Joyful Kids at the Beach

Last week, we got to witness Irina's first experience at the beach. It was breath taking!

She was beside herself with excitement and the boys were so 

thrilled to share their annual experience with her. 

Watching them splash around and listening to their squeals of delight was truly captivating. 

I took more then 200 photos. Do you know how hard it was to narrow them down to 14 

for the blog? It is no surprise that she was full of JOY! The boys were equally JOYFUL. 

She loved splashing in the waves with her brothers. 

Playing in the sand, building in the sand, digging in the sand

 Collecting shells and taking walks

marching in our annual Memorial Day parade

As I watched these four interact, I was blessed by the bonds they have developed. 

It is as if they have always been siblings. They surely have tough moments, but they 

truly love to be together. This is really remarkable to me. 

 Irina has never learned to swim. Her only exposure to water is bath time, a hotel pool during hosting and a lake visit while at summer camp with the orphanage. She was eager to learn, but very stiff and timid at first.  She approached learning this new skill the same way she approached learning to ride a bike and read... with determination! By the end of the week, she was jumping in the 5 feet water. Darin was within arms reach to help as needed. I'm thankful for the way she has learned to trust her Daddy!

I might have had a little too much fun braiding her hair. ;)

It was the only way to keep the layers out of her face. 

The mist in the air on our picture night wreaked havoc on my camera lens. 

All these photos came out very unclear! bummer!

This captures their personalities a little better. 

 Oh how I wish we didn't have to wait until next May to go to the beach again! 

The week was over too quickly.