Zachary's Birthday

Zachary is really a teenager- 13 years old.  He is growing (literally) into a wonderful young man.  He has caught up to mom in height and his pants seem to always be too short.  He continues to love to read and devours books.  He loves that his Language Arts teacher has a nice classroom library.  He is adjusting to school well and particularly enjoys his Chinese class.  He has made some good friends at church and has a quirky sense of humor, particularly around peers.  Zachary has a desire to do what is right and a yearning to understand the why behind things.  He is a great big brother and looks after his siblings.  We love Zach!!

Zachary is not a big fan of cake so he had a ice cream cake this year.  Delicious 😋😋

First Months in the USA - July & August

Pool time at the Residence Inn 

 Indoor pool one of the advantages of living in a hotel.  Some of the other include breakfast, dinner 3 days a week, and housekeeping services.

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore

Indiana borders Lake Michigan and has some nice beaches outside of Chicago.  We went there one Saturday with Zachary and all the youth.  It was an enjoyable outing and a great introduction to Indiana.

School Starts
We stayed at the Residence Inn for 2 weeks, while we waited for the furnished apartment to open.  We then stayed in a 3 bedroom furnished apartment until we closed on our house and got our stuff from Mississippi at the end of October.  An adventure to say the least.

While at the apartments school started.  Here are back to school pictures.

Other Events
Other things that happened when we got back were attending the temple.  We are so blessed to have a temple now only 20 minutes away.  Zahcary has been able to do baptisms, and Kyle and I have been able to do sessions.  One of the reasons I already love Indiana.

 Kyle was able to join the family toward the end of August.  We were excited to have him with us.

Our apartment complex had a very nice heated pool, we were able to use it into October.  They also had a game room with pool and shuffleboard that kept the kids entertained.