Dates and Dentists!

  

 

A little behind on here this week, but that’s life!

(9-17)Monday: Date Morning!
Roger had off today and the kids were all in school! Hooray!! (Did I shout that out loud?!) Emma had her “show and share” this morning, so she happily trotted off to school with her bag full of some suspicious looking treasures. After dropping the kids off at school, Roger and I headed out to breakfast. I can’t remember the last time we went out with just the two of us as it’s been that long ago! We had breakfast at a great local restaurant named “Moody’s”. It’s the type of restaurant my dad would really like,  so I hope we get the opportunity to take him there the next time my parents come this way. After breakfast we went on a hike. I’m glad it was just the two of us as it was a rather boring trail with way too many mosquitoes! But that did make us walk quickly! We came home, and Roger took a nap as he’s not feeling well. I worked on laundry as usual, and also on contacting as many businesses as I could come up with to email about donations for our school auction. This is such a HUGE endeavor, and it takes a lot of work!

We picked up Emma who was happy to tell us about her “wonderful” day. Emma was so happy to see that daddy was off work because then she didn’t have to ride along to pick up the boys in the afternoon. The School office called me about 1:40pm, to say that my son “Travis” was sick. Then I  heard another voice and then the correction, “No, it’s Wyatt that is sick.” What?! He had eaten breakfast, not mentioned anything about not feeling well; but apparently at gym class, he did NOT feel well! I came into school to pick him up, and he looked a bit white. I found a grocery sack in the car and gave it to him “just in case”. We hadn’t even pulled out of the school parking lot when he needed that bag! I do not handle vomiting very well at all, and I never have. I let him do his thing,    while I held my head out the window and tried to block out sounds and smells! (Yeah, no mother-of-the- year award there!)  Because we were so close to pick up time for the other kids, we just had to  hang around until their  dismissal. Wyatt came home and laid on the couch the rest of the afternoon and evening. But it was a weird evening for Roger and I because by the time bedtime came around at 7:30pm, three of our five kids were already sleeping! Chandler had crawled into bed right after supper from a powerful headache. Travis said that he had a head ache too, so he was sleeping by bedtime also! We only had our oldest and youngest child to even put in the beds! Wyatt had thrown up several other times earlier in the afternoon, so I had already told him that he wouldn’t be going to school in the morning. Travis asked me how sick he needed to be to stay home! I told him that he needed rest, drink more water and his head ache would go away. He took me seriously as he went to bed before 7:30!

By Tuesday morning, Wyatt was back to himself! He told me that he woke up in the middle of the night, and he was hungry. So he ate three granola bars and went back to sleep. Yeah, he’s definitely feeling better! Travis and Chandler were both up earlier than normal...probably because they had been asleep so early! Wyatt was disappointed to not get to go to school, Travis was trying to figure out how “sick” he needed to be, and it was an early morning in our house! Roger called me around 8:30am. to say that he was not feeling well and would be coming home. The weather was kinda dreary anyways, and the company would not be flying. Roger has been battling a cold, and he just needed extra rest. He came home and spent much of the day sleeping and resting. I worked on many, many projects for my music classes the next day. Emma was happy to have a brother to play with her most of the day, and Wyatt was so sweet to her.

By Wednesday,  we were all back in our places! Roger was feeling much better after a day of rest, and he went to work. I took all the kids to school, taught music classes, did lunch room duty, took Roger some lunch, worked on a bunch of donation letters for our upcoming school auction, and then picked up the boys. I’m always so happy and thankful to go home after a long day away from our house. It  might be a bit messier than I’d like at times, a bit louder than I could imagine, and a bit crazier than it should be, but it’s home.

Today was/is Thursday. After dropping the boys off, Emma and I went to pick up the groceries that I    needed to make chili for hot lunch on Friday. Emma also had a dentist appointment today, and she was a bit apprehensive about it. Travis told her that the dentist would take out all her bad teeth, so she better hoped she had brushed them good...doesn’t that sound like a brother?! Garett sweetly told her that the dentist was kind,  and she could probably get a sticker if she was good. I had figured that I might not be back in time for school pick up, so Allison (my dear friend) had agreed to take my tribe of boys home with her. Emma’s appointment was at 1:30 and we were there about fifteen minutes early. The office was running late,  and it was after two before we were even shown an exam room. Then the x-ray machine wouldn’t work in that room! Poor Emma was doing well, but I could tell she was nervous. She gets really still, and quiet and bites her nails when she is unsure of herself. However, she did great! The dental assistant said that Emma had been her easiest child to take X-rays of all day. I think Emma just wanted to be as still as possible to get done as quickly as she could! Emma does have a few small cavities that need to be taken care of, so we will have to return to the dentist to get those taken care of soon. When I arrived at Allison’s to pick up the boys, they were in the middle of having fun making slime! They had a wonderful time, and I’m thankful for friends that are willing to help me out.

Friday was chapel, hot lunch and other such Friday activities! I made soup for hot lunch (white chicken chili) and my friend, Claire, made a red chili. The students and staff seem to enjoy hot lunch; and even though I often make hot lunch, I do enjoy not having to pack lunches! After lunch, Emma’s friend, Lucy, came home to play for the afternoon. They seemed to have a great time playing together and even using the water hose! Hmm...thy both ended up with wet heads! I was able to get some letters ready to mail out for our fall auction. It’s not my favorite thing to ask for donations, but this is certainly a needed event! The proceeds fund our hot lunches, field trips, teacher appreciation week, technology needs, teacher and staff gifts, woodchips for the playground and much more! (Want to donate? Just send me a message!) It all seems to come together every year, and I am thankful to  have great friends to work alongside with as we labor through this. God is good!

After school on Friday, we went to a pumpkin farm with Allison and her girls. This particular place offered a  free small pumpkin for kids to paint. We had some excited kids as everyone was eager to paint. Travis eventually washed off his pumpkin with the hose and started over. Chandler painted his pumpkin, and on the way home asked how many times we could come back to paint pumpkins. I said, “Don’t you think once was good enough?” He replied, “I don’t really want to paint the pumpkin. But I like pumpkin seeds, and that is one way I could get some.” So yes, he came home and chopped up his pumkin, took out the seeds, and roasted them. I have to say that the seeds were delicious!

Roger was working on Saturday. He’s been working a lot, but we are on the home stretch! He actually has off on Sunday, so I am very excited about that. On Saturday we hung around home for a lot of the day,  as I have just been feeling a bit tired lately. We did have to go get some milk as all three gallons I bought last Saturday were gone! However, it was a low-key day.

Roger had off on Sunday, but he did have to do a flight in the afternoon. Thankfully,  there were extra seats in the airplane.  This meant that the boys could go if they wanted to go along with Dad. Three of the boys went along, but Chandler stayed home. He had a headache, and just needed some quietness. We had a short afternoon at home though as our children’s program was kicking off in the evening. I am working with Emma’s class this year, which I enjoy working with those kids. We had six in our group; but one of them was a bit of handful,  so it felt like way more than six! Another lady is helping me this year named Judy. She’s a wonderful friend, so I’m happy to work with her this year. I do miss working with Allison, but she’s serving in a different area of the children’s  program this year. It’s hard to believe, but this is the start of my third year working with this age group! Time truly flies by! Roger did ask it back in time for the evening children’s program, and I was happy about that. I certainly miss him when he is working on Sundays, so I’m kinda looking forward to the slow season. Roger certainly enjoys his job, and God provided a wonderful boss and job for him.

My dad is doing much better! Thank you to all who have prayed for him. He is still supposed to be recovering, but he was out setting up deer stands earlier this week. So I know he’s feeling much better!


I have more to share about adventures in life, but that’s enough for now! I have hungry kids to feed, lunches to pack and a music class to prepare for on Wednesday.

“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.” Ephesians 6:10 

Week Two! Testing, Adjustments and Parents, oh my!

Week two of our brand new school year is over and behind us! In some ways it seems like we’ve already been in school for a few months not just two weeks. This was a full week as the boys had all the extras that come in during the school year like gym class, art class, music class and Spanish class.

 Chandler has adjusted much better this week, so we are very thankful for your prayers. He has discovered that some of the girls in his class are actually good friends to play soccer and kick ball with him. He has the same room and the same teacher in the school that he has had for the last three years and he really enjoys his teacher. He loves the fact that she reads to her class aloud every day. The teacher is reading Farmer Boy, and we are almost done reading that at home. But Chandler likes that book, so he’s enjoying the stories again.

Garett had some testing done this week. He didn’t say much about it except to mention that some of it was confusing to him. He said he did the best that he could and that the teacher was nice. That was about all the information that he offered! We should have those results back in the next few days and we can see what our next steps will be. He has been working so hard in school, even skipping his snack time so that he doesnt have to have as much homework! For Garett to skip out on eating means that he is dedicated to something! We are proud of his efforts, and praying for God’s wisdom.

Wyatt has just confidently and calmly climbed back into his school routine. I asked him how it was with Travis in his class to which he replied, “He needs a lot of help!” They have the same memory verse, and while Travis wrestles with it for most of the week, Wyatt reads it, writes it, and is pretty much ready to say it. Wyatt says he doesn’t mind school, but having reading homework is not his favorite. However, it’s good for him, and I’m hoping as the year progresses he will enjoy it more. On Monday we had a Parents group meeting. We had a really low turn out of parents which is a bit dis-heartening, but God knows our needs. The Parents group had ordered some projectors and stands for a few of the teachers. The stands needed to be put together, so I took them home. Wyatt worked so hard on putting thos together for the teachers. He needed a little help from Roger, but for the most part, Wyatt did the work. I certainly wouldn’t have been able to put them together, so I’m happy for a boy who enjoyed that project!

 

  

Wyatt and Roger working on Projector stands; Chandler being a monkey, and Emma’s fashion outfit 

 

Travis is trying to stay under the radar. He doesn’t like to be called out or noticed. He’s a hard little  worker,  but his efforts don’t always seem to be rewarded with good grades. He seems to be doing well thus far this year though, so we are very thankful for that! He is taking speech lessons again this year, and he has a great speech teacher. Travis doesn’t like to go to speech lessons and when I asked him why he said it was because he would rather be in his class. And he said he doesn’t like that it’s just him and his speech teacher because he has to do so much talking!

Emma is an eager beaver to go to school! She delights on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays! On Friday she was able to go home with her classmate, Lucy, after hot lunch. Emma has enjoyed getting to know Lucy better, and I’m glad they have become friends. It also gave me a bit of time on Friday afternoon to work on additional stuff for my music classes.

We are on our second week of music classes. I certainly don’t mind teaching.  However, I find the amount of prep work that needs to go into teaching a smooth music class to be quite high. We have more students this year, which is a wonderful answer to prayer. It also means that I have to work a bit harder to make sure that everyone has a part or is participating somehow in the Christmas program. We got out handbells, boomwhackers, and the xylophone this week in our classes, so the excitement level was high! I could certainly use some extra prayers as we prepare and plan for our Christmas program. We also started a prayer journal in music class. I asked each of the students to come up with a specific request to pray for this year. I am excited to see how God works in the lives of our students as we pray for specific requests.

Also this week we helped stack some wood for our friends. Mrs. Terry (The wife of Roger’s boss) had some wood that needed to be stacked. So the kids and I came over on Wednesday after school to help stack wood. Terry has a riding lawnmower with a bucket on the back. The boys were excited to drive the lawnmower, but Wyatt was in for a disappointment. Since those newer tractors are safety conscious, they won’t start if there isn’t enough weight on the seat. Wyatt wanted so badly to drive the tractor, but he just didn’t weigh enough. We tried putting rocks on the seat, but then he had  struggles with reaching the gas and the break. It was disappointing,  but that’s life sometimes. The boys really did work hard at that project, and I was proud of all their work. Travis found an old wagon in the garage and he just kept on filling and hauling and repeating! We made short work of the project, and Terry gave each of the kids some money for their work. The boys were so excited about their  pay. They each have a savings goal for the year, so they were excited to have some fund  store out towards their goals.

On Thursday Roger had off work, and the weather was beautiful! After dropping the boys off at school, we ran a few errands, and then took a walk with Emma. We walked down by the harbor and near the Farmers Market. Emma has been asking to go to the market all summer long, but I find that most of the items there do not fit in our budget! However, we did walk through the market with Emma and she was happy to get a free sample of some blueberries. We walked past a flower vendor and Emma asked about buying a flower for Mrs. Terry. Since she was thinking of someone else on her own, we agreed. She picked out a huge bloom for $1.00 and she was delighted with her purchase. On the way home, we dropped it off at Mrs. Terry’s house. While Roger and I were still getting out of the car, Emma walked right up to the door and walked in! Terry had the front door open, and Emma just opened the screen door an popped right in! I, of course, was a bit horrified, but Terry was delighted that Emma was so comfortable at her house. Emma was thrilled to have a flower to give to Terry, and Terry was equally delighted with the flower. Roger and I got a bunch of projects done around the house that have needed to get done for a while. It was a productive day!

My friend, Claire, offered to make all the Mac n Cheese that we needed for hot lunch on Friday. I was pretty excited about that and it freed up my Friday morning. After playing the piano for the chapel service, my friend, Allison and I snuck away for a quick walk. It’s been a long while since we’ve managed to get in a walk, so I was happy to have a few moments of lengthy conversations. I’ve been blessed by her friendship to me many times over the last two years, and it always good to have a morning to regroup our thoughts, share our prayer requests and praises and enjoy sweet fellowship. After our walk, we headed back to school for hot lunch. I am so thankful for the parents that have offered to help this year by bringing desserts and chocolate milk on Fridays. Claire coordinated the lunch this week so all I did was show up and offer a wlloset of hands.

All in all it was a good week. Roger had off on Saturday and we were able to spend most of the day at home. I was able o go grocery shopping by myself,  and it was something that desperately needed to get done! We were able to go out for supper as I had purchased a groupon certificate several months ago. It was a special treat for us,  and even more special as the Philbrook family was able to join us for pizza. We have much to be thankful for as we look back over the week.

My mom did call me on Friday to tell me that my dad was in the hospital. That caught me off guard as my dad is generally healthy! He had acquired an infection, and he needed surgery. It probably wouldn’t have been a very big deal except my dad is on blood thinning medications. So they had to put off the surgery until his blood thickened. The surgery did take place on Saturday evening, and my mom said that they are back at home today. I’m thankful for doctors and hospitals. It’s hard to be so far away when your parents aren’t doing well,  but God is watching over them too. I’m sure they would appreciate your prayers though on their behalf.

Jeremiah 10:6 “Foreasmuch as there is none like unto thee, O LORD; thou art great, and thy name is great in might.” 

First Week of School!! (Survival of the Fittest)

As students across the country were returning to classrooms this week, our children were no exception! We spent our last day of summer break preparing for Tuesday. Roger had taken the three older boys fishing last weekend (Travis missed it because he was sick), and they arrived home around eight on Sunday evening. Chandler came home sick! Poor boy! Roger said that he started feeling pretty miserable shortly after they woke up and by the time the float plane had dropped them off at the lake, Chandler was really not feeling well! Chandler spent much of the day laying on a log, covered with Rogers jacket. It was a real bummer for Chandler as he certainly does enjoy fishing! However, it was still a good day for Roger and the boys. The boys have been looking forward to this all summer, and as our days are getting limited in how many more opportunities are available, we were glad to see this adventure happen! They weren’t very successful with catching fish, but memories were made.

Meanwhile back at home, I had the opportunity to play the piano for worship service on Sunday. It’s always refreshing and soothing to my spirit to feel the music pour through my fingers as we worship the Lord together. We had lunch and a short Sunday school meeting after church, and then we headed home. Emma and Travis played outside for much of the day on the swing set that God provided to us for free! (On Saturday I had seen a post on Facebook about someone getting rid of their swing set and it was free!) I was the first to respond, and Roger picked it up for us on Saturday! A swing set wasn’t even something that I had specifically prayed for in awhile, but God choose to answer that prayer on Saturday. I see many hours of fun especially for Emma and Travis. Sunday was also our thirteenth wedding anniversary...it was highly romantic with Roger away for the day! But we have plans to maybe try to get away next year with just the two of us on a vacation...that would be so fun!    

Monday dawned as our last day of summer break. Roger and I went on a walk; I did grocery shopping; prepared for music classes on Wednesday; packed lunches; and savored our last day! The summer certainly flew by! The kids are excited about a new school year, and I’m looking forward to seeing how God continues to work in their lives. Chandler has been very, very nervous about the school year, and he finally told me that he was going to miss being in class with Garett this year! Who knew?! For all their arguing, I know that they really do love each other. Roger said that when he  was away with the three boys for the fishing trip, each of the boys commented at different times how much it didn’t feel right without Travis along with them. Just maybe, just maybe, someday they will become the best of friends. That is one of my prayers.

 

                                                        Free swing set!

Tuesday rolled around, and it was a hot and sunny day! It did not feel like a daybto be going to school but everyone was up early to start the day. Emma will go to school on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings, so she was disappointed that she did not get to go to school today. Roger and I, along with Emma, spent the day catching up on some errands, visiting some folks in our church, and enjoying Rogers day off. I had some work to do at the school, so I picked up the kids from school. It had been a hot day in the classroom, and Roger was going to take them swimming when they came home from school. Garett told me he was worried about the school year and getting all his school work done. Chandler was in tears and told me his day was terrible. I asked why and he replied that there are just do many girls in his classroom (7) and of the three boys, he is the only one that doesn’t play video games and has no idea what “Fortnight” even is (me either!). I’m praying that God will provide a friend for him this school year. I did remind him that sometimes girls like to play games like soccer or kickball and he could ask some of them to play with him. Roger had a long talk with him and they prayed about the school situation. And we are ready to go back tomorrow and try again!  When I asked Travis and Wyatt about their day, Travis replied that he had already gotten a 100% on something. Wyatt indignantly replied that that wasn’t even possible as their papers haven’t even been graded yet! Travis confidently assured him, “Yes, I did! I KNOW I spelled my name right!” Well, that brought some laughter to our conversation! God is good, and we are looking forward to and praying   for a wonderful year.

Emma was ready for school in Wednesday, but when it was time to drop her off, she cried. Being the  mom of five kids, I left her in the good hands of her teachers and walked away. The teachers told me  that the tears were shortlived and she was soon off to go play dress up! Yeah, that’s what I figured! I had a full morning with teaching music classes. I’m excited about the schoo year, and what God is going to teach both my students and myself. I introduced the Christmas program to them, and we started preparing for the upcoming program. It seems so far away, but with only fourteen weeks of music classes, we have plenty to do! I find teaching music both challenging and delightful. It’s defin a challenge to make lessson plans, prepare for a wide variety of ages, and point them to Jesus, but I’m thankful for the opportunity.

On Friday we had our first hot lunch of the school year! We started off the school year with tacos, which is always a hit with the students. We even had some parents come to eat lunch with their students, so that was good. When I was talking with Garett about what God would want me to do to help at the schoo, this year, he asked me to please keep doing hot lunch. I replied that someone else could take that over, but Garett said how much he liked his mom’s cooking and that he enjoyed seeing me at lunch every Friday. Aw...I love that boy!

All in all, it was a good first week. God is good and faithful. I’m excited about how God is going to continue to work in our lives. Garett will be having some testing done next week. Please pray that the results would be clear and we would know how to best help him learn. He is already struggling with schoolwork, and we are only four days into the school year! He has a great teacher though, and I know that God will give us wisdom as we continue to move forward. Chandler reported to me at the end of the week that his classroom was getting better. He had made some friends with some of the girls, and he told me that the girls weren’t too bad to play with! :) Travis and Wyatt wrapped up the week with a few papers returned that DID have grades written on them. And yes, Travis did get a few 100%!


A few things to pray for:
1) Wisdom for Garett’s education and his educators (our other children too, but especially Garett)
2) Unity and harmony among teachers, staff, and the church
3) Wisdom and clarity of thought as I teach and prepare for music classes and teaching handbells
4) Continued provision for our family and also the needs of the school

Jeremiah 10:6 “Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee, O Lord; thou art great, and they name is great in might.” 

 

First day! 

  

                                                          Music Room!

School for Emma! 

More Birthdays and Interviews!

This was our last week of summer vacation, and we certainly worked at getting the most out of the week! We started off with celebrating Travis’s birthday last Saturday. It’s hard to believe that our youngest son is already eight years old! Travis had a great day as Roger was off of work and it was a beautiful day! We did some work around our house to finish up the lawn mowing and weed whacking. Then we spent the rest of the day doing fun family adventures. We went to play mini-golf together. That was something we haven’t done in a really long time so this was a treat for our family. Emma didn’t quite get the concept of mini golf as everytime someone hit the golf ball she would run over and pick it up for them! (Her brothers very quickly informed her that that is NOT how you play!) It was a bit of a warm day, but we had a good time. The boys tried out the batting cages after mini golf, and they enjoyed that also. We explored a couple of new places in the area including a discount grocery store, and I was excited about that! It’s a grocery store that sells damaged and outdated food items. It doesn’t bother me to feed outdated food to our kids (within reason), and prices were certainly more reasonable than the grocery stores. We were able to stock up on granola bars, jerky, crackers, and snacks for the start of the school year. Saving money makes me happy! We ended Travis’s birthday with ice cream and a few gifts. My sister, Jen, had sent him two remote control cars that were a lot of fun for everyone. Roger and I weren’t sure what to give to Travis, so we gave him a twenty dollar gift card to Walmart. He was very impressed with that and spent the evening dreaming of things he could spend it on the next time he was at Walmart.

 

 

Roger worked on Sunday, which has been a fairly frequent thing of late. It’s not ideal, but we manage. I packs a lunch on the Sundays that he works, and we head to the airport after church to eat lunch together. Sometimes Roger is still not able to eat with us as he is on a flight, but at least we can try. The company has lost a few pilots again, so being short-staffed is always a challenge. Things will     slowly start to slow down over the next month or so, and the days are getting shorter.

We also took a trip to the lake this past week. It’s been very, very warm here, so the lake was a great reprieve. Travis had asked to go to the lake for his birthday, but we couldn’t make it work on Saturday. Instead I took the kids on Tuesday morning to the lake and we came back on Wednesday afternoon. Roger has a great boss and his wife is also special to our family. We’ve been able to make many memories at the lake  this summer, and spend time with Terry (Kevin’s wife). Terry had brought cupcakes and ice cream to celebrate the August birthdays, and we had some excited kids! Travis was ecstatic with the farm rug, tractors, and farm animals that he was gifted with for his  birthday. He greatly enjoys  anything to do with farming, and it was the perfect gift for him. As you know, Garett has a great interest in aviation, so guess what his gift had to do with? Kevin gifted Garett with his first flight bag. It was also the bag that Kevin had used when he first started flying. Kevin had also included a dvd set on flying, a flight log book, and written a note to Garett. As Garett realized what he was being given, his whole face lit up! Garett will receive his first official flight lesson as part of his birthday gift...I have tears in my eyes as I know this is a gift that Garett will remember for many, many, years to come. We are so blessed to have those in our lives that are willing to also invest in the lives of our children and show them that they care.

Although the weather was hot at the lake, it was a great way to wrap up summer break. We spent hours in the lake, visiting together, soaking up the sun, and enjoying the relaxation that the lake brings. We headed home mid-morning on Wednesday as I needed to cook some food for the school open house on Thursday.

Thursday was a long day....are we ready for this? Emma had a preschool open house in the morning, and I came with four of the kids. Our parent group was providing coffee and donuts for the open house, and I was able to interact with some new parents...and hopefully some willing volunteers! Garett turned twelve on Thursday!!! Pure craziness!! He asked if he could go to work with Roger for his birthday. Kevin graciously agreed, so I had dropped Garett off there in the morning, then set up for the open house, the open house, a staff meeting, back to pick up Garett, run a few errands, and  back for the picnic and open house for the elementary students...whew!! All in all it was a good day,  but we are waiting until Roger has another day off to celebrate Garett’s birthday as a family. He made  a five dollar tip at the airport. We needed to go to Walmart and Travis was excited to spend his gift card. Chandler asked Garett what he was going to buy with his five dollars. Chandler hinted strongly that they needed some pellets for the pellet gun. Garett thought for a moment and then replied, “ It’s my birthday and I’m sure I will get a gift. I will buy pellets because we can all use that together.” Wow! So they do know how to be sweet!! At Walmart Travis looked at many, many, things to buy with his gift card. However, it didn’t take him long to tell me he had decided on what to get with his gift card. He said, “I’m going to buy a backpack and lunch box for school. There are a lot of  things that I really like at Walmart, but I need those things for school.” I was so happy for his decision! He may struggle with school work at  times, but he made an excellent choice in spending his  gift card.

We spent Thursday evening at the school for the open house. It was a long day, but I’m thankful that the open house was well attended. We are welcoming several new families to the school, and it was good to have a few of those families attend. I’m excited about the future, and continuing to pray that God will direct the right ones to our school both for staff and students....He is so faithful. I often think that we fail to get God’s very best simply because we don’t ask for that. Our God is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think...and I firmly that!

We had two school friends come home with us on Thursday night. Josiah and Caleb are good friends with our boys, and their parents are in Ukraine for an adoption finalization. Our boys were so excited to have their friends stay over. They spent time outside, and time on the Wii, and time just playing with LEGO’s and eating lots of food! I’m glad that we were able to have them over, and it made the day pass quickly. Roger worked on Friday, but he has off the next three days!! Roger has as special outing planned for the boys. Chandler greatly enjoys fishing, and Garett and Wyatt do as well. Roger has planned to take them up north to camp, fly out to a lake and fish. Travis was planning on going, but he has had a bad headache all day. I think he’s a bit worked up about the school year, and he probably just needs some time to chill. It’s not ideal for the boys to miss a Sunday, (and our anniversary), but Roger has worked SO much this summer. I know the boys need some time with just Roger, and this has been a plan that we’ve been trying to make happen all summer. There will be othe days to celebrate our anniversary, and our boys are approaching the age where they need to spend time with their dad. I’m thankful that Roger has been able to make this happen. Roger left with the three older boys and I took Travis and Emma to the lake this afternoon. We had a good time at the lake with our friends, the Philbrooks and another family from church.

Roger and I will be celebrating our thirteenth wedding anniversary tomorrow!! The years have certainly flown by, and I’m thankful for my best friend. He loves me, provides for me, quietly points me to Jesus, loves our kids, he is faithful, honest and true...I am blessed.

Since we’ve had so many birthdays this month, I’m also including the interviews I did with the birthday kids. It’s always so fun to hear their responses and to look back over the years. These responses are unprompted and unedited.

Garett: Age 12 
What is your favorite color? Blue

What is your favorite restaurant? Hu Hot or Culver’s (neither of which are on the east coast)

What would be the perfect amount of money to be given for your birthday? $100.00

Who is your best friend? Dad

What is your favorite food? Tacos

Favorite movie: The Apple Dumpling Gand

Favorite place to visit in Maine: Monkey C, Monkey Do (an adventure ropes course) or Mrs. Terry’s cabin

Favorite thing to do: go to the airport and fly with Dad

What do you think you might like to do when you grow up? Be a pilot and be as good of a husband and dad as I can be

Travis: age 8

Favorite color: blue

Favorite place to eat: Culver’s

Perfect amount of money for your  birthday: $1.89 (I asked him why this amount. He replied that it wasn’t too much money and if he didn’t ask for too much money, he might get it!)

Best friend: Dad

Favorite food: salad and corn on the cob

Favorite movie: Minions

Favorite thing to do: play farm or build legos

Favorite place to visit in Maine: The lake

Favorite animal: horse

What do you think you might like to do when you grow up: be a farmer in Haiti


Emma: age 5

Favorite color: pink

Favorite food: fruit

Favorite restaurant: McDonald’s

Perfect amount of money for your birthday: $2.00

Best friend: Charis (her little cousin)

Favorite movie: Minions

Favorite place to visit: Story’s house in Wisconsin

Favorite animal: cows

What do you think you might want to do when you grow up: Be a worker at Sam’s Club (one of her favorite places to go)

It was so fun to do this with the kids, and it’s so fun to look back at their responses over the years. I am so blessed to be their mama, and I don’t take this blessing lightly. Roger and I have a big responsibility and challenge to raise these kids for God’s glory, and we have no time to waste. Please pray with us as we strive and work to raise them for Jesus.

Our love,
Sarah