Sunday Walk

Our church family does a few different events together in the summer. This time it was going for a walk/bike ride, and then back to the chapel for ice-cream sundae's. :) It was nice just to get out and visit with others. The weather was humid but thankfully, the walk was mostly in the shade.

A nice breather for the hot weather everyone has been having.

The group that went. 

Katy wanted to ride her bike, and her daddy helped her most of the way as we were on gravel for a lot of it. 

Pretty Shantel 

The "destination" - i.e. the place where we turned around and went back to our hot cars. 

Reese and his daddy, Mike. 

The ice-cream was so perfect after that walk. Complete with oreos, strawberries, gummy bears, a few syrups, and other such deliciousness to top our vanilla goodness with. :)  

Mr. Coffey enjoying his dessert. :)

Tiny Fingers, Big Keys

 At one of his favorite places to be...

May you grow up to love His music, and use it for His glory little man. 

Two hands and One year. :)  

And, what's better to do than to play under the piano after you're done?

Little Boy

 Erik James...

The little man who makes me:

Laugh over his cuteness

Pray for strength

Desire sleep

Cry over helplessness, and how to train him

Amazed at his music abilities

Impressed with his ball handling skills

Hope for the future

Special Gifts

Through all the crazyness of the past few weeks, there have been some special surprises and gifts from the Lord. And of course, this is only a few. :)

Pink hydrangeas in my backyard - and lots of them!! I've wanted to have hydrangeas, but didn't even know what was all in the backyard when we bought it. So that was exciting! 

Having special people over. Jim and Esme - both in their 90's came for supper a few days ago. Neat to hear a bit more of their lives - they're from our church. 

Our grapes, in our arbor in the backyard. This will be exciting to have grapes of our very own...we'll see how it goes! 

Yesterday, Shelly a dear friend - mom of 5, called me up, and said, "I'm taking you for a pedicure"! Sister in law, Deanna, was able to babysit, and off we went for a delightful hour or so. I got the pink toes. :) And Shelly got the cute yellow ones. I felt so spoiled and loved.

Some little gifts from the Lord...

He knows how to "give good gifts to His children..."

Cute Kids in a New Home

Exhausted, from life, but finally in our home.

Miss Katie, having her breakfast. 

Erik the messy. 

Watching some Baby Einstein for a bit. 

Cutie. 

Little blue eyes. :)

Moving Day

Moving day finally came. :) And, even thought I had been a bit worried about getting it all done, and not sure if there would be some extra help, God had it covered, as always, and we were super blessed by lots of help. :) We had babysitters for the kids, so we could go hard at it all day.

All my precious and labed totes getting packed up. 

Lunchtime. 

Nel took a break from her studies to help me clean the house, as did mom. 

Our last picture in our little home. :) (thanks to William)

Then I finally got to go see the new home, and what it looked like. :) Diane had spent some time organizing my kitchen and making the house look abit more homey when I came - meant a ton. :)  

Our first supper in our new home with some of the help. :) We had a couple men from our church help out as well.

Excited to be, and excited to hurry and get the rest of the work done..but I know...it will take lots of time!!

Renovations!

At last, some more recent pictures to show you. :)

It's all about the house, and the painting and the tear down, build back up moments.

 James painting in a spot I don't dare try to reach right now..

 This wall, about to come down...

Greg and Mike yanking down the partition between the kitchen and dining room.

They had fun by the way.

Our church did a work day for us, which was incredibly helpful!!! So thankful for their help.

The ladies did painting, while the guys did construction, some more painting and sanding, etc.

 James and Wayne chatting over lunch.

Joanne, Shelly and Althea with Avia. 

Dear Nel with little Tia. 

James and I, on one of our many afternoons/evenings together painting.

This is of the basement. The right hand room is the guest room, fyi. 

Me. :) Painting. 

Shantel, taping off the tile. I was so thankful for her help, and a bunch of other ladies that came to help one morning. We painted furiously, trying to get everything done before our carpet man was to lay it down. We did it. :)  

Hannah spent a day helping us (as did Lydia - when she wasn't babysitting) 

Those girls have seen a lot of paint cans. :)

Me and Shantel, before she headed up north for a week long mission trip. 

Mark starting to lay down our hardwood flooring in the living room. 

 And to finish off this post, this was our most cutest helper. :) He was putting the wood pieces back for Daddy.

All done... :)