Pressing On

Don't have time for posting so many fun pictures, but this is one photo with at least all 4 of our kids together! After arriving from the States on Friday night, we spent the weekend and Monday and the early part of Tuesday at the beach! It was so nice! (thanks to you who helped make it possible!!) Probably not too many of our friends in Texas could post a picture like this of your kids two days before Thanksgiving! ha ha! It has been so much fun just being ALL TOGETHER! The kids are having alot of fun with one another, but they are having to reaquaint themselves with all living under the same roof (and vacationing in the same hotel, and riding in the same car)! They are so funny! But as well, Tori and Timothy have both had some really sad moments of "withdrawl"...missing family in Texas! They spent over 7 weeks in a non-stop camp environment...a camp mainly run by their grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins! They had a blast! They are missing all of you! We are breaking out the Christmas decorations tomorrow in preparation for THANKSGIVING and the HOLIDAYS!! We are so blessed as a family of 6....I am a blessed husband to be married to such a beautiful, loving wife....I am blessed to be the father to 4 great kids! I am so thankful for the uniqueness of Tori, Timothy, Jonathan and Lael. And we are so blessed to have such good friendships both in America and in Benin, West Africa. It is somewhat surreal knowing this marks the beginning of a short 6-month "homestretch"...we are leaving Benin in the springtime...LOTS OF EMOTIONS! We have so much to be thankful for this year....we love all of our family in America and we are grateful for the many good friends here in Benin! They are like family, too! Probably we'll post again tomorrow, but just in case it's Kelly who does the posting....I'll say, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!