It's finally here!

This summer has flown by and our departure for Poland is here! We fly out this morning and should arrive in Krakow Saturday morning. We are excited to get there and see what God has in store for us, but it has also been hard saying good-bye to our family and friends. We are so blessed with wonderful family and friends, and especially our church. I'm sure we will make new friends in Poland, but we know lots of people who will be missed here in the U.S.A!

If you think of us today, please pray for us as we make this trip. Please pray that Naomi will do well with the long flight. (I'm sure the boys will do fine, but an active toddler on an international flight could get a little troublesome.) Also, please pray for safe travel and that Luke and I will have patience as we travel with four young kids.

Lord willing, at this time tomorrow we'll be writing from here....

Happy Birthday to Naomi!

One year ago, this little peanut was born....

...and yesterday we got to celebrate her first birthday!

We had a very fun day celebrating Naomi's first year of life. We invited the grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins over for swimming, pizza, and birthday cake. A fun time was had by all...here's some pictures of the festivities.

We love you Naomi!

Our Trip to Poland

Luke and I returned home from our house-hunting trip to Poland last night. It was a wonderful week, but we were so glad to see the kids last night! We'll try to give a more detailed write-up of our trip later, but until then here are some pics from the beautiful city of Krakow.

This is a picture outside Wawel Castle. To give you an idea of how huge this place is, that is me standing at the bottom of the stairs on the right. I'm the speck wearing the blue shirt.

Here are some shots of the beautiful Market Square. It's the biggest market square in Europe and has over 650 restaurants in this one area. There's a lot of historical buildings to check out, and the architecture is stunning!

This was a picture of Wawel Castle and the Vistula River. This was right outside our hotel.


And finally, some shots of our home for the next two years.....

The front view....

The views from outside...you can see Wawel Castle from our patio!

One of my favorite views from last week was Andrew running out the door to greet us when we got home! Love that kid...and the other three who were waiting for us as well. We had a great week, but it feels good to be back home as a family. We also got to meet with a missionary family while we were there, and are excited about some friendships that are already starting with some believers there. The Lord blessed us abundantly this past week, and we are excited to see what He has in store for us over the next two years!

Summer Fun

Amidst all the preparations for the big move, we have had a full summer. Isaac and Caleb have been taking golf, art and piano lessons, Andrew has been successfully potty training, and Naomi has started walking! Here's some pics from our summer happenings....

We're moving...twice!

A couple months ago, we were looking forward to a very peaceful summer. It had been a very busy and exhausting school year (adding a surprise baby one week before school starts really turns your world upside down!) and we were really looking forward to a break. We were picturing a summer of relaxing and recuperating a bit from our busy year. I was envisioning lazy days by the pool, lots of down time and just enjoying the days at home with the kids. Plans have changed A LOT over the the last couple months, and while we're really excited and thankful for these changes, my vision of a relaxing summer has quickly faded away.

It all started Easter weekend. Our neighborhood had a couple new homes being built, and I jokingly said to Luke that Saturday night, "We should see if the builder would want to swap us homes." (We had been thinking about moving but didn't really want to go through all the hassle of listing and showing our home.) I'll never forget the expression on Luke's face when he said, "Yeah, we should!" I thought he was joking. But he wasn't, and the next night (Easter Sunday) he left the realtor a voice mail. Monday night we looked at the house, and on Wednesday night we signed the papers. In less than five days we had bought a house! A week ago moving was nowhere on the horizon and now we had to be out of our home in a month. But we were so excited because we loved the home and really saw God's hand in providing it for us at such a great deal.

Our summer was starting to look a little bit busier, but I was excited to be in the new home by the end of May and then have the summer to get settled. I still thought we would have a pretty laid-back summer, even though we would be settling into a new home. (Moving is a lot easier when you are just moving around the corner.)

Things got really interesting two days later. On Friday, Luke left for the Men's Retreat and I took the boys to my parent's house. Naomi and I went shopping and while I was in the Target fitting room I got a phone call from Luke. He informed me that his boss just called him and offered him a two-year expat assignment in Krakow, Poland! This was completely unexpected, but after much discussion and prayer we both felt like it was an opportunity we couldn't pass up.

So here's our new summer plans:

A few weeks ago we moved from this house......

down the street to this house........

and then in September we move here.........

So do you think we're going to get that nice, relaxing summer we had been dreaming of? Obviously not, but we're trusting God that this is what is best for our family. So far He has blown us away with His provisions, and we know that He will continue to guide us through this wild two-year adventure we are about to begin. I hope to get this blog rolling again, and post lots from our experiences in Europe.

(And in case you're wondering, we will be leasing our new home while we're in Poland.)

Luke and I will be traveling to Poland sometime in July to find a home there. Our tenth anniversary is in August, so we're counting this as our anniversary getaway as well. We weren't planning on Europe for our anniversary trip, but we're not going to complain!

It all sounds crazy, and I can't believe how quickly all of this has happened, but we know God's plan is perfect. If I wasn't trusting in a Sovereign God, I would probably be a basket case right now!

Szczęść Boże!

The Big Race

Most little girls play with dolls and have tea parties. But when you have three older brothers, you learn how to race a backhoe.

Our Big Day

Today was a very special day for our family. We finalized Naomi's adoption and she legally became our daughter. Of course we have considered her as "ours" since the day we picked her up from the hospital, but now she is legally a member of our family. We were so excited to finalize her adoption, and are so thankful to the Lord for this precious little girl He has allowed us to parent.

This picture was taken today in the courtroom after the hearing. This is the same judge who presided over Andrew's adoption hearing, and she always takes pictures with the adoptive families once everything is done. It was fun being back in the same courthouse where we adopted Andrew--so many very special memories for our family have happened in this building.

As we look back over the last several years and how God has grown our family, we are amazed at His goodness to us. His plans were different from ours and He has surprised us many times, but His will is perfect and we love the family He has formed for us. What a blessing children are!