For the past 120 days, Emily has had an alert on her cell phone counting down the days until The Jonas Brothers arrived in Columubus. She and her good friend stood in line and managed to get tickets to, supposably, the biggest concert around. She never cared that school started, simply because that meant that the next day was the big concert! So.. Saturday, they made a day out of it and traveled to Columbus to see the Jonas Brothers in Concert. Emily says it was the best concert she has ever been to and she had a blast.

My husband was such a trooper. He insisted that Emily use his car to go to the concert. What he wasn't aware of before he told them to use it is that they had gone and bought car paint to write all over the windows. He simply grimaced (with a smile) and let them "have at it". They were very proud of their artwork.

Evidently, the tour bus for the Jonas Brothers is quite decorated with graffitti from their fans. Emily was glad to add to the art.



A dream come true for Emily... even if she was in the "nosebleed" section.

We spent a wonderful day with Mark's family. It was such a joy to spend some time with his sister and brother-in-law. Sam caught a huge bullfrog (actually - he caught 3 of them). Uncle Ed quickly grabbed the frog that he "caught" just for this "kodak moment". It cracked us all up.
The little ones were fascinated with the frogs. They were so big that we kept them in this cat cage (at least until it was time to go - we insisted they be let free to go see their mommy and daddy)

If you look really close, you can see the water being tossed out of the cage by the bullfrog.

A few thoughts on my precious little son, Ri. Wow - God has worked so many miracles in his little life. I can't wait to see what He has planned for him! It has been a while since I have shared about his personality and his growth. Sometimes, he takes my breath away .. while others times, he takes my patience away :) But all the time, I am simply amazed that he is our son and how God brought him into our lives. I am truly a blessed mom. I can't imagine our lives without him.

It amazes me that he has been through so much. I am so thankful that he was given life. He was given a chance to live by his birth parents. I am confident that they loved him and chose life for him. I am confident that they must have known how sick he was and felt that the only way to save his life was to lay him at the gates of the hospital and leave. It is a mighty love and one I pray that my son will always hold onto. Nothing was outside of God's plan. He orchestrated every detail of Ri's life, including his parents feeling they had no other option. But God held onto our son and continued to give him life. The orphanage that he was placed in was one filled with women who seemed to truly love the kids. They gave him all that they were able to give him, including a second chance for life. When he was desparate for surgery, they petitioned for him and with the help of China and a special foundation, he was given the surgery he needed to repair his heart. He was given life, again. And while he waited to be united with us, he was loved by them.

We are so very, very thankful for the orphanage and the nannies and the volunteers who loved our son. I wish that I could share with them the love that we have for him and how wonderful he is doing!

Ri is full of life. He is ALL boy. Mark use to say all the time, and I agree, that Ri looks at life and any situation that is tough and seems to say "bring it on, I've been through much more". It is amazing to watch him take pain or frustration head on and "conquer" it. He seems to have a spirit within him that does not quit. Most of the time, I absolutely adore that part of him; but sometimes, it can truly try me. Did I mention he was all boy?!!! Wow - that is an understatement. I watch him play and giggle because he can't seem to sit still (though I have to admit that at times it is difficult to giggle; especially when I am talking to him and trying to get him to learn something or when we are in a store or somewhere when he really does need to sit still). It is as if he can't seem to get enough exploring done. No matter where we go or what we do, he seems to have to touch it and explore it. He can't keep his hands off. When I ask him to stop, he tries to with all his heart (I can see it in him), but something within him seems to call out louder and he just can't help himself but grab it or repeat it. It used to be that I got angry about it, but lately, God has reminded me of how very precious Ri is and how very much of a little boy he is. There is something about little boys and how God as created them that they just can't seem to sit still or keep their hands off of things. They are constantly touching and hitting and pushing things; constantly trying to see how things work, crashing things to hear the noise, doing things to see if you really meant what you said, teasing just to get a loud response, saying what you don't want them to say.... they are just boys! Now a days, I can laugh for more often then I use to. He really does crack me up. And when I stop and remember all that this little guy has been through, all I want to do is pick him up and cuddle with him.

But... cuddle is something Ri does not like to do. Oh don't get me wrong, he loves to be loved on. He loves for us to kiss him all over, only to purposely wipe those kisses off and watch us respond. He smiles from ear to ear and then waits for us to kiss him again so he can wipe those kisses away. He loves to be cuddled, but he wouldn't admit it to anyone! :) Boy does he crack me up.


He is talking all the time, though he tends to have a huge stuttering problem. Right now, I think it is just because he is thinking faster then his mind can come up with the words. It is very cute to listen to him. He is very insistent on keeping up with Elizabeth on just about anything she does or says. He is an incredible mimic of her. In fact, Elizabeth has probably taught him more then anyone. They truly are best of friends. They need each other.

Well, I am going to end for now. I have so much more to say about my precious, priceless, treasure, but I need to get some things done.

Sam played in his first home game for high school last night. What fun it was to watch him play. He has grown up so much. He did a great job and the team won!



Yesterday was a big day in the Miller home. We gained another driver. Most moms might be a little on the nervous side. Me? Well, I think I hit the excited side. Erin passed her drivers test and is now officially able to driver herelf to all her practices! Yippee! She was very excited and is begging to be able to drive somewhere... anywhere.. all by herself.

And finally, as the summer comes to an end and a new school year begins, I wanted to highlight some of my favorite memories. We did not get to do much as a family, whihc makes me very, very sad... but we did make a few wonderful memories. I guess as the kids grow up, things will never be as they were again. I think we are beginning a new season in our life. I am not so sure I like this season. Gone are the days of being able to hop in a car and go somewhere as a family. Now, it is a nightmere trying to work around 3 high schoolers' schedules. I guess "nightmere" isn't the appropriate word... "impossible" might be better!

Anyway, here are some memories:

* Jacob breaking his arm just a week before school was out. It isn't one of my favorite memories, but definitely a memory!

* Walking into town from our house (a 9 mile walk) with Jacob, Erin, Elizabeth and Ri. That was definitely a highlight for me! I loved every minute of it.

* Catching up with Jacob and Erin when they biked to Johnstown (a 30 mile ride) in a down pour of rain. It was such a sweet site to finally catch up with them and then to see their smiles and listen to them beg me to continue riding.

* A HUGE highlight for me was - first - realizing that I could IM my son while he was in Poland and THEN.... SEEING HIS PRECIOUS FACE and holding him in my arms for the first time after a month!

* Talking with Emily late at night as she dealt with the change in plans while she was in Florida. Listening to her broken heart and imagining many such phone calls in just a year from now when she is away at college.

* Picking Erin up from soccer camp and hearing her be awarded the soccer player with the most promise.

* Picking berries and watching the little ones inhale them!

* going to the fireworks with Ri and Elizabeth and watching the "booms".

* Kings Island

* the shock of Elizabeth's haircut

* Erin's suprise birthday party and finally completing her book

* DRIVE In movies at our house!

All tuckered out after a long day of play.







We have looked forward to spending the day at Kings Island ever since last year when Elizabeth and Ri enjoyed it for their first time. We were so disappointed this year because Erin and Sam could not join us. It was so sad to leave them at home, only with their schedules, it just wasn't something we could work out. That made us all sad. But, despite missing Erin and Sam, and despite the crowd, we enjoyed the day. It is so much fun to see an amusement park through the eyes of 3 year olds. Emily and Jacob thrilled us to no end. They had more fun watching Elizabeth and Ri then riding rides. I think they spent the majority of the time with us then riding rides on their own. It was precious.

Our Family Tree

A long time ago, Mark carved our names into a tree in our back woods. We both loved it. Then he carved Emily, Erin, Sam and Jacob's name into the tree. We all enjoyed it at the time, but when Elizabeth and Ri became our daughter and son, Mark carved their names into it and named it "our family tree". The little ones always run to it and proudly point to their names.

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.