We are HeRe!

We arrived in Beirut, Lebanon yesterday afternoon. After 3 flights, a team of 16 (which are some of the greatest helpers around), and our crazy three kids we actually made it! Some highlights...

-Ella's car seat made it on every plane and was a life-saver!

(Even after having a major explosive diaper on the plane...

she insists on getting back in it!)

-A few members of our team were moved into 1st class for the long flight! Port, Haynes and I were included in that group. The boys loved getting to have ice cream sundaes on the plane.

-All 3 kids slept on the final plane ride into Beirut, thankfully because mom & dad were exhausted at this point!

-We haven't met a stranger yet! Port, Haynes and Ella have all been kissed, given free food, carried around by anyone on the street.

-Port encountered a woman yesterday on the street and insisted that we go back and pray for her. When we went back we quickly realized that she didn't speak any english so Port told her that, "We love Jesus and pray God's blessings over you!" He was beyond irritated that I couldn't pray for her.

-We had an amazing Lebanese dinner with the White's and Lebeau's. Jason taught Port a few Arabic phrases he is working on:-)

-Everyone (including mom) went to bed at 8:00 pm last night. Kids slept until 5:30 am without any drugs:-) Ella slept until 7:30 or until Haynes woke her up!?!

-We had our first team prayer/worship meeting this morning and the kids did great. They are filling out journals each day. Ella loved dancing and absolutely LOVES the babies. The babies here might have to get used to some bigger kids loving on them!

-Cathleen told Port about Lebanon being at war, because he thought the tornado had come here too. Now anything that looks "destroyed" he shows everyone and tells them it's from the war.

-We spent this afternoon at the park with Tyler, Drew, Mary, and Claire. The kids loved playing and the guys got to pray for a few people.

Swimming

Lolli braved the cool water

Port learning to dive with Daddy

Ella locked out of the pool until she put on her jacket

*This is my new favorite picture!

Lolli, Champ, and Granma all went to Boston for the week. Sunday we met for lunch and swam a little bit. The water was a little chilli, but Lolli still braved it out! Port started learning to dive and Haynes is becoming quite the swimmer. Ella is still not sure about water...actually she REALLY doesn't like the life jacket! She does like popsicles though:-)

Josh and Laura's Wedding

Josh and Laura came over the other night to talk to the boys. They brought them each one of their favorite books and in the front of each book it asked them to be in their wedding. (Laura know our kids so well, she had to read them immediately)The boys were so excited. Port had already asked if he could be in it (just to me thankfully)! The fun part is our sweet friend Emma is going to be the flower girl, their going to be pretty cute! Brian is also going to be a groomsman! We are counting down until NOVEMBER 2oth!!

Happy Birthday Aunt Kourtney!

Celebrating Aunt Kourtney!

Our Narnia Characters

Baseball lessons

Happy Birthday Kourtney! We are so blessed by Aunt Kourtney. She is an amazing woman of God that runs at a pace that not many can keep up with! We feel super blessed by all the ways she pours into each of us. The kids LOVED celebrating because it meant another fun night with cousins. Kooper has turned into quite the baseball player so he taught the boys a little about hitting. They LOVED it!

Last Soccer Game

Port we are so proud of your hard work this year! You have come so far this year in soccer. Not only have you improved physically in soccer, but it's also been so fun to see you really enjoy playing as well. We are so proud of you and your team! Congratulations!!!

Play Dates at the Pool

Alecia and Laura with the kids

Playing in the sand

We had a play date with some of my favorite mommies at Lollie and Champ's pool last week. It is so fun getting all these kiddos together. Can't wait for more of these fun play dates!

Dinner at Sooner Dairy

We took the kids to eat at Sooner Dairy the other night after soccer practice. We put them in the back of the truck and had a picnic. It was a beautiful night and fun family night. I told Port that when I was pregnant with him I ate at Sooner Dairy A LOT! He loves hearing stories about when he was little. I can remember always asking my Granny to tell me stories about when my dad was little too!

Steve...

Grandad and JuJu have a super friendly squirrel that they've named Steve. Anytime we see a squirrel my kids yell, "STEVE!" We were at the park the other day and Haynes was chasing squirrels. I found him standing under this tree holding out his hands for "Steve" to jump to him! Love that kid!

Hideaway Tornado

Waiting it out!

Checking the weather

We called our huddle and invited them to dinner at Hideaway. When we left our house the weather was beautiful, but by the time we got to campus there was a tornado headed our way. As we sat at the table, talking to concerned parents, discussing the weather....the manager comes and tells us that the tornado is going to hit OU at 7:36 and we are free to leave or join them in the freezer! Some of the students start to leave as we quickly realize that the storm was already there...crazy rain and wind! So we prayed and waited it out! We do declare that our words are powerful because no storm hit and we enjoyed a great night of fellowship!

The Owl

Haynes just woke up from his nap, significantly earlier than normal, and this is his story....

"There was an owl in my room saying 'OOOWWWLL'.(it actually sounded like a wolf) Then he jumped on my back and pooped. I hid under my covers and said 'I'm not afraid of you I know Jesus!' Then I had to get out of my bed so he would leave....

What an imagination?!?

Spring Music School Performance

The Beast

Dining with Belle

Dancing with Belle

It's a Small World!

Daddy and Haynes

Josh, Jenny, Kooper and Haynes

Haynes and his cousins

*All morning he kept saying Preslee is coming and bringing me a balloon...he was right!

Haynes and Sadie

*These two cuties LOVE each other! They go to Music School and BSF together and we talk about Sadie as much as anyone else. We can't wait to watch your sweet friendship grow!

Haynes and Miss Kim

Haynes had his last Music School Performance today. He was the Beast from "Beauty and the Beast" and sang "Be Our Guest." He did pretty good considering half of the song is in French.:-) He mostly loved getting to see his family and friends come cheer for him. Thanks for making Haynes feel so loved today!

End of School Picnic

Ella and Preslee

The boys...

Haynes the Monkey

We had our "End-of-the-Year" Picnic on Tuesday night. The kids had a great time, I think Haynes is counting the days until he starts school at Gingerbread. It's been such a fun year!

Fishing with Champ

Fishing with Champ

Haynes making thank you cards

Ella painting with Haynes

Ella ended up with more paint on her than anything else!

Champ took Port on his school fishing trip this week. Port was so excited he talked about their fishing trip all weekend long. I think Champ equally loved by Port, Braxton and Sutton! We worked on Teacher Gifts at home during the fishing trip. The cards turned out great and the kids needed a bath at the end of the project...a great day!

Lunch with the Dudes!

Colin and Scott took Port to lunch and play at the park on Monday. Port had asked Haynes to go with them, but Haynes decided not to when the dudes got here. Our boys absolutely LOVE getting to spend time with these guys. We feel so blessed that not only do these amazing college guys that love Jesus want to spend time with us, but also pour into our kids in their free time. We love you guys and are so excited for what God has in store for you in this next season!

*Funny story...Port and Haynes came in about 20 minutes after they had been put to bed on Sunday night. Port had "uninvited" Haynes to go to lunch with the dudes and they were fighting about it! I'm not sure why Haynes backed out because Port did re-invite Haynes to lunch with them. When Port came home he said, "Haynes...you really missed out!"

Haynes and Ella-sharing

Watering the flowers together...

As we are getting ready to leave for Lebanon my priorities this week has been getting my flowers planted...makes sense right?!? Monday we spent the day in the yard and these two were quite a hand full. They can love each other the best and fight the best in the next second. I love this picture because it is the most accurate picture of them. Don't think that our little princess can't hold her own...this is them trying to share the race car. It's a learning process...right?!?

Wags and Laura are ENGAGED!!!

Waiting...

They are here!!!

Telling their story

The Dudes

The girls

Sunday afternoon Josh proposed to Laura! Saying that we are excited doesn't even begin to describe our feelings as a family! We have loved watching the Lord draw their hearts together over the last year. It is so fun living in community with people and watching them fall more in love with each other and the Lord at the same time. Our kids love Wags and Laura as much as we do...so they are pretty excited! We are so excited for what God has in store for you guys!

Peonies

Peonies

These are my most favorite flowers. There are several reasons I love them...In my old Kansas house we had a peony bush in the back of the yard. It always bloomed on Mother's day, and I have really sweet memories of taking my Granny peonies covered in ants:-) My mom bought me two peony bushes that are in my front flower beds and they are beautiful! They are exceptionally beautiful this year because I can't ever decide if I want to cut the blooms or leave them in the yard. There are so many this year I got to enjoy both. My mom did my Mother's day flowers and they might have been my favorite arrangement...and they had beautiful peonies! (the picture is of my peonies not my mom's arrangement)

Funny Hats

Oh man! Ella is so funny! I bought her a little sun hat for the beach when we go to Lebanon. She loves it! She will wear it around the house all day. Sometimes she looks a little more like a farmer than a beach girl. As you can see...there's our baby:-)

Fruit

My kids love fruit! We had some strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries left over from a party. Ella and Haynes discovered them and ate the entire bowl one morning. Notice Hartley stays as close as possible, just incase someone drops something.

Mother's Day and Elizabeth

Mother's Day Lunch

Soccer game with Elizabeth

She is SO sweet!

Mother's Day is so fun because we are blessed by having so many amazing mother's in our life to celebrate. Blake, Marci, Anna, and Jade have been in Haiti for a week. The second week of their trip Bob and Judi got to keep Elizabeth. We were all so excited to spend some time with her...starting on Mother's Day. She was a little overwhelmed by all the new faces at first, but by the end of the week she LOVED all the kids. Ella's nurturing side came out this week while spending time with Elizabeth...we now don't go anywhere without our baby! Elizabeth is one of the most pleasant babies we've been around! We love you sweet Elizabeth!

Tornado

Monday was a CRAZY day! The weather started looking a little crazy so I turned on the tv. We soon realized that a tornado was actually headed down Hwy 9 toward Brian and Bob! The boys kept trying to head toward Norman, but this is the picture they sent when they decided to turn around. After about a 2 hour adventure ride home, they finally made it safely home. Port was pretty concerned especially when they are showing cars flip on Hwy 9. He would look at me and I would say, "Daddy is fine, just pray!" Thank you Jesus!

Snakes...

We (me and the kids) have now seen/killed two snakes this spring...This one was cornered by Hartley. I had to kill it with a hand shovel! Ella cried (because I screamed) and the boys now think I am the toughest mom in the world!

Ella Rose

A few weeks ago, JuJu and Grandad took the boys to see Kooper play baseball after their soccer game. Brian and I decided to take Ella to lunch at Cafe Plaid. We had so much fun listening, watching, and laughing at her...we almost forgot what it's like to have just one kiddo! We loved having a lunch date with you sweet girl. This face was the funny face she kept giving Brian when he would try to take her picture!