Happy Birthday Arielle!

Twelve years ago today, our long held dream came true and we were blessed with another little girl after a run of 3 spectacular boys.

Arielle is a princess, in the good sense of the word. We named her after her great grandmother and grandmothers... Mabel Wilda didn't appeal to us but we discovered the name Arielle means lioness of God; and THAT describes Mabel Wilda. JaNae is a form of Jean/Janice (her grandmothers names).

Arielle has been a joy to raise. She loves to read and is a huge help with the youngers. Arielle is sandwiched between five brothers and provides a sweet counter balance in our now testosterone laden family. ::snort::

Happy Birthday, sweetie. We love you.

{I'll post a graduation thought or two AFTER the graduation because I'll know what we said then. ::snort:: }

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Quick update

Truck loaded and gone. Oh my, I have stories. ::snort::

Grad rehearsal.

Shopping.

Krista picked up at 11 p.m.

Put banner on trailer....put yard sign at Cy's apartment for graduation.

Shopped early this a.m. for a diploma frame (diploma was packed despite best precautions....though Mike thinks it may still show up some where. Thanks to the Waldrons who volunteered to print up a diploma for Jamin last night!)

Met carpet layer at house for measuring - he was an hour late.

Krista sorted through her things to see which can go to charity instead of OR.

Making birthday banner from what we find in the house...garbage bag, duct tape and sharpie....

Josiah is off work until we leave town.

Surprise birthday lunch for Arielle at 11:30 a.m.

Back at church for grad at 4 p.m.

Pray for Mike, please. He's had a sore throat for 4 days now.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Tuesday

We spent Tuesday working.

Bre addressed the rest of Jamin's graduation announcements.





Bre, Arielle and I redid this for Jamin.

In the evening we had an installation and farewell at PWOC. I'm going to miss these sisters.

Farewell for Mandy, Betsy and I. Betsy was our Prayer Chair for 2008/09.....she wore out her knee. ::snort::

The reality of this all hit late Tuesday. Betsy, you asked if I'm going to make it through this graduation.....Did I miss the opt out option? I want to sign up. ::snort:: I've had trouble with leaking eyes since saying goodbye to PWOC on Tuesday night. I've been thinking that the pain of saying goodbye is a testament to 4 years of loving well...this is all good.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Header

That header is for tomorrow...but as you can probably tell I'm having trouble getting reliable wifi connections. ::snort::

I'm currently sitting on a wheat bucket, nestled up against the neighbors fence. I plan to see how much I can post, emails I can answer before I lose connection...and BTW those who work in communications tell me it is NOT stealing to connect to an unsecure network...if they didn't want me to connect they'd set up a firewall and make it secure - at least give it a password. LOL

So....the truck is being loaded. We aren't 100% at peace with the weight they are telling us, but we shall see. I now have my very own packer story. ::snort::

Bre has all but Zander at the lake. Zander is shadowing the loaders.

Krista flies in tonight. I'll write more if I can get photos and such loaded and still have a connection.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

"Bump Beds", projects and such....

We worked most the day.

Mike at the office.

The rest of us at the house....








Jared organized his room and mowed the neighbor's yard.

Nolan mowed our yard.

Arielle was a trooper and did all that was asked.

We took ANOTHER load to Goodwill.

We emptied our pantry - mostly. ::snort::

I attended Mom's Night Out.

We picked BRE up at the airport.

Josiah and Jamin met us at the airport when they got off work. They took Jared to their apartment for the night.

Krista send a present for Zander with Bre....



I was informed that if I needed something up high, I should ask for Zander's help and NOT step on it. ::snort::

Notice the stool in the background.

Thanks, Krista.

Stacia is crying tonight...she wants to "go home" and does not want to sleep in a bump bed. Zander has decided he now loves this house and doesn't want to move...normal moving emotions. Thanks for the prayers for understanding and wisdom and comfort in the midst of our busy-ness. We need to remember to minister to the hearts of our children.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Rock Collections, Oh My....

As a logical adult, I KNOW that taking two little boys' rock collections to Japan is silly and makes no sort of sense at all.

As a third culture kid (TCK) myself, I know how important it is to have some of your favorite THINGS in a new location. I've been wrestling with and praying about what to do and how to explain to Mike that really it is NOT a Lucille Ball sketch, but we do need to take some rocks with us to Japan.....rocks from AK, from OR, from CA, from TX, from Hobby Lobby.....

Nolan (10) took out a few of his favorites and gave the rest of his collection to his friend Erik. This was with no prompting at all and I think Erik will value the gift for what it is - a part of Nolan's heart.

Zander took a few that he didn't care about and got rid of them. Notice the difference in personality and possibly maturity to understand that all can't come.

We got rid of enough household goods that I suspect we can ship some wheat berries and rocks. ::snort:: Right, Mike? I put MY Texas shaped rock, a gift from a young man who was once a young rock collector, into storage. ::snort::

I'm SO thankful Mike told the painters they HAD to wait until next week or not do the job at all. Sooooooo Thankful.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Sunday

My man is incredibly handy to have around...he's a plumber, an electrician, a landscaper and a one man demolition crew! ::snort::

See the grain in the buckets? Thankfully, I've learned to buy in buckets since being in the military.

We were able to bless two sisters who are building a commercial kitchen for their catering business. They took the "computer lab," the counter/drawers in the workshop and the big work bench type thing. The boys had fun jumping from the trailer to the mattress down below.

This little one is "hiding".....and she was so surprised that Zander found her. Ah, the infamous spices are in the background. ::snort::

Throw in chapel, lunch, moving into the trailer, moving furniture and paintball for a full Sunday. The younger ones are having a hard time grasping that we are IN the trailer but we are NOT playing....we are going back to work.

Mike is at the office today, I'm going to try to get things cleaned for the packers, shop for PWOC mementos, and work on a graduation display board....and get announcements ready. Jamin addressed many...I just need to finalize them.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...