Pray

Please pray for my dad. He's in the hospital right now and is very sick. He became ill in the fall of 2003. It seems that he may be sick with the same disease or one of the complications of it.

This is the dreaded part of living so far away.

...will keep everyone updated.

Happy Birthday, Anne

It's that time of year again.

This is my third year of organizing a luncheon for Anne and she always makes it very interesting! :)

Lately, Anne has been searching for her perfect hair color! I never know for sure what she will look like when she shows up for any one event. Being a hair girl myself, this has only endeared her more to me!

Sadly, the black hair was short lived as she took her birthday money today and has transitioned into an auburn girl. We were laughing that in our lunch pics we were like "good and evil" together!

Love you, Anne! I'm so glad you were born!



Anne, Di and Marcella

Me, Amy and Anne

First Annual Shepherding Group Camp-Out

I'm not sure who originally came up with the idea. My small group seems to be full of intelligent, realistic people. Maybe someone had too much cough medicine one night or there was a private "dare" I don't know about?

Whatever and whomever...Last night, three of my favorite couples (also being my small group members) agreed to gather together at a house with a yard and set up tents for a camp-out.

With our 8 small children.

Yeah.

I think many of us were sceptical as to how successful this activity would turn out to be. There was some preliminary conversations which included colorful "mocking" about who was truly a camper and who was not.

By the time last night arrived, there seemed to be a bit of a challenge in the midst...

Game on.

Truthfully, we had a great time. (I know...I was shocked, too!) I love my girls in this group and feel completely at home when I'm with them. I made it to 2am before I was allowed to collapse upstairs on the floor (we only have a small tent so Matt and the boys took that). Until those wee hours of the morning, I was amused by the periodic dad that popped in the back door...small child in hand...heading for a warm bedroom.

Hilarious.

My stupid camera does terrible at night so I don't have any pics around the campfire but I'll include a few that I do have.

I'm not sure if we will do this again next year but having made it through the night and after a significant nap this afternoon, I have no regrets.

Just a few more great memories!

 
 

 

 
 
 

A Day At The Farm

After the big camp-out, we found the last of our energy to head to a festival in the middle of the country at a farm. It was a great way to spend a beautiful Saturday and the kids really enjoyed it.

Blast from the Past

This year Sam went trick or treating as a Domino's Delivery Guy. He wore Matt's old shirt and hat from high school and people got such a kick out of it.

Sam and I ran into a local Domino's to see if they would contribute a new pizza box to complete the outfit and they were more than happy to do so. In fact, they made sure to want a copy of the picture for their store.

Sam was a good sport since I'm sure he would have rather been a super hero or something more popular and he agreed to amuse his mom and dad for a night if it meant that he got to get some candy. To his suprise..he found that he was pretty cool in his own get-up!

Scenes from Spook Night