Visiting Family

Sorry for the absence...

We hit the road last Sunday after church to head further south to visit Greg's family in Texas...
(I have said over and over again that we will NEVER leave for a family vacation on a Sunday after church again... yet it continues to happen... needless to say, it isn't easy.  I am not a morning person at all... so to have the car packed, kids ready for church, house clean, etc etc etc...all without any of Greg's help... all in time to get us all to church... not my idea of fun early on a Sunday...)   But we survived... :)

I don't have access to upload any pictures... so that will have to come in a couple of days...

It has been really nice... We got reconnected with some friends that we haven't seen in a few years... were blessed by our friends the Stocktons (the family we traveled to Estes Park with earlier this year) AMAZING hospitality, enjoyed a delightful time with Greg's sister Lisa's family for the fourth, and of course ate TOO much good food with Greg's parents... They have been great hosts as usual.  The time ALWAYS passes way too quickly!

And lucky me... today I was diagnosed AGAIN with Strep... Ugh!!  I never get sick... For some reason my immune system isn't what it normally is... I actually don't feel that bad... but knew it was brewing and wanted to get treated to hopefully not spread it to anyone else...  If you think of it, please pray it doesn't go through the whole family again or anyone else we see:)

Tomorrow we head over to Cajun country... to see Greg's cousin... but my dear friend Ryane and her family.  Greg is going to do a baptism for their little guy on Saturday morning... It will be a super quick stay... but a sweet blessing to be able to see them this trip...

I will post pictures soon...

A LITTLE MORE ON THE NEW ADVENTURE...

THIS IS HOW OUR HOPIE FEELS ABOUT CANDY AND A NEW BROTHER OR SISTER:):)

PRETTY EXCITED!!!

So the big boys are away for one more day... (Get on home big boys, we miss you all!!!)  I took the littles out to our favorite Mexican restaurant in our little town... CHEAP is all I can say... The 5 of us ate for $13...

After eating really good all week, exceptionally good for me... we rewarded ourselves with a meal out... kind of sick huh?  Back at the healthy eating tomorrow though:):)  We don't eat out often so it was a big treat!

ANYWAYS... this is why I mentioned eating out... Jojo and Hope were sitting across from Anna and I... We were talking about the new little person we hope the Lord will add to our family.  We were talking about boys or girls, ages of the child... I asked Hope if she wanted it to be a big brother/sister or a little brother/sister?

She didn't really care... actually she wasn't super engaged in the conversation...

Then I said, "Hey Hope, whatever brother or sister we get... He/she will have pretty dark skin like you!"

You would have thought it was CHRISTMAS!!!

She got the BIGGEST grin on her face... She leaned over and gave Jojo the biggest hug... She jumped up out of the booth and came around to my side and gave me a HUGE hug...

I asked, "What was that  hug was for?"
She said," I am so happy that you said that mommy!"

I almost fell over... Besides the fact that we all would LOVE another child... and many other reasons... one reason to add to the family would be so that Hope can have another sibling that sort of looks a little more like her.  But I sort of thought that might come into play more for her down the road...  I would never have thought she would have that kind of reaction now.

But she seemed over the top thrilled about it now... and we are thrilled with her:)

I will share more about our decision to adopt again in the days ahead, but I wanted to share that sweet Hope story with you... We can not wait to see the little one the Lord picks out for us... He continues to do more than we can ask or imagine in our family... We are so thankful!

YES HE IS...

Beating the heat at the BLUE HOLE:)

The kids and I made the trek (about an hour) out to the Blue Hole today... It is a natural spring area where the water is around 60 degrees... With the temps around 105 today... IT WAS GLORIOUS! 

Lots of sunscreen... time with friends... fried pickles... A HUGE beach umbrella... lunch on the rocky beach and watermelon made for a great day.  

I got a phone call and text from G today from Joplin... They are working REALLY hard... Louis fell and hurt his wrist... the urgent care doc will have someone else read the film tomorrow to make sure it isn't broken.  (He apparently couldn't tell if what he saw was a new break... something from the past or what???)  We shall see... He said that there is a heat advisory up there and that they are going to be up at 5:30 am to adjust working hours from 7-2 to get out of the hottest part of the day!  

I keep praying for the Lord's protection over them as they are serving in Joplin...

JUST A FEW DAYS INTO SUMMER...

JUST A FEW DAYS INTO SUMMER...

AND...

WE MISS THE NORTHERN SUMMERS...

NEED WE SAY MORE:):)

(WON'T BE BELOW 103 FOR THE NEXT 4 DAYS... OKLAHOMA SUMMERS... GOTTA LOVE EM"!!!)   REALLY THOUGH... JUST THANKFUL TO BE ALIVE TO ENJOY EACH DAY...

SUMMER IS IN FULL BLOOM!!!

 WITH TEMPS NEAR 100...

 AND THE BIG BOYS GONE...

(NOTICE THE 2 THUMBS UP:)

 GREG AND I DECIDED TO TAKE THE 4 LITTLES TO THE SPLASH PAD LAST SATURDAY...
(Hopie, don't drink the water!!:)

 THE KIDS HAD A BALL...

 BEATING THIS CRAZY OKLAHOMA HEAT!

(OF COURSE LEVI WAS HAPPIER TO JUST RUN AROUND VERSUS REALLY GETTING IN THE WATER:)

THE BOYS WILL BE BACK IN TOWN...

 LOU, LAST OCTOBER WORKING IN FRONT OF THE OLD JOPLIN HIGH SCHOOL...

 CALEB WORKING IN JOPLIN

GREG AND JO SPORTING THEIR I LOVE JOPLIN T'S... YOU CAN SEE THE OLD HOSPITAL BEHIND THEM... TO MY KNOWLEDGE THEY STILL HAVEN'T TAKEN IT DOWN...

Our older 2 boys are back up in Joplin tonight for the next week with our youth group.  Greg will join them after church tomorrow.  This will be their 5th time serving in Joplin in the last year.  The pictures above were taken last fall when the littles and I joined them for a couple of days!  

I love that our youth lady (Woohoo Tracy!!) puts a strong emphasis on serving.  I think that their themed shirts for this trip hit the nail on the head "More of God... Less of ME!  I love it, especially since teens seem to be a little self focused... I love that she is teaching them to take their eyes off of themselves and to see the needs of others...

It will be interesting to see what kind of work that they get to do this go around...  I know that there is still MUCH work to be done... The devastation from that tornado in May of 2011 still astounds me...

Praying here on the homefront that the Lord works mightily in the kids hearts as they work mightily for HIM!!!

I will hopefully update in the next couple of days on this next journey our family is taking on the road of adoption:)