Winding Things Up!

With the end of the school year come many fun activities! Both Beckett and Helen had parties with their friends to "wind things up" and celebrate a good year! Beckett's enrichment class had their last day this past Wednesday and the parents were invited to come for a picnic lunch and for games! Beckett loved his time in the class this year. Here is a picture of Beck with a few buddies as they are getting ready for the three legged race.
It was obvious that Beckett and Cam had never done this race before. One of them was always dragging the other instead of running in sync with "three legs"! It was too cute!

Another relay race that the kids participated in was a "dress the dads" relay. Sean and Adam were the lucky dads and this was the end result! Aren't they beautiful?

Will had fun playing with this dog while we were at the picnic. He pretty much laid down on top of poor "Sammy" and was petting him like crazy! Beckett and Helen have never been very interested in dogs, but Will LOVES them!

We met this great couple through Beckett's enrichment class! Tracy was the assistant in the class and we found out that we go to the same church! Not only that, but when we met, they were just weeks away from traveling toTaiwan to bring home their 7 month old son! We have loved getting to know them and so happy that they are home with Eli now! They came by the picnic so all of the kids and families could meet Eli. They have been home with him about 2 weeks! Aren't they a sweet family? Love, love, love adoption!!

Here is a picture of Will checking Eli out! We couldn't get him to get much closer than this. No hugs for Eli....Will was basically just staring him down. I'm hoping these two will become buddies! Hard to believe that Will was about Eli's size and age almost one year ago when we came home with him! Wow, time flies!

Will was all about the big kids, though! He was wanting in on the football game! The two blond headed brothers on the left and in the middle are going to be bringing home a baby brother from Ethiopia in the near future! Their sweet family, including their big sister, mom and lovely dad, Adam (dressed so beautifully up above) have just started the paperwork part of their Ethiopian adoption! We are super excited for their family as they obey God's call to go to Ethiopia and bring another one of His children into their sweet family!

Beckett played a baseball game that night and I took this picture of my three guys during the game. Beckett was up to bat and the other team was warming up a new pitcher, so "Coach Sean", Beckett and Will had a little pow-wow at the fence!

This is a picture of most of the Marlins (plus Will) after the game. Sean always gathers them around and talks about the game, how they did, and gives out the game ball. Will loves being right in the middle of it all. The season is officially over, although they do have to play in the league tournament next week. It has been a fun season, even though the Marlins didn't have a winning record. They played well, improved each game and encouraged and cheered each other on! That sounds like a winning season to me! I wasn't sure what it would be like to try to watch the games this year with Will "in tow"....but it has been great! Thanks to Nana, Papa and one of the team member's big sister, Emily, Will has been quite entertained at the ball park! I shudder to think how many goldfish snack crackers he has eaten while at the ball park, but they kept him happy! :)

And I only have two pictures from Helen's end of the school year celebration. Her friend, Carlie had a party at her neighborhood pool on Thursday, and all of Helen's five year old friends who will be starting Kindergarten this fall came to swim and play. It was a great afternoon and we had a good time. I'm sorry that I didn't take more pictures, but here is one of Helen with her good friend, Sophie!

Will had a good time at the pool, too. He actually kept his hat on and didn't venture too close to the pool without me. The water was SO cold, so he and I sat on the side for quite a bit. He was content with that and so was I!

We had quite a busy family day planned for today, but Helen got sick with fever and other yucky virus side effects, so we had to do our day in shifts. Our East TN Ethiopian Adoption family gathering was today, so Beckett, Will and I went to the picnic while Sean stayed home with Helen. I can't believe that I forgot my camera! (Click HERE to see some great pictures from the picnic today.....including our ET cutie himself!) Tracie is a gifted photographer and she took some great pictures! So many beautiful children were there! I enjoyed meeting many of the families in our area that I had only heard of, including one family here in our little town who is close to bringing home an infant girl from ET! Amazing! Loved seeing kiddos and families that have traveled this adoption journey and sharing stories with each other. It was a great event! We rushed home from that picnic so that Beckett and Sean could go to their end of the season baseball party. One player's family hosted the party at their pool and they had a great time. I was sorry that Helen and I had to miss the party. I asked Sean to take the camera, but I knew he wouldn't take any pictures. It was a fun, full day, but no pics to share! That is the latest from the Harper Hullabaloo! We will be finishing up our last week of school this coming week! Never a dull moment!

Major Catch Up!

I don't know if I've ever gone this long without updating my blog! Although this blog began as a way for me to allow friends and family that we don't see very often to keep up with our activities, it has become a way for me to journal and document our day to day lives. I used to love scrapbooking, but have not had time for that in quite a while, so blogging has become my scrapbook! Therefore, I need to catch up on the last month and I want you to be warned......this is going to be a long one! I'll begin with April 24th which was Will's half birthday. (The real one, this time!) I made chocolate cupcakes with white icing and my intention was for Will to have a "do-over" from his first birthday when he freaked out and wouldn't have anything to do with his smash cake! Well, not much has changed, and he still didn't want to eat any icing or cake and basically was totally hands off!

Just a fun picture that was taken sometime in the last month of Will in the "corn box"! We decided to fill the sand box with corn this year and it has been a big hit! Will loves it! Now, I do have corn EVERYWHERE, but it is better than having sand everywhere! He is such a happy boy!
Another sweet memory from the last month. I asked Beckett to go outside and read a chapter book to Helen and this is how they got set up. It was so sweet. He read the whole book to her. He would show her the pictures and they would just laugh and laugh!

About two weeks ago, Nashville and it's surrounding communities experienced terrible flooding. Many lives were lost and people's homes and businesses were ruined. The damage has been horrible. My mom and dad live right outside of Nashville and they have a river that runs through their backyard. We grew up playing in it and it is usually more like a creek than a river. Occasionally it would rise up out of the banks and come up in the backyard a little bit, but not often. However, on May 1st, dad called me and told me that they had water all the way in the front yard and up the street. Within an hour of that phone call, firemen came to their front door and evacuated them from their home in canoes because they could not get to their cars and they could not see the roads to drive on. It all happened so fast! Fortunately, the water did not get in the house, but it did flood their rec room. They had converted the garage into a rec room over 20 years ago. So Sean and I spent a couple of days that week helping them clean out the rec room and the little storage barn in the backyard. Fortunately, they have a covered carport and they were able to move everything out there so they could tear up the carpet and the baseboards. The bottom 2 feet of dry wall and insulation had to be torn out and is all being replaced. I didn't take any pictures except this one of their carport with everything under it. I also took it at night, so it isn't a very good picture. So many lives have been affected by this flooding. Mom and dad were very fortunate and their loss was minimal compared to so many others. We are very thankful that they were able to get out of their home that evening and that they were safe and dry!

The kids stayed with Sean's mom and dad while we went to help my mom and dad. (Thanks, Nana and Papa!) We had really missed them, so we decided to go to the mountains on Friday! This is a picture of the kids having lunch beside the river. They couldn't wait to get in!

It wasn't long before they were all in the water! Here is a picture of them posing with Sean.

And of course, Sean was fly-fishing while we were there! I got this cute pic of him showing Will his fly rod! Won't be long before they are fishing together!

We had to get in a bit of school that day, so we took Beckett's math book and he completed a few pages. He wasn't too happy about it, but I think he knows that he's got it pretty good. When I reminded him that not too many kids get to work on their daily assignments while sitting beside a beautiful stream in the mountains, he had a quick attitude change!

I loved this picture of Beckett and Will playing together! I caught them as they were laughing at each other. These two are quite a pair and Will really loves "Beh Beh"! Beckett is a great big brother! (And that is a colorful band-aid on Will's head.) He took a spill off of a tricycle and had a pretty big gash on his forehead, but it is much better now!

The next day, Helen and I went BACK to mom and dad's house to help with more clean-up. We were able to clean up a bunch more and also go to a craft fair at Centennial Park which was a nice break for mom! On Sunday, which was Mother's Day, my sister, Susi drove in from Atlanta and we had a nice lunch with mom! Helen and I left after lunch and Susi stayed for a couple of days and helped mom and dad pick out new paint and new carpet for the rec room. It is coming together well.Here is a picture of mom with her daughters and grandaughter!

I loved this sweet pic of mom with Helen! She loves Grankaki!

Helen also loves Susi and Susi's I-Phone! Beckett wasn't there to have to share the I-Phone time, so she enjoyed playing with all of Susi's "apps"! She was hanging out in the hammock with Susi and concentrating hard on a game!

We've been back home this past week and back into our routines which includes baseball! Here is a picture of Beckett with the game ball from Thursday night's game and Helen in her Marlins jersey with the boys!

Sean's brother Josh and his wife Kathy went to NYC for a few days and their kiddos stayed for us one night! We loved having Ty and Marley here for a night and day! Here they are enjoying fudge popsicles in the corn box!

Another cute one of the cousins in the wagon!

And last, I'm posting two cute videos. This first one is of Helen singing her special Mother's Day song to me. We enjoyed our mother/daughter trip to Brentwood and yes, I took this video as we were driving on the interstate, but it was all very safe! :)


And this video was from the other morning when I took Helen to Mother's Day Out. The boys always stay in their pajamas and wait for me to drop her off. This particular morning, they were listening to their I-Pod's. (Except Will's isn't an I-Pod, but he doesn't know that his is any different than Beckett's!) It is one ear phone and it plays N-Sync's song "Bye, Bye, Bye". Will was singing it over and over, but he wouldn't sing when the camera started rolling. Instead, you have to hear me sounding goofy, but Will just looked too cute in this video so I had to share!

Referralversary!

One year ago on April 20, 2009, we laid eyes on this beautiful baby boy for the first time! It was an amazing day that we will never forget! Our caseworker from AGCI surprised us with a call that came sooner that we expected! We were beyond thrilled and immediately in love! That love has just continued to grow and we feel so honored that God placed this precious child in our family! We love you Will! Happy Referralversary! (if that is even a word!) We were fortunate to receive many pictures that day, so I won't make you look at ALL of them (although I did....over and over!) but here is one of our favorites.....

To read a bit more about that day, click here to link back to April 20, 2009! We have been blessed indeed!

Oh What a Night!

On Thursday night, I had the great pleasure of dressing up a bit, and heading out for a date with this handsome young man.

We went to the University of Tennesse campus and made our way to Thompson Boling Arena which is where the UT men and women play basketball. However, it didn't look at all like a basketball court; it looked like this:
We were there for this event:

And it was a wonderful night! Mike and Beth Hamilton sponsored the event to "get the word out" about the orphan/HIV-AIDS/clean water crisises in Africa. 750 people gathered and enjoyed a yummy dinner and exceptional entertainment all to benefit Africa. God was glorified as the Watoto Children's Choir from Uganda sang His praises. They were such a blessing to us and we purchased their CD and have about worn it out already! Beckett and I enjoyed listening to them sing and watching them dance! We also got to enjoy our second chance to hear Steven Curtis Chapman perform. Beckett and I attended his concert in Myrtle Beach, SC about a year and a half ago. SCC is not only an amazing singer and songwriter, but he is an inspiring speaker as he is able to share his experience regarding the blessing of adoption, as well as his family's experience of walking through the valley of the shadow of death after the tragic death of his youngest adopted daughter. The hope that he has in God and is still able to sing and proclaim after such a tragedy is incredible!

We heard about the amazing work that Blood:Water Mission is doing in Marsabit, Kenya and in many places throughout Africa. If you have a minute, watch the video clip on that link to find out about their work. We also heard about Show Hope which is the foundation that Steven Curtis Chapman and his wife, Mary Beth, began in order to help with scholarship funds for families who want to adopt and need some financial assistance. They awarded an un-suspecting family with their $5,000 scholarship for their adoption from Ethiopia. If that wasn't cool enough, Mike announced at the end of the evening that an anonymous donor had offered to pay the remaining $10,000 for that couple to bring their child home from ET! Wow! Obviously, this was a fundraiser for these two programs, and well over $100,000 was raised for each organization that night! God really blessed the efforts of everyone involved and it was a huge blessing to be able to be a part of such a special evening. And it helped, too, that I was with one of my favorite guys! :)

Baseball Season Has Begun!

We are spending lots of time at the ball park these days! Season #4 of baseball has begun! So far, Sean has coached Beckett's team every year. The Marlins are off to a slow start with a record of 0 wins and 3 losses.....but I feel a win coming very soon! They are a great team, just haven't gotten it all together yet! Beckett is playing well and hitting the ball hard. It has been fun already to watch this team improve and play better each game! So, here is the yearly father/son picture!

Last Spring they were the "Riverdogs"!
The Spring of '08, they were the Rockies.

And finally, Beckett's first year of baseball.....the Astros!

This one just hurts me......they were so little! Look at that little Astros cheerleader! Precious!

Oh well, just a quick trip back down memory lane!

Hope in the Dark

Hope in the Dark is an event for orphans & Africa. Working together to bring awareness and funding to the orphan crisis. Joining forces to begin to care for the millions of children without a parent...without a home...without HOPE. How can we make a difference? One child at a time.

If you are interested in attending, check out the Hope in the Dark website!

I'm so excited that Sean and I are getting to go to this event! Yes, it will be awesome to see and hear Steven Curtis Chapman! And yes, I am fired up to hear the Watoto Children's Choir made up of orphans from Uganda! But I think most of all, I'm excited to spend the evening with others who have felt the call to care for the orphans of Africa through adoption and to help with the HIV/AIDS and water crises. I know it is going to be an amazing night!

Here is a link to a great article about the Hamilton family. They traveled about one month after we did last summer to meet their three new children. I just love the story about their daughter's name and the significance about "getting the word out"!

Happy Easter!

I hope that you all had wonderful Easter celebrations with your family and friends! We had a wonderful weekend. It was busy and full, but fun! My only regret is that we didn't have an opportunity to take a few more family pictures on Easter Sunday. Our family went to church yesterday "in shifts" because Sean was serving in Children's ministry, so he and Beckett went to church before the rest of us. After church, we were in a rush to get to Nana and Papa's house because everyone was waiting on us to eat! Will fell asleep on the way there, and as soon as we arrived, Beckett was begging to change into his play clothes......so, just to appease me, they all posed for this ONE picture. Will had just woken up and everyone else was ready to change and eat, so this will have to do for Easter 2010! Will's first Easter with us, and this is the only picture I have of him all dressed up!

After lunch, the cousins (minus Ty and Marley) headed outside to hunt for eggs. Nana and Papa had hidden LOTS of eggs for their grandkids to find and they were ready to go!

Connor helped Will look for eggs!
Nana and Will looking for eggs in Papa's grapevines!

Loved this pic of Will on the swing after the egg hunt! He just looks so big!

We dyed Easter eggs on Saturday evening......

and Will thought it looked very fun! He didn't stay up at the table for long or we would have had a permanently rainbow stained kitchen table! He was really wanting to get into those glasses of colored water!

We tried a new activity this Easter eve. I found the recipe for these Easter cookies through a link that another Ethiopian adoptive family blogging friend posted. I was so excited to find this recipe, as I had been looking for one for a while! The recipe for the cookies completely explain the events up to Jesus' crucifixion through His resurrection. Each step of the recipe includes the scripture reference to read. It was a great family activity and the kids were excited to find that the cookies were hollow inside when we took them out of the oven on Sunday morning! So cool!

Grankaki and Granbob had a dinner party to attend in Knoxville on Friday night, so they came to stay with us and play with the kids. On Friday afternoon, it was warm enough to put on swim suits and play in the water. Grankaki sprayed them with the water hose and they had a great time!

Just catching up on all of our recent activites.....so rewind to LAST weekend when we got together with several of our friends and had a cook-out/egg hunt! Here is a pic of all of the kids with their baskets of eggs. So much fun! Justin is so good with all of the young kids! He should be.....he has 5 younger siblings! I loved walking up and finding him sitting at this little picnic table with Helen and some buddies!

I guess this event was technically Will's first egg hunt, so here he is showing me what he found!

And last, I just had to share this sweet picture! We love Will's "springy" curls. They are seriously little coils of curls that just spring up and down! You would never believe how long they are, until you pull one up, or you get his hair wet! This particular evening, we really soaked his hair during his bath time and just loved his new look with bangs!

So, I think I've gotten caught up with an overview of the last few weeks! Blessings to you all this Spring season. May we each live every day with the understanding of what Christ did for us and and in the comfort that we have hope for a wonderful future because of His amazing love!