All Consuming Stuff

I'm really enjoying summer.  I can actually allow things to consume me that I normally cannot in these less structured days.

For instance, I finally finished reading this book.

 

Wow!  What a book.  If you have the chance to read it, I would highly recommend it.  It is a mere 455 pages long and it is full of amazing details about Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  Miniscule details - and lots of them!  Oh, and it also has lots of very long German names that are sort of hard to keep straight.  But, it is an incredible story that makes you think about stuff you've never thought about before.

I've also been consumed with landscaping work.

The house we bought had been the home of a couple who divorced.  Sadly, they were not the best caretakers of a house.  Then, they moved out and rented the home for a few years.  All of this resulted in neglect in several areas.   

Anyway, I have been having a blast attacking the landscaping.  Here are some before and after photos.

The 'before photo' of the patio.

The patio now.

I don't have a good 'before photo' of the north side of the house (to the left of the garage).  If you study this photo with a microscope, you could see the huge weed that was located on this side of the house. (It looks like a tall darker green bush in the distance behind the yellowy bush on the corner of the house).  Honestly, I was intentionally trying to avoid letting this side of the house be show on the photo because it was so horrible!

But, now it looks like this.

So much better!

But, it is amazing the amount of hours it has taken to get these projects done.  I am still working on the back side of the house.  

For the back side, though, there was grass growing right up to the the house for most of the length of the house.  I am performing an experiment - I am trying to kill the grass by covering it with plastic.  I have about two-thirds of the beds done, but am waiting for the plastic to kill the middle part so that I don't have to dig out the grass by hand.  Since we have lots of clay in our soil, it is HARD work to get the grass separated from the dirt/clay.  UGH!!!  How do the farmers do it?

My next project is washing windows.  I don't think they have been washed for years.  Should be fun!

As  Mark says, "Welcome to the world of home-ownership!"  Tis true, and I couldn't be happier.

Angels Won!!!

It was an exciting end to baseball. 

Sadly, Todd's team, the Hot Rods lost to the Grasshoppers and their road to victory was ended. 

But, Ryan's team, the Angels went all the way to victory beating the Braves 6 to 3 in the championship game! 

Way to go, Angels!!!!  Nice job, Ryan!!

I am not sure how Ryan has managed to maintain such a winning streak.  His Fall baseball team won the league championship.  His basketball team won the championship.  Now, his Spring baseball team won the championship. 

Will this streak continue? 

Only time will tell.  :-)

Major Milestone

It happened in March, but I haven't had the chance to write about it.  We officially recognized the 1-year anniversary of our return from France on March 11th.

(But, in reality, we didn't truly finish celebrating the 1-year transition until June because we moved into our home on June 18th.  That means this post is not really late, right!)

On Sunday, March 10th, we went out to a nice restaurant and officially celebrated this 1-year anniversary.  I bought a jar and a few bags of rocks at Hobby Lobby to take along with us.  We had a formal time of thanking the Lord for all that He has done for our family this year.  We took a rock for each thing we are thankful for and put them in the jar.

There were thanks given for...

school
friends
teachers
church
neighbors
our home
our big yard
new jobs
American sports teams
bicycles
bicycles that can be ridden freely throughout the neighborhood
living in an English world
our fabulous public library
living near family
the IWU recreation center

...and on and on it went.

I should have gotten a jar three times the size.  It would have been NO PROBLEM to fill it! 

It has been simply incredibly to watch this year unfold.  The Lord has been so very good to every member of this family.  He provided a great job for Mark which is what led us here.  That job has been more of a fit for Mark than we ever could have imagined.  Not only that, but we can see how each job that Mark has had thus far has been preparing him for this job.  We didn't know that, but the Lord did!

Each of our children has thrived in this place.  They have been asked the question many times, "Do you miss Paris?  Do you miss France?"  Every single one of them says an emphatic, "NO!"  Then, they will begin to tell you all the wonderful things about living in America.

But, it isn't because they hated living in France.  In fact, they all did fabulously well in France and had great friends they still miss.  I think the biggest reason they don't miss France is because of how much the Lord has blessed each of them here in Indiana.

They love the wide open spaces and the freedom to wander all over our neighborhood.  They have all had fabulous teachers.  School is a total joy for them.  They have all found friends they want to be with for years and years and years.  They have each been able to participate in church activities they love.  They have each been able to participate in sports and they have LOVED the experience of being on sports teams in America.  Americans make sports a blast!  They love being American and living in America - that fit suits them very, very well.

When you consider that we moved from a huge city in a foreign country to a small town in Indiana with a 7th, 5th and 1st grader, it is pretty incredible to think that each of them is genuinely happy with the move.  The only way we can explain that is by saying, THE LORD IS GOOD!!!!

As for me, I have spent much of the year trying to figure out what the Lord has for me.  I started working at the kids' school in the kitchen as a way to get out of the house, earn a little money, and get to know people in this community.  I had no idea that it would lead to a full-time job as a secretary at the K through 2nd grade school.  I would never have thought, "Now, I should try to get a full-time job as a secretary at the kids' school!"  Nope.  Instead, the Lord gently led me to this place and I couldn't be happier about the whole thing!  He knows me better than I know myself and has been guiding me along to the place He wants me to be.  I am so very grateful!  I am excited to see what the next year holds for me - as well as all the rest of my family.

Over and over again, I have marveled at how personal our God is.  There are desires in our hearts that He knows and that I believe He loves letting us know that He knows.  Here's an example.

When we finally realized the Lord was calling us back to the USA, I told Mark that someday, if we ever owned a house again, I would love to have two things:  an American flag by the front door and a lilac bush.

Well, last summer, one of the first things I did after moving into our new home was buy an American flag and put it by our front door.  Yeah!

But, that desire for a lilac bush still hadn't been met.  Or, so I thought!

Last summer was insanely hot.  As a result the bushes around our house didn't bloom.  We moved in on June 18th and shortly thereafter I began trimming the bushes around our home.  (They were a gangly mess!)

But, this spring and summer have been much more normal temperature wise, and our bushes shocked me by beginning to bloom!!!  Look at this:

The Lord gave me not one, but 11 lilac bushes!!!  ELEVEN!!!!  Can you believe it?!?  The aroma coming through the windows was absolutely heavenly.  I could hardly believe the goodness of the Lord.

All I can say is, what an amazing God we serve.  I cannot imagine life without Him!!!

Obligatory Baseball Photos

As we are about to close out the spring baseball season, I took photos of the boys after their game last night.  As you can see, they are thrilled to be photographed!

Even so, I am glad to have these photos! 

We'll see if we have any champions by Tuesday night.  Todd's team has to win 3 more times to be champions. 

Ryan's team has to win just one more game and they have clinched the championship. 

I'll keep you informed on what happens.

Catching Up - Todd's Latest

Just like Ryan, Todd has been playing baseball this Spring. 

Here was Todd's team float.  Todd is on the Hot Rods team.

He's #3 on his way out to bat.

Todd has been thrilled to begin playing catcher in the last few games of this season.  This has increased my prayer life!  So far, he's done a great job and stayed safe.

Todd also participated in Bassycs at church, but for some reason I didn't think to take a photo of Todd receiving his award.  He also finished his entire year's set of verses and won two scoops of free ice cream at a local ice cream store and a free game of mini golf.  Way to go Todd!

Todd has also become 'Mr. Project Man'.  Let me explain.  It began with duct tape.  He decided to make a suit out of duct tape.  This has kept him busy for hours - literally!  Here's a look at some of his creations.

That 'shirt' has since received sleeves and buttons made entirely out of duct tape.  Todd's dream is to have a birthday party with a duct tape theme.  We're trying to figure out how that could possibly be done.  He wants to make duct tape plates, silverware, shoes, hammocks and on and on his imaginations goes!

He's also made a Todd Monster.

Todd Monster flies... sort-of.  :-)

It is always fun to see what Todd is creating.

Oh, and we should share the story about the hamsters.  This is a fact:  Todd loves, loves, loves snakes.  This is another fact:  Todd does not take care of his hamsters.  So, Todd and I cooked up a plan to take Todd's hamsters, whom he neglects terribly, over to our friend Ben's biology classroom at the high school in Marion to feed them to Ben's snakes.

We checked over and over again with Todd to make certain that he really wanted to do this.  He was adamant that he wanted to feed his hamsters to the snakes.  So, off we went!

Todd is saying his last good-byes to Jasmine and Swirly.  He looks so sad because he wanted to look sad for this 'good-bye' photo.  But, don't be fooled!  He was excited about all of this.

Last photos of the poor, sorely neglected hamsters.

Putting them into the snake's cage with Ben.

Ben fed all of this snakes (he has 6 altogether) while we were there.  Todd has a blast watching them eat!

Here's a photo of the python that ate our hamsters.

If you can stomach it, look closely and you can see the snake has one of our hamsters in his grip.

It was all pretty fascinating.  Ben feeds the snakes once a month.  They have to be under heat lamps to digest their food.  Some of them are fast and some of them are slow to eat.  We learned that a snake is the most vulnerable when it is eating, because it cannot move very fast while it is digesting it's food.

All-in-all, it was a great thing for everybody.  The snakes got a meal.  Todd got to watch the snakes and learn a lot about them.  We never have to clean the smelly hamster cage again.  They are not making a huge racket in our house and Todd doesn't have to feel guilty for neglecting his pets.  And, the hamsters got free of their tortured existence with Todd as their caretaker by being a part of the food chain for Ben's snake.

So, what is the lesson learned?  It really is best to let these animals be out in the wild where they belong.  I always felt sorry for those hamsters.  They need to run marathons daily, and we had them locked in this little tiny colorful cage.  I think cats and dogs make sense as pets, but I personally don't see the wisdom in making a hamster a pet - especially a dwarf hamster which is too small and too fast to hold.  But, that is just me and my opinion. 

Lastly, I'll share Todd's latest obsession.

His favorite channel on TV is the science channel.  His favorite show on the science channel is the "How It's Made" show.  When they advertise shows that Todd wants to see in the future - such as how dream cars are made - he puts notes by the TV to remind himself to watch the show.  We are finding these notes by the TV regularly now.

Isn't that funny?!?  I just marvel at the interests that develop in each of my kids.  There is never a dull moment!

Oh, and I should mention that Todd has worked hard in school this year.  By the end of the year he finally hit grade level in reading!!!!  Woot wooot!!!!!  Considering he didn't read a word of English when the school year began, that is quite the accomplishment for Todd!  Way to go, bud!

Catching Up - Ryan's Latest

So, what has Ryan been up to lately?

First of all, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that Ryan had a birthday as well.  He turned 11 on February 14th.  Here are photos from his birthday party and photo shoot at the gym at Indiana Wesleyan University (where Mark works).

For Ryan (and Lena's) birthday parties, we had an old fashioned Polaroid Party.  Man-oh-man, did these boys have fun!  Here are some of our favorite photos.

With a police car.

One member of the group sitting on a garbage can.

Running through a bank drive through.

In a brand new sports car!

One member of your group wearing a piece of jewelry worth more than $1000.

Making a human pyramid in the hallways of the mall.

With a house pet.

I cannot remember which team won, but everybody had a GREAT time!

Ryan had also been begging us to paint his room.  So, part of his birthday present was getting a freshly painted room.

His choice of wall color?  ORANGE!!!!

We just couldn't stomach the idea of the entire room being orange, so we went with a neutral color on the other three walls.  It looks really nice and Ryan is thrilled with how it turned out.


Ryan, too, had an awards night.  He's been a part of BASSYCS, which is a program at our church that is a lot like Awana.  He finished his entire book and got an award to prove it.  Here he is with his small group accepting his award.

Way to go, Ryan! 

What this photo doesn't show, though, is all the award trips Ryan has earned throughout the year.  They went swimming as a group at IWU during the winter months, went to play laser tag in Ft. Wayne and the final trip of the year (which Ryan didn't go on), was a trip to a big amusement park.  But, it has been neat to see how they motivate these kids to keep memorizing scripture.  It's been a great program for Ryan.

And, of course, the big event of the spring for Ryan has been baseball!  Yeah!

The reason Ryan didn't go on the amusement park award trip at church was because the kick-off of baseball was on the same day.  Ryan had to choose, and he wanted to be a part of the baseball parade.

Here are a few photos of the parade.  I don't know how it happened, but I missed Ryan's float!  But, he was most definitely there...along with the fancy sports cars, fire trucks and other team floats.

Here's the mascot for the TinCaps team (a 'B' league baseball team in Ft. Wayne) who has been the sponsor for our ball club this year.

 

Ryan has been on the Angel's team.  They have one more game to win this coming Tuesday to become the champions of the league for their age group this year.   I'll post again later if they win!

Ryan has had some great hits this year.  He's been playing right field, left field and 3rd base.  He really enjoys this sport and would watch it on TV 24/7 if he was allowed!

Ryan also did a great job in school this year.  His math teacher has recommended him for honors math next year.  Way to go Ryan!  I still cannot believe you will be in 6th grade next year.  Wow!