Cheri Kay in Haiti....where my life became meaningful.

Friday we celebrated the end of the summer by going to Michigans Adventure! The kids had a ball!!!! They loved it! I loved hearing their giggles as they rode the smaller roller coasters, drove the mini go-carts and the water rides. They were both very excited when they saw Charlie Brown and Snoopy! Jaryse said that this was better than Disneyland!!!!! He is just loving life right now and is exploding with love and laughter and joy! Ecrissa has had awesome days and she is doing great as well. She has become more and more "chattery" and uses her voice alot. She is not yet saying any words, but she does have a few different sounds that she uses consistently for specific words..such as "uma" for "help me" and "naaaauuuu" for "NO" and "mmmmmm" for "more". She is definetly making lots of progress and I'm super thrilled for her! I will start my new job on Monday and the kids will meet their teachers at the o...

The kids have been having a blast! After being home from Haiti for 17 months, I figured most of our "firsts" have been met....I was wrong!!!!! These past couple of weeks the kids have had their first pony ride, their first ride on a lawn mower, first ride on a tractor, first time "helping grandpa fix the bike", first "camp-out in the living room with grandpa" and even time helping feed the cows at my Aunt and Uncles!!!!!! I'm slightly worried that my kids are turning "country bumpkin-ish" but it's been tons of fun!!! jk!!!! They've loved every minute of it! We went to the zoo the other day and had a blast! The kids love the petting zoo and feeding the goats and giraffe's. Ecrissa enjoyed all of the sounds that she heard. She smiled when she heard the bald eagle make it's sound, the train whistle, and various other "zoo" sounds! What a great day of learning and fun! Jaryse is loving being with Grandpa's (...

YAY!!!!! It has been too long since I've taken pics of my sweeties!!!!! This week has been super fun so far! We love spending time with family and hanging out! On Tuesday we went to Grand Haven again and spent a few hours hanging with some friends from Haiti! IT WAS AWESOME!!!!! Mrs. D has meant so much to me and Ecrissa and spending time with her was such a blessing. The kids had a blast swimming, playing in the sand and eating ice cream! Thank you Lord for awesome friends, their love, support and prayers!!!!!!

So, we packed up my apartment, drove across the USA and landed in Nashville Michigan! It took a lot of day, little sleep and a bunch of my dad's teasing!!!!! We are staying at my dad's for about 1 month when we will then move into our apartment in Grand Rapids. I was able to find a nice apartment near the school that I will work at and the school the kids will go to. My stuff is currently housed in my grandparent's rec room safely, but not so organized! I am not looking forward to loading all that stuff up again when we can finally move into our apartment in the beginning of September! Oh well, it's been nice staying with my dad for now! I helped my dad with his big pole vault event and had a blast! We've had a small family dinner and that was fun! We went to a Haitian Adoption reunion and saw some friends from Haiti and met some new friends! That was AWESOME! The kids got to swim in the lake and have gone swimming in my cousins pool also! So, needless to...

In 2 weeks from today, my dad and step-mom will be flying to Cali to help us move back to Michigan. I have accepted a physical therapy position in Grand Rapids MI and we are moving to Michigan at the end of July. Jaryse is super excited, Ecrissa seems to be beginning to understand and Momma is nervous, excited, and has a list 3 pages long of things to do in the next 2 weeks. I do believe that this will be a good move for us. My family is there and the kids will get to be part of our family gatherings, birthdays, Thanksgiving, Easter and other holiday celebrations. I think that it's all going to be great...other than the cold and snow of course. We'll keep ya' posted on our newest adventure as we prepare to drive across the United States from California to Michigan!

This week, the kids and I went through their toys and books and picked out the ones that they no longer play with or want. I asked them if they'd like to give them to the hospital Child Life Center. This way, the kids in the hospital have toys to play with and books to read. They agreed. I almost put them in my car on the day that I worked at the hospital to take them to my co-worker, and then I realized that this would be a good experience for the kids. So, on Friday after we finished school and work, we went up to the hospital and gave our toys to the Child Life Center. I was all excited to have the kids participate in this and have them really understand what they were doing and get that wonderful feeling that you get when you help others. Am I crazy??? We walked in and they were immediately interested in all the other toys...you know...the ones that they don't have and all the people that they had never met before. They forgot why they were there and played with t...

"Um, sure.....I think" was my response! My son has been asking for 2 weeks for me to build him a Lab in our house. I spent the last 2 weeks trying to figure out how to do such a thing! I mean...where do I begin? ....What does this 5 year old friendly lab need to contain?.....Where am I going to "build" it? Well, yesterday I went and got a few things from the sale rack including a small globe, a cheap telescope, a super on-sale chemistry set (complete with test tubes), a planting set in which you learn all about plants growing, and a super cheap magnet set, then we grabbed a few things that he already had including his toy laptop (every Lab has a computer right??), his desk, a magnifiying glass, and his goggles and I built the boy a Lab in his bedroom! The far corner of the room is sorta contained and all his "science" things are in there. He is so happy! I'm glad I didn't fail him in my attempt to build this Lab. I did not truly know what he ...