For This Child I Prayed

The boys had a lot of fun celebrating my birthday. We didn't do anything too exciting, but they seemed to think we were having a party. Michael, Kerry, and Hannah came over and ate Casey's pizza with us and watched The Lion, the witch, and the Wardrobe. You know you have a good friend when she sits threw such a long movie and the whole time is wondering if she is going into labor because she is in so much pain. She didn't go into labor so I don't get to share my birthday with baby Zane. Oh well!
Nick was so excited that it was my birthday and told everyone we saw. He also asked me how old I was about 400 times! Alex had a little bit of a rough day. It is still hard for him when other people get presents and attention. But he did okay.
Three years ago on my birthday, we were getting ready to leave to go get Nick. Two years ago, we were getting information on Alex and doing paperwork to adopt him. Last year, we had been back from China about a month, and for some reason, I can't remember anything about my birthday last year. I was in survival mode. This year, I am thankful for two wonderful boys, an amazing husband, my family, and good friends. Life is good.
Recently Pastor Matt preached a sermon about adversity and grace. That sermon really convicted me and taught me a lot. It's been an exciting year but also one of the hardest years of my life. I'm glad I heard his sermon before I turned 34 and am ready to approach this year full of joy because of the never-ending grace of God.
Check out the sermon at www.faithfestus.com. Scroll down to the sermon titled Grace and Adversity on July 25, 2010. That happened to be our 12th Wedding Anniversary, too!

More Branson

Here are a few more things we did while in Branson. We visited the fish hatchery and fed the fish.

We went to the College of the Ozarks museum. It was great. It was inside (which is good when you decide to go to Branson in the middle of July- hot!!!!).

We also saw an Imax movie and swam at the pool everyday. Oh and we did a little shopping :)

Riding the Train

My favorite part of our trip to Branson was riding the Branson Scenic Railway. We boarded the train Saturday morning and ate breakfast on the train. The boys loved riding the train because we could go anywhere we wanted on the train and try out all the different vintage cars. We sat in the dome car for most of the ride.

This is the view coming out of the tunnel.

The train took us down into Arkansas and then back along the same route.

Alex and Daddy were pretending to be asleep in the "fancy" train car with reclining seats.

And I think this really was a real yawn from Nick.

Nick and Alex enjoyed their breakfasts of biscuits and gravy. The train conductors were really nice. They came around and punched everyone's ticket but for the boys, the conductor asked what their name was and punched an "N" on Nick's ticket and an "A" on Alex's ticket.

Silver Dollar City

This summer we took a short family vacation to Branson. We stayed in a really nice condo at Point Royale. The boys had their own bedroom and bathroom and we had lots of room to play and eat our meals and just hang out. There was also a really nice swimming pool that we used a lot. We got some pretty hot days but we still had fun. We have season passes to Silver Dollar City, so we just went for a few hours each day so we didn't get too hot.

Camping at Perryville

Grandma and Grandpa Bradley took us on a special camping trip July 4 and 5. We all stayed in a cabin by the lake. Let me clarify. Each family had their own cabin. The boys loved it because they had a bunk bed to sleep in.

Logan loves to be outside and play in the dirt.

Nick kind-of shocked me when he decided to poor the whole bucket of sand and gravel all over his pants. He usually likes to stay clean.

Nick sat with Grandma and had a long conversation. Of course, this meant he pretty much just asked her four million questions. I'm always glad when he finds someone else to answer his questions :)

Nick and Alex had a lot of fun being with their cousins Logan and Tyson.

Alex took his digging in the dirt very seriously. He is a hard worker.

Ryan and Greg caught a fish in the lake.

Alex loved fishing and was pretty good at it. He would go over and cut off part of a hotdog, bait his own hook, and cast his line all by himself. I think he could have fished all day if we had let him.