look who's cooking again!

we have a built in gas grill in our sunroom. robin's been dying to check out the strength of the vent fan. after one of many church softball games this week, he decided to grill some bubba burgers. here's the result!

home tour-family room

this is the current family room. originally (1978) the front of this picture was the kitchen (and they left a little sink) and over by the fireplace was the family room. in the early 80s, they added the kitchen (pocket door to your right in this picture) and the sunroom (through the back sliding doors). you should be able to click on the pictures to enlarge. this view is coming in from the laundry room (dining room to the left).

before

after

another view, from the other side of the room. if you walk in the front door, and pass the entrance to the front living/dining room, this is the next room on your right. it runs parallel behind the front room, and that door straight back (to robin's left) is the laundry room, which has a pocket door (both doors into the kitchen are pocket doors too. i do love pocket doors!) you can just barely see the sliding doors on the left, and the old kitchen window, which now looks out into the sunroom.

before

after

yes, we're crazy to have white furniture. but since we're renting and can't paint, and this space was so dark since it doesn't have any windows to the direct outdoors, the white furniture (cheap, slipcovered from ikea--and they wash so nicely!) brightens it up a bit, and i love it. now if we can only keep one un-named male black lab dog off it....
the chair and peg rack are one of my favorite little corners. i got the chair at a flea market for $5. it's old, very sturdy and is just full of stories it's not able to tell. i love a chair with history. on the pegrack are a special event apron (from pleasant view schoolhouse), an old baby smock of robin's (which will show up on a brand new family member soon...) and my old blanky! the very small bags are from long time friends/missionaries carl and pam brought to us as a prayer reminder for the people of papua, new guinea. (and all people groups without a bible in their language as they work for wycliffe bible translators).

before and after-dining room

this is the first room on the right as you walk through the front door.
it is verrrrryyyyy long. the front half (not pictured) is the library/computer room.
when the house was first built in 1973, there was a divider between the two halves, with one half being the formal living room, and this half being the dining room.
we love this as our dining room because when company comes, we just add an extra table.
we can host *lots* of table company.

what we've been up to

monopoly til midnight


a trip to australia (via vacation bible school)


visiting with michigan cousins
(and how pathetic that the only photo i can find of their visit is of their dog, jersey.
the drama of the vignette is on purpose. she is a princess)

creation2009

now that we have internet in our home again (thank you Lord... and robin...) it's fun to go through the main computer and see what pics are on it that i haven't seen (and to do a test post to see if i remember how from the pc).
i'm not sure which girl is responsible for this picture, taken at creation where they worshiped with 50,000 others while camping, waiting in line for port-a-johns and listening to bands/speakers.

nice job on the picture, girls. how 'bout a guest post?

robin in the kitchen

we were thrilled to get a call last friday night from my sister who was in ohio en route to my mom's in n.j. asking if they could spend the night. we were even more excited that it only took them 10 hours to get here, so it wasn't midnight or beyond when they arrived!

robin had some cooking to do....it hits him every 5-10 years and so he shared his specialty with our brother-in-law, mark (really, we should describe him as brave, courageous, or lacking a full deck for eating something so.... artery clogging. i did make sure his life insurance was paid up before partaking).

can you guess what's in it?




it's a fried lebanon bolgna, egg, mayo and cheese sandwhich on a bagel.
with steak sauce added.
ahem. enjoy, men.

church suppers

one of the things we love about our church is the wednesday night church suppers in the summer, the first of every month. each one has a theme, and the food is always good. july's theme was a pet show with a message with special guests from animal alley and the grilling done by the pastors (pictured is pastor marv).

we love the integration of all ages together, the opportunity to serve families with young children and the atmosphere of informalness at these get togethers. thanks, gbc!

lancaster county

some of our favorite scenes locally.....



lest you think it too idyllic.....see that gargantuan building in the back? it's QVC's warehouse :)

farewells

these three are very happy to say goodbye to the bathroom all 9 of us have been sharing for the past 6 months.
we praise God for His faithfulness to us--God is good all the time, and all the time God is good.

more posts on the new house coming. we won't have internet of our own until the 17th, so i only get to check emails/the blog every 2-3 days or so.

boy in the plastic bubble. (wrap)

this is what happens when you're the youngest of 7.....

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!