a trip to the zoo and my birthday, too!

My family celebrated ME yesterday! The kids woke me to breakfast in bed, complete with French toast and coffee. C did the honors with the coffee, and garnished it with shaved chocolate and a coffee bean, placed perfectly beside the coffee (he's all about presentation!). I layed in bed and read for a while, then we got ready and went to the zoo (minus B, he had to work). We all went out to dinner, then played in the backyard together. It was a great day. I am so thankful for my family that loves me so much, and chooses to look past all the flaws!

campin' out

What a beautiful weekend! After a crazy week with keeping over 200 kids all going in the right direction, we headed for the hills. We have started a tradition of camping over Father's Day weekend with our good friends, the Straits. We camped near Leadville at Turquoise Lake, over 10,000 feet high! It was amazingly beautiful, bright blue sky, white capped mountains, green trees... and breathing in the fresh scent of pine. We were surprised at the amount of snow still hanging around. What fun to have a snowball fight in June! The kids loved spending time canoing on the lake in a canoe we borrowed from other great friends. N is now saving money to buy a kayak.... Hmmmm..... We are blessed to have the friendship of Rob and Leona, and their kids, Noelle and Hayden. We have been camping with them every year since Maddie was 2-years-old! We are so excited to kick off the camping season!

exposing your kids to pain

This is hard stuff for a mom's heart, but man do I agree with it!




Gary Black 2 from AIM Videos on Vimeo.

Let the games begin!

Craziness! That's how I describe my last couple of weeks. In the last two weeks I've had VBB (Vacation Bible Blast) meetings, end of the school year parties, field trips, orthodontist appointments, VBB meetings, a friend visiting from out-of-town, last Rooftops party, play dates, VBB meetings, Mr. Bigg's family fun center, Elitch's amusement park, VBB meetings, violin lessons, guitar lessons, painting for VBB, baptism service; not to mention the regular upkeep of the home (grocery shopping, laundry, cooking dinner, vacuuming, etc. Not that a whole lot of that has been getting done, but...). Whew! BUT, TODAY WAS THE FIRST DAY OF VBB!!! Finally, the planning and preparing is done, and we get to see the fruit of our labor! The kids really did have a BLAST and everything came together so well! I tell ya, there's nothing like watching over 200 kids singing praise Jesus. So many of these kids come from hard situations, and to know that they are hearing the truth of Jesus all week long, well, that just makes me happy! I have been praying all day that God will seal all that they are hearing in their hearts as they return home every day. I'll post pictures in the next day or so...