We are excited to announce
Silas Yaroslav
joined our family on August 9th 2016 around 4:30 p.m.
Our new family with the inspector and Silas’s director at his school.
This has definitely been my longest “pregnancy” but every second was worth it to have Silas be our son!
We had a great court and were so excited by the support of everyone involved. It could not have gone smoother.
I know several of ya’ll are scratching your heads trying to figure out who Silas is. Well, when we went on our “first” first trip, a name change was discussed with our facilitator. We decided to ask Silas what he wanted. We knew we wanted to keep his birth name, Yaroslav, because he was named after King Yaroslav the Wise. We chose several names that we knew were distinctly American names.
We went through several names and he shook his head no with all of them. Until we landed on Silas. He gave a resounding yes for that one.
When we took our “second” first trip this past July, he was still very definite that he wanted Silas to be his first name. After court, Silas was definite that we should call him that. And he corrected his siblings when they tried to call him Yaroslav or Yarik (the nickname for Yaroslav).
So, our Y the Brave (also known as Yarik the Brave) is now Silas the Brave!
And to note:
Silas is sometimes a Greek variation of the Aramaic Saul which means “prayed for”
Yaroslav means “fierce and glorious”
Our baby, the one we have prayed fiercely for. The one who has made us see God’s provision over and over. Who is tender and determined and who is ours forever. What a journey we have been on and yet, have just started!
Silas’s life verse is so fitting for the start of his life with us.
On the glorious splendor of your majesty,
and on your wondrous works, I will meditate.
They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds,
and I will declare your greatness.
Psalm 147:5-6
The kids zipped away on the zipline. Hands down, one of the best investments for our super active crew.
There is a fun creek in our hometown and we chose that as a quick meet up with Aunt Yaya and Uncle J and one of the kids’ nephews.
Aunt Yaya and I kept trying to figure out why we had never been out to the creek. The water stays cool year round which makes for a fun, refreshing trip. It’s perfectly wide and just deep enough to wade in.
And it has rocks to skip.
Or just to sit in.
Cousin E found a crawfish and with that captivated the attention of all eight of his cousins.
We all climbed to the top of the silo. That’s my kids way at the tip top.
I even climbed to the top…and took this picture.
It’s always fun to meet with family and hear stories of everyone.
And see my kids be goofy.
Double piggies and a fun cooking apron.
First time swimming in nine months. This was one happy girl. We were glad to see her love for the water hadn’t changed.
We have Taco Tuesday every week. This one Tuesday, she decided she liked tomatoes. And grabbed the serving bowl. And dumped them on her plate and ate them all.
We were so excited that we had Mark’s mom, Grandmere on Mother’s Day. Having a baby close to Mother’s Day has its advantages. Malachi, our resident snuggler, was super happy to get cuddles during church.
Mother’s Day. Holding our baby close. It was a good day.
Papa snuck in some cuddles too.
Zoe and Mark made a yummy fruit pizza for a church fellowship. It was completely gone by the end of the night.
My lap was full.
Emmie loves to stack and build.
So does Ceili Rain.
First time riding facing forward.
And three out at the same time. A record.
Double piggies and patriotic. 
Puzzles are a thing around here. They like to put them together several pieces out and then put those back in. This was a difficult puzzle but with only a few pieces left, Bryant decided to tackle it. With great concentration.
Ge also got some pretty amazing pictures of Emmie with her daddy.
These two have a very special bond.
The boys set up “dominoes.”
Malachi got some cuddles.
Ace channeled the Bear (if you don’t know who the Bear is, you don’t know Alabama football).
Ceili Rain picked out her hair do in the early afternoon and with the help of a neighbor’s curling iron, I was able to pull it off.
This kid is growing up way too fast.
So is this one! My kids are good lookin’
Such a little man.
These three are missing the fourth member of their team of destruction. But they are still adorable.
Do you think he knows how cute he is?
We’re nearing teen years with this one.
And this girl is a young lady now.
Zoe asked for a Gibson tuck and a braid on the side.
Ya’ll. Have you met Mark’s twin?
We got there early and decided to trek over to the botanical gardens and try out the new splash area. It did not disappoint but we made a few mistakes. First of all, it is a far, far walk to the botanical gardens. Sure, they have a tram but there was a line and we thought, “Oh we can make it.” We had a large shopping bag full of swimsuits and towels, an umbrella stroller and a 4 year old who was too tired to walk the whole way. Mark carried him. I pushed the stroller. A kid carried the massively heavy shopping bag.
She chose a panda bear and smiled and laughed and waved. Mark and I both about lost it. Our little Super Ems was gaining even more confidence. I had to look like an idiot crying while she rode, but if we could only show everyone how far she has come. How many battles she has fought. It was definitely a triumphant moment for us to witness.
We arrived early to check out the souvenirs and watch the pre-show. It turned out to be very entertaining, especially when the giant sea lion meandered up on stage.
This girl thought the sand and waves hitting her feet were awesome.
We also saw several dead jellyfish. Pretty neat being able to see them close up. We studied ocean animals this year in Science. Now we got to study them up close.
