Lot done, still more to do!

The summer has come to and end- I have accomplish a few of the sewing projects that I intended...but still have a few to go.

Baby blanket for the Robersons with a coordinating taggie

Abi's first day of school bow and dress

Many more sewing projects to come...

The kids have started school, I see a great beginning to a successful year. Both were excited when they woke up this morning, it was almost as if I couldn't get their stuff ready fast enough. We had blueberry orange bread for breakfast..then, as usual, waited for the bus together. Mark and I followed the bus, met the kids after they got off, and then walked them class. Snapped a pic with their teacher and off Mark and I went. It's been an emotional rollercoaster!!! I'm so proud of both of them. Austin is taking good care of Abi, and Abi has not fought going once! I have my first day tomorrow...yeah...

waiting for the bus

Austin-with his teacher

Abi-with her teacher

Day on the Lake

We have not had as many oppurtunities this summer to do family vacations the way I would like. With Mark going to Brazil, that was his vacation time; so, anything beyond that would have to be squeezed into a weekend. Austin played basketball at the beginning of the summer, so we didn't want to miss any of his games. To sum it up, the summer has not been long enough. We are entering the last week of summer 2009!!! Austin and Abi will both be going to school this year, and I will be taking 12 hours for the fall semester. We are bracing ourselves for how busy we are going to be! For one last pow-wow of the summer, we decided to plan a camping trip to Huntsville State Park. HSP has campsites, swimming, fishing, hiking trails, and boat rentals (and I'm sure a few other things I didn't mention). What started out as a camping trip quickly turned into a day visit when we learned that there was still a burn ban. So, we slept until about 8am on Saturday, got up and ate breakfast, then packed up and headed out. After a stop at Wally world we were on our way. The kids only asked 100 times when we were going to be there!! We got there around 11am and headed for the boat rentals. We rented a paddle boat for an hour and the rate of $10/hour, which I think is a great price. Mark and I paddle the boat out about 20 feet and the kids had made up their mind that it was too hot and we should return to the dock. We explain that we have rented the boat for an hour, and by-golly, we are gonna get our money's worth! We continue pedaling...and the kids continue to complain! After 15 minutes, Mark and I too agree that it is truely too hot to keep going and we return to the dock. Now, I understand why they only charge 10 bucks! After that, we unloaded the car and set up shop. We ate lunch, which if you have never tried the Hawaiian bread that they sell in the Walmart bakery with the orange package...then you are missing out! We brought our huge turtle floaty for the kids to use; but Mark sadly discovered that he would have to blow it up himself, since the the pump we had brought was broken! The kids and I went ahead and got in the water. The idea of the water being right in front of them and them not being able to swim in it was just killing them!! We swam for quite a while, got out and had a snack, then swam some more. I packed up while Mark played with the kids 'a little bit longer', then we headed home. We had such a great day of laughter and fun. No schedules to keep, just pure fun! I loved it!

Austin and Abi after swimming

Abi and Austin covering Mark with sand!

Austin on the paddle boat

Abi on the paddle boat

Greatness!

I am very excited! I have been struggling to get my VA stuff taken care of...and on my end that is done! It is now up to the VA to process my paperwork; hopefully before August 18 when tuition is due. I started out very upset that I had to (yet again!) go through the hassles of getting my paperwork pushed through the UofH VA office. But this time I handled it a little different. From the beginning when I recognized that I was angry about it, I prayed. I just prayed 'God, you know how much this stresses me out, and that I get too angry to deal with it, please just take over- take all the stress and worry and work it out.' Wouldn't you know it, 2 days later, here I am able to write that my end is taken care of; and I have no doubts that God will see the rest of the process through. So, consider this a praise report!

Next on the agenda, Mark is home!!!! Okay, so he has been home for a while, but nevertheless we were happy to see him! His trip to Brazil was an amazing experience for him. He said that he now feels that God has greater things in store for our family- he's just not sure what those things are yet. He really enjoyed being able to serve other people without having the distractions of the typical American home. He also REALLY enjoyed the food!! He brought back some really neat souvenirs: he brought Austin some kind of musical instrument (it looks like a bow to me, minus the arrow), he brought Abi a really cool top (the toy that you spin) that lights up, and he brought me a really beautiful bracelet with matching ear rings. He was amazed at how the people lived. One home, probably not bigger than a 15x15 room, slept 11 people on the dirt floor. But the people were not discouraged about what did or did not have. The children wore big smiles and made up games to replace toys that they did not have. So, if you haven't had a chance, check out the videos -day 4 and 5 are my favorites.