Thriving

School is officially out for EVERY Maddux boy for the 2015-2016 school year! Kameron has completed his last day of summer school and 7th grade, and he absolutely rocked it! Turns out summer school is much more laid back, more individualized for each student's unique needs, and the best part is that the kiddos earn prizes and candy! Kameron came home with a 30 dollar gift card today. He was so proud! And we are sure proud of all of his hard work!

Kameron's English is coming along very rapidly. Last month, he not only could pick out words in songs in English that he recognized, but actually points out words he doesn't recognize and asks what they mean. We were told that for most older international adopted kiddos that recognizing words in songs in English that they recognize, takes about a year. He has been home 7 months now. He really is one smart boy!

One of the very first things we learned about Kameron, was that he loved babies. He loved to play with them, to hold them, and was always very gentle with them. He has been a good big brother, but particularly so to our littlest Noah. This week he helped mom and dad out when Noah wouldn't eat his dinner by turning it into a game "Noah, you are a monster. Now open up and eat the train.. here it comes!"

Kameron feeding "the monster."

Carrying a sleepy baby into the store

Kameron and Jesse Jay both got straight A's (or the elementary school equivalent for that) this last semester. Toby got very good grades and perfect attendance. Both Jesse Jay and Toby are starting to read rather fluently. And Noah is loving having all these people who can read him his books! Kameron has started reading some books to Noah (in English) as well.

Toby with his kindergarten attendance award and certificate

Kameron's eye surgery for his strabismus has been moved up to July 7th. We ask that you please pray for him to not be anxious. He has experienced a fair bit of medical trauma in his life. I have been very impressed with his resolve to get his eye fixed. He has been very great about going to the hospital and is thrilled that they are going to let mom be with him the entire time he is awake (his only request). Of course, the after surgery McDonald's and Dutch Brothers he has been promised doesn't hurt either... :)

The older 3 boys are taking swimming lessons together this past week and a half. Watching them grow and learn together has been so rewarding! All 3 of them are starting to swim without assistance (IE: no swim belts!!). Kameron was very hesitant about having anything to do with pools or swimming for a long time. And now, he jumps in confidently with his brothers and swims for hours! Those boys would swim all day if we let them. And it is such a good way to get their energy out (and man, do they sleep hard!) Seeing the boys faces as they conquer their fears and learn new skills they couldn't do before... takes my breath away!!

Kameron, Jesse Jay, and Toby getting ready to jump in the pool for swim lessons

Many people continue to support and encourage us on our journey. Thank you seems hardly sufficient, but thank you so much for your continued love that you shower our family with! You continue to check in on us and ask how we are all doing. And I couldn't have more joy when I tell you we are all doing very well! A few months back, we had posted that our prayer was "that we wouldn't just survive this, but thrive." And oh, we are thriving! God has been so good and so faithful to our family!

All of the boys relationships continue to grow and blossom. And it has been absolutely beautiful to see. We have mostly good days, and some hard days-- but we are getting through them together as a family!

Boys and their bikes

Playing with friends on the trampoline

Three months ago, things got so difficult, we weren't really sure how we were going to survive it. Things were rough in every way imaginable. If you had told us that we would be doing this well this soon, I'd have said you were nuts! We couldn't imagine our family any other way now.

I love the little things too. This one (see below) in particular. One of Kameron's favorite song's right now is called, "Banana phone." Don't YouTube it. It's one of those repetitive songs that typically drives parent's up the wall. The first picture text I sent Kameron was this one of his brothers. It is so fun having "inside" jokes together.

Banana phones