TVSC - Boot Camp

T-shirts = $1400
Sports Equipment = $500
Hours of work to pull it together = 100's
Volunteers = 110
Kids = 289

# of kids who came to know Jesus as their Forever Friend = 32 = PRICELESS!

We're Gonna Go Back in Time!

Since I have a little catching up to do . . . I thought I'd start with what I WOULD HAVE blogged about had I actually taken the time!

Let's start with June 25th . . . ha ha ha! I'm such a loser - but here ya go.

On June 25th - in the midst of Sports Camp - Kent and Shelly came to pay us a little visit from good ole WA! Kent was only in town for a couple of days, so we enjoyed meeting up for brunch at one of my favorite little restaurants - The Sundance Grille.

We had a lot of fun catching up - and, of course - being crazy!

Tomorrow's Post: Sports Camp!

I'm Not Dead . . . Yet!

Hello faithful bloggers! From your not-so-faithful blogger!

I've been on a bit of a blog-cation so to speak - and I've been thoroughly enjoying it! After the craziness of Sports Camp, and dealing with a little girl with a broken arm in the prime of the summer, I was a bit exhausted.

Since then much has happened. So, I'll be taking the next few days to recap our summer fun!

Hoping your summer has been as great as ours!

Sonny

Plumb Tuckered Out!

I took Faith with me to work today! She's really done very well today considering that she just broke her arm less than 24 hours ago. Suddenly, it was very quiet in the other room . . . and this is what I found:



Sweet girl! She was up until almost midnight last night, and was awake after a fitful night of sleep at 8:30a. The arm that is broken holds the very thumb she still sucks for comfort. And since the cast is so straight due to the nature of her break, she can't get her precious thumb to her mouth. She's plumb tuckered out - and I can't say that I blame her!

Rest well, little one! I love you!

Baby Girl Didn't Bounce! Ouch!

Last night Faith broke her arm.

How did it happen you ask? . . . Wrestling with Daddy.

Daddy feels terrible . . . but Faith is doing fine!

Slip-N-Slide Fun!

Slip-N-Slide = $8.99 at Target
Girls laughing and having fun vs. bickering = PRICELESS!

Zoo Adventures!

A week or so ago, we went to the zoo with friends. The kids had a BLAST! It just goes to show that the simple things are the best things! Animals AND friends - what could be better?

Kindergarten Graduation!

Last week Friday, Faith had her Kindergarten Program. She had to dress as Honey Horse, one of their alphabet characters. The two Kindergarten classes combined to show us all that they had learned throughout the year: counting by 2's, letter sounds and their favorite words, Bible verses, beautiful songs etc. It was wonderful!

Faith was very nervous about getting up in front of a huge audience all by herself (to say her Honey Horse line), but she did wonderfully! It was so great to see her face beaming as she sang songs to the Lord, and to see the pride in her face after she said her lines.

I am so proud of Faith for her many accomplishments this year! She has grown so very much - both in height and in character. I am also very thankful for DCS and the Christian perspective she gets on everything she learns! God is Good!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Mom,
Thank you for your unconditional love.
Thank you for your loads of encouragement.
Thank you for being the best grandma around.
Thank you for babysitting at the drop of a hat.
Thank you for your love for the Lord.
Thank you for your example to follow.
Thank you for your prayers.
Thank you for being goofy and fun.
Thank you for being YOU!

I am so blessed to have you for a mom!

Happy Birthday!

My mom and Faith after Kindergarten Graduation.

Grey's = Two Thumbs Down!

Ok, I know my posts have been a little sparse lately . . . which is what is leading to the randomness of the current posts. There's been lots going on, and now I have the time to post, so here ya go:

My Rant:
This picture reminds me of better Grey's days . . . you know when Dr. Burk and the Mrs. Dr. Shepherd were on the show . . . before the weird story lines and gay kissing.

I realize that Grey's has never been a show that represents high moral standards. However, it WAS very well written, witty, funny, there was a good balance between the focus put on the relationships on the show, and the patients coming into Seattle Grace . . . but since the writer's strike - and, let's admit, this whole season has gone a little sketchy. The last three shows have shown gay kisses. A dying army dude and his lover, the two women doctors that are taunting McSteamy, and then the two women doctors again.

Come On!

I realize that the show was full of sexual permiscuousness and infidelity before . . . but, for me, the latest turn in the writing has turned me off of Grey's. ER did the same thing several years ago . . . it just wrecked a good show.

Any thoughts?

13 Blissful Years!

Sonny as a high school junior, Mike as a senior . . . Punk Day and Nerd Day.
Young and in L-O-V-E! I was 16 - he was 17!

On May 26th, Mike and I had the privilege of celebrating 13 years of marriage. That's 17 years total of being together! Hokey Petes are we getting old. You know you're getting old when you've been with your spouse longer than you were without them!

I was 16 when I fell in love with Mike. I knew within a month of dating him that he was THE ONE! If any 16 year-old would tell me that today, I would think they were crazy . . . but I knew! We had been good friends for about a year . . . and that friendship slowly grew into the real thing.

My junior year was a tough one. My dad had left just the year before, and as a result, I was all mixed up trying to deal with all the stuff a teenager deals with, along with trying to figure out life with separated parents. Mike was a good friend who truly cared about me - and most importantly, he could make me laugh during a time in my life when laughter didn't come easy. We were band nerds and Madrigals partners - we even had study hall together (which is where the Punk and Nerd Day pics were taken).

We started dating just after Mike graduated from SCHS. A year later we were both in the same dorm at Calvin. And, it's all history from there. We were married between my junior and senior years of college.

If only we could have known how clueless we were!
Mr. and Mrs. and all of 20 and 21? Yikes!

Just look at what babies we were! We had no idea what our vows would come to mean - how they would be tested and tried. "I promise to be your faithful and loving wife; in sickness and in health, in good times and in bad, and in joy as well as in sorrow . . ."

Divorce . . . Miscarriage . . . Building a house . . . Infertility . . . Cancer . . . More Infertility and Miscarriage . . . Miracle Babies . . . Mystery Illness . . . Depression

Sheesh! It's a miracle we made it this far still standing! And not just standing, but still 100% in love with each other!

I read somewhere that "it's in the crap that flowers bloom best." We've been through an awful lot over the last 13 years of marriage, but our marriage and our love just gets more and more beautiful and strong each year.

Michael, I love you more today than I did yesterday - and I'll love you more tomorrow than I do today! You are the love of my life; my confidant, my comfort, my security, my best friend. Thank you for loving me the way you do! I am a better person because of you!

I'm No Katie DeBoer or Tina Vink. . . But . . .

For the last year and a half I've been dreaming of a new camera . . . I've been having terrible, horrible, no good, very bad thoughts about our point and shoot camera - its the POS model (if you know what I mean).

Anyway, thanks to Uncle Sam and our incentive check, I am now the new owner of a Canon Rebel xTi. It's the most beautiful, wonderful thing to take a picture without having to wait for the flash to "warm up". It's an even beautifuler thing (yes I realize this is bad grammar) to NOT HAVE to use the flash because I can adjust the apeture and ISO . . . wow! Another wonderful thing is the zoom . . . it came with two lenses - one of which will allow me to zoom in from very far away. But, best of all, the memory card can hold 1200 10mpx pictures . . . instead of my 22 5mpx pictures that my point and shoot allowed! I can snap until my little heart is content . . . and delete what I don't want.

Mike is calling this my Mother's Day, Birthday, Christmas for the next two years gift . . . but it's worth it!

I may never be a Katie DeBoer or Tina Vink . . . but I'm well on my way to better pictures of my kids!

I Like to Ride My Bicycle . . . I Like to Ride My Bike!

I Like to Ride My Bicycle . . . I Like to Ride My Bike! 2

For some reason, I'm unable to put any text with my slide show . . . so here's my addendum!

Tuesday was a BIG DAY in Faith's life - she FINALLY learned how to ride a two-wheel bike! Bella, too, is very proud that she has graduated to a "big girl bike" with training wheels! She's getting the peddling thing down . . . now we have to focus on the steering part!

I was very glad to have my new sweet camera to capture this Kodak Moment! I was snapping away, taking picture after picture of Faith and Mike, and didn't even realize that Bella was in the pictures riding toward them. Notice in the slide show that as Bella gets closer to Mike and Faith, she veers off to the right and crashes into a tree! Ha Ha! It was awesome to have it captured on film.

To say the least, Faith was very excited to be able to ride a bike sans training wheels! We still have to work a bit on the take off and landing, but the balancing part is down-pat! Great job Faith!

I Heart Google Reader!

My brother-in-law encouraged me about 2 months ago to give Google Reader a try. And, rather than learn something new, I decided I liked the "old-fashioned" way of checking blogs and various websites. I would go to my favorites list, and click one at a time to see if they've updated.

Well, after reading my friend Dawn's blog, and seeing her love for Google Reader, I thought I'd give it a try.

I LOVE IT!

Instead of checking several dozen websites everyday to see if there's anything new, all I have to do is click on my Google Reader page and ONLY the sites with updated material show up on my home page. I highly recommend it! It's my newest addiction (in addition to Facebook . . . come be my friend!).

Give it a try! You won't be sorry! It'll make your blogging experience much more efficient and enjoyable. Happy blogging!

Welcome Baby Lydia!

Congrats to Mike's brother and sister-in-law, Marc and Lori on the birth of their beautiful baby girl! She was born yesterday (April 10) and weighed in at 7 lbs 8 oz and was 21 in long!

My girls are SO VERY excited to have a "girl cousin"! We were able to visit her and her parents last night just after her Uncle Matt and Aunt Olivia were there. See Olivia's blog, LMNO, for more pics. Notice that she was wide awake for us, but she slept for Matt and Olivia . . . tee hee!

Welcome baby Lydia! We love you!

Sweet Lydia

Lydia with Uncle Mike, and cousins Faith and Bella

Proud Mommy and Daddy!

Note to Self:

When ordering a large pizza from the local pizza joint. Make sure you clarify that you did NOT mean the 24" Party Pizza for $35.



When the car door won't shut, because the pizza box is too big . . . there's an issue!

When the Cat's Away, the Mice Will Play

It's amazing what can happen in a fairly short amount of unsupervised time . . .

Grandma's Grace

Below is a copy of the email I received from my mom today . . . I hope it gives you as big of a grin as it gave me . . .

Hello, mother of my granddaughter :)

I thought I'd share the delightful scene that met my eyes when I went downstairs to turn off some lights yesterday afternoon. At first, I was stunned and then broke into raucous laughter! It would seem that my two eldest grandchildren have great imaginations and are able to pass playful moments in creative ways.




My grandson (who will remain unnamed to protect his identity) was later guilt ridden and burdened and was about to call Grandma to repent when Grandma showed up on his doorstep! (with Blake's little hat, bib, etc. left at Grandma's house earlier that day) He confessed as I sat by him while he was in the tub. All is well ... burden lifted.

However, I have yet to hear from granddaughter #1. She's probably forgotten and moved on to other adventures. I thought perhaps she would be willing to help Grandma pick up the imaginary delights and return the room to its former boring existence.

Grandma is not at all upset. The pillow was well worn with a large opening exposing the burgeoning stuffing, which was fairly screaming to be used in a more glorious way.

When speaking to her about it, I beseech you to use grace...she knows the word.

Looking forward to complete reconciliation....
The Grandmother next door

P.S. I love you all. Love covers a multitude of fluff.

Out of the Mouths of Babes . . .

Faith: "Mom, look at the beautiful blanket of snow outside! Isn't it pretty?"

Bella: "Mom, how come the sun is out and it still isn't warm?"


Faith's comment did force me to stop and acknowledge the beauty of this morning . . . and then Bella's brought me back to reality.