Hot day in July

Hi everyone, (this is long)
today I will start my attempt at blogging over again. I started several months ago with one happy afternoon for Matthew as his dad painfully put his new swing set together. It was a great day for Matt indeed as he learned to navigate the rock wall, climb through the tunnel and slide down the slide "real fast", and swing as high as the wind would take him. I think there are some photo's of that day and surely some video footage, but we will have to find them and add them later on.~~~ - Today, I'll just tell you that we are just as happy as we can be even though it is HOT outside. As I said it is July, 07' and we have had a lot of things going on this year so far. We are 'still', yes still, in the process of adopting from Guatemala!! and I enjoyed a wonderful visit with our latest referral from the agency in Florida that we are working with. (Sadly, we lost the referrals of 2 other little girls this year and will continue to pray for them everyday.) Our new baby is almost 10 months old now and her name is Emily Belle. We thought she would be home much sooner than this,according to the info we received from the agency in Florida, but we are still waiting on her papers to clear the courts in Guatemala. She was a love!! She is just so little and pretty! I loved every minute I spent with her there at the Crown Plaza Hotel. We sang and danced and went swimming, and played with every toy Target sells for babies. We took pictures, ate lots of Gerber puffs, and spent time with friends there from the Grove family. Steve, Jolene, Noah, sweet baby Layla, Sallie and Loyd. Layla will be going home to MN in just a few days! I was so thankful to have them all help me so much while there. They truly took great care of me! They also understood my grief as I found it almost impossible to hand Emily Belle back to the attorney, after taking care of her for 4 days. Sally and Loyd literally held me up as I had to watch (with tears falling),her go out the door of the hotel. With-in the hour I was on the plane and cried again as I looked out the window leaving her and Guatemala behind. I miss her so much already, and hope she will be home soon. We are praying for those in charge of her file to find favor with the documents and let her leave Guatemala! ~~~ We also had another happy occasion in our family in July...WEDDING BELLS rang for our oldest daughter Lee and her new husband, Nathan! We only had about 5 weeks to plan this 'wedding week extravaganza', but with the help of my family, we pulled it off!! Yes, Mimi and Da, Murrs and Aunt Sallie, Aunt Jan, Uncle D, Sam, Will, and Katie, as well as all of our children and the bride and groom of course all pitched in on the planning! We had a fun game of 'the Newlyweds', Mimi and Da won that with 45+ years under their belts. We had a great photo-op afternoon trying on 'our' wedding dresses --how many years later...yes 27years for Leslie and I, and NO, it didn't fit in case you wondered!! -- We had the wedding on the beach, at sunset (very romantic) while on a wonderful vacation (dreamy beach mansion, ski boat, fried shrimp, my entire family having fun together, thanks to my mom and dad!!) with my family, and it was breath-takingly beautiful!! Lee was just gorgeous as well as Jill and Hannah with the other Jr. bridesmaids Katie and Bailey. Nathan was so handsome as he waited on his bride to arrive on the boardwalk. After squeezing past a few fishing rods and scantily clad sunbathers, Leslie and Lee made it to the end of the boardwalk and stepped into the sand. Jay Dawson, (Nathan's step dad), walked just a few steps ahead of them playing Highland Cathedral on the bagpipes! Needless to say, every head on the beach turned our way! Lee's Uncle Dennis officiated while Aunt Jan stayed behind the scenes making sure everything went smoothly and all dresses were properly fluffed for photos! Murrs made about a million bows from white tool and Mimi, Aunt Sallie and Jill beautifully decorated the reception hall at The Beach Club. Our theme was close to home for Lee and Nathan...the Celtic Knot, (it never ends, like their love you know) and blue peach and white were our colors. Beautiful candles and seashells were just everywhere. When it all came together - It was just lovely!! and a very special day! Bells and Bubbles were all one could see as the bride and groom dashed away that evening. They enjoyed a wonderful first dance, a lot of great food, chatting with everyone, and a gorgeous wedding cake at the reception! We are so thankful to all of our friends and family who came to share this time with us. (and many of you came from very far away!) For Leslie and I, it was a time of reflection and 'thankful peace' about the future of our Lovely Lady Lee. As we used to rock our 'baby lee' to sleep, we prayed that somewhere out there, was a special little baby boy also being rocked by his mom and dad. We know this young man now, and everyday it is easy to see just how much they both taught him how to love, and he does - our daughter - very much!. Our prayers have indeed been answered. One note of gratitude here, Nathan served our country in Iraq last year and we are so thankful to our Heavenly Father for his protection while there, and his safe return home.
Lee and Nathan enjoyed a honeymoon out west in Utah and Wyoming, and will settle back into school in August. Now, one funny note...During the ceremony, Lee and Nathan took a step back and gathered sand from beneath their feet and together let it fall from their hands together into a glass vase signifying that just as these grains of sand could never be separated, nor could they or the love they share. Then we all prayed for them together! I,of course,was in charge of that vase of 'special, prayed over, sand' and...had it in my arms as I got in the car to ride up to the reception at the front of the resort....carefully placing it right by my leg on the floor...I, then jumped out...probably to tell Leslie something I wanted him to do...you know where the sand went...yes, right out into the parking lot!! Leslie screamed "is that the blessed sand...the marriage sand...oh NO BETSY!" Lucky for us, there is no shortage of sand in Gulf Shores, AL and Walmart sells those square vases, so...we fixed it!!! Now, they will never know!! right?! ~~~ Also in July, we can announce that our son Burton has graduated high school and will begin college at a university about an hour away. He is very excited and will be living on campus there with a friend. He and Lee both will continue to work as pharmacy techs in local pharmacies and hospitals. ~~~ Jill has now recovered from the shadow of being a bridesmaid and enduring all that her sister, bridezilla Lee, put her through...tons of shopping for that 'just right' wedding dress, the stealing of clothes -like sister do, manicures and hair coloring appointments...too many late night giggles from the phone calls with the groom!....you name it poor Jill has done it in the past few weeks! (I think she'll get Lee back some day for all of this). She has begun lessons on the mandolin, and is ready for school to start back. She also took a trip to church camp and the mountains of East Tennessee this month. She will travel with me back to Guatemala to pick up little Emily Belle when we get 'the call'. OK--- now that was long!! I will try to limit my future post and make them more to the point, but I think that will catch everyone up on the July events for our family. Jack, Bo, Hannah, and Matthew are all doing great, and I will write some funny stuff about them very soon. They pretty much want to take advantage of every last day of the summer vacation with neighborhood friends, swimming and playing as much as they can. I'll get some snapshots of them on here soon. Leslie is working hard as usual and also trying to recover from the wedding week extravaganza!!! He has taken this 'little girl leaving' thing pretty hard but I expect him to snap out of it very soon! I think he needs to build something!! thank you to all of you who want to share in your interest and prayers for our special family! I posted a photo of our family having fun on the beach together ~ it is absolutly my favorite time of day!!