Halloween

We have always had fun dressing up for Halloween. This year we had a slumber party girl, a puppy named "Bootsie" and Superman. We went to a party at our care group leader's place.

Monday Night Football

The guys are hanging out, watching a game and eating popcorn....the shirt says it all....COOL!

Ballet

Our little ballerina is having so much fun taking ballet lessons. She works really hard and takes it very seriously, as you can see from her expressions in these photos.

We traveled to Mexico

When in Mexico....make tortillas! Okay, so these aren't as round as my Mom's, but they were deliciosas. The girls did a great job making the "masa" and rolling out the tortillas.

Upward Cheerleading

Our Saturday mornings were consumed with flag football games this fall. Actually, we were cheering for our little cheerleader. Although she had fun, she says that next time she'd rather play flag football!

Tasty Geography Lesson

This was one of our fun assignments early on this year. The girls baked a cake and iced it to look like Earth: a very delicious way to learn the continents and oceans.

1st Day of School

Do any of you remember the good ol' days when school started on the day after Labor Day? I do, and my kids will too because we went back to that old way. We started school on Sept. 4, and had such a fantastic day. This photo was taken at recess.

The girls are working on their Spanish lesson in this photo. Muy bien.

The girls had to apply for passports because we will be traveling to many different countries this year. In this photo, even brother took part in the activity---he is the mailman who will take the applications to the post office.

We made homemade ice cream to commemorate the special occasion, and everyone helped out.

We invited our close friends to have some ice cream with us that evening. It was a great celebration. Both families are doing the same Christian curriculum this year: "My Father's World-Exploring Countries and Cultures". It is so awesome! We'll have more photos later of all of the various countries we visit throughout this school year.

Good Buddies

These two are such great pals. Mr. O. is our sweet neighbor who simply adores our children, especially "the little boy". We are so blessed by his friendship and sweet, quiet nature.

Star Wars

We went with our close friends to the museum to see a very cool exhibit. Little Brother is not in the photo because he was afraid of the robots you see in the background.

Upward Soccer

The girls played Upward Soccer this summer and really had a great time. They improved their soccer skills, made new friends, got LOTS of exercise, memorized Bible verses, showed good sportsmanship and just had some good ol' fun.

Day at the Museum

We had such a fun time when our "other son" came to visit for a few days. Here are all of my kids dressing up and having fun pretending to be pioneers.

Flying J Ranch

Our mission trip concluded with dinner and entertainment at the Flying J Ranch. Here we are with "the Sheriff".

Summer Mission Trip

We went to Mescalero Baptist Mission outside of Ruidoso, NM. You can see the church steeple in the background. We helped to build the deck on the parsonage right behind us, and last year we helped put up the playground set you see to the left of us.

Daddy and son helping to put up the huge tent which housed our VBS the whole week.

It's amazing how quickly this gigantic tent can go up with the help of many hands.

Our girls with the pastor and his wife---very dedicated, sweet Christians.

This is the front of the church. The construction team added on SS space and an office.

Two members of our mission team with some of the beautiful Mescalero children.

Me with two other members of the mission team---I enjoyed getting to know these sweet gals.

These are my kiddos---5&6 year olds. We had such a great week with these children. "Jesus loves the little children; all the children of the world. Red, brown, yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world."

Summer Fun

An absolute summer favorite---swimming at D&J's pool. It's always a blast.

Happy Birthday to Me!

J&D treated us to a Gospel Brunch at the House of Blues to celebrate my birthday. It was great!

Okay, it's official---I am old! For my birthday I wanted a glider for my porch. We all enjoy "gliding" in the afternoons or evenings when it's not too hot. It's especially fun when the neighbors join us for ice cream or just neighborly chit chat.

Family Vacation

We have had such a fantastic summer. One of our fun trips was a family vacation...when i say "family", I mean aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews, etc. as well as our little family. We had so much fun! The entire trip was just exceptional; the highlights for me were: watching our children play with their cousins, the entire family playing Charades (this is a family favorite), floating along the lazy river, and on the last night, all of us singing praises to our Lord under the pavilion while my nephew played his guitar. It was amazing!

TMBC's 50th Anniversary

We were able to see many of our friends at the celebration. Everyone marveled at how much our kids have grown in just 10 months. We miss our TMBC family very much. May God continue to richly bless each one of you!

Our girls with some very sweet TMBC friends. We had a great time catching up with everyone, both members and former members.

All work and no play...

Grandma and my sister and her family came to see us. Here is Grandma with 4 of her grandkids.







We were able to meet up with our sweet friends at the mall. Although this trip was work for Daddy, we were able to play and have lots of fun.

Awana

The girls completed their 4th year of Awana. This is one of their Awana buddies with them at the end-of-the-year Awards Ceremony. They'll tell you that this Awana program isn't nearly as good as the one we had at TMBC, but it is pretty good.

Piano Recital

Our baby girl did very well at her first piano recital---she played "Ode to Joy" by Beethoven. We are very proud of her. Our prayer is that all of our children will use their gifts and talents to glorify God.

Swimming Party

The girls had a combined birthday party (again) at the pool. They turned 7 and 10 this year. Their guests included: aunts and uncles, old friends from back home, and new friends here. They had a really fun time at their party.