Bearded Ladies

Operation Christmas Child

Don't forget to drop off your shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child this week. The girls and I just dropped off 30 boxes that our church collected. Not bad for a little country church on a dead end road. Way to go High Bridge Union Church!

Essie & Chloe with the shoeboxes they helped pack

Sunday Drivin'

With the thermometer pushing 75 degrees, we decided yesterday would be a great day to go for a drive and enjoy what may be the last nice weekend for a while. We headed south without really knowing where we would go. We ended up on the Kentucky/Virginia/Tennessee border at Cumberland Gap. This is where Daniel Boone brought the early Kentucky settlers through the mountains. It was a very fun trip, and the girls did great on the three-hours-each-way car ride.

Chloe checking out the view from the Pinnacle Outlook

Essie and Chloe looking down on Cumberland Gap, Tennessee

The town of Cumberland Gap, TN, from above

Looking back into Kentucky (from Virginia)

Chloe & Essie

Looking over Powell Valley, Virginia - a long way down

Civil War cannon in an old Confederate fort

Chloe & Essie

Watching a chipmunk play down the mountain

Making mommy nervous (don't worry - it wasn't straight down)

Making mommy really nervous

"Don't worry, mommy. It's not scary."

Essie is queen of the mountain

Chloe & Essie

Chloe is in Virginia; Essie is in Kentucky

Family picture on the Pinnacle Outlook

Exploring some of the neat rock formations

Going through the Cumberland Gap Tunnel into Tennessee

(This is not how Daniel Boone came.)

Now entering Tennessee - our third state of the day

Way up there is where we were overlooking

This is the little town we saw from above

Going back through the tunnel into Kentucky

This may have been the girls' favorite part of the trip.

Both Hands

Yesterday,we helped out our friends, the Maas family, raise money for their adoption of 2 more children from Ethiopia, by helping a widow with some household projects. The girls and I become part of the leaf patrol and we cleaned up one of the biggest piles of leaves I've ever seen. I was very proud of them for helping and they would not take a break until the whole pile was cleaned up. Even after the other kids got destracted, Essie & Chloe kept working. The funniest part was when some other girls their age started jumping and playing in the pile and our girls got very upset because they were messing up their pile. I had to explain to them it was ok to play in the leaves and encourage them to do it. Once they tried it, they decided it was pretty fun indeed.

Read the article from our local paper on the event: http://www.kentucky.com/latest_news/story/1020615.html

Check out this Youtube video of our day:

New Ellie

One of the best parts about my job is letting the girls tag along when I do post placement visits with kids their age. On Wednesday, we got to visit with "new Ellie" (old Ellie would be our friend who was adopted from Albania). It took all 3 girls a bit to warm up to each other, but as you can see, by the time we left, they were fast friends. Can't wait to hang out with you some more, Ellie!

Sleeping Beauty

Despite Essie assuring me that she is not sleepy, she has fallen asleep the last 2 days.

Sporting a princess crown in the car & with her favorite Carebear

The princesses go to church

The girls really like to get dressed up for church!