A Gappy Grin

Look what's missing!! 

He's been working on that tooth for some time.  But finally it's OUT!!  And he couldn't be more thrilled.

We have a tradition of the"tooth fairy" taking you out to lunch when you loose the first tooth.  After that, it's money.  And our kids have always known the whole tooth fairy game.  But even though this is his 3rd tooth he still asked begged for the tooth fairy to take him just one last time.

Here's the note he found under his pillow.  

Early this morning, I hear him yell, "YESSSS!!" from his bed. 

I love this new smile! 

Nine Uninteresting Things

One~ I had some friends over today to visit and to watch my mother-in-law make kimchi.  It's been something I've wanted to do before school officially started for everyone.  Now I don't like kimchi.  Not at all.  But it's fun to watch her work in the kitchen.  And she has this gift of making a big batch of anything with hardly any mess.  I do not have that gift.

Two~ We are taking pizza to the in-laws for dinner tonight.  NOT homemade pizza either!  It's Tate's last night before flying back to AZ.  We're going to miss him.

Three~ For the first time in forever I'm excited about starting a new school year.  EXCITED I tell ya!  And truth be known, I'm always excited about the party but not about the work that lies ahead.  This year it's both.  I think the kids will really enjoy the new structure of school.

Four~ We are saving up for another car.  We have more drivers all needing to go in different directions. Honey is selling his motorcycle and we are used car shopping and saving.  It has really sparked my interest in money management.  For 26 years Honey has taken care of all things money.  And he's done a great job. But now I'd like to help out a bit.

Five~ Mally learned to ripstick!  She's so happy.

Six~ I bought some curtains at Savers during the 50% sale.  I like the color and design but they were not even close to the right length.  So I pinned them up and played with them until I got them to a place that looked good.  I left them like that for Tracy to see and to ask about how to sew them.  I can barely sew a stitch and wasn't looking forward to this part.  But Tracy showed me how to pin them a different way that I didn't need to sew!!  Happy!

Seven~ It's July and I'm wearing a light jacket and drinking hot chocolate.  Oh I'm in love! And tomorrow morning I will need to check our bees and I won't have a heat stroke in the bee gear.  These cooler temps make me ready for some Tiger football!

Eight~ We are months and months away from opening our home for foster care.  But I am working toward getting some things we'll need for our home study.  We have a new fire extinguisher and a trash can with a lid.  We also have a crib in our room for our foster babies.  I was needing to buy one at some point, but Dana gave me hers.   I'm still needing a mattress and hope to find one at GKS this fall.

Nine~ I think this could be labeled Most Boring Post Ever.  Maybe it's because we are in between ball seasons.   But it pretty much sums up life at this point. And sometimes boring is good.

Learning To Live Intentionally

I'm reading through 1 Corinthians these days.  It's interesting how Paul addresses the churches so differently and speaks to their individual needs.  And then at the same time, I find my "need" in whichever epistle I'm reading and it's as though he is speaking to me.  Apparently I have ever-changing issues.

If I were to summarize 1 Corinthians it would be Intentional Living.  Paul speaks a lot about our bodies, how to honor God, putting people first, and also warnings against serving ourselves.

Yesterday, I spoke to my kids about storing up treasure in heaven.  God tells us that our treasure should not be here on earth where moths destroy and thieves steal, but storing up treasure in heaven instead.  Laney mentioned that whenever she heard that teaching it always sounded like we were to store up our own personal treasure boxes for ourselves as the end goal.

But it's not that.

Our goal is glorifying God.  And one of the biggest ways we do that is by putting ourselves last and loving others.  The treasure is the by-product of a life of love.  "....just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved."  1Cor 10:33

But it doesn't just come naturally.  And that's where the instruction comes in.  Do this.  Do that.  And by all means, DON'T do that!!  It's not burdensome, but freeing.  Not only does Paul say "love one another" but he tells us how to do that in chapter 13.

My planner is full of the day-to-day business of life.  There are reminders, menu plans, shopping lists, school ideas, various Scriptures to remember, and the big list of things to do.  But sometimes in the afternoons I find myself in a place of not knowing what to do.  Not that I'm bored, but just overwhelmed with not knowing where to start or what to jump into next.  And often I'm jumping from thing to thing without ever feeling like I'm getting anything done.

This verse has helped..... "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you my obtain it."

Again, this speaks of intentional living.  Having a purpose and then ordering life so that I can achieve that end result.  And the result is ultimately loving God and loving others.

The afternoon is a good time to check off everything that has been done and then evaluate and prioritize the remainder.  By afternoon school is finished, 2 meals are done and cleaned up, and there is a bit more freedom in how to spend the time.  I can play with my kids, swim, or go for a walk.  We can read, make cookies, or just have quiet time.  I can glance at my planner and decide how to spend that time with the goal of loving others and not just catching up on Pinterest.  Every day is different.  But by intentionally prioritizing that time,  there is an actual purpose behind what I'm choosing and I don't feel as though I'm just hopping from thing to thing.

New Friend

Meet Blue

He's our neighbor's new puppy that finds his way over to visit.  

He's the sweetest, most lovable little guy. 

And we have had fun with some puppy love.  

Nana's Dip

This week was Bee Club.  Some of my kids love going to Bee Club with me but I suspect it has nothing to do with learning about bees and everything to do with the snack table.  

You see, these people go ALL OUT with the snacks.   We're talking fried chicken, cheese trays, homemade breads, and endless cookies.  I've never ever seen just a regular chip and dip bowl.  No...that would never do for Bee Club.  

And every month I say I'm going to take something.  And every month it never happens.  Unless you count that one time that I thought it was a potluck BBQ and I took a watermelon.  Turns out, it wasn't.  

But this time, with our garden overload, I decided to take a plate of cucumbers and dip.  And even Honey, who has never seen the snack table at Bee Club, thought I would come home with every one of those cucumbers and a full dip bowl.  

But he was wrong. 

Very Wrong!  Because he didn't take into account THE DIP.  

Nana made this for us for Christian's graduation and we scarfed it down, scraped the bowl, and would've licked it if nobody had been watching.  

My Bee Club folks were equally impressed.  The cucumbers were gone, the bowl was scraped clean, and I found myself having to repeat the recipe over and over to the ladies.  

Now this is not a sweet dip.  It's perfect for chips, veggies, or maybe even to smear on your chicken.  But one lady clearly misunderstood and was dipping her cookies into Nana's dip!  Her cookies!!

Whatever.  

Now this will take you all of 45 seconds to make from start to finish but you have to let it set in the fridge for a few minutes before you eat it.  

1 cup each sour cream and mayo

About a tsp or so of granulated beef bullion 

Mix it all up.  The beef bullion will dissolve after a few minutes and you will need to stir it all together.

And that's it!!  Then go get yourself a bag of chips or maybe swing by my house and I'll help you out with some cucumbers.  

In Which I Discovered Something Incredible

I learned a new word.

"Columbus"

Meg said it means when you think you discovered something that everybody else already knows.  And I think it might fit just perfectly with what happened to me.

Do you remember years back when I was working through cooking whole chickens and turkeys?  Renee and I were learning this together and neither of us were impressed.  But whole chickens save money.  And you can boil the bones to make broth.  And they are versatile.  And did I mention they save money?  And I'm all about the saving money.

And then there was that year when turkeys hit their all-time low and went on sale for super cheap and I bought 12.

Well times haven't changed all that much, except that I'll never buy 12 turkeys again.  I still hate cooking whole chickens.

1. They come in a bag with chicken juice that always leaks.

2. You have to open the bag in the sink because if you puncture that bag in the wrong place, chicken juice will squirt out on you....with force!

3.  You have to pick up that chicken with your bare hands.

4.  There is that bag of guts you have to contend with.

5.  You have to super clean everything because of chicken juice.  The sink, the faucet, the outside of the seasoning jar, your hands, the utensils, everything.

6.  After you do whatever you are going to do with the chicken, you have to pick all the meat off the bones for later.  Again, with your bare hands.

7.  It always puts Momma in a bad mood.

So see?  It all adds up to be a pain in the butt.

But when I was going to bed one night, I had a fantastic idea.  You see, you don't have to buy whole chickens OR boneless skinless chicken pieces.  There's another option.  You can buy chicken pieces that have bones that are not the whole chicken but only the pieces you actually want!  There's a whole section of chicken choices in the grocery store that I have never bothered with!!  You still get the bones for broth but you don't get bags of guts.  Plus it comes on a nice styrofoam tray that contains the chicken juice a little better and you can use TONGS to pick it up.

As for the extra expense, it turns out it's only about ten cents a pound more.  And I'd happily pay that for family peace and less chicken juice.

I know!!

I single-handedly discovered a culinary secret that will change the whole game.  Or in other words, I  columbus-ed it.... and I'm mighty proud of myself.

Linky Love

We've had such a fun summer so far.  The pool is getting tons of action, popsicles are a staple in the freezer, and we are getting to spend more time at the library.  This week we watched The Lego Movie in the theater room at the library and the kids loved it.

The garden is growing, the bees are busily humming, and the weather has been perfect.  LOVE!

Here's some of what I've been reading and looking at this week....

Our foster care classes won't likely start until winter.  In the meantime, I'm educating myself and reading everything I can get my hands on.  I'm taking the angle of reading every horror story I can.  I want to be ready with an appropriate response and a right heart.  I don't want to judge, be prideful, or condemning. And I want to be prepared...at least as much as possible..and not shocked.  I have no fairy tale honeymoon dreams and I appreciate those who are able to give a no-fluff, serious look at the real world of orphan care.

Another Place At The Table

This is a fantastic book.  I couldn't put it down.  I devoured this and was disappointed it was over.  I borrowed this from Dana, but I need to get my own copy so I can read it anytime I like! 

To The End Of June

This is ok.  Not great. I would say it's a very raw account of heartbreak.  There have been some boring parts I've skipped but I'm about 1/2 way through it.  It was published in 2013 so it's very new and has current, accurate law info.  This is a library book but I may want to own it someday.

And as I read through these accounts and think about the ways it'll affect our family, I keep coming back to two words....Love and Peace.  I'm working on memorizing 1 Corinthians 13.  I've memorized it loosely over the years because it is so popular.  But I'm trying to nail it down word-for-word.  And I love this blog post titled Aggressively Living 1 Corinthians 13.  Wow.  I'm praying through every Verse of it.  

I also like this blog about an easy Bible study method.  It has an awesome guilt-free slant that I'm all over! 

Here is a granola  recipe I want to try and here is a bean dip recipe that we made twice this week because WOW!! And I'm thinking I should just make it every day.

I hope you have a great 4th of July!

Our Weekend

Our Friday night tradition of sleeping wherever you want meant that Mally was able to talk her daddy out of his spot. He slept in Christian's bed since he was out of town anyway and I got a new sleeping partner. One that talks a lot and sings and giggles. But when it finally comes down to actual sleeping, she's pretty good at it.

So Saturday morning found us still in bed at 7:30. And it was heavenly.

The day was filled with all manner of work and play and busyness and laziness. Stuff like tilling the garden, cleaning out both refrigerators, dehydrating garden goodness, reading, music playing, and watching a scary YouTube thing. (Thanks Lane).

Zekey has a new library book that he's in love with. It's about dinosaurs but is a cross between a comic book and something that's actually informative. He wanted me to play a game that's in the book where you hide a dinosaur toy and the other person has to find it and you give them clues. Well the dinosaur toys were all the way out in the garage and the closest thing we found was a tiny orange ninja man.

So we hid and hunted Ninja Man. Afterward he read his other new book to me and smeared lotion on my hands and feet. It was like a spa day with entertainment.

Meg and Grandma and Grandpa came over for supper. Burgers and fries, manicures, Sherlock, and a discussion about why I always accidentally send Pinterest pins to Charlene and how to fix it. (Nobody knew).

The night ended with a broken something-or-other in the boys' bathroom forcing them to shower in the girls'. And then Mally deciding she was never getting married because BOYS, and she'd just live with us in whatever house we live in forever.  I decided not to hold my breath since I've been burned by that one before.

Tomorrow is church. And date night. And my boy comes home!! Just the right way to end the weekend.

Summertime!!

What will we ever do when these 3 day weekends are over?  We are becoming quite spoiled.

The first day of summer was celebrated by having friends over, making popsicles, and....picking up the new swimming pool that Nana and Grandpa bought the kids!  They are crazy excited over this!!  Only we didn't have time to set it up because we were due for dinner at the other grandparents.  Gotta love that! New pool, popsicles, AND no cooking dinner...bliss.

Only we couldn't pick up the pool until we emptied the trailer.  The trailer was full of last year's broken pool pieces, various broken bikes, and an old dishwasher that's been here for almost 2 years.   This required the dreaded trip to the dump which we had successfully avoided for the past...well, many many years.  My man HATES the dump and claims he gets a flat tire every time he goes.  Not to mention the $30+ dumping fee.

But this time it couldn't be avoided.  We racked our brains trying to think of a place with a big enough dumpster and then spent the 30 mile trip looking all along the way.  But no.  We finally got to the dump, held our noses, dumped our stuff, and went to pay.

$3.45.

It cost THREE DOLLARS AND FORTY FIVE CENTS!!  Why did we think $30?  Why did we wait so long and deal with that stupid dishwasher for years when for three dollars and forty five cents we would've been done with it a long time ago?  Sheeeesh.

Dinner was delicious as always when my mother-in-law cooks.  Steaks, world cup soccer, Sponge Bob, and getting some Meg time.

Now the pool is up and the Lord is helping us fill it with so much rain.  We already have our first cases of sunburn for the season and the water wasn't even deep enough to get completely wet!  They are LOVING it.

Baseball is chugging right along.  Our games keep getting rained out so the season has been looong.  But fun.  Unless your last game starts at 10pm.  Then it's not quite as much fun.  And afterward there's a lot of this.....

This guy is taking FULL advantage of the summer and squeezing in every fun thing he can do before school starts and busy life begins.  He's out of town AGAIN this week and we are missing him already.  But he's also using the time that he is home to be super helpful by doing things around the house, running errands, and running his little siblings here and there and everywhere. 

Our garden is growing and we are needing to pick cucumbers every day.  This week I tried fermenting them but I think I used the wrong kind of salt because they just aren't looking like they should.  The good thing is that I have plenty to play with until I get it right.  

This dog. 

She is the sweetest little love of a thing except she's also a ferocious killer that can't be trusted around anything with feathers.  

She also likes to torment the cat.   

Happy Summer!! 

T-Ball Fun!

Can you tell this guy had a fun t-ball season?

Ready to bat. 

My favorite!  So excited to get the out! 

First time across home plate! 

Adam Boy!!

Coach Rachuy was super fun and encouraging.  I hope Zboy had as much fun playing as we did watching!!

Some Big News and Other Stuff That's Not So Big

I love this life I have.  Seriously.

Last week I got to see a whole bunch of cutie pies at our church's VBS.   I helped with snacks while Christian and Josh ran games and Lane helped with the preK.   Fun stuff.

But.  My other church's VBS is going on right now and it's SOOOO hard to stay away!  There are old friends that have come back plus my own Awana peeps.  I miss them....a LOT.

Look at my garden goodness!  We also have lettuce, basil, kale, and some green tomatoes.  I don't have high hopes for my tomatoes this year.  After we had them all planted, I read that the variety we picked is a stingy producer.  Grrrrrr.......  And sure enough they are slow going.

We added some guinea chicks to the mix.  We have already lost 1/2 the population because KORRIE.
This farm life is expensive.

We've been spending a good deal of time at the ball fields.  The baseball season is nearly over but it's been a blast.  We bring snacks and water and lawn chairs and take pictures and visit and yell and clap.  My kids bring a soccer ball and play with anyone else who has to be there because their brother has a game.  Jess had a great time with this baby girl last night.  Isn't she the sweetest?

Date night this week and we tried a new pizza place, looked in the window at the pawn shop that was closed, and came home and watched Carol Burnett.

So you are all caught up now and are you ready for some big news?

BIG NEWS!!!

This summer we are starting foster parent training!!  I am beyond excited.  I've been wanting to do this FOREVER!!  My mind is swirling thinking of a million things.

My first priority right now is getting our school plans in place for the fall.  I'm using some new stuff, learning different curriculum, and working on a schedule.

In the meantime, I'm reading books, thinking about what I need to do to my house, and hoping to start paperwork next week.  I'm also praying now for whoever will come and stay with us for awhile.  EXCITED!!

Some Of My Favorites This Week

Here's some things I'm loving this week...

~While we were in Colorado, Rommel had a fan kinda like this.  When we got home, I bought one right away.  My goal for this summer is for our electric bill to stay under the $300 mark.  I know when canning season hits, that'll be HARD!  But still.  This fan is FANtastic!!  I wish I had 4 more.  But at $60 a pop, we will have one for awhile.

~My next door neighbor had a garage sale.  And I love garage sales of my friends because they usually have stuff I like.  We scored some new Tiger shirts and hats and several brand new candles.   I've been needing some new candles, so this was a gift just for me!  It inspired me to clean the whole house since everyone knows you can't light a candle unless the house is clean.  Then Jess surprised me with these roses from the front yard.  The smell is heavenly!!

See that bud vase?  I never remember not having it.  It was my mom's when I was a kid and now it's mine.

~So for all sports teams I like my boys to have the number of their birth.  Christian has always been #3 on every team unless he just had absolutely no choice.  And here's our caboose, #9 , looking fierce in his t-ball shirt.  LOVE.

~Me and my boy watching Nate's game together.  I have to admit, baseball is funner than I thought.   I'm enjoying the parents/grandparents too.  Way less intense than soccer and football, and that's kinda nice.

~Farm News:

Garden goodness!  The Lord has graciously given us so much rain with the perfect balance of sunshine and we haven't had to water a single time yet.  Our lettuce, basil, and kale are growing beautifully.   We have a few green tomatoes and peppers and we picked one zucchini.  Slowly we are adding tomato cages.  Last year we just staked them, but cages are far better.  Aldi has them for $1.49 each.  We have lots of tomato plants but I keep telling myself we will have these cages for years to come so the investment is worth it.

The bees are doing great.  I've decided to run double brood chambers this year.  That means more bees and a stronger hive but possibly less honey.  A stronger hive means less chance of pests and more ability to over winter.  We added vented covers to both hives since it's getting warmer and the bees are hanging out on their porch more.

We lost 2 more chickens this week.  One was because of Milo, the other was Korrie.  Grrrrr......
But we also added 4 Guinea chicks!  We are hoping to let them free range and deal with all the bugs, but with Korrie's killer instinct I'm not sure that's even possible.

Every Knee Every Tongue

One of my goals for 2014 was to memorize the whole book of Philippians.

I am nowhere close!  And here the year is half over already!  But I do read and re-read those 4 chapters all the time.  Sometimes in my Bible, sometimes on my phone, and sometimes I listen to it as I'm getting dressed in the bathroom.

This week I've been stopped by Philippians 2:10-11... "at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

It will happen.  Someday.  Every single person.  But the question is, will it be too late?  Will Jesus look into the face of someone I love and say, "Depart from me, I never knew you"?

I've been praying for my family, my friends, my church, my Awana kids, anybody at all....even people at the grocery store that God will bring them to the place of bowing and confessing.

And if you are questioning, if you are struggling, if you are doubting this whole Christian thing...know that I am fighting for you on this side of heaven.  I don't want anybody I love to be lost.

An Unexpected Getaway

While life was chugging along for us in AR, exciting things were happening for some of our friends in Colorado.  Graduations and a surprise birthday party!  

I thought it would be fun to take LB since she hasn't been anywhere neat in a long time.   But it's no easy thing to travel so far with so many responsibilities at home.  I decided to go.  Then changed my mind.  Then Meg said she and Ethan were driving it and we could ride down with them.  I said yes.  Then I changed my mind.  

But I woke up Thursday morning and it was the first thing on my mind.  And I knew it was now or never.  So I texted my man to ask if we could fly standby on his dad's AA passes.  He hates standby and I figured he'd rather not since it was just the two of us going.  BUT SURPRISE!  He thought it was a good idea!  

That was 7am and by 10:30 we were sitting on a plane.  

My girl was soooo happy!!  

It was 4 days of love and bliss.  Our friends were so flexible and provided everything we needed and way more.  It was like a red carpet was rolled out for us!

4 days of awesome food, comfy beds, games, good talks, Bible study, church, parties, laughs, and pure sweetness. 

I love those people. 

Isn't Ms Gertrude beautiful?  We got to surprise her at her 90th birthday party!  She is just precious.  And it was special to be there since we also got to be at her 85th party before we moved back home. 

Rommel and Pam were the perfect spur-of-the-moment hosts!  I wish I had gotten pictures of more people.  WHY didn't I take more pictures??

LB got her Ella fix.  Aren't they adorable?  And Ella's momma is an amazing cook that fed us multiple times like it was the easiest thing in the world. 

This was a big graduation year for our homeschool CO peeps.  And one of the reasons that this was the perfect time to visit is because W's family had just moved to Arizona but came back for graduation.  So many friends in the same place at the same time! 

Congratulations graduates!

I was so grateful the Lord worked it all out.   But back at home I was getting bad news about my sweet Joey's condition.  And I prayed for him.  And for us.  And that we could get seats on the planes home (standby ya know) so I could be with my kiddos and help them process the whole thing.  

On the last flight there were 2 seats and 4 standby passengers ahead of us.  They never showed!  And we got right on and flew home.  God is so good. 

As Pam says, "I feel like God's favorite."  He is so incredibly good to us.  

A Piece Of My Heart Is Gone

And there are just no more words... 

A Little Bit Of Lately

Guess who comes home tonight?  MY BOY!!  Christian has been gone 10 days forever camping with friends and tonight he comes back!  We've been waiting all day, cleaning his room, cooking his favorite dinner, and making welcome home signs.  We've missed him.

Here's some things that have been going on this week...

Look how he sits at the piano!  Hilarious!  3 kids had a piano recital and did a great job.  Afterward, we had friends over for ice cream.

A big homeschool book sale!  Nevermind ZBoy's cheesy pose.  We sold some stuff and bought some stuff and the kids had a great time shopping.  I still came home with WAY more than I hoped.  So now it's all priced and ready for the graduate's garage sale next month.

Army guys, tanks, Christmas blocks, and a reader in the corner.  I love these people!

2 beautiful quarts of HONEY!!  This was left over from last year and needed to be pulled to make room for clean frames.  We already have some new honey that they've made this year so hopefully this summer we will have a great harvest.  Our bee club bought 2 new extractors and one of them gets to be stored at our house!

We have 24 eggs ready to hatch in the incubator.  But here's the thing.  We don't need 24 more chickens!!
My son was a bit ambitious this year and I'm hoping he can sell some of these.  Anybody need a baby chick?  I can hook ya up.

Joey is not good at all.  When we started slowing down on the prednisone, he went right back to horrible.  The vet upped the dose again but he's not bouncing back.  It's been up and down.  And as soon as we get our hopes up, he has a relapse.  I hate to see my sweet boy so sick.   Please keep praying for him.

Spiffy!!  These guys got to participate in a Vietnamese engagement party.  We had such a great time with June's family even though most of the time it was hard to understand each other.  I love how friendship and love can overcome all sorts of barriers!  June's family was very welcoming, hospitable, and so much fun to be with!  In the meantime, Honey and Eldest was shooting a friend's wedding.  Now he is sorting through over 1500 wedding photos!

Joey Update

Well I had hoped to jump right back on the blogging wagon this week but my dog has taken up every bit of emotional energy I've had. I have been so worried about my sweet Joey!

After dropping a load of money at the vet, he only continued to get worse. He was totally paralyzed in his back legs and was too weak to get up anyway. We had to move him to the patio because he could not take care of his doggie business. And then it turned cold!!

The vet prescribed another medicine while we tried to keep him warm by covering him with a sleeping bag. Maybe he wasn't cold anyway...but I was cold for him!

He's drinking!  (We were thrilled with ANY improvement.)

The next day I went out to see that he had moved from the patio to the driveway (about 3 steps) by getting up and dragging his backside. So sad to watch but at least he had a little energy and he was also holding his head up, drinking, and was more interested in food. We used towels to support his weight and worked with him at getting him to stand. No luck. He could put no weight on those legs.

The next day (oh happy day!!) was a great improvement and he stood alone!! I love how Lane is encouraging him in the front while Josh is ready to catch him in the back. Even buzz looks happy for him!

Later in the day he was able to hobble around and even made it to the grass to take care of business. YESSSS!!!

Every day has gotten better. He still walks like a drunk man and trips over his legs but he's up and walking, eating, and taking care of business. Now when we come home from being gone, he even does his classic moan and howl to welcome us back.  He hasn't been happy enough to do that in awhile.  And when we headed off for a walk and bike ride, he got up expecting to come along!  (I knew he'd never make it, so we put him in the house.)

Thank you to everyone who has been praying for him and asking about him.  He's definitely on the mend!  So grateful!!

Catching Up

And I'm back.  I had to take a longer than ever blog break to plan, prepare, enjoy, and clean up a lot of exciting life.  And while I can't go back and do it all justice in one blog post, I do want to try to hit the highlights of the fun.  

First of all these awesome friends came all the way from Colorado just to see US!  

We talked, ate, played some games, talked, walked, sang songs, talked, went to church, and talked some more.  Oh I love them!

And they came, along with some of our family, to help us celebrate THIS GUY!! 

Christian graduated high school!  So many long years of work are over and he/we are starting a new chapter in his life.  We are so proud of him.  

These kids are pretty much my favorites. 

~Once we said goodbye to our Colorado friends, we packed up the van and headed to Branson to see MORE Colorado friends that we haven't seen in a long time.  We got to participate in a leadership conference and catch up with our church family that we hadn't seen in years.  And while I have no pictures to prove it, it was wonderful. 

It was a big graduation year for us.  2 weeks later we got to celebrate THESE GUYS! 

Meg graduated (with honors) and her grandmothers came to watch.  Ethan also graduated but chose not to walk.  This turned out to be a gift in itself because they were assigned different times and it was standing room only for 2 looooong hours.  4 years.  DONE!! 

My sweet girl and my sweet moms. 

And just to make it better, my family cooked ALL the food for the party afterwards!  As in I didn't have to do a thing!  AND they cleaned it up.  AND decorated.  AND brought food for my freezer.  

I know! 

We have ventured into a new sport. Jes, Nate, Mally, and ZBoy are playing baseball. Never ever in their lives have they even watched a baseball game let alone play it. Because we aren't really baseball fans.

And now I know why.

We've only played one real game and sat through several practices. And y'all. It takes a SWEET FOREVER to get through! I've been sitting here for an hour and 26 minutes and my boy has touched the ball twice. Oh my goodness already!

Mally made it to one softball practice all pretty-ed up in her sparkly hat. She visited in the dugout the entire time and coaches sized her up right away. After a scary encounter where the ball almost touched her, she decided softball wasn't for her.

The boys, however, are all in.

Interestingly, t-ball has a ton more action. When I take ZBoy to practice I have to actually watch the whole entire time because it's almost always his turn again. And that's more like it.

But after being a soccer/football/TaeKwonDo mom for the past 15 years, I'm afraid I'm going to have to take up a new hobby just to make it through a baseball practice without dying of boredom.

On the up side, it does make for different type of pictures that we didn't have. 

This is my new favorite. 

~And some farm news.... this is what happens when you get a bee sting between the eyes.  You also get a trip to the doctor, a shot in the butt, a steroid pack, and an epi pen of your very own.

His grandpa bought him the greatest bee suit ever so maybe this won't happen again.  Thank you Grandpa!!

Please pray for our sweet dog, Joey.  He's had a reaction to a bad tick bite and isn't recovering very well. 

We keep telling each other that he's getting better....but I don't think so.  The meds aren't kicking in and he's very weak and sick.  

It's been a hard spring on the farm.  We've lost some chickens, have some chickens sick, and another hive of bees have left us.  Really disappointing.  

But I will leave you with a bit of cuteness.....