Boy is he proud of his work!
Here is a close up of Ri's picture. He was so proud of himself! I think he did an incredible job!!!
He thought it was great fun drawing faces, so he drew a few more. I don't think he took as much time on them. But.. check out his matching of the shapes. :)

Elizabeth was very proud of her work, so she asked me to take a close picture. We started out with the letter "O" and made a picture from it. She made a face.
If you remember the post from yesterday, here is the baby that Elizabeth "found in the woods". Funny... when Elizabeth brought her to me, she didnt' have any clothes on. That concerned Elizabeth, so she ran upstairs and found clothes for her baby to wear. Too cute.
Both Ri and Elizabeth have imaginations that warm my heart. They can play with just about anything. One of their favorite things to play with are Erin's beanie babies. They carry them around everyday and imagine all sorts of things. Here Ri is having his bear go down the slide ahead of him. They both giggled as they watched it fly down the slide.
Monday night was Erin's soccer banquet for school. I have to admit that it was a very enjoyable evening. Normally, banquets are rather boring and long and drawn out. But this one was much more fun. There were highlights of the games playing while people arrived and while they ate. As people were finishing, they began the awards. Both of the coaches talked about each girl. It was nice. It wasn't long and drawn, just simple and fun to hear. Then they had the team awards and then the OCC awards. I enjoyed watching each girl who was chosen. Erin's dream since Freshmen year was to be selected to the First Team All OCC. It is a very big honor. Someone told me that the First Team is the top 11 kids in the Conference. I am not sure if it is or not, but it certainly is quite an honor. Erin was selected. The joy that came over her was priceless. She had achieved her goal and now can add it to her resume for colleges. Right now, there are 2 colleges that we are aware of that are intersted in watching her a little closer. One is hoping Erin can find a guest team to play in North Carolina in December. That is our goal as well. If so, there are many, many college coaches who will be there; specifically from a few of the schools that she would like to consider attending.

Emily is working her tail off these days. I think it is beginning to get to her just a little. She is working every day after school for 2 hours. Every other Monday evening, she then cleans a business office. On Tuesday's after work, she goes to the church and babysits for 3 hours (SEVERAL kids!). Wednesday, she goes to work and then to youth group (sometimes she has a leadership meeting before). Thursdays, she goes to work after school and then drives 20 minutes to work for the pizza shop for 4 hours. Fridays, she works after school. She either works Friday night or Saturday night at the pizza shop. We are so proud of her efforts and what she is doing. But, on top of the full schedule, she is trying to figure out school for next year... scared to death about it all... figuring out scholarship applications, filling out an application to intern in Philidelphia (the street ministry that she attended last year) for the summer and figuring out the dating thing. She is very busy! She makes us smile. What a wonderful young lady she is!

Sam is finally getting a breather in life. He has been raking for the youth group every night after school, but once he gets home, he has some down time. It is nice. Jacob is keeping very busy as well. He is determined that he will attend Oxford University when he graduates. With that goal in mind, he figures he needs to be involved in all kinds of different things. So... he is in the chest club, jazz band, and math counts (a math club). He ends up walking to my parents house (an hour walk) after each of the activities because Emily does not get done until 5:00 to pick him up. What a great attitude he has about it too! I can't wait to see what God's plan is for this young man.