Our days are numbered as we get ready to go back to the States! One week and counting till the day we fly out. God is so good. I never expected that we would be able to go home this year, but He is so merciful and loves to give good gifts to His children. We will be in Phoenix with Ben's family for about 3 weeks in June and then with my family in Chicago for about 6 weeks. Reese has been telling us how much she misses Grandma and Grandpa and so we know that she is ready for this trip too!

This past week we took Lib to the beach. It turned out to be really fun especially with the sandy popcorn and muffins Jamin provided us with! Both kids loved playing in the water, Reese to much, as we had to constantly tell her to come back to us. And Jamin just crawled through the sand and into the water without realizing how close his little head is to the ground! Oh, well... We got some good video which Ben is going to use for our next Update Video. This will be episode 8 that will bring everybody up to speed visually on our last year.

This year has been a good and busy year. How did the time fly by so fast? I say over and over every day how I can't believe how Jamin is growing. He is so cute, I just can't stand it most days. He gets kisses all day long and chased around the house. Can you fall more in love with your kids? I feel like they have become so more precious to me than ever before. God has been so good!

Elizabeth made it safely here last week! What a huge blessing to have her visiting. We have been eating yummy treats that she brought us like granola bars and almonds and catching up on reading the magazines she brought. My mom sent Reese and Jamin some new books and they have been so excited to read read read.

Small commercial! There is no library where we are living and especially nothing for our kids. This sure makes it hard for kids and moms when we have to read the same 10 books over and over again. So, a few friends and I have been trading our kids books back and forth. That was a great idea until we all kind of exhausted them too! I have a vision... a solution to it. Start my own library for the other moms and their kids in the area. We would all benefit, especially the homeschooling moms, from a quiet room with couches, rugs and piles of books. My plan is to have anyone interested in donating used books for our library send them to a central location in the states and have them brought over here when there is extra luggage weight available. My vision is to get small groups, bible studies, youth groups, and homeschool groups exited and eager to help collect books for us. I'll keep you posted on how it all pans out!

In the mean time, here are a few photos. This is me with my Pumpkin Fudge! Ben made it for me for Mother's Day and it was overwhelmingly wonderful. I was amazed that it set so beautifully and only he knows how much I LOVE pumpkin fudge!