Two amazing girls!

Many of you may know already that Jordyn and Alexis are planning to go to Haiti in June. Jordyn went a couple of years ago and has wanted to go back ever since. Alexis on the other hand wasn't sure she was ready to go until about a year ago and she began to have a burning desire to visit the place her siblings once called home. These girls are so amazing! They have left me speechless on many occasions with their compassion for those less fortunate than we.

I told them they could go only if they raised the money to pay for it themselves. They started fund raising and saving right away. I'm so excited to report that they are getting so close. Each one only has about $300 left to raise! They worked at our church auction, sold Papa Murphy peelers, sent support letters, and saved change to put as much as they could in their "Haiti box." They still have a few things left to do, but I had to take a moment to say how very proud I am of them. I cannot wait to share this experience with my amazing girls!

If you would like to help in their efforts please e-mail me at mecundiff@yahoo.com for details on how you can be a part of their journey!

The Zoo...

We had so much fun over Spring Break visiting the St. Louis Zoo! The kids loved it!

Nearly every exhibit he was the last to leave. All day we heard, "Oh gade!!"

Jordyn and Hope are quite the pair. I had a feeling they would be buddies and I was certainly right. Speaking of buddies, turns out the buddy system is a must to survive a day at the zoo with 6 kids. Thanks to this system we didn't lose a single child. Thumbs up on that one!

My boys! It's so great seeing them all together! I love each one so much!
I'm blessed beyond measure that's for sure!

Mia was all smiles! This girl could light the world with her smile.

Check out this exhibit! Wait a minute....

All of my amazing children! Well and a zebra, that one's not mine.


Taking time to stop and smell the flowers. Hope just has to make sure Noah is smelling the right one. ; ) They did smell really great, unlike the elephants that smelled really NOT great!

Alexis with her buddy, aka "Grandma."

Gotta love timers! Apparently, Mia wasn't ALL smiles. ; ) It was a wonderful family day!!

The carousel is always a big hit!

Yuck, Alexis!

Hopey loves the ride!

I guess that sums it up. This post was brought to you by someone's dirty underwear!

Quick update...

Things are good! I'm sorry I don't have time to update this very often. I would promise to do better, but if I do better that might mean someone is wearing dirty underwear and NOBODY wants that! In a nutshell things are good. We are winding down on school and we are all excited about summer! We found a vehicle we can all fit in so no more riding on the floor for me. I'm pretty pumped about that! I've decided to be frugal on a few things. I have plans for a bigger garden and doing lots of canning this year. I'm also making my own dishwasher detergent and will attempt making laundry detergent tonight. I think I'm becoming one of those women that I used to think.....why? Now I know. 1000 loads of laundry saving, at the very least, $.15 a load equals a savings of $150. That's almost four new pairs of tennis shoes, and way more if I can catch them on a sale. You might think 1000 loads sounds like a lot, but I think I did that many last week. Ok, maybe not, but it did feel like it. At any rate, it's kind of fun so we'll try it and see how it goes! I promise to post some new pictures soon, but this will have to do for now. Blessings to all of you who still come to see what this Cundiff party of eight is like.

Mia's first birthday at home....

We had a party for her on Sunday though her birthday was actually on Monday. I have to say we had a wonderful time, but I did have a moment of sadness as I thought of Mia's birth-mother in Haiti. Mia LOVED her party and being surrounded by so many family members! She was ALL smiles, and what a beautiful smile it is!! I can't believe she is 7!

It is so amazing celebrating these wonderful days with all of our children!

We just don't fit!

No matter how you look at it. No matter how many times we try. We just don't fit. For some reason 8 passengers do not fit in a 7 passenger van(unless you are in Haiti, then you can fit about 14 in there). So she's for sale!

$6200

Please pray we are able to sell our van quickly. We have found another vehicle that we do all fit in and need to sell this one as soon as possible. Thanks!

Coming Home

I guess it's finally time to post these. Coming home was so wonderful. Noah was excited to be FINALLY going home. The departure was so different than that of the girls. Theirs was exciting too but seeing the pain in their mother's eyes made it harder. Noah and I woke up with smiles on our faces. We were up early and ready to go in plenty of time. He was able to go around and tell all the nannies and cooks goodbye. He smiled and loudly proclaimed, "Bye Bye!" They hugged him, kissed him, and wanted pictures with him. There was a team there so they then followed us out to the van. We were all set!!

Waiting in the Port au Prince Airport for our departure!

The first of many strides it would take to get us home!

Watching his life change drastically, but not clear of all it would involve. One day he will know the Lord delivered him!

Gotta love long layovers! He was a dream. He loved watching the planes come and go. That was a very good thing for me considering we got stuck in Ft. Lauderdale and in Chicago.

Traveling like a Pro!

This was the group I didn't get to see. : ( Unfortunately, due to many delays we arrived home over two hours later than expected. I did have a nice size group still determined to see this miracle happen. A big thank you goes out to everyone who came!