And the moment you've all been waiting for...

I had my 20 week ultrasound yesterday and since we didn't take the kids with us this time, we wanted to do something fun for them to tell them whether we were having a boy or girl. What better way to do it than with cupcakes!



The answer lies within the cupcake!

IT'S A BOY!!!

A New Friend

This past weekend we had the pleasure of hosting a girl from Afghanistan. She is here for a month with a program at the University of Arkansas. We weren't sure what to expect, but it was so much fun to have her in our home and hear about her country. She was a little nervous about it, too. She was afraid she would miss her family a lot. When she learned we had 4 kids (and another on the way) she was very excited. She comes from a large family and many of her siblings have kids. She was great with them! All our kids got lots of hugs and kisses from her. Her other big concern was with food. She is muslim and they have strict guidelines about what they should and should not eat. Her first meal with us was to a pupusaria! She loved it! We wanted to show her a little bit of the area so we drove out to Beaver Lake and to the War Eagle Mill. She really enjoyed the mill.

Our family with our new friend Malalai.

At War Eagle Mill

Malalai with two other girls here from Afghanistan.

Megan liked Malalai's head wrap.

We really enjoyed having Malalai in our home. Hopefully we'll have a chance to see her again before she returns home to Afghanistan!

Happy Birthday Girls!!!

All 3 of our girls have birthdays close together. This year we decided to celebrate with one big party!

We rented a giant bounce house. The kids all loved it!

Happy birthday Girls! We love you!!!

It was HOT, but they had FUN!



Pausing for a picture



Sofia was ready to tear that piñata apart!

Ali is ONE!

My sister stuffing her face with an ice cream sandwich!

We are so blessed with our three wonderful girls! We love each of them so much. They bring so much joy, love and laughter to our home. We can't imagine life without them!

Annual Float Trip

Jaime a three of his buddies left this morning for their annual float trip they do each summer. Usually they go to the Buffalo River but this year they decided to float the Ouachita River. In anticipation of the trip, Jaime and David wanted to make sure their flat bottom boat didn't have any leaks...

So tired...

AWANA program

A few weeks ago the kids finished up AWANA for the year. Megan was in her last year of Sparks and Joshua was in his first year of Cubbies. It was a great year for both of them. AWANA is such a wonderful program. We love participating in it each year!

So proud of my Sparkie and my Cubbie!

Joshua heading up on stage

That boy had his fingers in his mouth the entire time. UGH!



Megan really enjoyed her last year of Sparks



Our Honduras Trip - Part 3

After spending a week in Siguatepeque, our family plus my mother-in-law headed up to the north coast for a few days on the beach before our flight back to the states.

We had to take a little detour since this bridge was a little bit broken! Not sure if this happened during Hurricane Mitch or not but it was in bad shape and the alternate route was a single lane bridge. We had to wait a while for the traffic to clear so our side could have an opportunity to drive across.



It was really smokey across the entire country while we were there so we didn't have good views of the beautiful mountains.


We thought this sign was hilarious. We couldn't pass up getting a picture of it.

Watch out for monkeys!

We made it to the beach and literally had the place to. our. selves. It was wonderful!!!

Not a soul in sight...

...in either direction!

There were coconuts everywhere!

The kids loved the ocean!

And the pool too...which we also had all to ourselves!

We rented a cute two bedroom house. It was perfect for our family!

Breakfast with the kids!

He couldn't wait to get back to the beach!

We had another beautiful day at the beach and pool. 

Our family of six... soon to be seven!

Our precious kids!

We had a wonderful time in Honduras. It was so nice to visit with family and friends who we hadn't seen in many years. God truly blessed our time down there, kept us safe, and healthy too! Thank you Lord!

Our Honduras Trip - Part 2

I know it's about time I sit down and write a little more about our trip. I have a list a mile long as to why it has taken me so long, but I won't bore you with that.

So... we FINALLY made it to Siguatepeque, Honduras, the town where Jaime grew up, his mom and sister still live, and where we lived 3 out of our 4 years in Honduras. A lot had changed since I was last down there but it still felt very familiar and normal to be there.

We spent the first week mostly just spending time with everyone, hanging out, and letting all the cousins play together. It was a nice relaxing week for us! Here is our week in pictures.

Megan with her cousin Fiorella

Jaime and his brother Kike with their baby girls.
The girls are about a month and a half apart.

Jaime's 99 year old grandmother holding Ali.

Lots of new things to see!

Joshua was riding a bike every second he was allowed.
He LOVED these mud puddles!

Jaime's sister rented this bounce house for the kids.
It was a big hit! They all loved it!

Enjoying the bounce house with friends.

Love this picture!

We took the kids to a cave not too far away.
That's me, Jaime's brother, and all the kids.

They had fun in the cave.

Jaime has told the kids stories of riding his bike
around these banana trees. It was fun to take the kids
to see old memories that they have only heard about.





We got to celebrate Fiorella's 4th birthday!

All 7 cousins together for the first time!