Home again, home again, jiggity jig!

Well, it took a week...two days of driving, a couple days of waiting in Dover, a very expensive cab ride to McGuire, a couple days of waiting...then we got to take off. However, the plane broke and we had to land in ...Dover! After another 24 hours, we got back ont he plane and have finally landed in Germany. If we do not see the inside of the airport terminal again for a very long time, it will be TOO SOON!!!

Swearing his life away...

Part of David's scholarship requires him to enlist in the Air Force. Here he is swearing in...

The Oklahoma City Zoo

David had ROTC stuff to do today, so PaPa, Grandma Kathy, Keith, Judy, Jeremiah, and Hannah all got to go to the zoo. Hannah has not been to a real zoo since she was just 10 months old, and of course, far too young to remember anything!

She made plenty of memories today...

A close-up look at a peahen

Watching the seals and sea lions

Giving Jeremiah a ride in the stroller

Hannah and Mommy checking out the albino peacock.

Hannah and the bear

Hannah and Grandma Kathy

Jeremiah and David (LOL)

Move in day...or is it the official move out day?

David and PaPa unpacking

Jeremiah goofing around

David has flown the coop, left the nest, moved up (or at least out) and has moved into the dorm room at OU. He even got to meet his new roommate, Gregory. Life is always changing!

The rollercoaster ride we have been wating for...

David has been planning this picture for weeks...no, make that months! He broke his phone in May and purposefully kept the broken phone just for this picture so he could appear to be talking on the phone when it was taken. You gotta love the ideas that teens have!

Keith, David, and Jeremiah went to Frontier City today to have some "man time" and see Family Force Five in concert. They had a blast!

Sunday...happy Sunday!

Sundays are awesome! Today, we got to go back to Wilwood church to worship, then to our friends' Melanie and Travis's house for lunch. Yummy! Finally, back to Kathy's house with the rest of the family for homemade spaghetti and meatballs! At this rate, we will all weigh 200 pounds before we are done visiting...

Jeremiah with his cousins, Kobe and Joshua

Hanging out with Grandpa Bullet

One of the hard things about living overseas for such a long time is that you miss out on getting to know your family, especially if you are only 3 years old. But really, it is hard for all of us. Even though we have been in the states for a full week already, we have just really not had enough time to really spend with our family.

Today we say goodbye to Grandpa Bullet and go back to Oklahoma City. It's been a visit too short already!


Of course at Grandpa Bullet's you have to have a tractor ride!!


Playing a little hide-and-seek. Of course, if the pole was a little bigger, Hannah might actually be able to hide behind it.


Tractor races with Grandpa....kidding, of course.

Now, we are back to Oklahoma City. Time to get some things taken care of for David's college days!

To the Lake!

What did Jeremiah want for his birthday? Fishing! Well, not only did he get to go fishing, he got to go out on his Grandpa Bullet's boat AND have his friend Chase come for a visit! Yes, this is his friend Chase, from Germany who is in the process of moving to Missouri. How awesome is that??!!


Keith and David soaking up some rays!

Steven already has a tan, unlike those of us pale skinned folks.

Hanging out...

Grandpa Bullet teaching Hannah how to fish.

All tuckered out after a long day.

Happy Birthday, Jeremiah!

Happy Birthday to the most wonderful 14 year-old on the planet!

A Day with PaPa and the Route 66 Museum

I do not know how many times we have been to Clinton since the Route 66 Museum opened (obviously none in the past 4 years), but we had never visited the museum until today. It is rather nice, inexpensive, a little small, but definately worth it. The kids had fun looking at the old soda machines, early gas pumps, diner replicas, phone booths, and vehicles. It was a nice way to spend the afternoon. Not to mention...there was a visit to Sonic afterward. Oh, how I have missed Sonic!

Hannah posing as a "driver". Notice Jeremiah on his hands and knees so Hannah could have a boost!

Jeremiah and Hannah at the diner.

The kids.

Later that day, we were back at PaPa's. He had a surprise for Hannah after nap...fingerpaints!

David "helping" Hannah

Off to PaPa's

Where was my camera today?? Not a single picture to show for our first day at PaPa's house. What was I thinking?

Is God amazing or what??!

What an awesome day! We all got up this morning and went to Wildwood Community Church in Norman. This is where we all attended church when God first called us to adopt Hannah. We still keep in touch with many of our friends from there and were eager to see them again. However, due to our schedule, we had not let many of them know that we were arriving this Sunday.

It was so incredible to see everyone! We saw our old friends, their kids, who have grown 4 years older, and don't look a thing like what they did when we left. At least the adults haven't changed a bit, and the kids look more and more like their parents. What was even more amazing is seeing all the babies that have been adopted and born since we left. Let me just say that Wildwood's people are committed to adoption and having babies! What a blessing! It was Halli's first Sunday at church (She is a 4 month old, beautiful baby adopted by our friends the Lentzes), and we got to see Weston, adopted by the Greene's from the Ukraine just a couple of months ago. Awesome, awesome, awesome. Did I mention how AWESOME this is?? Well it gets better...

After service, we met up with some of our very best friends, the Herberts. Oh how I have missed them over the years, but the busy-ness of life keeps us from keeping in touch as we should. Anyway, we decided to go out for some Mexican food. Tarahumara's was our first choice, but we decided that it was too busy on Sunday to attempt to go there, so we decided on Los Dos Amigos. The kids piled in he cars and off we went. Fortunately, immediate seating was available; we were STARVING! (I think it is still a jet lag thing) We walked into the dining area where they have pulled two tables together and look over and saw our very good friends - the Martins - who have just moved here from GERMANY. Did I say Germany??!! Yes, indeed I did. They had just gotten to the restaurant and hadn't been waited on, so we introduced our old friends to our older friends and pulled up another table.

Now, we knew the Martins were moving to the Tinker area and were looking at Norman as a place to live. We had told them about Wildwood, but in the midst of moving, they had lost the information and had been visiting some churches looking for a church home. But how much more wonderful was this that they could come visit WITH us the next Sunday and we could introduce our friends to our church personally? Not to mention, Jasmine, the Martin's daughter and David are both going off to college in a couple of weeks, and they will have a chance to hang out before Jasmine leaves for Liberty.

Ah, old friends, older friends, and a meeting that could have only been orchestrated by God. I can bask in this all day!

Uncle Lance and Aunt Barbara's

Hannah and Joshua painting together. Water was all over the table, they painted about 10 pictures (all the same green/grey color), they had an awesome time, and it all washed out!

Jeremiah was whipping Uncle Lance on the Wii (or was it the other way around?) Depends on who is telling the story!!