This is our last family vacation before our family started to change and grow. We had a blast in this part of our life. All the laughter and challenges of raising a family has been one of the very best parts of it! Children, are for sure, the greatest blessing from the Father! We had three biological children and God aloud us to adopt our precious daughter from Ukraine in 2004!

Tres, our oldest, graduated college and was recently married to Amanda Clark, in North Carolina. Not in a joking manner and with all seriousness Carlos said it was one of the best days of his life! Carlos had the hardest time letting son number one begin to spread his wings. Tres, he had a lot of barriors to break with Mom and Dad as the first child. Poor kid!

Tres and his beautiful bride are planning to purchase property soon and have an organic farm! Stephanie's Grandfather started farming as a young man and it's interesting to see it come around again! We wish them blessings in the hardwork ahead.

Daniel, son number two, will be graduating in May and getting married in May to Tori Wyns. They are having a blast planning their lives together! These two sing together like Carlos and Stephanie do in church. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree!

Kristina is a teacher's assistant at a local daycare. She LOVES kids of all ages. Actually, she loves all ages! She's simply great with people. Kristina and Carlos have many projects going right now, which you will see as the blog grows. She is still at home with Mom and Dad, thankfully! She also works with the youth group at a local church.

Then, there's Sophia. Born Oksana Polovna, she is our Ukrainian Princes.  In 2004 we were flying over the Atlantic ocean when we heard President Bush had been elected for his second term. Five weeks later, we returned with a 10 year old skinny little thing. Since that day, Sophia has made great strides! She was even invited to speak at the White House on International Adoption. There were many tears during her speach and a standing ovation at the end!

We never planned on the after kids part of life, which is the longer part of our lives! Yikes!!  We both went into a depression. Carlos, who's an excellent painter, was inspired by an idea to paint.

 

This painting helped Carlos get through and let go. Therepy, he calls it. It has helped others as well. That's bonus!

 

We hope you will be inspired and excited as we post our life in progress...

By Land & By Sea...