Today is our last full day with J. I wanted to share some pictures of our beach day over the weekend to remember out time.
We went in the morning, it was perfect low tide.
The kids could dive and splash at any depth they felt most comfortable.
After pre-swimming push ups.
This was the first time boogie boarding for both girls. For one girl, that was a miracle. 
Tandem wave surfing.
One girl took the plunge first, giving courage to the others.
Man, I wish all Russian orphans could get this amount of vitamin C.
The kids splashed and ran, swam and ate from the food we brought. Spent time just being together.
Preparing for his future.
We over packed food, or so we thought. We brought all the picked fruit that is hard too peel, like pomelo, and everyone made it their project, slurping down the juicy fruit at leisure. 
I love these four stinkers.
Thank you to everyone who supported us in our hosting. Thank you for your prayers. We want to give a HUGE thank you and shout out to New Horizons for Children. They run such a life changing organization that is drastically changing the lives of orphans and families forever.
If you have EVER thought about helping orphans, try New Horizons this summer, it will be 4 weeks you will never regret or forget. Nothing compares to the time spent investing in a forgotten, orphaned child, but my bet it, it will be mutually healing for everyone, that’s how God rolls.
God will provide, the time will fly by, but the moments will last forever.
OMG–could those kids get any cuter? I think not.
I’m gonna miss J a lot though. Couldn’t you keep her?
So sad to think of J leaving, but I am so happy for how much she has impacted your lives. After my father died, my 13 year old son went into mental hibernation, giving up everything that had anything to do with my Dad.(He was the father figure in my son’s life, and they were so close) When my son was 15, my mom had the great idea for us to host an exchange student, the same age as my son. We hosted a wonderful young man from Brazil, who has a such a special spirit. Hosting him was the best thing we could do for our whole family. He always has a huge smile on his face, and he brought joy and laughter back into our lives! 5 years after, people in our community still remember him and ask how he is doing. He will always be a son to me, a brother to my kids and friend to everyone he met while living here. We are still in touch with him, and he is in college in Brazil, and he is a great success at everything he does. J reminds me of him, and I am so glad that God brought your family and she together this summer. Will you be able to keep in touch with her after she goes home?
I also wanted to tell you how much I love the 2nd picture down of your boys! Your pictures are always so good, but this one reminds me of a picture taken of my son when he was about 4. The way the light shines on the curve of their cheeks and how gently Finley puts his arm around his Elijah is just so beautiful! I ended up having someone paint the picture of my son and I am so glad I did! My son is almost 21(GULP!!) but I will always have that painting of him as a little boy.