Four weeks home

Last week, we left on a family vacation to Sandy Cove, which is located in Maryland. We were offered the Operation Oasis due to Tyler's deployment last year. The vacation was 100% free for our family of 10. We were given two rooms side-by-side. The kids were able to swim, climb a rock wall, go parasailing, tubing, rope climbing, make rockets, and many other fun activities - including a free family photo shoot by the water. Every day, we did fun activities and then met back in one room to read scriptures and pray together. There was a talent show and Tyler encouraged me to sign up to sing, which I did. The talent show began at 9pm and by the time I got up to sing - I was next to last to perform - it was 10:40pm! I was exhausted and I prayed that it would go well. Heavenly Father heard my prayer and I was able to sing well. It was fun to fill the room with my voice - it was a rather large hall. I'm glad Tyler encouraged me to share my talent. He's so good to me. WARNING: Below are a lot of photos. For just the updates on how the triplets are doing, keep scrolling down. As for posting on here in general, this will be the last post. I will revert back to my general family blog: Jill, The WARRIOR.

After our vacation, we decided to stop by the Washington D.C. Temple and Visitor's Center on the way home. We spent 30 minutes there and we could have stayed an additional hour. Everyone had a wonderful time. 

Michael found the Bulgarian Book of Mormon on the wall. He said he felt very peaceful there and wanted to stay longer. 

Michael was trying to type me up something on google translate about his biological mother. He stops mid-way, erases it all, then types: "She is in the past. You are my mama now and this is my future." Michael has had another great week. He really enjoyed the vacation, other than not being able to understand people when they spoke to him. Everyday, I would go back to the room to be with Silas while he napped. Sometimes Michael would come with me, just to spend time talking. Relationships are very important to him. Last night we watched a Mormon Message about Jesus Christ. I felt the Holy Ghost and got goose bumps. I showed Michael and he showed me his arm - goose bumps, also. He is sensitive to the Holy Spirit. What a blessing he is and will be in our family. Michael is my shadow. He is often right where I am and enjoys sitting by me. He is still very service oriented. Yesterday he helped me make dinner and then did some cleaning - all without being asked.

Sarah had a wonderful time on the vacation. She enjoys going and doing many activities. She plays hard and she sleeps hard. It is still difficult to get her to wake up in the morning. One concern we have is that she doesn't seem to want to (or be able to) stop eating candy or snacky-type foods. She has developed a little tummy in the past four weeks. She is very active, which is helping, but we will keep an eye on her in regards to this. I certainly don't want for her to have a weight problem, if she can help it. Sarah is not holding back with affection for me now. She is often leaning on me and snuggled up to me. She asks to sleep in my room with me. Today, we were watching OKLAHOMA and she snuggled up to me. I put a blanket on top of us and she promptly fell asleep. It occurred to me that she must feel very comfortable to do this. Such an experience only four weeks after being home is quite a wonderful thing to me. 

John was playing miniature golf with Tyler and his siblings. It was his first time to play and he was frustrated that he couldn't hit the ball where he wanted for it to go. At one point, when he was very frustrated, he hit himself. This, of course, was very shocking to Tyler and he tried to help him calm down. Later on, I spoke with him about hitting himself. He seemed angry and perhaps embarrassed that Daddy told me about it. He then hit himself on the head - something his mother did to him often when he was young. I think he may have been trying to discipline himself with this action, but I calmly rubbed his shoulder and asked him to not do that. I think he felt a lot of pressure to perform well in the miniature golf - something he had never done before - and he cannot see well yet (still waiting on his optometry appointment to get his eye prescription) - AND he seems to feel anxiety from all of the people at this resort - I think he has social anxiety in addition to his ADHD. He is eager to see the optometrist next week. John met a girl at Sandy Cove and talks about her a lot. I don't want to tell her that he likely will never see her again...John is a hard worker. He doesn't complain about chores and has a positive outlook on things. He discovered that he LOVES homemade ice cream! We have a little agreement going that in one month, he will approach me with a hug, instead of me pulling him to hug me often. :)