One of Erin's strengths in soccer is her ability to head the ball. She has scored many goals using her head. She has an incredible talent of twisting her head in just the perfect way to aim the ball wherever she wants it to go. It is very fun to watch her.


My little Emily is growing up. Gone our the days when her room was plastered, wall to wall, with Posters of the Jonas Brothers and High School Musical. SHe has transfered those posters into her closet walls and now has walls filled with splatter painted papers. Here is the result of a day of splatter painting. I have to say, she had a lot of fun.




Friends of ours came to visit last week. It is amazing how or families have grown since they moved to Kentucky 5 or so years ago.



During the midst of one of Emily's senior picture outings, I convinced Jacob to take a few pictures for me as well. He is so handsome! I really liked this one!




While the pictures were being taken, Ri explored the waters. He is so funny.




This is soooo Jacob! He has a very hard time taking pictures because he doesn't really know how to hold his face. I can't tell you the number of goofy pictures I have of my little boy. He cracks me up!



Sam and Jacob were being so silly with their sisters. I love this one of Sam and Em. He is such a gentleman!




We are in full swing even before school starts. Just to give you an example of my schedule, I thought I would share one of my days with you. Jacob had cross country practice at 7:30 am, Erin had to be at practice at 8:00, Sam had to be there by 8:30, Jacob needed picked up at 9:00, Erin was done at 10:30, and Sam done at noon. Erin had drivers ed at noon, picked up at 2:00. THen Jacob had soccer practice at 6:00 and picked up at 7:30. Thursday, Jacob had CC practice at 7:30, Emily and Sam had to be at school for Freshman orientation at 9:00, though Em had to be there at 8:30 because she was a Senior Mentor. Jacob was done at 9:00, but had to walk over to the school for Web Team from 9-1:00. At noon, Erin had to be dropped off at the school for her scrimmage which started at 1:00. I dropped her off, ran to Walmart, then called Em to pick up Jacob at 1:00 and take him to his book club. While she picked up Jacob, I ran to Probate Court to finalize Ri's re-adoption (if I want a birth certificate, we have to readopt him in the states). Em and I then met because of thunder and threat of storm. I did not want to drag the 2 little ones to Erin's scrimmage if it was going to storm, plus Ri really needed a nap. I then headed back to the school to watch Erin's game. She played until 3:30, but needed to sit through the JV game. I then headed to pick Jacob back up. I had to run home because I had left Jacob's practice stuff in the van when Em and I switched. I arranged someone to bring Erin home. In the meantime, my precious Emily had cleaned our house, watched the little ones and made dinner for everyone (she will make some lucky young man an incredible wife!). Everyon gobbled food, I fielded a phone call from the Dispatch who wanted to interview me about the Freshwater case (ugh.. I was caught totally off guard on that one!) I then grabbed Jacob, Sam and Sam's friend Jackson and ran back into town. We dropped off Jacob at soccer practice (it was a long day for Jacob), and headed to school. We were an hour early. At 7:00, we had freshman orientation at the school. Jacob's coach dropped him off at the school for me so that I could be at the high school for Sam (can't believe he is in high school already!). By 8:00, we were finally on our way home. Whew... what a couple of days!

In 8 days, my kids go back to school. I hate this time of year. I hate it when they are in school. I have struggled ever since EMily walked into Kindergarten. I don't like the idea of someone else influencing my kids some 200+ days of the year for 7 hours a day. It just drives me crazy! There are excellent teachers of whom I trust completely to teach my children. But there are some who are down right horrible and don't belong in the school system. There are those that encourage my kids and there are those who completely destroy them. There are some whose morals and character are outstanding and they are great role models for our children and then there are those with so little character or morals that I dread my children ever being influenced by them.

Our children are grounded in the truth, but as our lives have become fuller, our teaching has become much more lax. It is so frustrating. I want them prepared to handled anything God allows to cross their paths, yet I feel as if I have failed in preparing them as I should. So, when school time comes around, I get a deep ache inside... one of sadness because I miss them, one of fear because of what I know they will face. It's not so bad when they are in elementary school, but as they enter middle school and high school, things change. Right now, Jacob will be dumped into a pool of rididule and cutting remarks from peers. He will be judged, criticized, ridiculed, harrassed, and who knows what else. Unless you are in the "elite", you will face some form of judgement from peers. It is just the middle school age. It depends on your strength on whether the critical remarks or jabbing from your peers causes you to become stronger or whether it gives you a complex and insecurity about who you are. I watched it in the other 3. By 7th grade, Emily was in a position of "counseling" friends who wanted to committ suicide, had been raped, were being abused, and a lesbian. The pressure on her was so great that in the 8th grade, we chose to homeschool her. It was the best decision I think we have ever made. She mentioned, yesterday, how she wouldn't trade that year for anything in this world. By 8th grade, Erin had been completely abandoned and ridiculed by her best friends. She had made a stand for Christ in 7th grade. I believe that the stand she made caused her to be separate form her peers and thus, she began to face much from those who were friends. It was an incredibly hard 8th grade year for Erin. If I had it to do all over again, I would have insisted on homeschooling her that year. But, she wanted to play basketball and "loved" school so much that she didn't want to be pulled out. You see, despite the difficulty the kids face, I think it was harder to imagine being so different as to be out of school for a year and then reenter. Sam had just as hard, if not harder, 7th and 8th grade year. Much was do to friends and to being "different". For our kids, they still have never seen an R rated movie (except for the Passion). They aren't allowed to go to someone's house that we do not know the parents or the kids. They aren't allowed to go to parties or run around all over where I have no clue where they are. They aren't allowed boyfriends or girlfriends until they are 16 years old. They don't swear, they are good students, and their mom shows up at school unexpectedly ALL the time. In a nut shell.. they are "weird" by the standards of most of their peers. I am greatful for the handful of friends that each have had that have the same standards, but oh how hard it is to be compared to what most of the other kids their age are allowed to do. Yes, we are different. Many think I am overprotective. In some ways, they are right. There are some things I am confident that I dont' allow just out of fear of how it will effect our kids. But the majority of things are out of love for them and love for God. What is difficult is that there are many things that are not black and white in the Bible. For some, it is perfectly fine to do things while others interpret the Bible completely different and it is not fine to do. I am sure that I have erred on both sides of the spectrum. I probably have kept our kids from doing things when it was totally fine for them to do while at other times I have probably allowed them to do things that God would frown upon. It is difficult. And ... I find that as the kids get older and are exposed to more and more things, it is much more difficult to be discerning and the decisions become more and more difficult to make. And.. with the addition of Ri and Elizabeth, ... my energy and thought process is so strained. What use to be black and white for me is now somehow become grey.

Wow -- did I rabbit trail or what? Sorry about that. I got to thinking about Jacob and middle school and off I went. Middle School is so hard. And, my precious Jacob, is so very, very different. He loves God with all that He has. He doesn't miss a day of reading his bible and if he has any doubt that something is something God commands him not to do... then he won't do it. He doesn't care what others think of him. It bothers him when kids swear, when they talk about perverted things, when they disrespect someone else, when they cheat or get away with cheating, when he is treated wrongly. And THAT describes the majority of Middle School kids in one way or another. Oh, there are some great kids, don't get me wrong. But, because Jacob thinks differently (and that IS an understatement) and because he looks at things is such a unique way, he is "different" from the "normal" 12 year old.

And let's not stop at Middle School. I have Sam entering into High School. Have you ever been in a locker room of High School boys? They are relentless. They have the ability to crush a kid with one single "blow". The comments they make towards other kids, especially the freshmen, is unbelievable. A junior on the soccer team didn't like that Sam got the ball away from him, so he tackled him and jammed his knee into his face. Now, was the knee incident an accident? Probably, but still... tackling him just because he got the ball away from him? So, without complaining, Sam took the tackle, faces the harassment daily, and realizes (or at least believes) that most of the upperclassmen hate the freshmen and freshmen are the target. And girls? Ha.. the drama in high school is incredibly ridiculous. Did I say ridiculous? That is an understatement. I can not believe how truly horrible it gets. Emily has faced more in high school then I think I have ever faced my entire life. Erin has witnessed to more kids then I think I have ever considered witnessing to. They deal with more then any of us adults could imagine. They live in another world then we did growing up. Oh, we faced drugs, teenage pregnancy here and there, a few "weird" kids, some who drank and smoked (the hoodlums as we called them), a bully now and then.... but have you stopped and walked the halls of a high school lately? Have you sat down and talked with a teenager and discovered some of the things that they deal with daily? Have you seen the things that use to shock you and I, that they take as "norm"? Today, homosexuality and bisexual is not a shock or rare, but somewhat normal, partying is normal, drinking is more common then uncommon, sex is part of a friendly relationship, living together is certainly normal while marriage is something you might "try". Abortions are the way to get rid of a problem and talked about openly. Drugs are easy to get, cheating is excepted, texting is the in thing while calling on the phone is out. IM and Facebook and Texting in the way to communicate. Talking about God is not allowed in the schools, unless you use the name before a curse word or use it as a curse word. Then it is perfectly fine for a teacher to speak it. Christianity is now something administrations fear to speak of while they openly and willing speak of other religions.

Ok.. I am on my soapbox. In a nutshell... I hate my kids being in this type of environment all day, 5 days a week for 9 months. It is hard on me. I can't take every battle on for them. They are on their own in many of the battles they face. I can only pray, and unfortuantely I seem to fail at praying for all they need. But.... God is alive, He is aware of ALL that my kids face, and He is their protector and their banner. If they hold Him as the banner as they face the battle, they will come out of the battle in a victory and more like Christ.

Ok.... enough. Sorry for the rambling.

Sometimes it amazes me at the opportunities that I let go by to teach our kids about God. When the others were Ri and Elizabeth's age, I read to them from the bible, I taught them the truths of God, I took the little opportunities in life to teach them of God. But, it seems that with the chaos of our life, that has slipped away. It makes me very sad to think of all the opportunities that I have missed out on. A few weeks ago, I was reading from a children's illustrated bible, the story of Adam and Eve. I was intentionally being animated in my story telling, At the end of the story, I emphasized how Adam and Eve had done something God told them not to and how it made him mad and He punsihed them.

Well.... since then, Elizabeth is scared of the bible. She sees the book and doesn't want it near her. Since then, she doesn't like going to sleep on her own and whimpers for me to stay in the room. I have done my best to try and tell her of the love of God... over and over... but when something hurts Elizabeth or something bad happens to her, she doesn't forget it very easily. It can be weeks before she trusts that nothing will happen to her. So... we are facing something I never imagined facing with a 3 year old. It makes me quite sad.

Anyways - for those prayer warriors out there, you can add our dilemma to your prayer list, ok? So, now Mark and I are trying to be very dileberate about teaching truths about God to our little ones, especially the WONDERFUL truths of God's love for Elizabeth and Ri.

Last night, Mark and I took the little ones blackberry picking. They are "berry beasts". Mark loves to pick handful after handful, put them in a bowl and then hold the bowl and watch them literaaly devour it! It is so fun to watch. Here are a few of the pictures from last night. As we picked the berries, Mark reminded the kids over and over how God planted those berries for them to enjoy them. Ri was on Daddy's shoulders and said we needed to thank God. So... Mark and Ri stopped right there and as the sun set, they praised God for the berries.
The picture is great, but the sounds when they devour are hilarious!! It definitely needs to be videod!

Yesteday, Erin celebrated her 16th birthday and Mark and I celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary. First of all, I rejoice in having such a wonderful man for a husband. He definitely completes me. God's hand designed our marriage. There is do doubt in my mind. Mark and I met in March, were engaged in April and married in August. Under normal circumstances, our marriage should never have lasted. But instead, God has strengthened us, molded us, and held us together. We are blessed beyond words. Mark is more then I ever dreamed of in a man. I did not have a real relationship with Jesus Christ when I met Mark. Even if I had, I don't think I would have ever thought to pray for someone like Mark. I would have never dreamed of praying for a man who would be the spiritual leader in my home, for a man who would treat me like a princess all the days of our marriage, for a man who would be strong enough and wise enough to control me and even my temper out. I would have never thought to pray for a man who adored me, or who put family above his own personal desires. Nor would I have thought to pray for a man who understood debt and how important it was to be wise with money. I had no clue the value of money and the importance of being wise in spending. If I wanted something, I bought it. Nor would I have dreamed of praying for a man who was steadfast, who took employment seriously, who valued character and integrity. No... I would never have thought to pray for a man like Mark. My past is evidence of that. But God, despite my heart, chose to bring Mark into my life. And for some reason, God chose to save my soul as well... and use Mark to change my life. So, today, I rejoice in the beautiful gift that God gave me through my husband. And I praise Him for being the glue that holds our marriage together.

As for Erin, she turned 16. What a beautiful young lady she is becoming. She has grown and developed and matured so much! She brings us such joy and pleasure. I rejoice in who she is becoming. She has more strength in her character then I have. There are many things that I admire about who she is and what she is striving for. I admire her ability to share Christ to those who are lost. It is not a forced thing, but a true caring.. a sincere love for those she knows. It is natural for her to share and to witness; often, she reminds me of the need to be Christlike to those around her. Too often I have let my frustration get ahold of me and recommended her to respond a certain way... only for her to remind me that that would not be showing Christ to that person. Oh how I wish I had her drive, her strength, her desires.

Here are a few pictures of her day. We celebrated the morning with Mark's family as we all attended his brothers first Sunday as the official pastor of Radnor Baptist Church. It was a precious morning for all of us to watch him be admonished and encouraged as he officially steps into the position God has called him into. Erin wasn't feeling well, so when we got home, she slept for most of the afternoon. But by evening, we enjoyed dinner and a scavenger hunt. We had hidden clues throughout the yard/house/woods for her to find her presents. We ended up in a tent in the backwoods. It was a lot of fun. The evening ended with a family night of games.

Well... can you tell that Elizabeth has been following Emily around while we have been taking Senior pictures? .....







On another note.... it has been pointed out to me... again... that I have not written much about some of our other children. Life gets a little crazy and I forget what I have blogged and what I have not. You see, this blog is more for me then for anyone else. I share more details, sometimes, than I probably should.... but I have discovered over the past 3 years that this blog has become a part of my legacy that I can pass on to my children. Maybe "legacy" isn't the exact word I need, but it is something that I have to hand on to my kids. I have never been good at journaling or writing down things for them. When the older ones were little, I had every intent on writing about their life. I would give anything to be able to read about my childhood and "remember" some of the things that have long faded away. I have lost so many memories from my kids childhood that I am afraid I might not have much to pass on. This blog has given me a gift. I have published a few books with the entire blog writings in it. They are priceless books to me; and sort of an heirloom to pass on. I imagine that as the kids become adults and start their families, they will love sharing the little bits and pieces that I have "exposed" in our blog. What wonderful memories (I hope) that my journaling to "you" will bring to my children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.

All that said, I wanted to write a little bit about Emily. I am afraid that she has gotten the short end of the journaling. You see, much has happened to her this summer , yet I have not written it in the blog. The day school was out, she went to Florida for what was suppose to be a 12 day period. It was a lot to ask of a 17 year old, but both Mark and I felt she was more then able to handle it. You see, we have seen Emily with Elizabeth and Ri. She is their second mom. Truly, if God were to take me home, Emily would step in and raise them as her own. She is incredible. Oh, I know, she is not ready to raise children. I wouldn't want her in that position. She is not mature enough to live on her own and make all the adult decisions that would be forced upon her.... but she could if she absolutely had to. So when my brother surprised his wife with a trip to Italy, all of us agreed that Emily could handle watching the kids. The scary part was that she was 1000 miles away from us so if she really needed anything, I couldn't help her. Oh how my thoughts wondered at times. I thought of all the "what ifs" while she was gone, knowing the responsibility that laid on her shoulders. I knew I coudn't help her and she was completely on her own. My sister, though, lives 45 minutes away from my brother so I knew that if soemthing horrible happened, she would help Em out. The problem was that my daughter has only met my sister a handful of times and unfortunately, the meetings were never really warm ones.

So, Em went down with my parents. When my brother and his wife flew to Italy, my parents came home and Em was on her own. It was only going to be 6 days with the entire load on her. After that, she and the kids would fly to Ohio. The 6 days were long days for her, but she handled them like a trooper. She often mentioned how difficult it was to be "mom". Everyday, I heard her get more and more tired and more weary from the responsibility. But... the 6 days went well and she was very excited to come home. She was going to fly home with my neice and nephew (6 & 8). She was, again, completely responsible for them. It was her first time flying alone, let alone flying with 2 kids she would be responsible for... but she was ready to take it on. My sister took them to the airport. We told her that she could just drop them off and Em could handle boarding. She had to be in a city 2 hours away for orientation for her daughters college. She HAD to be there that night because orientation was early the next morning. But, my sister insisted on staying until they took off incase there were any problems. I sure thank God for her decision and willingness to stay. Emily saw a side of her that was precious, that, alone, was a gift. Evidently, without anyone being aware, the 2 little ones were unable to fly on the last flight of the night. Noone had shared this info with my brother when he booked the flights. So, had my sister not been there, they would have been stranded. Instead of being able to fly home, Emily had to stay in Florida another 6 days and continue to take on the responsibility of caregiver. Not only take care of them, but console them for not being able to come to Ohio (something they had been counting down for weeks). She handled it very well and was very strong for the kids. But.. the next few days began to wear her down. On top of the exhaustion of the responsibility, she was scheduled to take her ACT test in Florida. This is a long story, so I won't explain it... but she now had to figure out those details. She had to arrange sitters and figure out how to get there (a 45 mintue drive). That pushed her over the edge. It was difficult to be on this end, in Ohio, and try to comfort my daugthter in Florida! She was emotionally shot and I knew that she wouldn't do well on her ACT, but we forced her to go anyway. She got up, drove 50 mintues to get there, got lost at the last minute and was 3 minutes late and was not allowed to take the test. It was very rough. But, she held it together. We were very proud of how much she handled and handled with such grace. She truly is a treasure.

I would love to share about her mission trip to Phily, for I have been reminded that I have not said much. But.. I am very, very tired. I will write more later.

A Quote from Ri.... "Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you...... Aunt Susan... Aunt Susan... Susan?? Susan?? Aunt Susan's not there.....SUSAN!!! Bye."

That was the phone call we made this morning. Aunt Susan did not answer, so I had Elizabeth sing her a song. She sang Happy Birthday very well and then told her she loved her. Then Ri grabbed the phone (so sweet) and sang the above quote. It was very funny. He was very confused as to why Aunt Susan didn't talk to him.

He cracks me up. When he is done talking, he simply pushes the button and hangs up on whoever he is talking to. Yesterday, he was talking to his Mamaw and said to her something like this: "I'm busy now, can I call you back" and then either hung up or gave the phone to someone else. I am not sure which. It was very comical.

Oh how I wish I would remember the silly things they say to write them down. It is so funny to listen to them. Yesterday, Elizabeth introduced us to Chatter. Chatter is the mascot at our VBS. Elizabeth loves him and now insists that he is at our house playing with her. It is so cute. Obviously, he is in her imagination. Oh how her imagination is igniting lately!

On another note, a very good friend had recommended the DVD The Letter Factory. Ri and Elizabeth have enjoyed watching it several times. I handed Elizabeth a square with a picture of Pooh on it and the letter P. I have done this several times for months and rarely do either one of the kids tell me the correct letter (unless it is an A or B). Yesterday she quickly told me it was a P. Then I asked her what it sounded like (I usually ask this question, never expecting the right answer). She proceeded with the CORRECT sound for P... without even thinking about it. I was so shocked! I then asked her to show me several letters... she knew everyone! And to top it off... she could make the sound of almost every one of the letters I asked! I was blown away! Ri knew many of the letters and was able to tell me some of the sounds. He is a little behind her on picking things up (colors, shapes, letters, etc). ... but that was standard with my boys compared to the girls.

Well, things have begun to get full swing at our house this morning... so enjoy your day. We are off to play. Aunt Susan... WE LOVE YOU!!! You are, most definitely, the best Aunt in the whole world!!!!!! Happy Birthday. May you be as blessed on your birthday as you bless our lives!

Isn't this just the sweetest picture you've ever seen? THey were such buddies yesteday.

Another very sweet shot of my two little ones! I love how sweet they are being to each other.

Playing around with more ideas for Senior pictures.

Ri was a little upset with the heat and all these silly pictures!
Emily and a new found friend, Casey
Elizabeth thought it was so much fun walking in the wheat field.



I am experimenting with all kinds of different types of shots. Em and I really liked this one.

Well.. Ri isn't much happier getting his picture taken.... still hot...still not enjoying this photo session... guess he needs to take his photo with his little sister.
Wow - I LOVE THIS ONE!
I forgot to mention, though it is very obvious, Em is now wearing glasses all the time. She picked these out, hoping to look a little older and more "ready" for college since she will be graduating this school year! On a very funny note... Mom isn't so smart sometimes. As soon as I heard she was going to need glasses, I told her we had better finish taking her senior pictures so that she wasn't wearing glasses in them. Ha ha! SHe looked and me and just started laughing... reminding me that she could simply remove them for the pictures. Ok... I have to admit... I suffered a little bit of a "blonde moment" (no offense... I was ALL blonde most of my life - until I had kids, that is).




Awww... too sweet. I fell in love with this wheat field background!





Have you ever met someone who you felt as if you had known forever, but you just met? Emily met someone yesterday who fit that description. Her favorite teacher called a few days ago and said that her granddaughter was visiting for a couple of weeks and would really enjoy someone to hang out with. Emily and she clicked right away. She spent the night with us last night and the two of them insisted on a "photo shoot" with mom. We found a beautiful spot in the deep woods. It was so much fun!

It was nice to see her smile this morning... I think she likes her new haircut. She was excited yesterday about getting her hair cut short like Ri's. This morning, she was very proud to have her hair like her brothers. Too funny. They truly are best of friends. Enjoy the pictures (and the gatorade mustaches)





So, I am told, tomorrow will bring another day. Sunday, our Pastor preached his last message to our church family. It was a message that I think I needed to hear. To sum it up, he said "The God of our yesterdays is the same God of our tomorrows." Now, I think you probably needed to hear to whole message to really understand that statement.... but, it meant a great deal to me. To me, it reminded me that God is alive. He is real. He is the same as He was when he took care of the Israelites. When they faced Pharoah and his army behind them and the Red Sea before them... when they felt they were trapped and there was no way out, God was there.

God never promised that things would be easy just because I trust Him or just because I am obedient to Him. He only promised that He would be faithful and that He would never leave me nor forsake me. So, today, I hold this promise even dearer then I use to. I was reminded on Sunday of that truth. There are many times I need that reminder, but it seems that this is the season in which I needed it more.

Well, I am not sure if today was more traumatic for Elizabeth or me. I haven't decided if I like her hair, love her hair, or hate her hair. I think it changes moment by moment. I haven't even figured out if Elizabeth likes it or not. I think she is a little stunned. At first, she stared and said nothing, then she went from mirror to mirror smiling while Ri got his haircut. Then she marched right into my parents house and proudly announced her new haircut. Then as her siblings began to see her hair and tell her how beautiful she was, she seemed to begin to get quiet abouat her hair. Finally, a few hours later, I tried to take pictures and the above pictures were the result. So.... does she like her hair??? I'm not really sure. Based on that first picture, the answer would be no!

And me? Well, I just don't know. I was so tired of her straggly hair. She always looked unkept, kind of like a wild child. SHe cried everytime I brushed her hair and refused to let a pony tail get put in because one time I hurt her when I took the pony tail out. So, I finally just said enough was enough. With the summer, her hair was always wet and stuck to her face. So... for now, it is short. We will see how long we keep it that way.

WELL... MY VOTE IS IN... I OFFICIALLY HATE HER HAIR. :( That makes me sad. I just took a moment and looked at all her pictures and now my heart is very, very sad. As straggly as her hair was, it still beautifully framed her little face. All I needed to do was get her bangs cut and her hair cut an inch or two. Oh how that makes my heart ache. But... hair does grow out. That is one thing I do know. Maybe this cut will grow on me, but honestly, I don't think so. I miss her sparkle. I looked at that top picture and I just hate it. She was so sad and cried and cried for the last hour before she went to bed. I wonder if it is because she hates her hair too. That would make me even sadder. :(

A lot will happen on August 3rd. Mark and I will be celebrating our 18th wedding anniversary and Erin will be turning 16. Her dearest friend planned a surprise party for her on Friday night. I think she was totally surprised. We all enjoyed a wonderful evening of fun. I can't believe my precious girl will be turning 16.
I thought this was just a cool picture.

There was a great water balloon fight that went on with just about everyone getting involved. Elizabeth didn't quite like it, but Ri got into it. Here, Sam is finalizing the fight. I think he got her pretty good!

Elizabeth and Ri enjoyed this swing much of the night. Here, Ri is more concerned with the hot dog he dropped on the ground. :(

Erin got a big game of ultimate frisbee going. I love this picture just because of Em's face and Jacobs position. They seemed to really enjoy themselves.

Erin found this hat sitting around the house and started goofing off with it around Elizabeth. I thought she looked so sweet in it that I made her take a few pictures.




On Saturday, Erin's high school team took on the Alumni. It is always a fun game. I think they all look forward to it every year.

This was the first goal of the game. Erin is becoming known for her headers.

My Dad is pretty faithful at attending his grandkids sporting events.
Yesterday, Elizabeth and Ri seemed to really enjoy Grandpa being there!







On another note, yesterday marked the beginning of a new phase in our church. Our precious pastor of 30 years (personally, he has been our pastor for 11 years), preached his last message to our church family. God has called him to leave and preach in Michigan. He has been very dear to our family and will be missed. It is difficult to let go of him, but I am confident that if God has called him, then He has prepared the pulpit for another man of God. Sometimes, though, it is hard to let go of someone you love. I am reminded of his message yesterday when he reminded us that our God of today is the same God of our yesterdays and will be the same God of our tomorrows. Just as He lead the Israelites into many unknowns, He will faithfully lead us. Just as He provided for them, He will provide for us. We were blessed to have Pastor Jones as our Shepperd for so long and will anxiously anticipate what God has planned for our future.