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Here is Annette enjoying “Bedtime for Francis” and her Great Uncle John.

Here are David and Grandpa visiting. Notice that they are both doing the same thing with their hands while they talk.

Grandpa said that he didn’t understand what was going on, but he sure did seem to enjoy it anyway.

Grandpa sitting by the tree and wearing his new shirt.

Grandpa is just twidding his fingers and whistling. We didn’t realize that he must have been thinking of the Grassmicks until we saw this picture that Steve had snapped!

We have not settled on a venue for the 2008 reunion but as a precaution we have reserved Cabins 2, 3 and 4 at Middlecreek for July 10 through the 14th , 2008.  (Thursday arrival, Monday departure).  Cabin 2 is reserved as 2 BR unit only.  We have also reserved Cabin 2 for the evening of the 9th to facilitate prep and storage by the advance team. 

 The Conference Ceter has been reserved for Friday night the 11th from 5-9 pm.

If we cancel by Tuesday, May 27, 2008 the cancellation fee is $150 for the 3 cabins combined.  The Conference Center must be paid in full 30 days prior to arrival (no deposit taken). 

The reservations are now handled by:

 Kimble Real Estate (Michelle): 3346 Parkway, Pigeon Forge, TN 37863 800-447-0911

We are wanting you all to be in on our exciting news!  Our family will be expanding this next year–by THREE!

No, we are not having triplets. PHEW!– Steve and I have decided to pursue a long-time goal of ours to do a foreign adoption of a sibling group of three children!  We have talked about it for several years and now we know the time is at hand.

We are, at this point, working on a few preliminary things such as logistics, my passport, and ideas to bring in the large amount of money we will need to complete the adoption as well as to support six children!  We are also finalizing who our agency will be and then when the new year rolls around, we will get moving on to the bulk of the paperwork.  Whew! It is a lot of stress, but in a good way!  We are so excited to be “expecting” again but in a different way this time. The girls are looking forward to the new siblings too: Hannah tells everyone we meet that we are adopting and and Annette brags daily to me about how well she plans on sharing with them.  Of course, Ivy doesn’t have a clue!
It looks like we will adopt from Ukraine.  The way it works there, though, is that after you tell them what you are looking for, they send you to an orphanage that has children that fit your criteria.  For us, that is just a sibling group of three, 7 years old and under, generally healthy.  This is broad in the sense that we have no way of knowing when we leave what gender breakdown we will come home with!  Right now, our plan is that we go together but that I come home early and leave Steve to handle the court date.  Steve’s mom is planning on meeting him there and then helping him to escort the children home where I will have had just a few jet-lagged days to prepare!  It will be a whirlwind, I am sure.

Some of the things we will be doing in the next months are: Upgrading to a vehicle that seats at least 8, working around the house on things such as getting the extra bedroom transformed from playroom/guest room to a permanent bedroom and other things of that sort, raising funds, getting our dossiers (all the paper work–there is a TON!), beginning a website to help keep you all posted, and learning Russian (well at least some)!  As you can see we will be coveting your thoughts and prayers.  Please pray for us for wisdom throughout the process as well as for things to progress smoothly along each step of the way.

We are all so excited and will love to answer any questions you may have. Really!

Love you all!

Melissa and Steve

We went camping at Cherokee Lake this past weekend. Steve has a “fishing buddy” (Jerry) who loaned us his camper and pontoon boat so we had a very nice (free) weekend vacation! The leaves are just starting to change here and while they aren’t quite as pretty as in the northeast, they are still very stunning in the hills.

Evan stealing the kid toys in the pool.  HeeHeeHee…