A Special Time in South Carolina...

Here are some pictures of my trip to

South Carolina. I arrived home Saturday

evening, after a wonderful time with

Samuel and his parents.

Samuel is certainly MY LITTLE BUDDY!!!

I had the privilege of helping Samuel with

his school work for three entire weeks!

What fun!!!

Samuel is learning to read...

...and he can read nine

words now, all by himself!

Samuel can spell his name!

Each week he learned to write a new number

One...

...two...

...and three!

GOOD JOB, SAMUEL! YOU WORKED SO HARD!

Samuel did an excellent job with his math lessons!

After school each day, Samuel and I took a long

walk together... only he got to ride! :)

This was his monthly class at the zoo, in which he could

see and pet several different animals and birds.

On Saturday morning, after three marvelous

weeks together, Samuel and I had to say "Goodbye"

I miss Samuel now but hope that before long

we can be together again!

I am so grateful for my special time in South Carolina, and I want to send a big "Thank You" to Samuel and his parents for the wonderful time there!

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Also comes a great big "Thanks" to my students here, and their families, for allowing me the time off so I could be with Samuel! Thank you to John, Nicholas, Will, Tyler, Nathanael, Nathaniel, and Spencer!

Our Trip to Texas

Several of us visited friends in Texas this past week! Our friends, the Everitts, were going to Texas and kindly offered to let some of us ride along with them. We had such a wonderful time!

Anna, Ariana, and Deborah in the van on the wayOur friends, the Wahlquists, picked us up at the Walgreens parking lot in Greenville and took us to their house for a couple of days.With the Wahlquist familyMicah riding his unicycle Two of the boys in the go-kartOn Saturday the Wahlquists took us to see their land and the house they are working on.The two Deborahs taking a walkThe boys working on frames for raised bedsTaking a breakThe girls playing a gameWorking on lunchMixing soil for the raised beds......and planting!Stephen helps to plant peasBeth and Deborah planting broccoliStephen and Deborah at the gateBack at the house that evening, playing a gameThe little ones before church on SundayAll the girls......and all the boys

While we were at the Wahlquists', Emily visited the Potter family and Miss Isabel Lambert. We had the camera with us, though, so she didn't get any pictures.

Visiting the Gallaghers

On Monday we spent the day with our dear friends, James and Hope, their precious little boys, Patrick and Nicolas, and Mr. and Mrs. Beeman (Hope's parents).

Two-month old Nicolas surrounded by doting "aunts" Amanda and Nicolas Deborah with PatrickVisiting with Hope, our "adopted" sisterEnjoying darling little NicolasJames' sister Naomi came over for a few hours. We loved getting to see her again! During our visit we took some family photographs for them. We'll have more on our photography blog, (http://www.heritagephotographytn.com/) later.

Our Visit with the Hale Family

We had so much fun visiting the Hale family for the rest of our time in Texas. The four youngest girls in our family each have a special friend (or "twin", as we called us) among the four Hale girls.

Sarah and Rachel Hale

Sarah Hale and AnnaHannah Hale and DeborahEsther Hale and AmandaSarah, Anna, and Deborah, with Rachel, Sarah, Hannah, and Esther HaleJonathan and David with David, Daniel, Andrew, and Peter Hale