Every good and perfect gift is from above.
~James 1:17

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Oh, Happy Day!


Today is Grant's "Gotcha Day." It is hard to believe that NINE years have passed since that day that God brought our son to us. Wow. We were so excited and nervous. Grant was placed in our arms and suddenly we were parents. All of the sorrow and pain and aching melted when we looked into his face. Oh, we still remember the journey, but the sweetness of having Grant in our lives has softened it and given purpose to the pain and the long wait.

Hope deferred makes the heart sick,
but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.
~Proverbs 13:12

Grant is full of energy, always bouncing and running about, rather like Tigger. :-) He loves to ask questions and express himself and he will talk your ear off if you let him. He has a great imagination and is lots of fun to be with. Grant loves people and makes friends easily. He is smart and capable and has compassion for people in need. It is such a joy to be his mom!

Grant's Gotcha Day is also Dave's birthday! What better birthday present could he have ever gotten than the gift of a child and the privilege of being a father? :-) We are so thankful!

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Slip - N - Slide


Whenever the temperature reaches the 70's, my kids start begging to play in water. We have a small hill in our yard and my husband put down a long piece of plastic to slide down on. We turn on the hose and, voila!- instant slip-n-slide! :-) Soon neighbor kids joined the fun and we had a slip-n-sliding party going on...and it's not even summer yet! :-)

Homeschool Class at the Zoo

Last week the kids took part in a class for homeschoolers at the local zoo about animals in the African Savannah. I was impressed with what a great job the people from the zoo did at presenting the information in an interesting way and letting the kids have fun as they learned. Part of the time was spent in a classroom and the rest was spent outside looking at the animals.

After class, we explored the zoo a little longer and the kids got to ride a carousel in the park, before we started for home.

Baby giraffe up close and personal. :-)


Fun on the carousel.

Mother's Day 2007

I am a mother because of God's gift of these two precious ones.


This is what Grant wrote on the card he gave me. I love it! :-)

Saturday, May 12, 2007

Neighborhood Garage Sale


When Dave and I first moved to this area, long before we had kids, we saw some signs advertising for an upcoming neighborhood garage sale ~ involving 200+ families! Now, I love garage sales, but I had never heard of so many sales in one place at the same time and I couldn't wait to check it out. That Saturday, we drove to the neighborhood where we had seen the signs, and the closer we got, the worse the traffic got. We finally parked in a grassy field by some other cars and set off to see the sales.

Oh my goodness. It was unbelievable. Throngs of people filled the streets. There were garage sales at several houses on each street. There were people selling hotdogs, hamburgers, pop, coffee, bottled water, cotton candy, cookies, chips, doughnuts and candy. There were even port-a-potties! It was like a carnival. We stood there with our mouths open for a minute and then my husband said, "I have never seen anything like this in all my live-long days!" That was about 12 years ago and we have gone to this neighborhood sale almost every year since. Even my kids save their allowance and look forward to this particular day of garage sales.

Well, today was the day. Grant and Katie brought their money and looked for kid-sized bargains at each sale. I brought the old baby stroller along to hold our purchases. We shopped. We bought snacks. We saw friends. And, we even visited the port-a-potties. (At least Grant did. :-))

Many years ago, Dave saw the money-making potential at this event and now uses it to help high school students earn money to attend our ministry's summer conference. So, the kids and I shopped like crazy and Dave grilled 350 hotdogs and 175 hamburgers and we are all exhausted. :-) But, it was a great day. Now we can start saving for next year...

Grant waits in one of the port-a-potty lines. :-)

The "grill master" and students raising money. :-)

Katie and Grant at the end of a day at the sales.

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Mother’s Day Giveaway

5 Minutes For Mom is having a Mother's Day Giveaway! Check out the link below for great prizes you can win!

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Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Happy May Day!


The kids made May baskets today to give to some of our neighbors. They flew through their school work so that they would have time to do the baskets. They had a blast making them and then leaving them on doorsteps, ringing the bell and running! :-)