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 It’s a grocery store that sells damaged and outdated food items. It doesn’t bother me to feed outdated food to our kids (within reason), and prices were certainly more reasonable than the grocery stores.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