Swim Lessons

Today was the last day of swim lessons.

Jessica went along to keep me company.

I didn't get the picture of her jumping. Camera was too slow or I was too slow : )

We are reading this book together.

Not doing much here

Just finishing up a couple of projects.



She's replacing the board and wants to waterproof but it has rained every night and we needs a few dry days in order to waterproof.

The cracked swings are replaced.

We went shoe shopping. Jasmine is hard to buy for. She has small, narrow feet but because her toe placement is wrong, we have to get wide shoes. No cute little sandals that come in narrow at the toes.

Jessica got light weight shoes for marching camp.

We finish up swim lessons on Friday. Jasmine has made some progress but not a lot. We did session one but missed three of eight days. We sat out sessions 2&3 due to trips and are now in session four. My goal is for her to be water safe and she is accomplishing that even if she doesn't catch on to rotary breathing.

We have worked on math facts and money all summer. She will start catching on and then it all short circuits and is gone. I found math facts tests online so she can do them and then the program grades them. She collects a penny for each correct problem and cashes it in for treats at our math store. I posted about that a few weeks ago.

Jessica has full marching band camp next week for four days, four hours a day. The week after that, Adam gets home but we turn right back around and head out to cranio facial camp. This is our first year doing this.

School starts August 24. Our last foster care training class is August 25. I'm not sure how long it takes to get all the paperwork together and sent to Tallahassee for approval--and get it back approved. We've turned in as much as we can. We are waiting on references and Adam's and Jeff's surveys.

My Project Foreman

If you look around our house, you'll see a lot of changes and most of them are Jessica's work. She can be totally unorganized and you need to shovel your way through her room, but when she's working on a project, she's focued.



One of Jessica's first projects was building this deck with Rick's help. I can't locate the pictures of it being built but we've had a couple computer crashes since that time so they may be gone. This is taken recently after the patio and garden were added.

Jessica decided to fix her room up. We both liked green/lavender. This was spring break '08

After Jessica finished her room, she helped Ty with his. Actually, she did most of it. He found that he didn't like painting.

Last fall was the start of the patios with two little patios first.

Then came the gardens and bigger patio/sidewalk.

Jessica did almost all of Adam/Kaleb's room by herself except that Rick did the flooring and the white strips around the bottom of the wall.

Her latest project was the kid's bathroom. We used the color we decided against for Adam's room.

The final touches were added this morning.

Still to do this summer is staining/waterproofing the deck, steps etc cedar.

Next summer she wants to go to Malawi for the summer and then off to college three hours away. Hmmm. Don't know about that--would you let her go??

Learn about the Bible

and keep sharp on your summer reading with one of these books.

Just for Me: The Bible is for ages 6-9. It has stories, rebus stories, activities, journaling, crafts, puzzles and more. It is really a fun book to do.

Even though it says it is for ages 6-9, a homeschool five-year-old could easily do it with help and an older adopted child might find it a good introduction to the Bible. I would really recommend it for adopted children as it is a basic look at the Bible section by section.

The Christian Girl's Guide to the Bible is for ages 9-12, or 4th-6th grades. Again, the ages really don't mean much. It goes through the Bible section by section but more in depth than the easier book. It also has journaling, stories, crafts and more. Girls (and even moms) who read through the book will come away with a basic knowledge of what is in the Bible and what the major events are. The only thing is that I disagree with the part about the book of Revelation. I take the book very literally but my publisher doesn't. So if you are reading through the book with your girl, you can present Revelation more in depth and accurately than what the book does.

Consider reading through one of these books with your girls or using it as a girl's Bible study book for a small group.

These books are available at amazon.com and christianbook.com but I encourage you to check your local Christian bookstore first as many of them are struggling in these hard times.

Later on Ty's bd

We had Chinese for lunch. Orange (spicy) chicken is his favorite but unfortunately he's had a headache all day.

Bike stuff from Uncle Ken. Ty goes everywhere on bike or the city trolley.

From us--no using siblings for targets!

From Aunt Lou. She actually got it for him when she was here for his graduation but he hasn't used it much yet.

From Grandma. Tyler picked it out but the movie didn't turn out to be exactly what he thought it was going to be. I'm proud of him for having good values in movies. He works at a movie theater. So does Jessica. Sometimes one has to go in early or stay late to ride together and will watch a movie but they are both very good about only watching what is appropriate and walking out if the movie turns out not to be appropriate.

Playing Wii with Jasmine.

He's 19!

I won't say that he can't possibly be 19 because it really does seem 19 years since I had him when I think of all the places we've lived and all we've been through. But it's been a good 19 years and we are so proud of him. He has had a lot of challenges and he still struggles, but he is making it. He starts college next month.


Six months old in Grand Forks, ND

First birthday, ND

Okinawa, Japan

Okinawa

We loved it there but were sent back to the U.S. for testing and early intervention for Tyler.







South Dakota

England

Euro Disney in France




Georgia

Cruise

MGM

Florida

Graduation




Happy birthday Tyler!