Brooks Baptism

I totally stink at blogging...

Derek says this is what happens when adoptive parents bring their kids home...

blogging comes to a screeching halt.

It's cuz I'm so busy...

being a maginificent mom! ;) haha!

Anyway-

I definitely wanted to document Brooks' baptism.

Sweet boy...

we are so glad you made the best decision of your life

to make Jesus your Lord and Savior!!!

What a precious day,

July 28th, 2013 was!

So proud of you, Brooks!!

We love you!

We were so glad that family and friends could be there!

Picking Up the Girls from Kanakuk 2013

Well Beck didn't quite know what to think about dropping off these girls

at kamp and leaving them.

But he did know that someday he wanted to go to kamp!

Because it sure looked like fun to him.

He was so excited to go pick them up.

Here we are waiting for Halle Caroline and Miss S to come down from their teepees at K-7.

There they are!

awe--- Beck got his HC back!

With her sweet counselors in front of teepee 10

Halle Caroline with miss S

Glad to have my girl back!

A week later, we went back to pick up Ellison at K-Kountry.

It was unusually cold and rainy.

crazy weather!

It's usually sweltering hot and humid and miserable!

Nene came with us!

After a condensed form of tribal ceremony, due to the rain

Kiowa and Kickapoo little prinesses.

Ella and Ellison!

saying goodbye to precious Barn 12 counselors :(
and k-kountry.
best year ever!

and saying goodbye to sweet Miss Mary, big Kickapoo princess

Lots of good times had at this kamp...
but after 6 years, she is looking forward to seeing what K-West is all about!

Kanakuk 2013 continuted...

As I mentioned earlier,

this was a very special year at kamp for Ellison.

The kampers are broken into 2 different tribes for boys and girls,

and there are all kinds of competitions that are held during the kamp term.

At the end of kamp, they find out who won

and it's a huge deal!

The kamp staff chooses princesses and chiefs for each tribe 

to help lead and cheer on their respective tribe.

So, for a lot of years, Ellison knew this would be taking place.

And she really hoped that she might be chosen to be the kickapoo princess.

And I hoped so too!

Because she wanted it so bad!

So I knew that on the 2nd night of camp,

tribal would take place,

where they declared "friendly competition" to begin,

and also named princesses and little chiefs.

So I followed closely the camps instagram and twitter page

for any hint of what in the world was going on.

It wasn't until the next morning that I saw this picture.

Which I thought this meant that she probably was the kickapoo princess.

but I couldn't be too sure.

so I went ahead and sent this cute care package

 and finally about 2 days later...

I saw this picture which confirmed everything!!!

KICKAPOO PRINCESS!!!

here with the big K-2 (high school camp) Princess!

This sweet girl had made them matching shirts!

Such a fun and special year for Ellison!

Kanakuk 2013

We came straight back from the beach,

and packed the girls up for kamp.

This is a highlight of summer for sure!

We loaded up the girls, plus a friend, and Beck..

and headed for Missouri!

(sidenote: I've never been known for my car decorating skills,
or decorating anything skills for that matter!)

We dropped Halle Caroline and her friend off at K-7 for a week.

 getting introduced which is always fun!

The counselors are always fired up and going crazy!

 In their teepee with their counselor

 time to say goodbye!

then we headed out to drive Ellison about 45 minutes away to her camp.

along the way, we found one of her kamp bff's,

who was going to the middle school kamp next door.

They will get to meet up again next year at K-West!

We arrived at K-Kountry and Ellison was introduced.

This was a big year for Ellison

something she has been looking forward to for a lot of years.

Kanakuk accepts kampers starting at age 7.

But because of the way Ellison's birthday falls (late August),

her grade of peeps were all already 7.

So we got special permission to send her about 3 weeks before she turned 7,

since she was going with big sister at the time.

The ages for K-Kountry is 7-11.

So her final year that she was able to go to this kamp,

she was just about a month shy of turning 12.

So.... if you do the math...

means she is a 6 year kamper!!!!

(which there are not very many that get to be 6 year kampers while at K-Kountry)

It's a pretty big deal!

So here she is getting introduced and he is making

a huge deal out of the fact that this is her 6th year at K-Kountry!!!

And.... then she got to be in Barn 12,

which is reserved for the oldest kampers that have attended the most years.

Barn 12 comes with all kinds of special privileges!

with one of her counselors and her kamp bff, miss S

 and time to say goodbye for 2 weeks!

We are always so excited dropping them off at kamp.

It is so great to see how much they have grown in their faith while there.

It truly is a special time for them.