Back to School

School is back in session! We are trying to get ourselves adjusted to being back to the school routine. Summer sure wrecked that - none of this get out the door or you're gonna miss the bus; you better run like the wind she's waiting! :) Javin loves his new teacher and enjoys being a 2nd grader. His favorite special activity is gym, his favorite subjects are math and science, his favorite thing to do at recess is play tag, and his favorite non-learning activity is lunch.

Kailyn is gearing up for her first full session of preschool on Tuesday. She is excited to go and most importantly to wear her new pink backpack. She goes Tuesday and Thursday morning for 2 hours or so.

We had a fun day today at the Coshocton Water park with some of our friends. It was the last day of operation and we had a beautiful day to enjoy it all. Tomorrow we are planning a day of hiking in Mohican State Park.

My past week or so has been consumed with researching new compact SUV's. I came up with a broad list of possibilities and began narrowing it down based on mpg, size and reviews. And the winner is Honda CR-V, America's number 1 compact SUV. Okay so that was one reason it began fairly low on the list to start out, because "everyone" has one (no offense to all you CR-V owners out there who are reading this). That drives me nuts, but what can I say? It has the right mpg, the right size, a great track record on reliability and looks sporty. The models that almost made it were: Nissan Rogue, Mitsubishi Outlander and Saturn Vue. Which one would you vote for? Someday soon I will be joining the masses as a CR-V owner. I haven't bought one yet, but I am relieved to have finally decided on what I want to get. I'll keep ya posted.

New Mexico

After the Mexican heat had zapped all our energy and robbed us of our sleep, we headed north to air conditioning and swimming pools - New Mexico. We had a wonderful time hanging out with the Carignan family. The kids swam in the pool everyday, several times a day - not much else to do outside in New Mexico. We learned very quickly what the "smell of money" was - they are surrounded by mega diary farms that put off quite a stench but are very prosperous. Josie and I got to do all the fun girl stuff - go shopping, drink coffee, get pedicures in a massage chair. Ahh vacation! Brad got to go to work and babysit for us! HeeHee! The kids played and played. Kailyn and Jordana were the absolute cutest little girlfriends. They played together nonstop!

We made it home through 3 layovers almost without a hitch. Well... it happened in Denver. We had a 34 minute layover which I was kinda nervous about. Every airline person assured me that was enough time and it would have been. However, I didn't get my boarding passes until the flight before and the plane was already booked up so we didn't have seats together. We arrived in Denver with a few minutes to spare but had to wait while a very harried airline lady tried to swap seats around for us and 3 other groups who wanted to sit together. Finally she handed us our passes and boarding begins. By this time I have had to go to the bathroom for awhile so, I decided to sneak away thinking we have some time while they board. Well Kailyn turned ultra-friendly with every lady in the bathroom commenting on how nice their shoes were and taking a very long time washing her hands. Needless to say we got back to our gate and the only people left were just getting on. Close call!! After telling my life group this story they gave me a hard time about the whole "hand washing thing". Their advise: next time skip the handing washing and make sure I get on the flight and honestly the kids won't die from the germs! Truthfully, I didn't think it was going to be that close. Oh well we made it.

Mexico adventure

I have been trying to find the time to write about our trip to Mexico and it has been hard to come by. So here I am at last! I am so glad I was able to expose my kids to another culture and way of life. It was a wonderful trip of sharing the love of Jesus is such simple ways.

We spent our mornings helping with chapel for the kids. We had a children's pastor along who did a wonderful job teaching the kids. I even got to pray with the ones who wanted to receive Christ in their hearts!! After that we played with the kids in whatever way we could (Uno, jump ropes, playground equipment). We even had a princess party for the girls and painted their nails and gave them flowers. One night we grilled hot dogs and made smores for a special treat. I was able to share a little lesson with flashlights for each kid.

It was so hot that during the day they stayed inside most of the time. One afternoon we set up our travel DVD player and drew quite a crowd to watch a movie. On the last day we bought 3 swimming pools and had them filled with water for the kids. The sheer excitement and joy that was on their faces was priceless. What a simple way to make some one's day a little brighter!

When we got there the pantry and freezer were empty and they had not had meat for the kids for a week. So we headed right out to buy groceries and get them stocked up for awhile. Thanks to everyone who donated school supplies. They were thrilled with them and will put them to good use when school starts up again.

We packed a lot into 2 days. Including Brad and his new sidekick, Javin, who filmed a documentary on the orphanage. Javin was so intrigued with the cameras and all that was going on. He wants to be a camera man when he grows up now. Kailyn did so well and jumped right in and played with the kids in the midst of the 100 degree weather. It was a good trip and we were honored to be able to share the love of Jesus with these kids who live just 10 miles from the US border. Thanks to all who prayed for us!