God cares about us!

Mark, Paul, Sarah, Daniel and I volunteered at a park cleanup event in Austin. As a door prize we won a free night stay at Canyon of the Eagles and a free dinner for two. Daniel's ticket was the winning ticket and for a while I think he thought he was going. I said, "Someone needs to explain to Daniel that this is a romantic getaway for two people." Father's Day was the next week and Daniel gave it to Dad, along with $10, so that Jim and I could go together. I thought that was real sweet and generous of Daniel!



We went on June 29th and of course, it was raining! For a while, we didn't think it was going to rain, but as we got close to the hotel, it starting raining and then raining harder. Jim said, "I think we are almost there." I said, "No, we're not. It needs to be raining harder!" That shows my pessimistic attitude about the rain at that particular time. But when we got there, we were going to go for a hike, but it started raining. So we read a book, then it stopped raining, then we went for a hike, then it started raining, so we came back and read some more. Then it stopped raining and we went swimming. Then it was time for dinner. We were able to order pretty much whatever we wanted. The buffalo wings were wonderful - crispy and spicy! We both had steak and then cheesecake for dessert. Night time was great not having to worry about the kids going to bed or staying in their bed, or any crying!







So, as you can see, we had a good time just being together. When we won that door prize, it really showed me how much God cared for me. When they were talking about the door prizes after the cleanup event, I was thinking, "Wow, Jim and I could really use a night away, but I won't win anything. There must be over 100 people here." What a blessing it was to have a night away.

Ooooh, we also saw this beautiful peacock on our way out! Originally he had all of his feathers out, but I didn't have my camera out in time for that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sarah's Horse Camp

Sarah went to horse camp from June 12-14th. Jim's first comment was, "Where are the horses going to camp?" Sarah, not the horses, camped in a tent with 3 other campers. There were 10 girls in the camp. It was held by the same people that run King's Daughters Club that Sarah attends twice a month. On Tuesday, when she arrived, the first activity was to play a game called "Swat" and a few other games. After lunch, they went and rode horses. They practiced saddling, bridling, and grooming the horse. They took the horses on different courses in the arena so they could get used to their horses. Sarah had "Shoofly". She was really sweet and always did what you asked her to but she shied a lot too (according to Sarah). After that they went swimming. Then they did a craft, started an early campfire, had a Bible study, ate supper, took showers and braided their hair. They got ready for bed, had a short Bible study in their tent, and then went to bed. Wednesday morning, she woke up to a funny "Good Morning" song playing outside. They had Bible study, one team went riding while the other team did archery and BB guns. When they went riding (2 hours), the counselors set up different cones and poles on the ground for the horses to maneuver around. After that, they took a break and went swimming. Then they saddled back up and went riding again (for another 2 hours)! That's what you do at horse camp after all! After supper, they went into the woods and shot fake deer, pigs, and turkeys with archery bows. Sarah got a horrible score of 4 points! They did a campfire, and saw Charlie, a ventriloquist puppet. The gist of the lesson was that everyone is different but that we each have our own talents. Then the normal routine of shower, Bible study and bedtime. Thursday morning, they had Bible study with a lot of singing. Sarah's team went in the arena and then went for a trail ride. Then they did games and just "hung out" according to Sarah. After they went swimming, they were told to stay in their swimsuits. Everyone got their horses, washed them, and then took them into the arena, where they brushed them and braided their tails. They put the horses back in the stalls until the rodeo. All the families started arriving at 4 p.m. We ate hotdogs and chips for supper and then the rodeo began after that. They had barrel racing, the straight away, then the flag race, the keyhole, and then bobbing for apples. The last one was the funniest. They rode their horse to the bucket, got off the horse, dunked their head into the bucket to get an apple, and then remounted and raced back with the apple in their mouth. It was a lot of fun for Sarah. In between the horse activities, they had family activities such as 3-legged race, wheelbarrow racing, tug-of-war (boys against girls - boys won), and chicken herding. Sarah packed up and we left after the rodeo was over. It was a lot of fun for Sarah and it was a lot of fun for us at the rodeo!

Hope you enjoy the pictures!

Well, I can't seem to figure out how to organize these pictures in order, so you will just have to look at them as is!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wedding Pics - finally!

It has been really nice to have some time off school to work on other things. More like, working on normal things without having to worry about keeping the schooling going! I have so many projects that I need to work on, like cleaning my room. The house looks pretty good, but our room is kind of like a dumping ground for things that no one knows what to do with! Even for things that have a place - that can be even more frustrating!

I wanted to put some pics of Travis and Rebekah's wedding. They were married 3-24-07, but it took a while to get the photographs. A friend from our church did a great job! They seem to be adjusting to married life and we enjoy visiting with them on Sundays. Hannah spends most of the day on Tuesdays visiting with her. They were so close as sisters, so they really miss each other. But at least Rebekah is only an hour away, instead of a state away. I told my kids that we live in such a big state, it shouldn't be hard for them to stay close by!

Hope you enjoy the pictures!
Darlene

Dad's Birthday

We went to church today and had Jim's birthday dinner in the afternoon. Rebekah and Travis stayed, along with Maribeth, Paul and Mary. We had meatloaf, baked potatoes, green beans, homemade German Chocolate Cake, and ice cream. We gave Jim his card and he liked it. Of course, everyone helped him eat all the stuff glued to the card! We tried to watch the DVD of the kids' driving lessons, but the boys laptop wouldn't play all of it. It was hard to hear too. Maybe another time. I'm going to try and include a picture of Jim's card and one of Abby with her short hair.

Reactions to Abby's Haircut!

Today is Jim's birthday but we are celebrating tomorrow. Only he doesn't know it yet! He probably thinks that we forgot about him. Rebekah and Travis are staying after church for a birthday dinner together.

Hannah, Abby, and I went to an Ice Cream Social for Paul (an army chaplain) and Mary since they are leaving soon for SC with the military. We went to Barbara's house and rode with her and Noah to Katie's house. It was funny seeing everyone's reaction to Abby's haircut. Mrs. Johnson thought she looked cute. Mr. Van Dam didn't even know it was Abby. He was handing a hymnbook to me and then he started to hand one to Abby. I said that she didn't need one and then he realized that it was Abby. He looked so shocked. Travis and Rebekah didn't come to the party until after the singing had begun. When they came into the room and sat down, they got this strange look on their faces and then started laughing. Rebekah was laughing so hard she was crying. Hannah had to go out with her and explain what had happened. Rebekah thought at first it was Thomas and wondered why Thomas was wearing a dress. Then she realized that it was Abby! I'm finally getting used to her hair being short after a week. We went out to eat with Travis and Rebekah at Arby's when we got back into town. Barbara and Noah went with us too.

While we were gone, Jim and the rest of the kids stayed at home. They went to the baseball field and played a game of baseball. They said they had a really good time. A few other things happened that were pretty exciting. Somehow the passenger window on the van got broken. When they went to get in the van to go to the baseball field, Jim found a broken window. It's a GREAT mystery! I guess we will be driving to church with a broken window tomorrow. Then later in the day Elisabeth and Thomas jammed a stick into the driver's side lock of our truck and now the lock doesn't work. You can lock and unlock it from the inside, but you can't use the key from the outside. Too bad all those things had to happen on Jim's birthday. We'll make it up to him somehow.

Well, that's all for now.
Love,
Darlene

Abby's Haircut

Ok, now I know this is working. It took me a while. Now I can tell you that Tom cut Abby's hair. He cut her bangs, one side of her head completely short, and the back in various lengths. So, she pretty much has a boy haircut since we couldn't see a better solution to the problem. At least hair grows back, but it is pretty obvious that hair is a woman's crowning glory! That happened Sunday night. I was picking up Hannah at Mallie's house and Mark said everything was pretty quiet and he thought they were sleeping. Instead, Thomas was cutting Abby's hair in her bed. I don't know how he got the scissors, since I have them put in a bag hanging high in the pantry. So, the next day, SHE cut her hair (what was left) and even showed me the hair in the trash. Then later in the day, she cut Rose's hair (our cat). I will have to find a better place for the scissors, but it is hard when people use them and forget to put them back. Where there's a will, there's a way!

Blessings,
Darlene

First Blog

Well, this is my first blog, so we will see if this even works. Today, Sarah, Thomas, Elisabeth and I went to a friend's house and she showed me how to make a Philippino food dish call "Ponset". I don't even know if this is how they spell it. But it has chicken, pork, vegetables, and rice noodles. It is so good. We have had it several times and we love it. She also showed me how to make "Puto", another Philippino food. It is like a steamed muffin made with rice flour. It is really good.

Mark got his permit this past Wednesday and he had his first driving lesson on Thursday night. He did the best out of the first three kids learning how to shift. He told Hannah that he didn't think he would have a problem learning to shift and he didn't. We had to pretend we were being thrown around in the back of the truck. The kids didn't have to pretend when Hannah was learning how to drive! We found all the videos of the driving lessons that we had and put them all on one CD for our viewing pleasure! We laughed so hard watching Hannah's driving lesson from 2 years ago.

Well, I'm going to go for now and see how it posts on my blog! I want to try and put pictures on it too, but I don't know if it allows that.

God bless,
Darlene