A Very Long Update!

I have been hearing all week, "Mom, when are you going to update the blog?" To which my response has been, "Do you want clean underwear? Do you want dinner tonight?" etc., etc. There is always something or someone in the house in need of my attention. Such is the life of a wife and mother, right? Oh! How I cherish my family and count it a privilege to serve them! But in the midst of serving my family, the blog becomes a low priority.

Recently, I read a very well written book on the subject of serving our families and answering the call of wife and mother, "Passionate Housewives Desperate for God." It will be a must read for Sarah someday before she answers the call of being a wife! The authors, Jennie Chancey and Stacy McDonald, have blogs that I highly recommend:

http://www.passionatehousewives.blogspot.com/
http://www.yoursacredcalling.blogspot.com/

We read so many fabulous books around here -- I'll try to be better about posting what we're reading. So many books, so little time! Alright, on to what we've been doing!

Monday, July 7th - Tom took Christian out for his first "on the road" driving experience. All went well!

Tom was out walking the dogs the other night, when he came upon our neighbors who were in a panic because their Doberman, Max, had just been bitten by a snake, and they didn't know if it was venomous or not. Tom ran back home to grab the boys who know more than he does about such things, and they identified it as a copperhead, which is indeed venomous. The owners whisked Max off to the vet, and we are happy to report that Max is doing well, although he will probably always have a problem with the leg that the copperhead bit.

The next night, the boys were out walking the dogs when Christian spotted a snake in our driveway. Thankfully, this one (pictured above) was only a young garter snake.

Sunday morning before church, when the boys were out walking the dogs, Christian spotted this little fellow by the curb, another garter snake. WHAT'S WITH ALL THE SNAKES??!!!! Sheesh!

Wednesday 7 - 9 - Hannah Caison spent the afternoon with us, and she and Sarah made a Key Lime Pound Cake for our ladies Bible study that night. It was so yummy!!! Thanks girls!

Sunday 7 - 13 - Our friends, the Hawkins, were on vacation in Florida, except their oldest son, Brett, who had to stay behind because he had to work. When you're used to living in a house with 9 other people, an empty house can be very quiet and lonely, so we invited him to come home with us after church for dinner. Here are Brett and the kids enjoying a game of UNO Attack before dinner was ready.

Sarah continues to feed the stray cats in the neighborhood, and we were very surprised a couple of weeks ago when one of them showed up with three little kittens. They seem to have adopted our woods as their home, and momma is faithfully on the deck at our door every morning awaiting her breakfast. If you click on the picture above, you can see the gray momma, Smokey, on the right, a black and white kitten (Oreo), and two tan and black kittens (Peanut and Coco). We are making progress, as they will all come up on the deck while we are sitting out there, but we still can't touch them. We realize that there is an urgent need to trap these cats and get them "fixed" as the kittens now make 8 cats we know to be hanging around the neighborhood. Too many felines!

My little garden continues to grow and give us zucchini, okra, tomatoes and cucumbers! We harvested our first watermelon this week -- yummy!!!!

Sunday 7-13 - Yes, that is one nasty looking eye, isn't it? How did it happen, you ask? From what I can sort out, the boys were wrestling (I won't say who was pinning who to the ground, or who might have won the match) and Andrew's elbow connected with Christian's eye. Christian was unaware of the extent of his injury until he got up the next morning, and we all said, "Ewwwwwww!!!!!!!!"

Tuesday 7-15 - The Rogers invited us over for pizza and croquet - what a great time! Here are Brett Hawkins (who Judy thought would rather play croquet with the old folks than stay home alone), Pastor Wayne, Judy and Tom assessing the ball situation.

Brett finished first, then Pastor Wayne, and Tom, Judy and I (I don't remember what order) finally made it all the way around the course.

Looking at this picture, I now know why I missed hitting the orange ball at the bottom of the picture. I think I would really stink at golf!

The kids enjoyed a swim while the grown ups played croquet.

Here is Tom's latest project! He pulled up all the carpet in the basement and is putting down a wood Pergo floor. It's sooooooooo nice!

So now, I think the blog is pretty much up to date!

On a sad note, please be in prayer for Don Carson. My family and the Carson's attended the same church in Michigan for many years. I grew up with his daughter, Lisa, and his wife, Rene, was my boss when I had a co-op job through high school. I have so many wonderful memories of times at their house and our families getting together! Lisa was an only child and lost her life to melanoma this past December at the age of 40, leaving behind three boys under 18. To compound the grief of his losing his daughter, Don lost his wife this past weekend to breast cancer. I cannot fathom his grief! Please join our family in lifting him to the Lord, who ordained Lisa and Rene's days before the foundation of the earth.

My parents will be stopping by on Friday and staying overnight on their way up to the Chicago area to visit my sister and her family in their new house! Congratulations Randy and Leanne!

Tom and I are leaving on Sunday afternoon (the 27th) for a trip to San Francisco. I have been having some health issues (nothing serious) and we want to visit a doctor who is top in his field out there. I will be having treatments with the doctor on the 28th and the 30th, and we will return home the 31st. I've never been to California, so I am really looking forward to the trip! I haven't decided yet if I will take my laptop along (it's such a pain to get through security with it!), but if I do, I will update while we're on our trip.

God bless you all!
(I have a counter on this blog, so I know there are quite a few of you who visit!)