Bennett Artyoma Vaughn
The funniest thing happened this morning as we were all getting ready for school. A few days before we’d been watching some old videos from when the kids were in Latvia at the orphanage and we were talking about their Latvian names. In the videos of course the boys heard themselves talking in Latvian and also heard the caregivers at the orphanage calling them by their Latvian names. David was of course “Dema” (short for Dmitri) and Bennett was called “Toma” (short for Artjoma). David, of course, was the last one left eating his...
read morereflections on amazing grace
So while I’m on a role I thought I’d go ahead and write about something that’s been on my mind for a few days now. Georgia and I recently watched the movie Amazing Grace the story of William Wilberforce. If you’re not aware, William Wilberforce was a major force (slight pun intended) in the abolution of the British slave trade. His conversion to Christianity and his involvement in the abolition movement was heavily influenced by John Newton a former slave trader turned Christian and writer of the hymn “Amazing Grace”. Anyway, I...
read more20 Years
Wow, this is a big one. It seems just yesterday I was watching Georgia come down the aisle of the gymnacafetorium where we had our wedding. It was at Union Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Farragut where I grew up and became a Christian. Georgia actually accepted Christ as her savior there as well after we started dating. I had the privilege of praying the prayer of salvation with her. We’ve never looked back.Unlike a lot of guys, I’d always dreamed of having a wife and a family. It took me a while to want to have children because I...
read moreGot Dirt?
Well, we couldn’t stand it any longer – we’re expanding our house. We decided a few months ago that we were going to have to add on because we just didn’t have room for anything. No place to store toys, clothes, no place to play indoors, no room for tools and lawnmower – you get the picture. My Dad is a grading contractor so he’s helping us out with the dirt and site prep – thanks Dad (& Mom), we love you guys.Anyway, above is just a snapshot of the progress we’ve got going. In the new set of pictures...
read moreEnd of School
Yesterday was the last day of school and wow what a year it’s been. It’s made me think about how blessed Georgia and I are to have the children that we do. They bring us such joy when they do the right thing without us telling them or when we’re not looking or someone else brags about something good that they’ve done done.So as you might imagine, the end-of-school activities have seemingly increased exponentially with five children. Needless to say we’ve had a pretty hectic schedule the past couple of weeks. However, as I was...
read moreIt’s been a whole year..
We’ve known our new children for a whole year now as of March 10th. We first visited them in Latvia arriving on March 10th 2006 in Riga and Jelgava. I remember Anna was actually brave enough to meet us at the airport with Alissa Stemple (who is the orphanage director at the Sparrow’s Nest orphanage in Jelgava). Anna seemed so small and fragile when I first saw her at the airport. I remember coming through the doors leading from the baggage claim area to the lobby where folks greet arriving passengers. I remember Alissa actually...
read moreAnna’s first Daddy Date
Well yesterday I reached a new milestone with my daughter Anna – I took her on her first daddy daughter date. It may seem kind of trivial but this is actually quite a milestone. You see, Anna has never had a relationship with a father figure so going anywhere with me in the past has been really scary for her. I remember when I was in Latvia for our court trip (I had to go by myself) I wanted to take Anna into Riga with me to attend church and to meet our friends from Riga 2nd United Methodist. She really did want to go when I asked...
read moreDavid writes his name
Well this week has been quite a week all the way around. David is making such wonderful progress. He’s been part of our family and in the United States now for only about 7 months. When we first met him he knew very little English. In fact because of the neglect he suffered as a toddler he didn’t learn to talk until he was past the age of 3. He came to the orphanage knowing only one word and that was “machine” which is Latvian for car. He did pick up a few English words in the orphanage but was not anywhere close to fluent.Now...
read moreNew Year Greetings
We’re starting to settle back in after the holidays. We’ve all gotten back into our normal routines. Kids going to school every day and church events during the week and on the weekends. The children actually got their grades from school for the last semester this week too and they’re all doing well. Courtney of course makes the highest grades – she had straight A’s. Stephanie did really well too and she had B’s in all her classes. Anna and David aren’t getting letter grades yet; they get P’s...
read moreOur adoption story in the Newspaper
Below is an article that appeared in the Maryville Daily Times newspaper on Christmas day. I was sure how long the paper would keep the article on line so I thought I would post it here as well. It tells the short version of our adoption story and some of the amazing things that God has done in our lives. Read and Enjoy! Article published Dec 25, 2006Family grows through faithBy Melanie Tuckerof The Daily Times StaffThe Vaughn family of Friendsville stretched across the oceans, tapped on the shoulders of three abandoned children and led the...
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