Don't you just love fall? It is my favorite time of year. I love the bright, crisp colors and the cool air. My favorite time is waking up in the morning to a chill and seeing the light creep in. At night, my favorite thing is sitting at a ball game as the sun begins to set and the air begins to chill. Oh how I love fall!

Today, Mark is having his knee scoped. He tore his maniscus (just like Erin did 2 years ago). So, please pray that the surgery goes well and is successful. It is possible that they go in and discover too much arthritis in his knee to make any difference. I am praying that is not the case.

Emily is still loving college. She sounds so wonderful on the phone. I do miss that girl! I can hardly believe that a month has gone by already. We will be making a trip to see her Oct 9th. I am so very excited.

Erin has made a verbal committment to play for Houghton College. SHe is so excited. It is a Christian school in New York. They are in the NAIA division and have proven themselves to be a very strong team. She spent a week at a soccer camp and really felt that this was the team/place for her. She and I had visited the campus back in the spring and both of us loved the people and the campus. She absolutely loved the girls on the team and truly felt like she fit in. At this moment, she is not sure if she will be majoring in Secondary Education or in Pre-Med (a Physicians Assistant).

Elizabeth has been soaking up the bible verses and stories. Ri is learning them as well, but I think it has come easier for Elizabeth. It is adorable to watch them say their verses. Elizabeth just lights up... I mean REALLY lights up when she goes through them all. Ri just starts bouncing up and down; all excited.

Today I am struggling with my flesh. On Sunday, our interim pastor preached a wonderful message on handling criticism. I sat through the message knowing some things that were about to take place and praying for the individuals involved. My heart was aching for them, on both sides of the situation. Little did I know that I would be facing the same thing and needing to take the word of God and apply it to my life... that very week. It is funny how I can so easily read or hear the word of God and apply it to someone else; totally missing the boat for my own life. It is so easy to see others faults and defend our own.

But today I was reminded of the message and I have to admit that my flesh is battling the word of God. So I ask that I can see what God would have me to see and to learn. I ask that I do not take the sting of the words and hold it against the ones that I love so dearly and whom used them against me. I truly want to not be someone who sees no fault in themselves, but grows and seeks for truth of my own sin. There is a verse that David cries out to God and begs him to reveal to him his heart. I want those things to be revealed to me, despite the pain and sting of the truth. I want to learn and become more like Christ. I want to respond with love and not with lashing back. I knew it was difficult, but I have to admit that I wasn't anticipating this and my knee-jerk reaction is to guard and defend rather then sit, ponder, and seek God's truth. Pray I am obedient to Christ and that I love as Christ loves. I truly loves these precious friends.

His face is so precious. He was in the mood to pose for me all evening. I got several cute shots of this little guy. I guess they have been around "senior pictures" way too often!
When we first arrived at the western round up, Elizabeth had just fallen asleep, so she would have nothing to do ANYTHING or ANYONE for the first 2 hours. She was warmed up, almost, by the time we left. She missed the horse rides because of her mood. At the end, Sam took her to Mommy A who so graciously let her ride the horse.
For some reason, he really likes this pose. I think I asked him one time to put his hand near his chin and from that, he seems to think he needs to put his hand up to his face... not having a clue what to do with the rest of his arm! He is so funny and oh so sweet.
Check her facial expression out. Can you tell she was in one of her moods? She was not going to get out of it for nothing! She eventually warmed up some, and thus, I was able to get one shot of her.
Sarah was having a good time trying to mess with Ri's hat. She was relentless and he tolerated it. They had a lot of fun, though. I really am thankful for the opportuntity we have to watch Sarah one day a week. They are blessed to be going to the same church as well.
I found this picture on Emily's profile for facebook. I thought it was very cute.

"Super Dora"

I love everything there is about fall. I especially love apple picking. Boy did we miss Emily though; this is her favorite thing about fall.

Just a shot of the gorgeous sunset I saw on the way home from a game last night. Sam had another game. He scored! It is always fun to watch them score.

Things are changing a bit for Emily. I was suppose to be bringing Emily and her roommate home today. Her roommate had a doctors appointment in Ohio that she needed to be at, so we decided to make an appointment for Emily to have an MRI taken (we were advised to have one done sooner rather then later) I made the appointment and Emily was VERY excited to come home and see everyone. Unfortunately, somewhat unexpectedly, circumstances changed and her roommate will be moving home today. Please pray for her. She is a beautiful child of the Lord and a precious friend to Emily. Despite her deep desire to stay at BBC, God has different plans. Emily will miss her and I am confident that today is going to be a very difficult day for both of the girls. So my day yesterday changed quite drastically. Instead of traveling to BBC, I traveled to Millersburg and met with Emily's roommates father and delivered "gifts" for Emily. She needed some winter clothes and Mark and I sent a "care package" of goodies/snacks/etc. We are hoping that the "gifts" will bring a smile to her heart.

We are trusting that Erin will make a commitment this week to the college she would like to play for. She has made her decision, now she just needs to let the coach know. I will fill you in when she does.

Jacob has been on a mission trip with his Uncle all week. They traveled to West Virginia and helped build a wheel chair ramp and some other work. He seems to be enjoying the experience. I can't wait to hear all the details.

Yesterday, when I was planning to drive the 7 1/2 hours to BBC, Elizabeth was coming with me and Ri was planning on staying with Mamaw. I was talking with them about it. THey had both chosen what they wanted to do. Then Ri looked, seriously, at me and stated: "I'm staying at Mamaw's so I don't tease Elizabeth". That made me giggle. Elizabeth sweetly smiled and queitly said "he won't tease me". I think she really wanted him to come with us. Elizabeth then said to me "I will stay with Ri so he won't be scared". Ri responded with "yeah, I need Elizabeth so I am not alone". At that point, I was simply blessed to hear them talking about each helping each other. Then I reminded Elizabeth how she really wanted to come with me (she is somewhat in a clingy stage again). She smiled real broad and announced "I was only teasing you. I want to stay with Ri at Mamaw's.". Well, it was settled, they were staying with Mamaw. So for 2 hours, every 5 minutes, they asked me when they were going to Mamaw's house and announced very firmly that they wanted to go NOW! I hadn't decided if I would wait until today to go or if I was going yesterday, so I kept putting them off as to when we were going to Mamaw's. Then I got the call that all plans had changed quite unexpectedly. I told the kids that I wasn't going, but they insisted they still were. So... after a call to Mamaw's, we made a trip to her house and they both spent the night.

It is exciting to watch God work. Sometimes, it is very confusing and somethng I can't figure out... but oh so good when you hold onto Him!

Erin is one of the captains of her team. The black tape is a bible verse she wears while she plays. I think it is very cool. The orange tape represented that she was a captain. I thought this picture was very cool.

Sam is also a captain of his soccer team. We are very proud of him.







Emily has gently reminded me that I have not blogged lately. Old habits die hard, I guess. I have been very busy and haven't taken the time. I am really trying hard to not focus on the computer as much and to focus on my children more. I am finding it much harder to get things done while I am trying to work out details for Jacob and trying to work on school for the kids and babysitting MOndays, and work on programs/pictures for soccer, and clean, and do laundry and juggle water distribution at my house, and ... and...and... the list goes on..,. and on.... and on.

Today I cooked the meal for the soccer team. I took it on to help out all the parents. They each paid money and I will be providing the meals. It is an undertaking I am realizing I might have chose unwisely! Today was my dad's birthday, so I made a trip into town and made him and mom breakfast. THen I flew home and made dinner for 33 kids, flew back into town and unloaded the van with 2 sleeping kids (no fun). Fed the team, cleaned up, and met Mark at my parents to give him dinner. We went to Sam's game and discovered it delayed so we headed back to mom's only to get a phone call 10 minutes later that it was cancelled all together. Oh well... the life of a mom & dad.

Emily is beginning to feel twinges of homesickness. Please pray for her. SHe loves school more then anything and does not want to come home, but she is missing seeing us.

Today, Elizabeth told me she wanted to tell me a story. She had one of those boards that you can write on and then slide the button all the way to the side to erase it. She curled up right beside me with a twinkle in her eye. The she began to tell me a story. I wish you could have been there. She began to draw. First, she put a dot and told me that it was the Israelites. Then she drew a cirlc around the Israelites and told me that was an army surrounding them. She told me that the army was going to attack. Outside of the the circle, she placed a dot and said it was King Saul. Then she drew a squiggly line and crossed it and said that was his house. On the other side of the army, she drew another dot and said it was David. And then placed a house for him. Then inside the army, she drew a big dot and said it was Goliath. Then she drew several jagged lines and told me that God sent a big storm. Then she drew lightning and told me that God was sending thunder and lightning. And lastly, she drew rain (straight lines) all over the army. It was so cool to watch her draw things to represent everything. THere was serious thought behind every mark she put on that picture. In the end, the picture was unrecognizable to anyone who would have looked at it. But to me, I saw an entire story line. It was amazing! It ended up a beautiful picture and I so wished I had had the video tape running!

Ooops... I haven't updated since Thursday. Guess time has flown by. We have been busy. The weather has been gorgeous lately, so we have been taking many walks. These pics are from the field.

Elizabeth and Ri began AWANA last night at our church. They are officially Cubbies... and absolutely thrilled to be a Cubby! We are excited to see the program. They have wonderful leaders who truly do love them (Vicki... that's you, you know!)

Sam and Erin are just as busy as last week. Monday, Sam had a game and then went straight to band practice. Erin has practice and then stayed in town for band. They got home at 9:30. Tuesday, Sam and an away game and Erin had a home game. It took Erin home at 9:30 only to get a call from Sam on my way home to let me know he needed a ride home as well. A good friend on his team, who has helped out with Sam's rides, was injured. They thought he might have torn his ACL, but after going to the doctor yesterday, it may be his PCL (I think that is it and it is better to tear then the ACL). Please pray for him. It is his senior year and he had lots of high hopes for colleges to see him play. He is also the kicker for our football team. Anyway - I droppe Erin off and turned around to get Sam. We got home after 10:15 or so. Elizabth adn Ri went to both the JV and Varsity games. By 9:00, Elizabeth was more then ready to go home and whining quite a lot. As I stood talking to a good friend/coach, she fell asleep on my shoulder. The game still had 15 minutes to go! My arms and back were very sore by the end! Yesterday, Erin and Sam had practice and then went straight to church. Erin had a bible study with some friends before church and Sam just hung out. They didn't make it home until 9:00. Tonight, Sam has a home game. Erin will want to stay and watch the games; so another late night.

Emily is doing well. She is realizing how much work comes with college classes. I am so proud of her and how hard she is working at keeping up. She is even trying to work ahead! Way to go, girl! This morning, she posted on facebook: When did things change? :( So.... something is up... just pray for her. God knows whatever it is that she needs or is struggling with. She still absolutley loves BBC!

I am thoroughly enjoying Jacob being home this school year. I see so much more joy in him and I feel like he and I are finally beginning to be like we use to be. I think we both needed this special time together! I praise God for that... but I need prayer that Jacob can learn what he needs to learn. I realized yesterday that some of this is so far over my head (or at least it will take so much energy to learn it all over again) that it kind of scares me. His intellect is far greater than mine!

Oops.. I missed yesterday. We began our first Monday of officially "babysitting". We have the joy of watching a little girl from our church (also adopted from China) every Monday this school year. It will be a great thing for all 3 kids. It may take some time to work out the dynamics of the three, but I am confident they will do well.

We now have a week of school under our belt. .. for all the kids. It seems we are back into some kind of normal routine again. I sooo enjoy that! Yesterday was sucha gorgeous day. I sometimes just sit in awe of the gifts that God has given us and that I taken for granted. One of those is the weather and the gorgeous colors He has "painted" throughout our world. WE spent a lot of time outside yesterday. It has been a long time since we have done that. Elizabeth doesn't enjoy the heat very much and Ri doesn't seem to do very well in heat (physically)... so we haven't spent more then 1/2 hour outside (unless we are near water to cool off) in a very long time. It was so refreshing.

Emily is still doing wonderful. She is growing in the Lord so much! What a joy it is to watch. I am so very, very envious! :) She sent Elizabeth, RI and Jacob letters yesteday. You should have seen the delight in Elizabeth and Ri's eyes when they actually saw their name on the envelope. And when they opened it up and saw a picture that Emily had drawn with her holding their hands... they both smiled so broad and just had to call her. They were thrilled. They held onto the letters for a very long time. This morning, one of the first things that Ri asked for was his letter from Emily.

An update on our water situation. We opted not to drill deeper simply because the cost was so great and the chance of finding water was not definite. We felt that at this point in time, we still have water and can adjust our water usage to hopefully maintain the water supply. We replaced the pump only ($1500.00!). Our water supply is the same. We have only run out one time since we replaced it, so I think we have made the right choice. WE put a special valve on the pump so that if we run out of water, the pump will automatically shut off. That way, we won't burn it out (that is what might have happened to the last pump). God is good, He is faithful... and He will provide what we need. That doesn't mean that I will have all the water I want at the moment I want it, but He will provide what I need. The confusing part, sometimes, is knowing my need versus my wants. My wants always seem to be much greater then my needs :).