekend ~

Wow! June flew by so fast and summer is already 1/3 of the way over. We are going to the lake tomorrow and spending the weekend at the lake with family. Happy 4th of July to all of our friends and family! Be sure to show off some American Pride!

I just wanted to share this email that I received with a true story reminding us all how thankful we are for our freedom as it didn't come without a cost. (Luke Air Force Base)


I also had some funny pictures that my mom had taken of the girls at her house. They just can't get enough of the dress-up clothes drawers.

Earlier, I took the girls to a magic show at the library. Jaidyn has created her magician outfit and has crafted a magic wand.



Is anyone else this flexible??? I am guessing only those with tiny little booties can sit like this.

To The U.S. Embassy in Manilla & Beyond

More good news! We found out today, that the National Visa Center (NVC) electronically processed our visa file and it has been forwarded on to the U.S. Embassy in Manila, Philippines. So now we just sit back and patiently wait (we are starting to become good at this), and hopefully, we will hear soon that Levi's medical and visa interviews have been scheduled.

Thank you to all who commented on our blog. We appreciate all the best wishes and to those of you who shared your timelines. This is such an exciting time for us!

Another Step Closer...

This morning, we received our approval of the I-171 Visa Petition form. Yea! Our agency said that this would take anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months. The shortest amount of time they have ever had anyone receive this notice was in 12 days. We received ours in 10 days. Thank you to the USCIS offic in Kansas City for processing our visa application form so quickly. We will now follow up with NVC which is the office that receives our file from the USCIS field office. They will be forwarding our information to the appropriate embassies.

To anyone, who has been to this stage before...how long was your wait from this point until you were given permission to travel?


If only they knew how exciting is was to be holding this piece of paper. They are really having a hard time understanding why every time we hop in to the car to go get groceries, etc. that we just can't pick up their brother on the way.


For part of the library summer reading program, Jaidyn had to draw a picture of our family.

I just have to share pictures of our Day Lilies. Last summer, I bought several starts to Day Lilies from a garage sale. This lady had a photo album with all the different varieties she had. She was insanely organized with her Day Lilies. We are completely enjoying all of them this summer. Here is a view of the flowers from our deck. Too bad they only last for a day and I can't really bring them inside to put in a vase.

Back from STL

The girls and I are back from our 2 1/2 day mini vacation to St. Louis. Yesterday afternoon, I was exhausted and took a 2 1/2 hour nap trying to recover from our activity filled trip. Addy had been given money for her birthday to use towards "doing" things this summer as a family. We went to Big Surf last weekend and used the remainder of her activity b-day money to visit the STL Science Center and The Magic House (Children's Museum).

Thank you Jill for letting us stay at your home. Thank you to everyone who spent time with us over the weekend...Papa, Nana, Jill, Jessica, Aunt Charlene, Aunt Cheryl and Uncle John.

Thursday:
Spent afternoon at St. Louis Science Center & watched Jill play a sand volleyball game that night. Addy and Jaidyn spent the entire time in the sand box. Good thing we rode in Papa and Nana's car. :)
Friday:
Jill and I took Jaidyn and Addy during the morning hours to the Waplehorse Aquatic Center. I can't think of a better place to be on a 95 degree day. I think Addy must have slid down the slide at least 25 times. She would slide down and then run back up the stairs as fast as she could to go again. That afternoon we watched the movie, "He's Really Not Into You" and made the girls lie down for some rest time. The evening was spent with relatives eating and drinking refreshing drinks.
Saturday:
We spent all morning at the Magic House (3 hours was plenty of time although we only probably made it through 1/4 of building). It is such a neat place and I think it might be someplace that we try to visit every year. So many things to creatively explore.

Pictures from The Magic House, Children's Museum


Addy sliding down Jack's beanstalk.


Dressed as Cinderella's and taking a ride in the carriage hoping to meet their handsome prince.


Climbing up vine leaves to the next floor. For some reason Jaidyn freaked out almost to the top and had to make her way back down. Addy climbed up all the way. This was surprising to us as usually it is the other way around.


Jessica and Addy trying to make a bubble around their bodies.


" A little big of MAGIC"


No, this isn't Addy and Levi, but hopefully soon we will have some pictures similair to this. I saw this little boy beside Addy and I couldn't help but think that soon all of my pictures will be including another little one.


Addy at the water table.


Jaidyn using the dryer to dry out her shoes. The floor was one big puddle and she wisened up a little when she stuck her foot up on the wall to keep dry while she dried out her shoe.

These are all pictures from the pre-tend play store. There was an entire section of a building set up like a mini-town.





Trying to catch a magnetic fish in the stream.


You can tell Papa is having a blast and wouldn't rather be anywhere else. At least he found a chair and is in the air conditioning...could be worse.


Addy serving it up in the Pizza Cafe. We were really hungry at this point and this pretend pizza didn't help our cravings.


Hmmmm, I am thinking that our family contributes to this statistic several times weekly.



According to Jaidyn for Kids TV News, the upcoming weather forecast is "wet and stormy, so you will need an umbrella".



Addy didn't like the feeling of her hair standing straight up because of the electrostatic ball and was trying to hold it all down. She has thin straight hair, so her hair was perfect for this.

These are some pictures from the STL Science Center. The Discovery Room was our favorite. It was geared towards Jaidyn and Addy's age as much of the Science Center is geared toward older children and adults.