A week of Christmas

Here is Charlie who came for a visit - He was so excited... Mei went MIA and she didn't come back out until after Charlie left. :)

But he had a great time with Mei's toys.. he was like a child in a candy store.. Oh my- He doesn't now know how big he is.. I swear his tail just about knocked the tree down. :) Okay not really but it was swinging the ornaments.




































Here is Kay , Nick and Charlie... relaxing. Can you tell Charlie thinks he's a little dog? He's so precious.










Kayla and Nick exchanged gifts a bit early - Oh the joys of watching our kids grow up ! fun days!

FULL HOUSE

~BOW HUNTING SEASON~
It's been a busy week and hectic start. Dwayne arrived home one day earlier than planned. So, everything got jumbled around and Kayla and I went to get him in Atlanta. Yesterday he took care of some of the last minute details like paying the bills that had to be paid and he even brought me some lunch. How sweet is that? But while I know with every certainty that he loves us. I also know it "just" so happens to be Opening season of Bow Hunting. :)
Mind you he doesn't have a bow he uses to hunt with any more but it's on his mind none the less. ;)

He's home it our house feels full again, at least for a time. We will have a wonderful time seeing the boys this weekend and hanging out with them. I am really looking forward to getting to be together as a family. I think the last time that happened would have been at Christmas a year ago. My how the time flies by!


In every store one can't miss all the cute decorations. I am actually looking forward to carving our very own pumpkin. Maybe this weekend we will do that when we get to see the boys. Kayla and I were looking at our pictures we saw the trip to LuGuHu It was a long bumpy trip and we had to go through 3 military stops and check points to reach this little town nestled up in the mountains around a small lake. Well, at one of these stops on our way back we spotted Pumpkins. They were growing on top of the roofs of the Nosou people. I was so excited. Kayla and I had a good laugh and both were excited about getting to carve a pumpkin this year!


Here's to having a great Fall season! The weather is turning just a bit cool and the leaves are just now thinking of turning colors... At the very tippy top of the tree tops I'm starting to see some RED.... I'm loving it!

Melissa

Graduation is upon us.....

Today June 6th, 2007 is the day of " Timothy Justin Carus Hughes" Graduation Day.

He has accomplished much this year and has grown in to becoming a more mature young man.
He's made us proud of him by the way he has matured in his Faith and in his Character.
We really know that he is ready for this next step towards adulthood.


Justin, We love you and are so very proud of you!

Blessings on you Son!

Returned home

I am finally back home and all I can say is that my trip into the Big Country was amazing! We met so many neat people and had so many opportunities to share with them the hope we have. It was a joy to go back to our old stomping grounds. Brought many tears to my eyes and lots of amazing memories. It was a joy to share with them and to spend time with some dear friends.

I got to see our God Daughter Esther and her parents, Alian and Awen. They were all doing well. Which was great to hear and see.. :)

more later, Dwayne comes home tomorrow and I can't wait! :)

Well, I'll close for now. but enjoy a few pictures from my trip.....

Life moves on...

I just wanted to share with everyone that Kayla is back to her normal self is getting ready at this moment to go to school.

Dwayne and Justin arrived safely home from their adventure. I hope to get some pictures posted this week of some of the highlights of their trip. I keep trying to get Dwayne to post on line but he's not ready to do that yet. I think if he would give it a try :) he would be hooked!

Not much else is happening just wanted to let everyone know all is well in our household yet again! :)


come back later on this week for an update on Justin's Senior Trip!

OH~ Haven't heard from Josh yet about his scholarship/internship with D.I.A. but he should be hearing something real soon. They have probably made their decision it's just waiting to hear the news, now!

love to all.......

Happy Birthday Christopher

Sharing our friends

I have wanted to do this for some time but haven't had the time to put into the code to get them up for you. This morning before I started what looks to be a hectic day I decided I wanted to get it done. So,..... Wha La.

You can go to their links and read about their lives. We have had the amazing privilege of knowing alot of these friends before they were married and before children. :) It's pretty cool to see how the Lord has blessed their lives. We've also worked alongside many of them and have enjoyed their friendships.

One site I would love for you all to visit and pray for is Dillion's Dialog.. Please go by and lift this family up in your prayers.. show your support and leave a comment to encourage them on the road they trod. These are dear people and their story is an amazing testimony of perseverance and grace.

love to you all...
Mel and family.....

Josh update

Here are some pictures of Josh. He is doing really well and is really enjoying Washington D.C.! As you can tell he has plenty of friends and has work to keep him busy....

enjoy!

Happy Birthday Kayla

Another year has passed and she's another year older!

Kayla We love you and hope you had a wonderful 17th Birthday

love mom and dad, Josh and Justin

Senior Recognition

Each year our region takes time to recognize our Graduating Seniors.

It is always a wonderful time for our Seniors as they prepare a 2 minute presentation and everyone watches it and then they go to the front with their families and the senior asks someone who has had an impact in their lives to pray for him. This year Justin asked Russ Minick. Russ also prayed for Josh when he graduated. Then after all the seniors have been recognized they have a reception for them.


here are some pictures from this special time. Yes there were lots of kleenex...

Cousins.....

What a JOY it was to see Emily, Timothy, and Christopher. We haven't seen Nathaniel yet but I hope our paths will cross soon. I couldn't believe how much these three have changed. WOW - in just one year the change is so significant.

It is so good for the soul to get to hear how the things are going in their lives and to see them and just get to listen to them laugh. See how their personalities have changed and to see what Cool Cousins our kids have been blessed with....


Tim and Stacy- GREAT JOB!

You've got some amazing kids!

I was glad that they came to Justin's Senior Recognition. He was thrilled that they thought of him enough to come.

Summer Palace

It's been so great to see my parents getting to enjoy their retirement or semi retirement. :)

The kids really enjoyed their 2nd home :) which we lovingly call the summer palace. Over Christmas the kids lived out in the summer palace and loved it so much. It was like having their own apartment. :)


Here are some pictures for them enjoying a long weekend up at Lake Eufala.

Happy Belated Birthday Nathaniel

Hope you have a WONDERFUL BIRTHDAY WEEK! :)


For those of you who don't know Nathaniel he's our Nephew and he just turned 8.


Happy Birthday




From : Aunt Melissa, Uncle Dwayne, Josh, Justin and Kayla

Family What a Gift

Make photo slide shows at onetruemedia.com

the kill

Hello All,

While on Christmas break in the States Kayla and I got to go hunting at Mr. Watson’s farm in Alabama and after 3 evenings of hunting together, Kayla bagged her first deer…a 7 point buck. This Dad sure is proud of her.

I’ve laid out some photos of the big adventure and they should all be in order, so you can share the experience with us.





Here is kayla at the shooting house getting ready to shoot her a deer....



Dwayne took the kids to the shooting range to sight in their guns. That was a fun day... getting to shoot their guns.



here is kayla being impatient and telling her dad, " Come On Dad"... she was ready to get to her stand and all he wanted to do was take one more picture.



Here is the Deer. It wasn't really big in size but he had a 7 points.

More of the Soccer Tourni....

Just so you know, you can click the pictures to see them enlarged. :)

here are some random pictures of the soccer tournament....

enjoy!

This was an amazing shot... she was playing so well to have been recovering from her torn ligament.


After they received their trophy they hung out with friends. Here is Kayla with 2 of her best friends.


Here the team is getting focused for their final game....


Here is Dwayne tackling Kayla because she didn't want to give the DADDY some love! So he said he'd tackle her and make her say how much she loved him... when she was little he would tickle her until she said, "DADDY is the GREATEST".... or I LOVE YOU DADDY! she loved that game..... so today at the age of 16 he got her down and tickled her... except this time. :) she held back and wouldn't say it... ofcourse she loved being able to keep from saying it under her daddies tickling.. :)

re-enactment

We arrived to Florida and the next morning we were off to see an Re-enactment of the Seminole war..... it was really pretty neat...

our time with fam....

It was great to be able to come home for the holidays - it was a trip that we needed in hopes of making it to our 4 year mark. I truly can't believe we have already reached the 1 1/2 year mark until we return for our state side assignment.

Well, our time with family was great... I will only post a few from our visits...


Here we are playing Yahtzee.... It was fun to see some of our score sheets from when I was kayla's age and younger... :)



Caraba's Yummy in our tummy! Great steaks , great fellowship, but more importantly- Great Birthday... what fun to be there with Rich for his birthday!