New Title

Today, as Josh asked me the meaning of the word grudge I earned a new title:

WORD MOM

This puts me in the league with "Word Girl" the famous PBS Kids character.

I feel as though I've arrived.

Back to School

Another school year has begun! Annie is in 2nd grade & Josh is in Kindergarten. They both LOVE school. Well, I guess a more accurate statement is Annie LOVES school everyday and Josh loves school most days.

Annie is becoming quite the elementary school girl...lots to say after school and has even began to give her girlfriends nicknames. It's really fun.

Josh is adjusting to say the least. He asks me multiple times a day when his day off is...meaning Saturday. He's also concerned about exactly when he has to eat lunch at school....meaning how long til he has to stay all day. He just wants to make sure it's not coming too soon. He also double checks most mornings to make sure I'll be picking him up at 12:30!

All in all we're off to a great start. They have wonderful teachers and go to a great school.

Here's Josh with Mrs. Steinke. She was also Annie's teacher so Josh has history with her & loves her. She's perfect for our little man!



Josh & some good friends in his class with him. They have all been in class together since the nursery at church. So fun to be in Kindergarten too!

Here's Annie with her teacher Mrs. M. Mrs. M is a really cool teacher! She has 2 gerbils, a mouse & a bunny IN the classroom. Somedays the bunny just hops around while the kids are working. Annie LOVES it. Plus seeing all of her BFF's again. (yes she uses that term).

WBA 2nd grade class!

Family Vacation 2010

We had a wonderful family vacation this year in Tennessee.

We had a few days in Byrdstown, TN staying at a friend's cabin on Dale Hollow Lake. It was so beautiful & restful. We played Wii, swam in the lake, rode on a boat & rented a jetski. It was a great few days together.

Then we travelled farther east to Gatlinburg, TN where we spent a few days with my paretns. IT was great. Our cabin was nestled on the side of a mountain, truly gorgeous. We swam in the pool, played in our cabins hot tub, hiked 2 1/2 miles to view a beautiful waterfall (that even had a snake swimming with us as we played in the pool at the bottom of the fall). We also went to "Ober Gatlinburg" where we rode a sky tram up a mountain, rode lots of waterslides & even Emily braved the alpine slide.

Emily LOVED swimming this summer.

Josh & Annie posing on the rocks near the waterfall.

This vacation was the perfect ending to our crazy busy summer. Thanks Mom & Dad for making this possible. :)

Happy 7th Birthday Annie!

Annie turned 7 on July 26. I can't believe how big she's getting. As she's growing, she's turning into such a sweet young lady. She is so creative. She loves to make things....from coloring & painting to making something from random objects. I love how God made her this way and I enjoy watching her skills develop.

Also, one of the first Bible verses she learned is from Proverbs: "A kind hearted woman gains respect." As she's getting older I see her kindness shine whenever she's with her friends. She truly cares for others and treats them kindly. The result is she's trusted by her friends & they look to her to keep their secrets safe & they depend on her to be there when they are sad. It's fun to see this already happening at age 7....can't wait for what the future holds.

Annie is also super feminine...and we all love it. For her birthday she asked for a purse with things a 2nd grade girl would put in it. So that's what she got along with tons of art supplies from friends & family.

I am one blessed mom to have such an amazing daughter!

And of course, we had a pool party. Annie has had every birthday party at "Lauren's pool", or Mark & Andrea Owen's pool for the past 5 years. It is such a great place to have a party & we appreciate their generosity.

Here's this year's cake....Flowers & Flip Flops. Annie loved it!

Family Fun at iCON 2010

Even though we were so busy at iCON we did manage to have some family fun while in Keystone. One hi-light was riding the lift up to the top of the mountain. It was breathtaking.

Annie & me on top of the mountain--11, 400 feet above sea level. Those are 14,000 feet peaks behind us. STUNNING!
We also connected with some friends who live in the middle east. They are great friends & it was fun to watch our children play together once more.....they LOVE each other so much.

Halfway thru the conference there was a "day off". So our family took a train ride on the "Georgetown Loop". We rode a REAL steam engine which was better than Geo Trax in Josh's opinion.

ICON 2010

From July 10-24 our family was in Keystone, Colorado for our church's iCON (international conference)which is when we gather all of the missionaries who serve all over the world for a time of refreshment & equipping. Shawn & I were in charge of the conference for the grade school aged missionary kids. It was a great time. Really hard work, but a good time. We experienced the presence of God so deeply....watching these kids respond to God was amazing.

I worked with the 3rd grade girls....which was great fun. They were bundles of energy, and I realized I am NOT as young as I used to be. Being a camp counselor & a mom with young children maxed me out. But God was faithful to give me what I needed each day. I'm glad we were there and also really glad to be home!

Creative Teaching is one of Shawn's specialties! The kids LOVED the daily skits.

We are glad we've done iCON since 2002---5 iCONs later we're still loving it and thankful for the opportunity to serve these sweet kids!