Photos of Our Mississippi Adventure

Here's our new life in Mississippi! We're missing the midwest, but loving the south. The Lord has certainly blessed our family in our new community.

Liliana's second first day of school. Poor baby had to meet her classmates with cuts and bruises all over her face (from a nasty spill on Halloween). She now goes to school three days a week, rather than two. That's been an adjustment for both mommy and Liliana. She seems to love her teachers and new friends, and her teacher says she fit right in on her first day.

Leila started eating rice cereal about 10 days ago. She loves to blow raspberries when her mouth is full, so the food flies all over. As you can see here, she enjoys mealtime. As a matter of fact, she enjoys just about everything. Leila is the happiest baby I've ever encountered.
Less than a week after we arrived in Mississippi, we ventured to New Orleans with the church nursery group. And I'm so glad we did! Not only did we have a fabulous family outing, but we also met a bunch of young families who quickly became friends. We already feel very connected.

Liliana loves the zoo, but the animals couldn't compete with the playgrounds. She had such a ball climbing and sliding that she didn't even care to look at the exhibits. In fact, she and her little friend, Charlie, pretended to build a fire with sticks for over 30 minutes while the adults chatted.

Here are the primate girls. Of course, my faves were the monkeys, chimps and gorillas. Leila watched and smiled at the people walking by all day long. She is extraordinarily social. In fact, she often chooses social time over eating and sleeping.

Here we are at the Hattiesburg zoo. After having so many wonderful experiences at the St. Louis zoo, we found our H'burg outing to be rather anticlimactic. We took a "behind the scenes" tour that lasted exactly eight minutes. Okay, so what the community lacks in animal attractions, it more than compensates with friendly people.

Liliana and her pal, Vivian, pet a baby crocodile at the H'burg zoo.

Liliana dressed up like Daddy, who wears a suit to work almost every single day. His job is quite demanding, and we don't see him as much as we used to. Liliana has definitely noticed. Almost every day, she comments that she misses her daddy.

Liliana dressed up like Mommy, perfectly accessorized with STL hat and sleeping baby.


Leila absolutely adores her new exersaucer. She looks so proud when she creates sounds and music with the various toys. And she seems like such a big girl standing up in the seat. I can't believe she's already 20 weeks old!

Liliana's school held their annual Thanksgiving feast on Friday. Here she is as an Indian Princess. As I snapped this photo, she just finished saying, "Mama, hurry! My teeth are chattering!"

Here's Liliana at the feast. Notice the blonde braid in the back. It was the insurance policy, just in case she balked on the wig.