Silas's Kisses

Silas loves kisses! He's so sweet and coos when we give him kisses.

Patrick's Dad

Sunday morning around midnight we received a call that Patrick's Dad had fallen down. He bumped his head and was in a lot of pain in his back. He shortly blacked out after that, so Patrick's Mom called the ambulance. We left St. Louis as fast as we could to start our trip to Fort Myers, Florida. Once they got him to the hospital they lost his blood pressure and his oxygen went to 0. They hooked him up to life support. Today, they tried to turn down the oxygen levels and he didn't do very well, so they had to turn them back up. Tomorrow morning they will try again to turn down the oxygen and take him off life support. After a lot of tiring driving we made it to Fort Myers around 1 o'clock today (Tuesday) We're exhausted, but glad we made it here. Please pray for Patrick, his Mom and his brother as they make decisions concerning his Dad. Praise the Lord in 1995 Carlos made a profession of faith. It's a comfort to the hearts of his family that he accepted the Lord as his savior. I'll try to keep everyone updated on how things are going. Thanks so much for praying.

Elisabeth's 11th Birthday

Today we celebrated Beth's 11th birthday. Sometimes it's a little tricky celebrating your birthday on the road. This is Beth's 3rd. Patrick did some research and found some fun things to do. We had a great day!! We started our day at the Gateway Fun Park. We played lots of games, road go-carts & Bumper cars, and ate a bunch of pizza. The bumper cars were so fun and we had the rink to ourselves

Daddy's girl is growing up. I love that they have such a close, sweet relationship.

A couple of months ago, Beth said that for her b-day she wanted to eat at Cracker Barrell and order off the adult menu. We did that and she loved it. What's really cool is that my aunt Robin went to Cracker Barrell hundreds of miles away so we could go "together" :)

Beth also wanted to have an ice cream cake, so we got her a DQ cake and went back to our hotel room to celebrate.

Big Sister Beth

Josh, Beth and Brenna have adapted very well to Big Brother/Sisterhood. They love to be with Silas. I actually have to figure out who had a turn last to hold Silas. He gets carried a lot, as you can see! Beth has been wanting to learn the piano, but being on the road isn't always easy to find time to practice. Beth is squeezing in a little extra practice time.

To Get Silas To Smile...

Silas's smiles are coming more and more often and we love it! Sometimes he makes all 5 of us work for his smiles, but more and more lately all we have to do is smile at him and he smiles right back. He coos a whole lot more now. First thing in the morning (after he eats) he loves to talk to Patrick. Patrick will make a sound, then Silas will coo. They do this back and forth, it's so cute!

Biloxi Beach

After our meeting in Ocean Springs, we needed a place to stop and feed Silas. So, Patrick pulled over on Hwy 90 in Biloxi. This was Silas's first time to the beach. It was windy with a little chill in the air. It was perfect weather for a quick snack for Silas and a walk on the beach for Patrick, Josh, Beth, and Brenna When Brenna came back to the van we got her good! Patrick started throwing bread out the window and attracted tons of birds. She's not much of a bird fan, so she screamed...a little.

I love this picture. Cowgirl boots on the beach! By the way, I found these boots at Dirt Cheap in Hattiesburg. They were a dollar!

Our stop in Hattiesburg

We had a meeting in Ellisville, MS last week. Ellisville is about 30 minutes north of Hattiesburg, so we stayed with our friends, The Hartmans, for a couple of days. We had such a great time. The ladies, once again, are Rook champions! Yipee!

Stephen took Patrick, Josh, and Brenna fishing. This is the fish she caught

The temperature was in the low 40's high 30's, but the kids played outside anyway. They stayed in the tent (during the day) for a while reading books.

Mrs. Hartman is a wonderful cook! We always eat too much when we're there, but we love every bite of her cooking! This time she bought some HUGE Shrimp. She baked them in the oven with butter, garlic and spices. It was amazing

On Sunday morning we went to Central. We lived there for 2 years, so it's so much like going home for us. Everyone was so excited to meet out new baby. Since I knew the people in the nursery I decided (for the first time) to leave Silas. This is my friend Elaine holding Silas. You can't tell from the picture, but they put a sticker with his name on his back.