SLEEPY HEAD

This morning as I was getting ready for church

Victoria sat playing beside me by the back door.

She ususally comes in and tries to snatch anything

she can out of my make-up drawer but I guess

this morning she was just too tired. I was drying

my hair and turned to check on her and this is how

I found her. I didn't have the heart to move her as

I knew she would awaken and not go back to sleep,

so I left her laying there. What a dirty, grubby

place for such a cutie to fall asleep!

Jeep Fun!

Scottie and Victoria
Colson all set for the ride!
Victoria and her "cheesy" smile!
She thinks she's a "hot" driver and

top "horn honker".

These two kids love Scottie and they

love his jeep. Colson is always asking for

a ride, especially when the top is off.

They both got a short ride up and down

the street and they thought they

were the coolest ever!

What a "great" big brother to do this

for his siblings!

Daniel & Elizabeth these

next few photos are for you!

This girl loves, in every sense of the word,

POPCORN!

Our first official week of no school. I think I hear the "Hallelujah Chorus" being played in the background. . . . . It's been so nice not having to scurry here or there. I started my week off with dentists appointments for two of the boys. While at the dentist office, yesterday, I made all our summer doctor, more dental and eye appointments and enrolled Brennan in a summer class in an area school district. I took my calendar with me and from my cell scheduled everything. (how did I survive all those years without a cell phone?) As I ended my final conversation the boys were done with their dental exams.

I am in the last two weeks of my spring semester class. WHEW! I honestly didn't think I was going to make it either! I start summer classes as soon as this class is finished then will have a break and fall classes will begin when the kids return to school after Labor Day. I can't even let my mind get ahead to that, letting go of the kids AGAIN!

This past year at Jacqueline's school was rough. We have been here for 9 years and the complexion of our school has drastically changed. We have some pretty severe discipline issues, some extremely tough kids and involved familys are now the minority. We have considered transfering both her and Colson to another area elementary school but their first grade classes are well over their allotment. So what do we do? Do we stay and try and make a difference in our school, do we homeschool, or do we put in for the school of choice and hope that by August there will be a spot for Colson? Pondering all this makes me realize how this scenario mirrors my walk with God. Do I want to take the easy road in my faith and trust, want everything to be comfortable, or do I dig my heels in, muster up all the resolve and determination I can and continue the journey. As in most of my life, my family's live's, we aren't traditional "follow the same path kind of people". God has emblazed on our hearts to constanly search and seek Him which always mean we cut a new trail. Oh, life would be great if we could, just once, follow someone else's lead, but our call is to follow Christ's lead and for us, for me, that means staying the course, continuing the trek. I knew when I was pursuing the idea of switching the kids that my heart was not at ease. You ever have those conversations with yourself trying to talk yourself into something but your heart just doesn't have peace? Thats the situation here. Knowing there was no room for Colson told me that we are to stay put. Am I happy about it, frankly, NO,but. . . .this is where God has called me, Den and our kids to serve. Can I try and be a light in a darkened world? Absolutely! will it be easy, probably not. But our mission is to go and touch others, and I know this is where He wants us to be and I want to be a part of His mission, His purpose, His plan and I definitely want to be where He is working.

The lazy, hazy days of summer begins. . . .

Our first offical day of summer vacation. . . . ahhhhhh. . . . . .feels so good to not jump into life each morning, especially this morning. I had forgotten how tiring it was to get up with a baby. Victoria has been sleeping so much better these past few weeks and I have been getting almost 6 straight hours of sleep. Its been wonderful and I haven't been dragging all day but last night she woke up at 1:30 with a fever. This poor little doll just can't catch a break. I am pretty sure its her teeth. She has 4 more to come in and they have almost broken the skin. We both fell asleep on the sofa about 9am. The kids are all starting to come alive now after enjoying the opportunity to sleep in.

We had a busy day yesterday. I decided it would be fun to go out to lunch to celebrate summer vacation! Amanda and the boys met us as did Casey. We then came home and hung out for a few hours before heading downtown for our annual Summerfest/end of the year parade. It was rather muggy but a beautiful summer evening. The parade, as always, was a huge hit and Victoria had fun waving and collecting candy and beaded necklaces. Our church participated so she was real excited to see Daddy come along. On our way home we figured we had been gone 4 hours!

Today will be a great day to hit the pool with temperatures hitting almost 90. We are definitely taking advantage of the warm weather because one never knows how long it will last in our part of the country!!!

We are experiencing some unusally warm and

humid weather this weekend. I just love it!

This afternoon we had some severe weather

roll in and it was awesome! I was out

getting things for our elementary schools

field day tomorrow and came out of the

grocery store to an unbelievably dark,

but beautiful sky. I came home to find

that we were under a tornado warning.

Oh how fun! Everyone but Den and Victoria

were in the basement and I kept a watchful

vigil on the sky outdoors. Jacqueline

was spending the afternoon with Dave & Casey

at their apartment, on the other side of

town, and Dave would call and give me

updates on how they were doing there. At

one point he says, "stay on the phone with

me, mom, we are gonna seek cover

in the bathroom and I am going to drag

the futon cover in there." Of course

this made me a bit nervous with my girl

across town but I knew her big brother and

sister would make sure she was taken care of.

They are enjoying some special time with

her and she is enjoying some special attention

from them.

Anyways. . . I just love this kind of turbulent weather.

I love the thunder and lightening; the louder the better.

A new adventure. . . . a new marriage. . . .

a new state. . . .and a new puppy. . . .

We said our "goodbyes" to Daniel and Elizabeth

this morning. WOW! was that hard!

Definitely bittersweet! So happy for them,

excited for them, and thrilled for them;

yet our hearts are heavy because we will

miss them both dearly.

We are so thankful for the technology

we are able to enjoy today that will

keep us close. What a blessing!

We are blessed that they have an

awesome church that loves them both

and a youth group that can't wait

for their return!

The Honeymooners are Home~~
Daniel and Elizabeth came home Friday afternoon from Hawaii. We sure did miss them and we enjoyed hearing all about thier trip and seeing all the beautiful pictures they took.

Yesterday after church we had Elizabeths family over, the DeWeese & Cox family from Lansing, to see them unwrap their wedding gifts. Elizabeth was so cute letting Daniel unwrap them. She said she unwrapped all the shower gifts and it was his turn to unwrap the wedding gifts. David commented that it was alot like Christmas but that only two were visited by "Santa"! It was such fun listening to the kids and visiting with Elizabeth's parents and grandparents. Afterwards we enjoyed cake and ice cream and then all went outside for the "corn hole" tournament. Such a fun yard game made and given to us by Elizabeth's grandparents from Ohio. Of course he was kind enough to paint it in the colors of our favorite university!!!! We had many rounds of "corn hole" and then filtered inside for some dinner and more visiting.

What a great weekend and what an awesome blessing to have new family to share life with. We are so blessed that Daniel has married into a family that loves and serves God.

We are going to enjoy the next few days with the kids and then they will pack and be off to their new home out west.

Unfortunately we still have a few sick ones, Jacqueline and Colson now have the dreaded HFM virus and thankfully Victoria is well on her way to recovery. PTL