Great Vacation!

We've had a great vacation.

We started back on July 18th with our niece Kayla coming to visit for a week. We had a really good time with her. We mostly just hung out although we did venture into Seattle so we could go to the EMP. They were having an exhibit about Jim Hensen. Wow he had an amazing mind.

We drove down to California and went straight to DH's family's house. We were able to see his parents, both of his sibs and all of their kids. There is still something so amazing about his connection with biological family. He didn't grow up with them but they are a great part of his life!

We left their house and went onto my parents', but quickly had to leave and go to see DH's adoptive mom. She is older and very ill. It was a hard visit, but we were still so happy to have seen her.

Back at my parents' house we spent time with them, my sister and her two kiddos even came over for a couple of days.

We headed from there with just L to a 3 day christian concert in Monterey July 29-31. We met up there with some awesome friends. What a great time we had praising our Jesus. Our daughter L had a blast!

Then came camp, Aug 3-8. We were both teaching at the camp went to as kids. While L was a camper the other kids were pre-campers. It was up near Yosemite and it was a beautiful week! What a great week to just focus on Christ and how he knows all of the pieces of our lives and how they fit together. HE has a great plan for me and I do enjoy seeing how it all fits together.

We met up with the L family after camp for a weekend in San Jose. We all had a nice weekend playing and relaxing. We were able to celebrate L's 10th birthday since it had passed while we were at camp. We worshipped with the Campbell Church of Christ in San Jose. A lovely congregation of enthusiastic worshippers.

We left for San Diego Monday, August 10th with the L family but without each of our husbands. They had to work and we wanted to go and play int he sunshine....so we did :)

We beached it a few times, went to the Wild Animal Park and visited Legoland too. This weekend we relaxed a fair bit. We went to worship with the North County C of C, saw DJ an old friend. We even were able to squeeze in a new movie, "Ponyo", which was great. Today we will be washing clothes and packing up, getting ready to leave bright and early for Seattle tomorrow. We are going to try and make it a little fun on the way up. We will stop and see at least one mission and also see the redwoods too....It has been a great vacation but whew....I can't wait to get home to my own bed! And I totally miss my DH too!

Fellowship, fellowship, fellowship

DH and I sure enjoy gathering with our church family. We've had multiple opportunities lately too. :)

We had 59 people join us a few Friday's ago to eat dinner together and sing praise songs. Let me just say how awesome it was to have 59 people in this house, singing. The kids mostly sat in the middle of the room with all of the adults encircling them. The kids sang their little hearts out as well as the adults. What a memory for each of my children to tuck away into their hearts.

We also were able to host our friends from Hawaii. He is in the Air Force and had about a month of leave. Part of it he used to help at church camp on Oahu and then they headed here. They were here part of their time and also over in Montana. The time that they were able to spend here was so awesome. We enjoyed hosting them immensely! We played cards, ate good food, went to a water park together, played XBOX, and just enjoyed each other's company. We are sure going to miss them!

While they were here we celebrated Independence Day. We were pretty beat from going to the water park so we stuck close to home. At the last minute we ended up at a neighbor's house (friends that we also go to church with). Wow! Such a generous heart these friends have. We had such a good time playing games, eating great food (homemade marshmellows, anyone?) and of course lighting fireworks.

Yesterday I was able to fellowship again with a couple of moms and a whole bunch of kids! Each of the 4 mothers had extra kids. Nieces, Nephews and friends. They all loved being able to look at the animals together. They played hard and slept even harder last night.

What would I do without my church family? I am so happy to have them here on this side of eternity and know that eternity with them will be sweet too!

Cute Photos of the kids, playing out front

Only Friends Would do this:

Dress up like a dinosaur. Put your arms around each other. and smile like you've never smiled before! Friends!

Summer Fun!

Sisters Forever

Jumping for joy!

Co-operation

We've been getting together with some of our friends to do crafty schooly kinds of things every other week.

Here's S and his friend G. They are working on an art project. They are 5 years apart yet they sit side by side in our learning environment. I love that about homeschool.

Here is A and B with their buddies K and S. There is a lot of concentration going on, can you tell?

Busy, busy...

I've been too busy to blog.

Our new home has been buzzing with people. In and out, fellowshipping, conversing, eating (of course). I love seeing all of our friends here at our home. I love catching up with each of them and loving on them. If you haven't been by yet, call me up and we'll put you on the calendar. We would love to see you here soon.

Cause we really love being busy, busy...it makes me smile :)

Aloha~
May you have a blessed day.