We're Happier Now!

THIS is more like it! The girls made a great dinner and Kaylee made cookies. And then...it was game time! We had a lot of fun, and it was nice to know we're still loved!

Back to Normal!

Things are looking up! Kaylee is home from Georgia and had a great time. Carissa is back, and a whole gang will be here for dinner tonight! I'm not cooking-the girls are in charge! I got a letter today from my "little girl" from Haiti! I haven't mentioned her since January-her name is Olanda and she is five. This was the first time I had actually heard from her. In her letter she tells me that she goes to church and to school, she likes dolls and wants to grow up to be a nurse. It was pretty exciting to finally hear from her!

No One to Play With!

Do you remember when you were little and you would tour the neighborhood and find no one to play with? That's kind of how I feel. Kaylee is still in Georgia-too busy to even call and check in to see if we're still kickin. Carissa is back from house sitting on Sanibel, but very busy. We haven't seen Josh and Jen for days. We had to have lunch alone yesterday...our normal FAMILY lunch! We usually have a house rocking with college kids, but no one has come to visit the lonely old people. I even called Claire this morning to see if she wanted to spend the day with us...NO! Cary and I hit the outlet mall and found great deals, and then we went to Fresh Market and bought stuff to fix for dinner. It turned out really good-chicken kabob and strawberry salad. It has been a very relaxing few days, but I think I'm ready for my family to come home!

A Day on Sanibel

Today Cary and I went to Sanibel for the day. We actually honeymooned on Sanibel long before we ever dreamed we'd live here. We went to the beach, then met up with Carissa and Shannon to shop. Shannon is house sitting on Sanibel, so we went to her place to get cleaned up. We went to McT's for dinner, and Emily joined us there. We went to McT's on our honeymoon, and it remains a favorite of ours 24 years down the road. We had a very relaxing day. We heard from Kaylee, she arrived in Georgia with friends, where she is staying for the weekend.

I just found this picture and realized I forgot to put it on and write about it! We had lunch with our friends on Saturday! Claire decided Mr. Cary was about it, and in this picture they are carrying on about something! Grace got Cary and Carissa to play a cool game with her, and Claire wanted to join in. We had a great time with them! It was "graduation" weekend around here, so we had lots of parties and events all weekend.

Yesterday Kaylee and I did scrap booking all day. She didn't have any finals and didn't have to go to school, so we had a great day playing. Today she took her last two finals and now she is a sophomore! Josh and Jen came for dinner, and that always brightens things around here!

I have, once again, been trying to unpack the boxes in the garage. I went and bought a bookcase and assembled it on Monday. Today I started unpacking things I had shipped from Lancaster. Would someone tell me WHAT does a 40+ year old woman do with high school yearbooks??? I'm not finding too much of great interest in this box!

Carissa's New Car

Just LOOK at that smile!!! Yes, today we spent the better part of the day on the car lot, in the wonderful Florida heat. Carissa got her first NEW car...a 2007 Honda Civic. She sold her other civic and is now a very proud owner with a car payment! She has been very patient in selling her car and finding just what she wanted. She and her dad went out this morning and returned to take me along to help decide colors. I decided on gray, her dad said blue, she got the gray!!!

Happy Mother's Day!

I had a wonderful Mother's Day! It started when Kaylee sent me a text first thing this morning, telling me Happy Mother's Day. (She had spent the night away.) Then, Carissa and I were on our way to church and this big blue jay flew right in front of the car. It was beautiful! We went to Sunday School and when I walked out, Josh and Jen were walking up! They had left their church and come to surprise me! (I don't know how I got Josh and Jen's picture in twice.) We all went into church and Josh noticed that Kaylee was sitting with the youth...he let her know she needed to sit with her mom on Mother's Day! So there we were...all of us! After church we went to Carrabba's (my favorite) and had a great meal and we were even in and out! After lunch, we came home and had Dairy Queen cake and I opened presents. Cary got me clothes and jewelry, Josh and Jen gave me a magazine subscription and a new picture of them, Carissa gave me a pedicure certificate and cinnamon nuts, and Kaylee got me a wall hanging. Just having all four of my kids (I'm pretty sure we're keeping Jen) sitting together in church would have been enough, that's just special to me. Jen even sat between Josh and Kaylee, making it a pretty peaceful service! We had a wonderful day together and I feel very blessed! I even got a kiss from Spike! Earlier in the week, I had a very nice surprise. I got a Mother's Day card from one of our precious senior adults. I couldn't imagine why she had done it, but it was sure sweet. I saw her later in the week and thanked her for it. She said she just wanted me to know that she remembered that I didn't have my mother anymore. It meant a lot to know that someone else was remembering my mother, and knowing I would be thinking of her today too.

Peter and Judy's Wedding

Meet Peter and Judy! Peter grew up on the mission field, went to Bible school in Venezuela, where he met Judy-from Peru! We have known Peter for a while and have been with him through the whole process of getting Judy to the states. They had an unofficial wedding in Peru before Judy came here. But today was the REAL deal! We only met Judy a few weeks ago, and she came here knowing NO English, but we are both trying!!! She is precious and is never without her smile. It was important to Judy to have silk flowers so she could keep them, so I got to do the bouquets. It was a beautiful wedding with a great preacher. We had a wonderful time helping to plan the wedding and everything went great.

I Love Our Ministry!!!

A few weeks ago I wrote about how much I love my job. While we were away last week with our college kids, I was once again reminded of how much I love our ministry. I am so excited about what this generation will accomplish for the Lord. It is such a blessing to be in a room of hundreds of them and watch them lost in worship and praise. They are bright, able, sold out, excited, and know there is a world out there waiting to hear the good news. I am blown away when I think they were able to raise such a huge amount of money for translating the Bible. I'll never understand why God has allowed us to be a part of this, but I'll be forever grateful! What an honor!

I was also reminded of the journey we have been on with many of these kids. We have watched many fall away, make wrong choices, find forgiveness and come back to serve the Lord in ways we never could have imagined. We have seen them go to the ends of the earth, and also serve Him right here. He never lets go of His own. Never. He is faithful.

Baptism

On the Sunday before we left for Atlanta, our pastor preached on baptism. It was a great service! He was trying to help people see why they should be baptized and why we believe what we believe. At the end of the service, he offered to baptize anyone that wanted to be...RIGHT then! They had gone to great lengths to provide everything that would be needed. All of our pastors went out with them to counsel and to be sure they knew what they were doing, and by the end of the three services, 47 people had been baptized. That night our choir did their spring musical, and it was wonderful. It was a great day!

Woodpecker!

We got back from Atlanta on Saturday, and on Sunday when I let Spike out in the back yard I saw this woodpecker! It was beautiful, the picture doesn't do it justice. I LOVE our back yard. We saw two raccoons this week, and see lots of blue jays, cardinals, butterflies, squirrels, and yes, even snakes! There is always a surprise waiting!

I'm Back!!!

I know, I didn't even tell you I was going! The last couple of weeks have been a bit hectic. Last week we were gone to Atlanta with some of our college kids, for a conference. I got back and had tons of work to do from being gone, you know how that goes. There is so much I want to talk about! We had a great time in Atlanta. We were at North Point for a leadership conference-it is probably the high light of our year every year. The worship is just wonderful and the teaching is just as good. There were about 12 of us all together that went. I took lots of pictures, but most are not worth posting! Carissa went with us this year. At the conference, we had a great opportunity. They were trying to raise $90,000 to translate the Bible into the language of the "Tua" people in central Asia. We could "buy a verse" for $20. There were about 1000 at this conference, but we did it, and went over, starting translation for another tribe! It was pretty exciting, and what a joy to be a part of something bigger than ourselves. After you bought a verse, you got to write your verse on these huge boards, filling in the verses. By the end of the conference, there were no empty spaces!