one week ago today part 2

we had good friends take off work to help us unload!!
we already owe them so much.
they are our saturday night game night friends.
(and sue and i *so* rule cranium!)

we even had a friend from tallahassee fly up to help (thanks, sarah--so glad you came!)

of course, not everyone worked equally hard.
some considered themselves entertainment.

i have tried numerous times to change the size of this picture to a normal size, but it's little or large.... sorry! don't have time to fool with it anymore now....

one week ago today

our youngest daughter turned 13.
i had so many cool ideas for a party.
but we were traveling.
then her brothers ate most of the pedals for the daisy (aka twinkies)
i told her to pretend we played "he loves me, he loves me not" and only 5 were left.
of course we would be referring to her father who loves her since it should be another 13 years before she'll have someone else....

she made the cupcake toppers herself.
it wasn't the best of days (we were still recovering from our 20hour ride back from florida with all our earthly belongings).
but she loved becoming a teenager, and we love being her family.

happy 13th liv!

new house

"before pics"

(details to come...so much catching up to do!)

we made it

it was a long trip to get our stuff, and we ended up with 2 trucks and towing the car, but we made it safely (thank you, Lord, driving those trucks is terrifying!) and our home closed in florida, ending that chapter of our lives.

soon, when we get caught up enough to post again, i'll post pics of olivia's 13th birthday, the new house God has generously provided for us, and pictures karis took of moving day.

the 3 bigs are off at creation for the weekend.
we have to pack up all the owner's stuff (from the new house we are renting) before tuesday, then we can settle ourselves in.

thank GOD

my 18 yo baby girl was in a car accident. she had her 2 teenage siblings and a friend with her, and thank GOD they are all okay. her grandfather's van, though, is totaled. if you think of it, say a prayer for her, for confidence and safety as she gets behind the wheel again, and for me, as i'm currently traveling the pa-md-wv-va-nc-sc-ga-fl route to pack up our home in florida in preparation to move permanently to pennsylvania, but my mother heart is really hurting to hug them all, and kiss them, and maybe even sit on their beds and pray over them while they sleep (used to do that all the time when they were little).

karis,
olivia and and the boys and i miss you like crazy, we are crazy about you, and want you to know how very much we're thinking of you (sitting in chick-fil-a right now eating nuggets for you). haley and nick too!
love,
mom

post graduation break

the day after graduation we took off for my mom's at the beach in nj.

a favorite:

graduation

our firstborn graduated on monday, june 8.
there were 590 or so students in her graduating class.
it was hot (by pennsylvania standards), and held on the football field.
it lasted only 1 hour 45 minutes.
not bad.


coming in with her class.
she was in row 14 on the left side.


they only gave us 3 tickets, so haley was the one who got to come.
bffs


this is only 1/4th of the students

her best friend from church, kara

really excited for that diploma!

she had no idea who this man was.
we are so proud of her.

though i must admit....after 10 years of homeschooling, our blood/sweat/tears intermingling to achieve the goal.... it felt a bit like a 9 month difficult pregnancy, only to give the baby up for adoption. probably a really poor analogy, but painful nonetheless.

as a wise homeschooling friend reminded me, at least she has a diploma that will never be questioned.

we love you karis!

glitches

there have been some major glitches with the sale of our home. it is exhausting and extremely emotionally draining to deal with. not to mention we will have no money left when it's all said and done. would you please pray for us to work things out, be sensitive to God's timing and to not be bitter in the process? all miracles indeed, immeasurable grace needed. thanks.

starlite

we had so much fun at starlite camping resort....

the boys went mini golfing (primitive according to today's standards, but fun nonetheless)
they got to play the first round free.
because cody willingly blew the leaves off each hole first.
what a deal!
nick could not hit the ball past that old sunken sink. very funny.
the game room was also a big hit. i think cody hit the all time high score on ms. pacman.



we did ceramics.
olivia did a ballerina.
haley did a dolphin (and deleted all the pics on my camera that had her in them).
keri did a lion (pete says that's his favorite).
zach did a lighthouse for us, and karis claims the credit of doing the water.
olivia won a drawing for $5 camp credit, and gave it to jack to do a car but i didn't have my camera with me then. mike kept him company by painting a dog.

camping!

more pics coming soon....so much work to do, so little time!

sold!

after 156 days on the market, our house in florida has finally sold, praise the Lord!
closing is officially set for june 25th, but will most likely be moved up a week or more at the buyer's request.
now to find a place to live (rent) up here.....

employment

there's a stream that runs right through the building.
it's a re-done warehouse by some very old railroad tracks.
the boys love to look in the stream to see what's heading under the building, under the road, across the street.


i think it's a cool building.
hip, urban, modern looking.
starkly contrasting the quaint, old town where it sits.
founded by moravians many moons ago.
stay tuned for more pictures of this picturesque town, lititz.

for mom

so sorry i forgot to post this picture sooner! here's willie, just turned 14, and me, ahem... quite a bit older. tall, huh?

happy 17th birthday, haley

i'm posting pics later than i wanted, but have a few days of the computer crashing every time i tried to upload pictures and people saying they want to buy your house and then not calling back or returning your phone calls, and 4 parties in 3 days, and that's what you get.

we celebrated by having friends meet us at long's park.......

for shaving cream/silly string/water balloon fights.

katie and haley (and just barely jack's shaving creamed head)



rachel, kirsten, haley and jack




nick, patrick, katie



nick, rachel, jack, patrick

rachel, kirsten, bekka and katie

the whole gang

haley (with help from ian) blowing out pretend lit candles (it was too windy to light them)

we attempted to make a tie dye cake, but the colors were kinda gross pre-baked

but once it was baked it turned out great. unfortunately, i didn't count the number of people attending, and there wasn't enough cake to go around. and haley didn't get any. i made a cookie cake for her the next day, but she didn't get any of that either...... i'll make it up to you, honey!

flag football-spring 2009

the 2 middle boys have had fun in spring flag football.
jack's coach was our neighbor and local sports announcer, mike.
his assistant coach was his dad :)


mike's coach was jahn, and assistant coach, dad :)
they had so much fun playing their last game under the lights at the "quad"
the quad is 4 artificial turf soccer fields divided into 6 football fields.
it's usually off limits to just anyone, so it was a big deal to get to play there.




nick went around taking pictures,
haley stayed home for some alone time (can't blame her for that!)

teacher appreciation

simple, cheap, easy. consummable and most of all... appreciated!
that, to me, describes the best teacher gift.
how many ceramic apples that say "#1 teacher" does a teacher need?
we bought notepads, covered the tops with fancy scrapbook paper (used elmer's glue) and added 3 dimensional stickers from the scrapbook aisle at target.




here's a close up view:


mike made his own, and olivia loved it so much, she wants to make them as party favors for her birthday party this year.

church softball

years ago robin played on the softball team for our church, grace baptist.
never in all these years did we dream he'd one day be playing for the church again, only this time, joined by his 15 year old son.







he doesn't run as swift as a gazelle like in the old days, but he's still good.
these boys know it's all about where you place the ball, not how hard you hit it.
i think he pulls a different muscle every game he plays.
but it's still fun to take care of him after all these years.

yup. happy 20th anniversary, honey.
you still look good and are fun to watch.

looking forward

i know the plans i have for you, says the Lord
plans for welfare and not calamity
to give you a future and a hope.
jeremiah 29:11