Fun at Grammy's!

Praise God for Skype!  I've been able to see and talk with Danielle and Andy every morning and evening. It's very convenient that Danielle picked a country to stay in that is 12 hours difference from us - makes talking doable.  I think I may survive her being gone if we get to video talk each day.

I talked with Nathan very briefly last night.  He called to get my permission for him to ski. Yes, you read that right - ski!  And snow ski at that!  I guess Liberty University has the country's only man-made ski slope, and the Teenpacters got to use it last night.  He was excited, even though he has never been on skis before.  I didn't receive any further calls so I guess he did not break a leg.  When I asked him how he was enjoying the week there was a brief pause, then he replied that it was a LOT of work.  He said he was getting more sleep than the other kids - he had 4 hours but the rest only 2 - as it took that much time to get homework done and briefs prepared.  Ought to be interesting to hear all about the week in full when we pick him up tomorrow.

To beat the triple digit heat trend of the week, we've spent some time in the lake.  Grammy's friend has a beach and we have been swimming there since the water level is too low to get the boat in the water. Enjoy the photos!

This was the neighbor's huge float - the kids had a blast playing in it!

Peanut

Even Joy Anna loved the water.

She did not like losing her balance.

Joshua had fun.  He is a water rat and does great swimming with a life vest. No fear of the water.

Isaac is a goofball.

The beach area was quite large, but we staying in the water - too hot to do anything else.

Promise watering Grammy's plants.

Goofballs

Joy Anna usually loves the swing.

Joshua's face is a mess.  He has a shiner from crashing on his trike before we came.  Then he is also covered in mosquito bites. The bugs love him - no one else has bites but he has them everywhere.

Isaac is trying to give his "cool guy" look.

But he looks much more handsome here.

The kids were all taking turns with the camera. Grace did pretty well on this one.

I'm sure Danielle will fuss that these aren't edited.  She can go in and fix them for me! :)

Cheeseball

Grammy and PIG's

Grammy and JPIG's

At Grammy's

The JJ-PIG's (Joy Anna, Joshua, Promise, Isaac, Grace - it's the new nickname and faster/easier than writing out all their names) and I headed to Grammy's yesterday.  They love coming - they don't have to do chores while here! :)  They also love just getting to play all day.  I think we will be swimming in the lake today to keep cool. The temperatures start to soar, forecast is into the 100's for the next several days (ugh!).

I've talked with Andy and Danielle via SKYPE a few times now.  It's great to connect, talk, and see them; makes it seem like they aren't so far away.  Danielle is SO excited to start at Shiphrah.  She loved everyone she met (imagine that!) and can't wait to get back into the birth world.  She is looking forward to her return there Tuesday.

In the meantime, Andy and Danielle travel to Davao City tomorrow where they will spend their time.  The weather is supposedly nicer; no rainy/monsoon season like it is in Manila.  Saturday is the big boat trip with the directors, midwives and some students from Newlife, the school Danielle plans to attend next year.  She is really looking forward to meeting everyone and spending the day swimming and snorkeling around the islands.  She is updating her blog at: www.midwife4hisglory.blogspot.com for everyone to keep up with her.

I haven't heard much from Nathan this week.  Andy dropped him and two other teens off Sunday at Liberty University Law School for a week with Teenpact Judicial.  I've received just a few texts from him, very late at night, to say he is busy working and doing homework til then.  This experience should give him an idea of whether he wants to be a lawyer or not.  I look forward to picking him up Saturday morning and hearing all about it.

I had hoped this time at Grammy's would be a good time to get my school planning done, but that may stay neglected a bit longer...

Will try to take pix of swimming and playing and post them later.

Too Quiet...

This was a very early morning for everyone.  The van was loaded and driving out of the garage by 6am, with everyone aboard.  After a tearful good-bye, Danielle and Andy were off to their flight.  So far everything seems to be going smoothly and we look forward to an update from them tomorrow when they arrive in Manila.  The house seems quiet and lonely without them.

Nathan seems to be keeping very busy at his Judicial camp.  I've only had a couple of text messages from him, and they have come in very late at night.  I look forward to hearing all about his week when we pick him up Saturday.

Had a couple of funny incidences today.  First, the JJ-PIG's got very excited when, on the way home from the airport, I pulled into Dunkin Donuts!  They each got to pick out TWO donuts for themselves (what a treat!).

Later that morning, it suddenly got very quiet.  Instinctively I knew Joy Anna was into something.  Sure enough, there she sat in the library with Staal's water bowl emptied around her, dunking his food into the water puddles and plopping them into her mouth.  It was a deja vue moment -  Danielle used to do the same exact thing with T'Kari's food and water!

Then Joshua was being naughty.  I told him to go get me the spoon.  He came back a while later, quietly wrapped his little arms around my legs and said, "It's okay Mommy, I talked to Jesus about being naughty.  You don't have to discipline me."  What do you say to that?! Needless to say, I did not spank him! :)

We'll see if I can add photos I took - here goes:

The Least of my Worries

In getting ready for my trip, I was told to remove all jewelry and leave it home so it won't get stolen. On Friday, we pried off my jade bracelet (which has been a part of my arm since I was 10), and tomorrow I'll leave behind my rings. However, I am going to take my watch since, though it looks nice, it was only about $10 at Walmart.

Isaac thought I should take the watch off.

"But what if it gets stolen?" he asked, eyes round as saucers.

"Well," I replied, "I'll hopefully be able to rip it off and throw it in one direction and race away the other direction."

Isaac's eyes got wider, "but that's littering!"

I love my family. :-D

Joy Anna's Hair

Joy Anna's hair has started growing so we have been having fun playing with it. Here are a few of the results:

Rising Dawn Services

Today I updated Rising Dawn Services. Big time. For this past week, I have been crazily editing over 300 pictures from my friend Mariah's wedding (yes, I was her wedding photographer!) and I finally finished this morning. You can see a few of my favorites here (click on the picture):

http://risingdawnservices.blogspot.com/2012/06/chad-and-mariahs-wedding.html

Then I moved on to the pictures I took for Dad's boss and his family. Those photos turned out beautifully and easy to edit. I had made the mistake of scheduling the photo shoot the day after Mariah's wedding, so my eyes were worn out. However, it was still fun. A few of my favorites can be found here:

http://risingdawnservices.blogspot.com/2012/06/r-family.html

Then I was going through my Rising Dawn Services picture folder and realized that I never uploaded the pictures I had taken for my neighbor. He hired me to take pictures of his four dogs. It was perhaps the craziest thing I have ever done, but I was able to successfully take beautiful pictures of all his dogs. The results are here:

http://risingdawnservices.blogspot.com/2012/06/lily-elby-chelsea-and-bubba.html

Fun for the last Days

As everyone is preparing to go their separate ways (Dad and Danielle to Manila, Nathan to Liberty University's TeenPact camp, Mom and the JJPIGs to Grammy's house), we've been having all sorts of fun. For instance, last night, we ate homemade pizza and Nutterbutter ice cream (the best thing ever!) and watched The Princess Bride. It was the PIGs first time seeing it (Joshua went to bed) and they loved it. I (Danielle) absolutely love that movie also. It gets funnier each time I watch it. :-D

Then today, we went to our neighbor's pool before they got home (we were in charge of flipping on the lights at night and taking care of the pool while they were in Africa for two weeks) and swam around for about an hour. Everyone had a ton of fun. After that, we made a hodge-podge feast for dinner and had funnel cake for dessert quickly followed by a fun game of "Everything Goes." If you don't know what that game is, you need to get it and check it out. It's the best game EVER!

Tomorrow, Nathan leaves for TeenPact. It'll be sad, but I'll survive.

Tuesday, Dad and I leave for Manila.

Nathan returns in a week, Dad returns in a week. I, of course, have to be different. I don't return home for five months.

Anyway, I love my family. We're crazy and annoying but we're also pretty great!

Night y'all!

Cousin Visit!

Today Grammy came with the cousins!  It was a day filled with much fun and food; Grammy treated to lunch at the Chinese Buffet - something Danielle requested to do before she left.  After much running around, playing and riding the zipline, everyone enjoyed cooling off in the neighbor's pool.  Dinner was followed by home-made nutter-butter ice cream, another special treat.  Much fun was had by all!

Only 5 days left until Danielle leaves for the Philippines.  She is excited and nervous.  She is also ready for it to be here to be done with good-byes. :(  I'll let her add her two cents worth to this post:

Umm...ok, this is Danielle trying - rather unsuccessfully - to type on Mom's new laptop. It's very small so I'm having a hard time hitting the right keys the first time... Mom said I'm supposed to add my two cents worth...Ok, one penny. Two pennies. There ya go, two cents.

I guess that's not really an update. How about I mention how Mom got Facebook? Yup! After I got a Facebook, she decided she should get one to keep up with what I'm doing on it. I think that's absolutely hilarious! And like she was saying, I leave tuesday. In five days. I'm sure I can figure out the hours if I needed to. But I don't need to.

Ok, I should probably stop rambling before y'all go crazy. :-D

Ciao! - but wait, before you go, check out these photos from today:

Picture from the Garden

Test for Changing the Reins

Yeeek!  Mommy does not have time to update blog...however, this may be a good school project fro some PIG's! :) tee hee hee.  So we shall see...

A look back 6 months to see how they've grown...