Us

19 years today! Kevin, I love you more than 19 years ago, in fact, I love you more today than yesterday! Te amo mucho, mi mango!

I Am So Proud

of my kids! Friday night we were at Relay for Life. Grace and Olivia spent a long time selling refreshments. They stayed longer than I did! They were polite and eager to help.

Then on Saturday the kids from church, including my Tribe of Five, went to an area nursing home. They sang a couple of songs and passed out gift bags to the residents. They loved it, probably more than the residents did!

I plan to seek out a whole lot more opportunities for my children to serve others. What a gift it is to me to watch them bring joy to others! And to love doing it!

VBS

My kids are at VBS this week. I love VBS! 2 1/2 hours with Kevin or by myself every night! LOVE IT!!

With the series this church uses, every night the leader has a phrase she shouts to the kids and they respond with a phrase.

On the way home on the first night, my kids were practicing. They think that if they are screaming about God it negates the 'No Screaming In The Car' rule. Sigh.

So here is what we heard the first night.

Grace: God is ALWAYS there!

The Crew: Beer Nuts!

Beer nuts???????????????

Oh, FEAR NOT!!!!

Maybe they should teach annunciation at VBS too, what do you think?????

I Cannot Believe I Said That!!

One Wednesday night a month, our church hosts a free community dinner. This month we cooked out. I was serving up burgers and dogs. I told one of the boys who just graduated to get his own hamburger bun.

Me: That way I won't be fingering your buns.

The line grew really quiet.

Me: That didn't sound very good.

The Line: Laughter.

I think they were relieved I said that. They were trying to be so polite and not laugh. It's not often you hear the preacher's wife make a comment like that!!!!

A Good Parenting Moment

Last week, a friend, whose daughter is a good friend of Grace, sent me an email that her daughter was upset with Grace and then proceeded to give me a list of reasons why. Initially, I was kind of hurt, this was a friend of mine that I've known for years. I really wished she would have called me rather than emailing me. But it ended up being a good thing, because I was able to think rationally about the situation rather than responding like a mama bear emotionally.

So, I didn't respond to all that was mentioned in the email. Instead, I emailed her suggesting we meet for lunch with both of the girls and and discuss the sitution. Teach them that they can disagree and discuss and still be friends. She agreed and yesterday we met at the park with lunch.

And it was good. We both really encouraged the girls to discuss the situation. To take responsibility for their roles in the situation. The girls were very hesistant at first, both afraid of losing a good friend (and this really wasn't a very serious matter.) But we got them talking and expressing how they felt, without being accusatory AND without allowing them to make excuses for their behavior.

Every now and then I do something right in this whole parenting thing.

One of Those Things You Never Knew You'd Say

We had a friend over for dinner last night. And Ella decided to throw one of her monster fits. One you can mop the floor with. Screaming, wailing, begging, crying. It wasn't pretty. The cause of the fit? She was playing on the computer when the others went for a walk. That was fine, until she decided to get off of the computer. Then she wanted to be with the others....and the screaming started.

She collapsed at my feet, under the dining room table at one point. Our friend asked what she was doing.

Me: Groveling. And wiping her nose up the length of my leg........

Now why did he find that so funny?

Woo Hoo!!!

I have my computer back!!!! Thank you, David! It's working great and I am so thrilled!!!! I know that you all are sorry you cannot hear the song or see the dance my family is privileged to see and hear!

I got my computer back!!!

I got my computer back!!!

Conversation between Josiah and Charis

Josiah: How would we get 100 camels up the stairs?

Charis: One at time!

Josiah: What about when they have to poop?

Charis: We'll let them in the back yard!

The imagination of 5 year olds!

Catching up

Okay, I know it has been a long time, when I log into my blog and don't recognize it! Thank you to all of you who commented on my last post. My daughter is an amazing lady and is doing well. We are both glad that school is out.

I am so ready to get the summer into a routine. The girls were out of school last Thursday. Friday night we had a Cuba meeting. Fun, but they were all up way too late. Saturday morning we all loaded up and went to Lima to visit Nanny and Paw Paw. Kevin and I left the kids with Nanny and Paw Paw and drove to Van Wert for a graduation party. Lots of fun. We headed home on Sunday with my niece Rebekah with us. 8 people in a 7 person van. We call it riding Cuban style. Rebekah was here through Thursday. What a great young lady she is and so much help with the kids!

Bek watched the kids one night so Kevin and I could go celebrate our nephew's 21st birthday. We swam one day. On Thursday, we met Bek's mom, my sister in law, at Chuck E. Cheeses. Wow! My first time.Hopefully the last !?!

Today, well, the kids realized that they are going to have chores this summer. that went over like a sled ride in July They are so excited! I have decided that, having a 10 year old and a 7 year old, I don't need to do dishes this summer!

I had a hair bow party on Thursday. It was lots of fun. But now I am making bows like crazy.

Hello, Summer!