Our weekend

Well, we are just winding down from a fun weekend. My brother-in-law is overseas, and my sister went to a weekend photography workshop, so their three kids came over Thursday and spent the weekend with us. Riley, Amelia, and Landin had so much fun playing with them. They got along great, and they only had a few "disagreements." The great thing about all of them is that they will pair off and play together, and then a little while later, they switch and play with someone else. Friday morning I came downstairs to find Kylie, my 14 year old neice, snuggling with Landin on the couch while Riley and Mikala played together, and Amelia and Brennan played together. A little while later it was Riley and Kylie, Mikala and Amelia, and Brennan and Landin. Then later Riley and Brennan played together, Amelia and Kylie, and Mikala and Landin (scary!). I really enjoyed all of the kids!!! We swam at the pond, watched movies, played outside, and just had a great time. I was actually sad to see them go home with Kim after church!!!

4th of July

Thought I would post some pictures of how we spent our 4th of July this year. We went to a friend's house for a cookout. Riley had a lot of fun playing sand volleyball, Amelia climbed a tree with Mikala, and Landin enjoyed watching Dan shoot off fireworks (from a safe distance, and with his ears plugged part of the time). After that, we went to watch the Fort Wayne fireworks at Northcrest with Lisa, Terran, Bryce, Ethan, Grandma Patsy and Grandpa Tim. We had a great day, but we were exhausted when we finally got home.

Now what???

Baseball/Softball season is over! Now what? We have reached a break between activities. Soccer and school will start in a few weeks and we will be back to being busy. I actually miss the kids having baseball, softball, and soccer games. They enjoy playing sports, and I love watching them! I also enjoy visiting with the other parents at the park, but I really enjoy seeing them excited about having a game.

Timber!!!!!!

Today made me realize that God is so good. He protected us from getting injured and our house from getting too much damage. We had a huge tree fall on the back of our house during the storm. I was looking out the kitchen window when I saw limbs flying at the house and a tree starting to lean. I yelled at the kids to get to the basement. They went down first, and as soon as I closed the door, I heard the tree hit the house. It was very loud and it scared the kids. The power flashed off and on but did stay on. After a little while I went back upstairs and saw the tree. Todd got home shortly after that. As soon as the lightening stopped we went ouside to see the damage. We lost the picnic table and grill, but did not have significant damage to the house. The gutter, some siding, and some shingles were damaged.

Amelia asked why God let this happen, and I explained that God had protected us and our house during the storm. I made sure I told her that God has blessed us with a wonderful family, too. Within a half an hour, Nan & Tom (Todd's mom & dad), Ryan (Todd's cousin), and Tim (my stepdad) came over with chainsaws and muscles to help us. The kids were a big help, too. They took limbs out to the road and stacked up logs. Landin really worked hard. He didn't take a break all day except to eat supper. That kind of work is very good for his sensory problems, and he loved every minute of it.

Days like this make you appreciate certain things. The damage to the house could have been worse, but it wasn't. The kids could have been hurt if the tree would have come through that window, but they weren't. It could have taken us days to clean up the mess, but it didn't. God looked after us today and sent us some wonderful people to help. I am very thankful for that!

Also, please pray for Todd's grandma, Marg. She had surgery to repair a hernia Monday, and she is still in the hospital. They are having trouble getting her off of her oxygen. Please pray that she will heal quickly so she can get back home.

Check out my Slide Show!

Camping at Potato Creek

We spent a great week camping at Potato Creek State Park. The weather was beautiful - 70's and breezy. We enjoyed hiking, paddle boating, fishing, relaxing, reading, playing, and yes- the kids even swam. BRRRR!!!! Amelia & Grandma Patsy found a baby turkey alone in the woods. It followed them around chirping. The DNR people said they couldn't do anything about it. The day we were packing up to leave, it showed up under Grandma & Grandpa's camper and started following the kids around again. We put it in a box with some bread, and took it back into the woods to release it. After we let it go, we ran so it wouldn't follow us again. It was the cutest thing! We said a quick prayer that it would find it's mom and it wouldn't get killed. As we pulled out of the park, we saw a turkey and the kids were sure it was the mom and that it was looking for its' baby.
We were really glad that Kim decided to bring the kids for a couple of days. We had fun with them. On the way home, we stopped at Essenhaus in Middlebury to eat dinner. When we walked in, Landin looked around and said, "Mom, is this a nursing home or a restaurant?" Everyone around us laughed! We all enjoyed our meals, and the kids were excited to pick whatever kind of pie they wanted. We all picked a different kind and shared.
When we got home, many people asked me if we had to visit the emergency room this time like we usually do. We actually survived the week with just an earache. We had to call the doctor to get a prescription of eardrops for Landin. We were nervous the first night when we pulled in and it stormed and hailed and the power went out in the campground within the first 10 minutes. It stayed off until about 4 AM. The rest of the week was so much fun, we almost forgot about the rough start!

A Busy Weekend

Well, it is the end of a very busy weekend. We started out Friday night with a baseball game that got rained out about half way through. Saturday morning at 8:30, Landin had a baseball game. He was very excited because he got 2 outs at first base and a couple good hits. Amelia had a game after Landin. She got to pitch and she did pretty well. Right after the games we went to 2 different graduation parties. We had a lot of fun visiting, playing volleyball, and playing kickball. The kids were exhausted and slept well that night. Today between church services we went to Uncle Tom's pond for my sister-in-laws surprise birthday party. The kids spent about 3 hours in the pond and have the red faces to prove it! It was a very busy weekend, but we really had fun! This week will be filled with baseball, softball, and preparing to camp next week.