First Day Of School

Today begins another school year. Ashlyn is a Freshman this year. I can hardly believe it. She is growing up into a beautiful woman. I still see her as my baby! Sarah is starting 6th grade. She is just so precious to me. She is such a pretty girl. She has the sweetest smile and sense of humor. This year was special because Debra's kids are here with us. Morgan and Dustin are being real troopers trying to roll with all the changes they've endured with their mom sick. They are great kids and I'm very proud of them. Also, my grandson, Bryce, started preschool this year. He lives just 4 houses down from us and when he saw all of us at the road waiting on the bus, he just took off running towards us! Hannah chased him down and got him back to his stop. When the bus appeared, he just started hopping up and down. He looked so little getting on that big school bus. It helps greatly though that my mom is the school bus driver! As usual we had to have pictures with NaNa!

Update

Debra was released from the hospital yesterday. She cannot stay alone, though. Since her husband works out of state, she is staying with me for at least a week, maybe longer. She is still in alot of pain and cannot do much for herself. Of course her two children are here too. School starts tomorrow, so we are going to have to get super organized to manage to get all 4 kids to school on time. I am ready for school to start though. The kids are getting bored and resorting to picking on each other for entertainment. I am looking forward to the routine of it all. Please continue to pray for all of us.

World Changers Celebration!

This morning at church we had a celebration of our mission trip. We all wore our WC shirts. All of the leaders sat on stage and each youth came up and told what this week involved and what they learned. I was so proud of the kids. They all spoke so sweetly about our Savior. I just know God has such awesome plans for those kids and I am so thankful that He's allowing me to tag along for a bit of it. I also put together 4 slideshows to music to help recap the week. To finish the day off, we had a carry in dinner! It was such a beautiful time. Thank you, Jesus.

A Little Late

In between our travels, my oldest baby had a birthday. Hannah turned 23 on July 23rd! Hannah came to live with Wayne & I when she was 6 years old. I was so young at that time. Looking back, I can see so many mistakes that I wish I could redo. But we both survived and the wounds only make us stronger. Hannah now lives 4 doors down from us with her sweet family. She is married to a great guy and has 2 beautiful boys! She is now teaching Sunday School and we are so proud of her. I can't believe she is so grown up!!

Prayer Request

I want to ask you all to help me pray for my friend Debra again. She had surgery in Mexico about 6 weeks ago and has never really recovered. She is in the hospital in St. Louis now and has had to undergo major surger to correct some problems and infections. Please pray for her and her husband. In the middle of all of that they received a referral for a little girl from Korea with some minor special needs. Her agency is giving her time to heal some before they need an answer but I know it is still alot to deal with. Please pray, my friends!

I'm Back!!

Hello friends! Yes I am finally back home! Quick catch up: We spent a total of 3 weeks in Virginia Beach. We came home for 5 days to unpack and repack for our mission trip to Buffalo New York. We took a group of 21 to stay at McKinley High School in Buffalo with 400 other youth and adults. While there, we worked on houses that had been condemned by the city. We made the necessary improvements to enable the homeowners to keep their houses. In all we renovated around 40 houses. During our day off, we went to see Niagra Falls. It was awesome! Talk about the power of the Living God. It was a nice reminder of how big God is and how small I am. We stayed in New York for 9 days and finally are home to stay!!!! Unfortunately, I became sick as soon as I got home. I have bronchitis, but at least my chest x-ray was negative for pnumonia! So, I am on the couch today with my fuzzy blanket and some iced tea, trying to catch up with my bloggy friends!! But that is not the biggest news: OUR DTC IS 7-27-07!!!! Yes we are finally finished with our paparchase! We haven't received our LID yet, which has kind of surprized me. How long did it take you all to received your LIDs? Anyway, it is so good to be home!