June 3, 2009

Our Journey is never boring!




I can't believe its summer! Where has the time gone? We love summer around here but our "here" will soon change! We leave on June 13th and will board a flight to Florida. We will be living in the Sunny State for 3 months. Craig has accepted a job down there and we will be "test driving" life in Florida for the summer. We are excited and scared at the same time. Our life here in Texas is wonderful! We belong to an incredible church and have such a great network of friends. But, life changes and we are certainly open to that change. We know that God has had to open many doors and put many things into place for this to happen, so we are completely trusting Him during this move.

We are getting our house ready and that involves lots of cleaning out! We had a garage sale a couple of weeks ago and got rid of alot of things. Molly was so excited to sell her toys and even made $57 from her lemonade and cookie sales. She asked everyone that came up to shop if they would like lemonade! I am trying to teach her the value of a dollar and how important it is to make money before you spend money. I was very proud of her. She sold her Little Pony Castle, a dollhouse and LOTS of little toys!!!

We are renting a duplex in Florida. I have a photo attached to this post. Its amazing and we are truly blessed to be living there for the summer. My brother, his wife, and their new baby are only an hour and a half from us so we are super excited! Pray for us and with us as we start this new journey!!!

On Saturday, June 6th - 15 orphans from Ukraine will land on US soil! We (G.R.A.C.E. Adoption and Orphan Care Ministry - www.graceadoptionministry.com) put together our first hosting trip for the summer. We have some AMAZING families that have stepped up to the plate to host these precious children for almost 3 months. The children are 6-14 years of age and all orphans. Their stories would break your heart. These families will get to show them a love that they have never known. We are so excited that these children will get to experience a summer like no other. Pray with us that its a safe and fun summer for all of them.

Molly graduated from Kindergarten this year. Where has the time gone since we brought her home from Ukraine in 2004. Wow - time really does fly! She will start 1st grade next year and we plan on homeschooling. I am still researching curriculum but I am sure we will pick something before the Fall gets here.

Madeline will be 14 months on the 8th of June. I still can't believe that God blessed us with such a precious baby. I have to pinch myself every once in awhile to make sure I am not dreaming! She is walking (well, running) all over the place! Her nickname is "Search and Destroy" because it literally takes her about 2 seconds to destroy anything she touches. Her favorite food is pizza! She follows her sister everywhere and is little Mini-Molly! Its so cute.

We don't talk to her birthmom much and wish that we could see her. She is still living in Vegas and we hope and pray she is doing well. We think of her often and pray for her every night before we go to bed. We still love and care for her so much.

Well, I guess that's all in our little world. My next post will be from Sunny Florida!!!!

Blessings,
The Hills