Big News: Shelley

Okay guys, we got a puppy.  For a number of quite legitimate reasons, I looked at petfinder.com and found the most adorable great dane/lab mix puppy.  She's 11 weeks old (we're going to call her birthday March 12).  She was left at a shelter in WV, after a family member of the mama dog's family was killed in Afghanistan.  They had to rush out of state to make funeral arrangements and left the puppies at the shelter.  Shelley was the last of the bunch.  It is a shelter that kills the animals after about 15 days, as they get so many animals and their facility is small.  In fact, when we arrived, it was a small cinderblock building, and looked about the size of a pig sty, rather than a county run animal shelter!  But there she was!  

She was marred by a pitbull (I don't know why they put a puppy with a pitbull!), and we're going to see Dr. Todd in an hour and see if she needs a stitch or two.  So the big gash in her cheek is, hopefully, temporary.

She has been AMAZING.  She is super scared, and hides in her crate and under the bed a lot of the time, but this morning (around 5 am) she whimpered in her crate, and when I let her out, she tackled me with kisses.  At 11 months, she can already tackle my face and paw my cheeks, she's so big!  

The biggest fear was how Mocha would take to her, and Mocha (praise Jesus!) has just LOVED her, which is a dag-on miracle.  She just runs around the house with her and they whimper for each other.  It's quite precious.  Here are the pictures!

I know it seems kind of silly to praise God for this puppy -- but when I adopted Mocha, I swear, it was like she was MEANT for me.  She

Our Sponsor Child, Wendy

Here's our sweet girl, Wendy, receiving her new school bookbag and shoes, and showing off her report card for the first semester!  (In Guatemala, children go to school from January through October!)  Isn't she just precious!  She's doing so well in school this year!  It's such a joy to get these pictures . . . 

Gradution.Plural

We started off the morning with Danny's grand  finale to his library storytime (the summer session starts in a few weeks).  It was fun, as there was a party and Danny, as we all know, loves snacks!  

The littlest blond haired girl in the middle of this picture is Danny's buddy, "Miss Charlotte."  She always came early as we did to play on the library computers and pick out new books and videos to borrow.  
And here's Danny's buddy, Max, enjoying his snacks!
And just to add one more snapshot, here's Danny's teacher, Mrs. Harrell.  She was talking about the upcoming summer program, which looks like all kinds of fun with face-paintings, live animals, and a magician!
***

Then we headed to Mateo's last day of preschool!  Here's his class!  What a fun picture, isn't it?! Mateo was super-sad to be leaving and is most eager to have some kind of summer party to get everyone together.  :)
To the left is Mateo's "girlfriend," Miss Josie.  To the right of Mateo is his galpal Renae, whom he misspeaks as Mer-nay.  But it's alright because she sometimes calls him Potato instead of Mateo.  *sigh*  Kiddos.
And here's Mateo showing off his tallness of approximately 3' 6"!!
But as we drove away, the kids were sad -- so we headed to McDonalds to see their playground.  Turns out, IT IS AWESOME!  The inside playground was super-big and we played for an hour and a half there!  Way fun!!


Whoo hooo.  Let's begin summer!!!

So my friend Emily wiggled my jealousy bone with a lovely photo of her and her kiddos, so I asked Ray to snap a shot of my and the guys before we left for church tomorrow.  Not bad, huh? Yay!  I take most of the pictures, so it's fun to have one where I'm in it!  

At church, the kids performed handbells using an adorable color-coded/pointing system.  It was precious!  Here's Dr. Bob "directing"!
Here are my guys "concentrating."  Pretty serious, huh?  Waiting for green and yellow dots is kind of crazy.
Here's the "junior" handbell choir performing.  Cuteness, huh?
I attempted a video of the song.  They were so cute and it was a quick song.  Danny hadn't practiced with them too much as he is a bit too squirmy, but he loved being in front of the church and doing a bit of showing off.  :)

Spring Pictures Unposted & Unedited :)

Jose in Guatemala

Sometimes I *wish* I could just take in all the children of the world.  *sigh*  But one way to make a difference without adding to your family is sponsorship.  Ray and I feel utterly blessed by our sponsorships through various organizations.  Through Mayan Families, we sponsor a young man named Jose Steven for school (where he can get a meal, new shoes, an education, school uniforms and fees paid, get school supplies and bookbags).  Anyway, here he is showing off his report card (their first semester just ended!).  Aren't these photos just precious???