The following clips will probably bore most of you... but they are specifically for my husband who could not be with the kids on their first visit to the ocean. Honey -I missed you being there!

"Well, if Eli and Faith can surf on a surf board, so can I"
This is the whole crew in the water. Have you ever tried watching 7 kids at a beach? Forget relaxing!
Jacob spent hours trying to learn to surf. It is much harder then it looks!
This is what happens when you take real lessons and live on a beach!
Ri enjoyed playing in the sand. He met this little boy. It was funny to see them play together. Neither said a word and neither really interacted, but they seemed to enjoy being around each other.
The little boy had spent the morning collecting shells and discovered a few critters in those shells. He had fun showing them to Ri.
Elizabeth and Ri played in the sand, but Elizabeth enjoyed the waves much more.
This is Elizabeths first expression when she stood in the ocean. She was in awe.
Erin is one of Emily's "charges" for the week. She joined us at the beach for Elizabeth & Ri's first experience.
We were the only ones who wanted to head out early.
Jacob was very, very sweet with Ri.
Our friends from California flew into Florida for a Disney Cruise. We discovered that we could meet before they boarded the boat. We met for breakfast. It was so much fun. The kids (except for Emily) have not seen each other for 2 years. In a week, they are flying to Ohio and spending 6 days with us! Yeah!
Elizabeth warmed up to Sam as soon as Sam started playing games with her. She was wonderful with Elizabeth and Ri (you can sure tell that she has younger siblings!)
Here is the group of all the kids that met up for breakfast. We were missing Sam and Erin and Jacob
Christy and I could not believe how much the girls looked alike. They are just precious together.

Things have been very calm and laid back. That is a bit unusual for me. It is a very strange feeling; one I think I am really enjoying. I have found that I have much more patience and calmness. There is something about Florida or my brother's house that just puts a calming "balm" around me. I can't figure it out, but there is something. We have been here since 9:30pm Sunday night. We have spent 3 days doing nothing other then sit by the pool and watch tv and relax. We did make a trip to an outlet mall for a couple of hours, but that is about it. I tried to take the kids to the beach, but Jacob and Emily both insisted we not go. We will be spending Friday-Sunday on the beach in a condo, so they just wanted to hang here and relax. My neice and nephew are at a camp all week long. They don't get home until 3:30 every day, so it is kind of quiet around here. Elizabeth and Ri have discovered the joy of Faith's Littlest Pet Shop animals. She has a container full of them and a house that they can go in.... they have spent hours and hours playing with them.

Emily has been blessed with an opportunity to earn $500.00 while we are here. She has been hired by friends of my brother & sister-in-law to babysit for 5 days. She begins tomorrow. She is very excited. The family has a gorgeous home, a pool and a hot tub in their backyard, she has access to their car and a golf cart. The kids are at camp Thursday and Friday and Monday during the day until 5:00 and they go to bed at 9:00. Emily is so good with young kids. These 2 are in 2nd and 3rd grade. I think Emily will have a lot of fun.

Sam is really missing not being here. I feel so badly that he and Mark can not come. I feel bad for Erin as well, but part of the reason the other 2 can not come is because Erin had to be dropped off at a soccer camp on June 28th. There was no flexibility. We were going to all come at the end of July; everyone would have been able to come then. It was Mark and I's decision for Erin to attend the camp. In fact, we almost insisted she go. So, it isn't really her fault; but the end result is that neither Mark nor Sam could come. I even went so far to see if I could get Sam and Mark here on a one-way ticket. Unfortunately, Mark can NOT get off work until July 13th. We are coming home July 11th.

I have not been able to speak with Erin much, that has really been hard on me. I only recieved text messages for the first 2 days and none of them encouraged me. I got a very broken cell phone call and I couldn't tell if she was in tears or if the reception was so bad that I just couldn't understand her. So... I have been aching, hoping and praying that her week went well. The heat in Alabama is incredibly more intense then she has ever played before! But I spoke with her last night and felt much better. I finally heard the spark in her voice and the excitement behind her words. I am anxious to hear more.

Elizabeth and Emily both seem to be suffering from swimmers ear. I think I will be taking them to the doctor tomorrow. So... that covers a little with our trip. We are looking forward to more time with my family in Florida. When we come home, we will have a week with our very special friends from California! I am so looking forward to seeing them!

Eli and Faith having fun on the trampoline.
Our little swimmer who proudly announced that he is not drowning, but he is swimming.
Jacob and Faith having fun in the water hose on the tramp.
Our beautiful neice, Caitlyn.
Caitlyn talking things over with her mom (my sister, Lisa).
This is my brother feeding thier iguana. My neice, Caitlyn, is helping him.
This is Elizabeth's look when she is very shy/uncomfortable with someone new in the room. She doesn't say a word for hours, just responds with her eyes. Here, my sister and my neice are sitting around the pool. Elizabeth doesn't want to look at them or say anything.

This is my neice, Faith. She reminded me of a crocodile.

The next few pictures are from the perspective of a 4 year old...enjoy!

To our joy...and sadness, we had to make a trip to Alabama. Joy? Because we dropped Erin off at camp in Alabama and then continued to Florida to visit my brother and his family. Sad? because Mark is unable to come only because another employee is off during this time (2 weeks later, he would have been able to come), Sam is unable to come because he has summer gym and can't miss any classes, and Erin because she is at soccer camp in Alabama. It absolutely kills my heart to not have them with us. I haven't been to Florida for over 4 years, yet I miss having my whole family with me.

Sam came up with a fun game to exercise Shu. Elizabeth thought it was so much fun that she joined in. Sam plalyed this for a very long time. Elizabeth kept up the whole time at the pace you see in the video. Hope you enjoy it. After the video of the new game, I through in a video clip from our Vacation Bible School. It was the kids first time being able to go. I have to say that they loved it. They have been singing the songs everyday since. Both did great the first 3 days, but by the 4th day, they were not easily letting go of Mommy. And by the last day, Mommy ended up being their crew leader.

I think our dog's name has been officially kept. Noone has tried giving her a new name. We have discovered that she has 6 "toes". I think it is her dew claw that has the extra "toe" on it. So, we had tried to come up with the name of the man with 6 fingers on the Princess Bride movie. Yesterday, someone told us his name was Rugan. I think that is a very cool name, but noone really jumped at it. As I thought of it, I began to wander if the name "Shoo" was Chinese at all. It sure sounded like it. So I began a search on the internet. Only, I changed the spelling of her name to Shu because that is the way it would be in Chinese.

From this site, http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=95849742, I discovered that "Shu" is explained as "what one does not want, one does not
do to others" ( Analects15:23).2 Confucius refers to it as the one word that can serve
as the guiding principle of conduct throughout life ( Analects 15:23). And Confucius'
disciple Tseng Tzu describes shu, together with the virtue of loyalty (chung), as the
one thread that runs through Confucius' doctrine ( Analects 4:15).3

On another site, http://www.20000-names.com/female_chinese_names.htm, SHU (淑)means: Chinese unisex name meaning "good, pure, virtuous."

Finally, on another site, http://www.behindthename.com/nmc/chi.php, SHU 淑 f
Means "kind, gentle" in Chinese.

So, I simply changed the spelling that the pound gave her (which was Shoo) and made it Shu. I love the meaning of her name.

Emily is a natural with kids. They all seem to light up for her. I think mostly because they can feel her genuine love for them. On Sunday, Emily and Jacob took their cousins and the little ones swimming in the pond. As you can see, she had a good time.
Elizabeth held on tight; giggling the whole time. She kept screaming (in a fun voice) that the fish were going to get her.
Shu saw Jacob in the water and swam out to be with him. I can not tell you how much that meant to Jacob. He generally thinks the dogs hate him. He was so happy that he actually admitted the Shu might like him.
This is our beautiful niece, Chloe.
Our beautiful niece Lydia.
Jacob enjoying a kiss from Shu.
If you've never noticed, it is hard for me to get a picture of Ri looking into the camera. He is always so busy checking things out that he doesn't have time or a desire to get his picture taken (unless, of course, it is on his terms and he wants to pose)
This is our new pup, Shu.
Sunday was a special day set aside to celebrate fathers. For me, I took a moment to thank God for the father that He gave me. Dad is a man that most people can connect with. He has a charisma that seems to draw people to him. He can carry on a conversation with just about anyone. As I sat talking with him Saturday night, I flashed back to some of my childhood. My Dad truly was one of my hero's. He was always there for me when it came to sports or play. He use to spend hours throwing a ball with me.... softball or football. I could always count on Dad droping everything and playing. My brother and sister and I were very involved in swimming. Dad was ALWAYS one of the head timers and/or put together the programs or organized swim meets. He was even one of the men that went to bat for our small town to put in an olympic size swimming pool! I don't ever remember not having my dad at one of my meets or one of my games in softball or basketball. He was always there. When he retired, I found out that he had given up a big promotion just so he could be home for us kids. I was so blessed to hear the sacrifice my Dad was willing to make. Even now, Dad rarely misses a game that his grandkids are playing in. I think it means as much to my kids as it does to me.

Dad gave me quite a role model to look for in a husband....but God had a much bigger plan for me. Mark is an exceptional father. Oh, I could be saying that just to flatter my man... but I am not kidding. Mark is a role model to me when it comes to interacting with the kids. It use to be that I was the one with the patience, but the roles have reversed. I have sat, countless amount of times, and watched Mark take over a heated conversation and gently and calmly share his heart to the kids. He has wisdom that I just don't seem to have. It wears him out, but when he takes the time to sit and work through whatever it is that is bothering the kids, he ALWAYS seems to get them through it.

Mark is one of those guys that shocks most of the people he knows. I remember when someone shared to me that their favorite part of Ri's video was watching Mark interact with Ri because it was so unlike the image they had of Mark. Mark is such a truly tender guy! His heart is wrapped around his children. He holds them very near to him. I just smiled when they said that to me. For me, I see his gentleness, his tenderness, his love. THat's one of the things that I fell in love with. I love to watch him play with the little guys. He nearly almost drops everything for them when they want him to play. And as they get older, he is the one who is firm in directing them. He needs to be because I am, far too often, weak. They need a man who does not cave into the demands the world sets, but attempts to shepherd his children into what the word of God says.

I am blessed that God gave me Mark as a husband, but I feel almost even more blessed that my children have him as a father. One day, I am confident, they will ALL look back at their Dad and be on their knees praising God for the father that He allowed them to have. During the teenage years, they might not see it so clearly! :)

Another father God put in my life is my father-in-law. I am so blessed to have the in-laws that I have. I love my father-in-law with all that I have. He is such a man of integrity and has taught me much about hard work. He is a man who doesn't say anything negative about anyone and who would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it.

As for the pictures, well.... our dogs Chuck and Tye both died. Tye died due to seizures a year or so ago. Chuck died a few months ago. Our dog, Bear, followed Erin on her bike. Evidently, he was either found by someone and kept or something worse. We searched and searched for him. In the process of visiting the pound and Humaine Society, we found this little pup. We are in the process of "adopting" her. Right now, we only have the privlidge of fostering her. It sounds so strange to us having adopted children; but that is the process. The pound gave her the name "Shoo". So far, we can't come up with a name that 8 of us agree on, so right now her name is "Shoo". The pound thinks that she is a german shepherd/husky mix. Who knows. All we know is that we really feel that we need to have a dog around here.

And by the way... did you notice Emily's hair?