Update, Riverboat, and Happy 60th

I. Adoption Update:

   a. Baby boy has a delivery date! We will be greeting him at the end of next week! We are super excited and so happy that our birth mom wants us to be at the hospital with her. Please join us in praying for our birth mom - I can't find words to convey how difficult this will be, how happy it will make her to see baby boy joining a family she chose, and how sad.

   b. Auntie H delivered a trunk full of boy clothes to us this weekend!

   c. Mamé and Auntie C are preparing to come visit and spoil Squirms so R and I can be at the hospital. I think they have also done a good amount of shopping to prepare for our new arrival.

II. Riverboat Gambling:

   a. When the delivery date was moved toward mid October, we decided to gamble and travel out of state to take a ride on a paddleboat. The paddleboat just happened to be the place our family was celebrating Grandpa and Grandma's 60th Wedding Anniversary.

   b. We flew into Birmingham and spent the weekend visiting family and dear friends. Squirms played outside to her heart's content - well, actually, until her mother said No, it's 10:30 at night and you must try to go to sleep. 

There was face painting....

Thanks for leaving your purse in my reach mom. I'm ready to go to breakfast now.

 Butterfly catching....

Fields to run in....

Action shot

And celebrating!

In the early 1950's a young man from North Alabama was stationed on an U.S. Air Force base in the United Kingdom. One night on his way back to the base, he saw a girl standing outside the gate. He asked if she needed a gate pass. She replied that she was waiting for her date to bring her pass. The young man said if she wanted one tomorrow night to let him know. 

Grandpa paused here while telling me this story.

Then he said She was a pretty girl.

On their 60th, stuck on a boat with their kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids.

Grandpa and his favorite grandchildren.

King of the Worrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrld.

60 Years, 6 kids.

Why didn't we get to have spouses in the grandchildren photo?

I think this is called "photo bombing"

The lovable grandkids....most of them

They didn't have a wedding cake 60 years ago but seem to have the pose down

Oh cake! Best boat ride ever.

The paddles

Oh! Grandpa is letting me climb the stairs!

Almost there....

That's right. I climbed those stairs.

I love these people. And MEN....huh, I've never noticed what my cousin's initials spell. 

He drove to New York to pick her up after her father finally agreed she could marry him. September the 29th of 1953 was hot, one hundred degrees hot. They drove to Mississippi because there wasn't a waiting period to get a marriage license. She wore a wool dress and they took a picture in front of a cotton field when they returned to his family's farm in Alabama.

September the 29th of this year yielded beautiful weather, low seventies with a breeze. They drove to North Alabama for a paddleboat ride on the Tennessee River. Their family made them pose for lots and lots of pictures, and share a giant cake. 

I'm not sure which September 29th they enjoyed more, but I'm thankful for both.

III. We also saw a meteor on Saturday! 

IV. I really like Roman Numerals. They should be used more.