We are certainly enjoying some routine in our life. Erin is still at camp. I spoke with her last night. i have a prayer request. Her roommate was sent home from camp (she was one of the coaches and a team member) because she was sick; sore throat and high fever. The thing that concerns me some is that her room was quarantined and then disinfected. Due to the recent fear of swine flu, I can't help but wonder why they did this. I am hoping they are just being cautious. But, since I am here and Erin is there, it is a little harder for me. This week is very important for Erin. It is a week she has to show the coach her skills. Getting sick would make it very difficult for Erin to perform at her best. Right now, she is very run down and exhausted. She is probably at a higher risk of catching something just because her physical stamina is run down. So... please pray for our little girl! I will be anxious to hear from her this morning.

I thought I might share a little something Elizabeth said the other day. Emily had just bought a black hat and white skirt. She loves trying on her clothes and asking the little ones what they think. She did this with the hat and skirt. Elizabeth looked at her and said "You look very distinguished!" Emily cracked up (and when she shared it with me, I did the same). Where on earth did a 4 year old learn that word? Emily asked her and she very quickly responded "from your little head". Out of the mouth of babes. Too funny.

So... what's been happening this summer? It has flown by way too quickly. I think it is probably the first summer I can actually say that I really haven't enjoyed all that much. A little on the chaotic side. Oh, I enjoyed being with my brother's family, I enjoyed having my dear friends here, and I enjoyed having my husband off for a week... but the majority of the time, our family was split up and unable to really do much together. That is always a little hard on me. I realize that is part of life and part of my kids growing up... but I don't relaly like it. It has been difficult on Ri and Elizabeth as well. Everything has been turned upside down. And our poor little pup has had very little consistency. As much as I loved having Mark home, I am glad he is back to work simply so we can begin settling down a bit.

Emily leaves in 4 weeks (well, nearly 3), It is a strange time of life, watching your little ones grow up and begin to leave the nest. I am thrilled for her and can't wait to see all that God is bringing into her life. She will blossom. She is more then ready to go forward and begin a new stage. We take her on August 20th.

Erin just drove, by herself, to Houghton College in New York. That was a stretch of faith! It was hard to see her drive away. She has soccer camp this week. It will be a week where she will evaluate the team/coach/campus as well as the coach will be evaluating her. Houghton is one of the colleges she is very interested in. It is a 5 1/2 hour drive. It just didn't make much sense for Mark and I to drive her there, turn around and come home and then 5 days later, go pick her up. She arrived safely. It is interesting, already, how different she sounds compared to her visit to Alabama's soccer camp. I recieved a few text messages from her and could tell that the tone was much different then the messages that I had recieved while in Alabama. The I spoke to her and could "feel" the difference. One of the first things she said was how much she really liked her roommate. In Alabama, her roommate was another recruit. The recruits and some team members in Alabama seemed to judge Erin as "unworthy" because she had not played on any national or international team. All of the recruits from Alabama had played on that level of team and poor Erin had merely played on Central Ohio's MOSSL leagues and for a high school team that has never really seen much success. And when she stayed an extra day in Alabama, she was simply referred to as "the recruit" rather then her name. But at Houghton, the coach assigned her roommate to be one of the team members. And most of the night, she had been hanging out with the actual team. She was enjoying every minute. We do not know where God is planning for Erin to play. Alabama, Mount Vernon, New York... or somewhere else. She is leaving it in God's hands and trying to do her part.

Right now, I am learning much about God's grace. He is working on my heart about a few things. I am really struggling with a decision I need to make and have been trying to faithfully seek His direction. For now, there are 2 verses (granted - I think they are probably taken out of context), that have jumped off the pages as I read them. One is: I Corinthians 1:26Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29so that no one may boast before him.

and Isaiah 6:5 "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."

6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for."

8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"
And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"

And I know that these verses are out of context, but as I prayed specifically for direction, these seemed to pop. Anyway... I am striving to "hear" God's voice. Feel free to lift me up in prayer as to what God might have me to do.

I will have to fill you in more later. Life is tugging at my legs right now, so I have to go. Sorry for no pictures. I have reached my maximum allowance of "free" postings. Now I have to decide what I would want to do from here.

Elizabeth and Ri surprised Uncle Paul on his birthday. Uncle Paul's church was holidng a VBS this past week. When Uncle Paul began to pray, he must have seen us just as he bowed his head. He looke dup to see who walked in. His face was priceless! He was overjoyed to see his neice and nephew walking towards him. They were only there one night, but Elizabeth caught on very quickly. Here is one of the songs she heard that night.

Finally, a little explanation to go along with all the pictures. My very precious friends, whom we met in China and whom live in California, made a trip to Ohio between their trip to Florida and Washington DC (wow - that sounded crazy, didn't it?). Evan and Christy adopted their daughter, Faith. Faith and Elizabeth were "sisters" for 10 1/2 months in the orphanage. We have kept in touch and have become very close friends. We hope that Faith and Elizabeth will always stay close. Our week has been very chaotic, but oh so precious. It was such a joy to be with Christy and just share the simple things of being a mother together. We were not able to see the sights of Ohio like we both wish we could have, but we were able to spend time together (which we NEVER get to do). I got to hold Luke for the very first time, that was pure joy! He is even more adorable in person then in pictures. We missed her husband dearly. He was unable to make the trip. He and Mark have a wonderful friendship as well. Both enjoy spending time together, which made it even more sad to not have him with us.

Today, my house is quiet. It is an odd sound; with having 11 kids underfoot for the past 3 days and 9 for the 3 days before that, quiet is something I didn't experience. Mark and I had to say goodbye to Christy and the kids earlier then we had hoped. We had a wedding to attend and Erin had a tournament that we needed to get to. It was not that we needed to see her play, but we realized that she needed to be put in a spotlight game. I tried to get the coach to take care of it, but he hadn't a clue how to help, so we needed to go in person. Unfortunately, we could not find the director of the tournament, so she was not able to be put in it. It was hard to say goodbye and very, very rushed. I think I am glad it was rushed simply because it made saying goodbye much easier. As usual, Emily took over and finished all that I would have done. She spent the rest of the day with them and then took them to the airport. She is an amazing young woman. I can't believe all that she does!

Between she and my mother-in-law, they have taken everyone away so that Mark and I could have some much needed alone time. I was gone for nearly 2 weeks with the kids and then 2 days later, our friends came.

Here are a few pictures I took while we were waiting for the fireworks on the beach.