Happy 4th of July!

I want to wish everyone a very happy 4th of July. No real news on the adoption front, but there have been posts on the Yahoo Russian Adoption board about agencies receiving the long awaited non-expiring re-accreditation. One even stated that their agency is participating in a ceremony on July 4th at the Ministry of Education to receive accreditation! So hopefully things are moving in the right direction and we'll hear the good news from our agency soon.

This is always a very busy time for the Abraham family, although I really don't know we are NOT busy. :0)

Nolan's birthday was yesterday, July 3rd, and we had a nice little party for him at home. He just turned five and will be starting kindergarten this year! Of course, since he was our only summer baby, we can't resist throwing a pool party too. That will be happening this Saturday. We just returned from our annual July 4th weekend camping trip at Standing Stone State Park near Dale Hollow Lake. We camp here with 4-5 families every year and the kids have a blast playing in the great outdoors with 10-12 other kids their age. Our friends are all pros at camping (us, not so much) and have large campers with all the bells and whistles, cooking supplies, and everything that we always forget to pack. So we just make sure our tent is centrally located right in the middle of everyone. The weather was perfect, thank you Lord! It sprinkled a few times on us and we could hear thunder all around, but it never actually rained. I just knew this would be the year we would find out if our tent is truly waterproof, lol. We left early on Monday so I could get back to work, but it was just right. The best news is that this trip was injury free. (Last year our oldest had a terrible scooter accident and the year before our friends' daughter broke her wrist.) As we drove out of the campgrounds, our 3 year old summed it all up by saying "That was a fun place."

Be sure to check out the "Video of the Week" located at the bottom of the left column. Now playing: Water slide in Jamaica. Videos from Standing Stone coming soon!

Tonight we watched the fireworks show at our local park and it was pretty incredible. Once again, while waiting for the fireworks to start, the boys found a new friend and invited him to play "Star Wars" in the field. Their light sabers were those glow-in-the-dark necklaces. He stayed with us the whole time and we had a blanket full of five boys. We really need to add a little girl to the mix soon! :0) As the fireworks lit up the sky and exploded right over our heads, we all made the customary remarks: "Ooooooo", "Aaaaaaah", and "Wow"!!!

God Bless America!
Kim