It's just been a little over a week since I last blogged; yet it seems like a month. A lot has happened in that short amount of time. The kids have all finished school. The summer has arrived. Erin graduated on June 6th. We enjoyed a wonderful ceremony of which Erin was one of the speakers. Because she is lass president, she had to give a speech and present the class gift to the superintendent of the schools. She did an excellent job. She also was the first to recieve her diploma (since she was class president) and she got to lead everyone in transferring their tassels from right to left. We are very proud of her. We had our family and Jaoob over for dinner. After that, we headed to Rachels graduation party and spent the rest of the evening there. Sam and Erin started their lifeguard positions on Monday and have worked nearly every day since. Jacob began summer school (he is taking summer gym so that he can free up a period and take more courses during the school year). Mark and I spent the week preparing for the graduation party. My in-laws and my dad spent the day/evening helping set up tables and tents for the party. My sister in-law... the most amazing Aunt any kid could ever dream of having... came and spent the day cleaning and helping with the food. Uncle Paul, the most amazing Uncle a kid could have, came early loaded down with ice and pop and immediately pitched in. It was fun having everyone around to help. We were blessed with the weather. The rain held off until 9:00 pm (when most of the guest were levaing or had already left. Our last guest left at 1:00 am. A VERY dear, dear friend stayed until 11:00 cleaning up all the dishes and putting away the food. Saturday morning, Mark and I woke up and instantly began the huge clean up task. My parents came over and pitched in. We spent the entire morning trying to beat the rain while waiting for tents to dry from the downpour of rain the night before. It was a tricky thing, but we knew that we were suppose to have a lot of rain the next few days and we needed to return the tents we borrowed. We worked hard to get it all accomplished. The moment we folded the last tent and put it in its bag, it started to rain. We had every intention of attending a wedding that day, but by the time we were done, we would have had to leave immediately. Both Mark and I could barely think straight from exhausttion. Elizabeth had had enough of my lack of attention and she and Ri were so wiped out that it was not possible to even think of leaving them or even taking them somewhere. They had had a week worth of staying up until well past 10:00 (often 11:00). Friday night, Elizabeth fell asleep on my shoulders, crying because she was so tired yet I wasn't able to put her in bed at that moment. It was after 11:00 before she was able to be laid down. Needless to say, she is really having a rough time. So, we hated to miss the wedding, but felt we really had no option. Today, we began preparations for our church VBS and will be involved with that nearly all day, every day, until Friday. Erin, Sam, JAcob, Ri and Elizabeth went to the airport and picked up my neice and nephew. They will be with us for the next 11 days. We are very excited about having them. They live in Florida and we only get to see them once or twice a year. While they were at the airport, Mark and I visited Emily. Yay! It was incredible to see her. She looks and sounds great. It is amazing!! She is more on fire for God then I have ever seen her and I dare say... then I have ever dreamed for her. It is thrilling to see.

I can't wait to hear about her summer. We were only able to spend an hour with her, but we weren't complaining. It was a precious hour. She is so excited... and exhauted! The things she is doing is so far out of the norm and I dare say.. out of her comfort zone. It is very, very cool to listen to her.

They had a mock camp this weekend. There were a group of 100 campers who volunteers to come in for a training for the counselors. THey have their first "real" week of kids tomorrow. Emily is so excited for them to come. Anyway, Em shared with us that she led a little girl to Christ. It was the so exciting for her. It was a God thing in how it happened; which is the coolest way for it to happen! To listen to her share the story is incredible.

She also shared with us many of the adventures and fun they are having. She says that every counselor is their with a passion to serve Christ. They have sacrificed their summer and are truly on fire for the Lord. She says she has never been around people like this group. And the director of the camp, according to my daughter, is amazing and on fire for God as well. He has taught her so much about serving Christ.