Time in SC

Well like I said earlier we spent a week in South Carolina at a little cabin out in the middle of nowhere, no cell reception, no computers, no tv, just the great outdoors and it really was great.  It was also really fun to go into these little towns that my dear friend Holly grew up in and see where she lived and hear wonderful stories.  Her parents were very gracious to us.  Her dad teaches swimming lessons once a year during the summer and we were hoping to do that, but then our house went under contract so we missed them...however he was so kind to take us to the pool one day and give our kids a mini-lesson, they loved it, shortly after this is when Micah started getting really brave in the water and swimming on his own, so we were thankful for this time!  The kids would play games in the woods with Travis, they loved catching frogs and throwing them in the river as well as any insect they could capture.  A couple of them were brave enough to swim in the river too and had a blast!  We had a great time in Clio and were so thankful for all the friendly people we met, our kids want to move there by the way:)

A couple pics:

The little dock at the back of the cabin.

Travis and Isaiah in the river.

Time in Tennessee

While Travis was in Turkey we spent a week in Tennessee, here are some pics of our time there:

Shiloh's first time in a swimming pool, she liked it as long as she  was held.

Micah really grew a lot in the water this summer!

probably Shiloh's favorite spot. 

Sammy & Micah:)

Granna and Grandpa's neighbors have a pool that they let us swim in almost everyday, so this was very nice and of course they loved it!
Then no trip to Tennessee is complete without a trip to the zoo, this time Aunt Lori, and cousins Jacob and Tyson got to come too, this made it extra fun!

Sammy & the elephants

Anna too!

And Micah.

And Isaiah.

Shiloh with the zebras!

The cousins together!

Update on Life......

Well the past month and a half has been pretty much a whirlwind.  We have had our house up for sale for quite a few months now, this was a very hard decision one that we have pondered for awhile as our family keeps growing and our house size stays the same.  We moved on to South St. 8 years ago when Micah was a little baby, and have enjoyed being there everyday!  We brought home Anna, Sammy, and Shiloh to that home and shared tons of wonderful memories there together.  We have lived there with the Cordells, our dearest friends for these 8 years, so needless to say this was really hard on everyone in our family whose best friends were always in their backyard:)  We don't take this for granted and do cherish our time on South Street and all the memories we made....

But we finally got an offer on our house, and the gentleman was selling his house so he wanted to close on June 14th, not much notice, and the day Travis is scheduled to leave for Turkey for 10 days, but we did what needed to be done.  So that is why Shiloh's birthday was somewhat low key, we were busy packing up our house:)  So we signed paperwork on the 13th, and the kids and I headed off to TN for a week.  The house we were going to rent wasn't available until July 1st, so we were kinda homeless for a couple weeks, the kids thought this was pretty exciting.  After a week in Tennessee, we met up with Travis in South Carolina where some of our dearest friends parents let us stay at their little cabin for a week.  This was very restful, a place on the river out in the middle of nowhere, the kids had a great time!  Then we headed back to move into our temporary house while we keep looking for a house to be our permanent home.  So we are getting settled in Knightdale about 20 minutes from downtown Raleigh.

A picture of the kids on the last day at 324 E. South St.:(

Shiloh turns 3!

Well our life has been a little crazy lately(will explain more later), thus the delay in blogging and sharing that Shiloh turned 3 on June 9th!  We are so thankful to be able to share her third birthday together.  She has now been a Williams for 6 months, and as all our family says, it seems like she has always been with us.  She has grown in so many ways, she now loves bath time, she sleeps great-of course better if Anna is in the room, she is speaking more english everyday, she is running more and faster, and really tries to jump now too!  Some things Shiloh has always loved are accessories, she loves  jewelry, scarfs, glasses, anything that she can put on herself.  We have pictures of her in the orphanage dressing up in these things, so she clearly has loved these things for awhile:)

Here's a picture from December when we first got her:

And here are some pictures from her birthday:

Shiloh with her princess crown card from Aunt Beth!!

Cool toy from Auntie Lorraine and Uncle David

With one of her twin dolls from Granna & Grandpa

Shiloh at 3, a precious gift!

For her birthday we went to Krispy Kreme for breakfast, and then had a cake at community group with all our friends.  She loved blowing out the candles, and sang happy birthday over and over for a couple days afterwards.  Other pictures are on Travis' phone so will have to add those later:)

We are so thankful for Shiloh and for her birthmother on her birthday who chose on that day to leave her at a place to be found.  We think of her on this day too, and pray God would be near to her!

Uncle Ted's Adventures

We were able to go to Tennessee for Easter last minute and of all the fun adventures one was going to Uncle Ted and Aunt Elizabeth's house.  He is really Travis' cousin, but its easier to call him Uncle Ted.  Anyway because he is a history teacher he has the coolest stuff in his house, our kids loved it.  He had a whole room that he made for reenactments he takes part in.  Enjoy the pics!

Isaiah, Micah, Anna and Sammy all dressed up.

Uncle Ted, with the boys!

Annie Oakley...Anna

I think this was a fox??

Micah's team

Here are 6 out of the 8 players on Micah's soccer team, this was their last game.  Travis has coached these boys for two years so they really do get along really well and have a fun time together.  Go Crusaders!!

Isaiah's Team

This was a picture of Isaiah's soccer team at their last game this Sunday.  One of the moms brought orange and white hair spray so all the boys decided to go with the intimidation factor for their last game, while it didn't necessarily work, they played a great game and have improved all season!  

Go Man City!!