grandma noni

This is my sweet Grandma Leona (better known as "Grandma Noni" to most people).  She turned 97 this week! 

 

What an amazing woman.  She took care of my grandpa for years, after an accident paralyzed him from the waist down.  And I should mention that he was about twice her size!  Like I said, an amazing woman.  She loves her family SO much, and we love her so much.  We are very thankful that God has given her so many years! 

 

We love you, Grandma Noni!  So thankful that we can spend this summer near you!

what a ham :)

Nathan is so good at teaching our kids biblical truth.  He is truly gifted--I always learn from his devotions! 

 

However, Daisy tries her hardest to try and distract the other three.  She loves making them laugh--and she is very successful at it!!

 

 

 

 

Love this little girl!  She definitely makes our life interesting!

 

summertime fun...

We have been greatly enjoying our summer here in our hometown!  We have been very busy...Nathan is working for his dad this summer, and I spend my days with our four sweeties.  Although, they aren't always sweet!  But usually they are. :)

 

 

Our public library had a great kickoff for their summer reading program.  The whole library was used for a carnival--complete with games, prizes, crafts and snacks.  Our kids LOVED it.  Here is Daisy showing off her pirate patch.  I must say, she is the cutest pirate I have ever seen!

And our kids were also able to get tatoos on their arms (which took FOREVER to wash off, by the way!)

We live in a "villa" over the summer, and the number one attraction in it?  The "spinning chairs".  It is unbelievable how long these kids will spin on these chairs.  I try spinning with a kid on my lap, and I am almost ready to puke after 3 spins!  These kids spin for 20 minutes at a time.  It is truly amazing.

We love going to playgrounds...

And it is so fun for our kiddos to spend time with cousins...it is very different than it was in Jackson, though.  In Jackson, Aaron and Jill's family lived about 30 seconds away from us.  Here, they live in another part of town!  So we don't see them nearly as much.  It will be great to be close to them again in August!!

We are loving the summertime.  It is really crazy that June is almost over, though!  Another moving day will be here before we know it!

a visit from some jacksonites :)



We were so excited that our good friends from Jackson wanted to come and visit us last weekend!  Our kids are such good friends with theirs, so they were super excited.  And of course, we are are good friends with Brandon and Heather, so we were very excited, too :)

 

Sadly, I didn't get any pics of the adults...but I guess that is just what happens when there are 11 cute kiddos surrounding you!

 

My parents very graciously opened their home to us for lunch and the whole afternoon--the day after my mom's surgery!  Thanks for doing that, mom and dad!

 

We ate Subway outside with Brandon and Heather's family and also Aaron and Jill's family.  Lots of kids, so outside was a very good idea :)

 



 

(an aerial shot of the kiddos)

The "twins" were reunited!

After swimming and hanging out at my parents for the afternoon, we headed over to Nathan's parents' house.  They had supper all ready for us.  What a blessing that was.  Thank you, Mom and Dad M!  We also stayed overnight at their house with B and H's family.  (our villa is just a bit too small for our families:) ).  The boys were super excited to have a "sleepover" in the basement.  Although, an hour or two into it, Kaine decided to come upstairs because he thought he could sleep together in his own bed :)

 

Brandon and Heather, thank you for taking the time to come visit us!  It was so good to see you guys and catch up.  We will have to do it again sometime :)



these two...

Layla and Daisy are becoming such good friends!  Our kids are getting to a great stage...Kaine and Halle are kind of at the same "level", and now Layla and Daisy are, too.  They are such good little friends...acting very crazy together, and just having fun together.  The kind of fun that only a very crazy little 2 and 3 year old can have :)

 

They went on a date with mommy and daddy...

Play together at home...

hang out in their nightgowns:)

"kill bugs" together (or try to!)

like I said, they act crazy together!

What a blessing these 2 are to our family!  Love these girls :)

 

I survived!

A week without my hubby, that is.

 

Nathan was privileged to take a group of highschoolers to Wayumi this week (he led the team, along with my bro-in-law Aaron...and click here to see my sis's blogpost about our first trip to Wayumi). The group had a great week of connecting with each other, learning about tribal missions, and being challenged big time by the amazing teaching at Wayumi.

 

I had a week without my hubby :(

 

But it was okay!!  Minus a kind of scary night filled with storms (including TONS of thunder/lightning AND the tornado siren!)...my week went really well!  The kiddos and I had VBS to keep us busy, and we spent lots of time with both my parents and Nathan's parents.  I felt very blessed.

 

And I also felt very glad when Nathan returned!  Very, very glad.  :)

 

Having life without Nathan for 6 days made me appreciate him all over again!  Absense really does make the heart grow fonder :)

 

 

Nathan...I am so glad to have you back home!  I love you and appreciate you so much...Happy Father's Day to the most amazing man I know.

 

t-ball season!

We have been enjoying one of our favorite parts of the summer--Kaine's tball games!  Oh, but this year, the tball league was split into 2 age groups, and Kaine is part of the older age group.  So his league is actually called "Coach's Pitch" (or something like that)--and Kaine always corrects me when I say that he is in t-ball.  :) 

 

Anyway, this year we are so glad that Nathan was able to be an assistant coach for Kaine's team.  And we are doubly glad that Kaine's head coach is the very talented Nick Fiechter.  What a joy that Kaine and Carter can play on the same team!  We love seeing how God is growing their friendship!

 

 

A daddy/son picture:

The girls love watching Kaine's games!  Why do they love them so much?  Well, a big reason has to do with...

Grandparents!!  Both my parents and Nathan's parents are very faithful spectators at Kaine's games.  And my mom always brings the girls a snack bag, which they look so forward to!

One of Kaine's games was cancelled because of huge puddles on the field...but our team got together anyway to practice.  A few kids showed up, along with just a couple of parents who drove them.  Oh, but not for Kaine...

Kaine's grandpas helped out with the practice,

Aaron and Jill's family came (and all of our kiddos loved playing together on the playground),

And after Aaron and Jill's family left, the grandmas watched Kaine practice, along with my girls (and of course, the snack bags!)

 

 

Kaine, you are blessed with a lot of people who love you!  We are so glad you have this opportunity to play a sport that you love along with one of your best friends and your grandparents watching you.  What a blessing!

that will be us in a couple of years.

Our dear friends, Jon and Amy and their sweet daughters, are beginning their journey to Ethiopia today.  They are planning to serve there among the Awi people. 

 

As we said good-bye to them this past weekend, it made things seem just a little bit more real.  In a couple of years, that will be us!  I know that time will come so fast--it will be here before we know it.  My heart breaks for Jon and Amy and their families, but I am so excited to see what God has for them in Ethiopia. 

 

After we got home from Jon and Amy's good-bye open house, Halle wanted to hang their prayer card by her bed.  So we taped it up there for her, and she told me that she wanted to pray for them.  So sweet.

 

And then Nathan talked to all of our kiddos before bed about Jon and Amy and their situation.  He talked to them about how they are saying goodbye to their families, grandparents and friends and going overseas.  We have smart kids, and they can connect the dots.  They know that will be our family very soon.  And so far, by God's grace, they are on board and seemingly unaffected by any of it!  If anything, they seem to be be developing a heart for the unreached!  Praise the Lord...we are so thankful.  Kaine had the sweetest prayer that night before bed, as he prayed for Jon and Amy and their girls.  It was so insightful and just so sweet! 

 

 

Please pray for Jon and Amy's family as they make this transition to a totally different culture.  God's grace is sufficient!