Our Florida Vacation: Part Two

Here are all the great shots that Drew took of Judah on the beach and in the pool.

By the end of the week, Judah was a pretty good swimmer.  Having his Puddle Jumper on helped him to swim around on his own without one of us holding him.  He had such a blast in the water!

The view from our deck

Father/son twins :)

I snapped a few more pictures while we were out and about with my phone...

 Watching The Parent Trap in our condo...I always knew he was my child!

 Such a sweet picture of my boys on the beach.

 Not sure why, but pretending to put the key in the lock and playing with the phone with the cord provided lots of entertainment.

 Shopping for some sandals at St. Armands Circle

 Perfect morning - nice view of Drew and Jude, and reading a good book on the beach!

 On the way home, Jude was such a good traveler so we let him pick a little toy at a Cracker Barrel.

This one just makes me laugh...he was so tired and ready to be home on our last day of traveling.

It was such a great vacation.  We had perfect weather, Judah had so much fun, and it was so nice to have a relaxing week.  

I couldn't help but remember that the last time Drew and I had been on the beach, our circumstances were so different.  That was the week we had a conference call with our first agency when we were waiting on our Ethiopian adoption, and they shared the news that adoptions were going to be cut by 95%.  We were so down about it and had no way of seeing what God had planned for our family.  We had no idea that we were going to get pregnant in about a week.  

I couldn't even imagine that 2.5 years later, we would be bringing our baby to the beach and waiting to hear about our next child from Congo.  God truly does write a story for us that is more than we could ask or imagine.

And finally, one of the best things about going on a vacation (for me) is getting to have lots of reading time and catch up on books I've been wanting to read.  This year, I finished three books and I would recommend all three!

-Killing Lincoln-  Very good if you enjoy history.  I felt like I learned a lot but it did not feel like I was reading from a textbook!

-The Storyteller-  I have read many of Jodi Picoult's books, but this was probably one of my favorites.  I've always been interested in World War II/the Holocaust, so if you enjoy those topics you would probably really like this book.

-Orphan Justice-  This book was SO good.  Anyone adopting or considering adopting would love this book.  It is not a book that just promotes adoption though, it discusses how while not everyone is called to adopt, everyone IS called to love others and care for those in need - especially children.  

And that wraps up our vacation!  Can't wait to go back!