Zoo Fun

Today we surprised the kids and took them to the Louisville Zoo for a field trip.  They have been learning about vertebrates/invertebrates and habitats. What a better way to learn than to go see their favorite animals!  I am so tired so just going to post a few pictures.  The blog picture at the top is from today as well.

My goofs!

This is how you wear them out!

The Make Shift Pool

The kids were desperate for some water fun this hot weekend. So we purchased some water guns and a hose and the kids have had a blast this afternoon. Although I believe in these pictures they are trying very hard to make it appear that they need a pool ... LOL! Little do they know that we are planning to get them one, not a big one just one they can get wet in.

Kingdom Carnival

So tonight was the Kingdom Carnival for the kids. We had a blast :) One of my best friends, Marty, (we have been friends since college and she and her husband live here in town and we attend their church right now) did a great teaching tonight about how we are like pumpkins but even more about how God puts a smile on our face and we are to shine it for all to see. Another point was that through our smiling and shining our light for Christ is a form of praising Him and we do NOT want to let the rocks cry out for us!
After the teaching we then went to eat. We had a great chili and dogs night and the BEST cheese cake ever! Cookies for the kids. There were a good 30+ kids in attendance and they gobbled down their dogs and chips faster than I have ever seen. As soon as they were finished they were off and running :) They had a great time. There were velcro walls, big slides, a climbing thing and a bounce house just to name a few oh and face painting. At the end the kids were all gathered around and they played a question game and if the kids got them right they got a prize. They all left with prizes (bubbles and slap bracelets) and bags of candy.
There are many Christians who are adamantly against Halloween in that they do NOT even like the idea of a church having an alternative party for the kids in their church and community. Personally we do not allow our kids to go trick/treating and we do not celebrate the night at all. Although I am against celebrating all the evil that Halloween has become I am not against a church taking the opportunity to reach their community. I do believe that if a church is going to do an alternative to Halloween that they need to share the gospel and stress the importance of worshiping the Lord. Of which was definitely the theme of tonight's events.
I unfortunately did not bring my camera but Whitley did and took lots of fun pictures. Here are a few that contain our kids or us.
Naturally she got us while we were eating~UGH! But that chili sure was good :)
Here the kids were answering questions. They really had a great time and are getting to know the kids at the church. It's hard going from the PK kids where everyone wants to be your best friend to being the new kids in a church and your parents are not the pastors. This whole transition has been hard on all of us. NOT because we think being the PASTORS or being the top leaders is the most important thing but just the change of a new home, new school, new jobs, new church, new friends...new everything. Just been hard. But between last nights dinner get together with the young families of the church and the fun we had there (oh guess I didn't share about that till now). Last night, we as well as 4-5 other families with young children were invited out to one of the couples homes for a BBQ and get together. The town's trick or treating event was held and this gave all the kids an outing. A great way for our family to get to know more people in the church!
Anyway, the transition has been difficult but we are thankful for this time of rest. We do not know for how long this season of rest will last but for now we are enjoying it. It doesn't take the longing for ministry away at all. We are trusting God to open the doors He has prepared for us. Until He does we will rest and wait.

My Little Recycling Inventor

Kristofer loves robots. He thinks, eats and sleeps robots. If he has tape or glue what ever little objects he can find will be turned into a robot. Lately he is saving my recyclables and is using them to create his one of a kind robots. The one above is made from a juice bottle, bubble bath bottle, water bottle, soda can, spout off the water bottle and a brownie box. When he is not building robots he is making his own robot costumes (see below). His creativity and excitement to build and create is awesome! He amazes us all the time with his latest creations.

Kentucky

My niece Anna stayed with us for most of June. She was with us for 3 weeks. The kids loved having her here. We took her to the zoo of which was her first time ever going to a zoo :)

We really enjoyed having her here with us and although it's nice to just be "us" again, we miss her. The zoo was fun. HOT HOT HOT but fun! Got some great photos...too many to post here but here are a few of our favorites...This past weekend the kids and I took Anna to KY to meet up with my parents, her dad and younger sister and brother. On Sat. my Mom and I took my 4 and my niece and nephew to Twin Knobs Recreation area at Cave Run Lake in Morehead, KY. It is a great lake and place to swim. It was the first time my niece and nephew have ever swam in a lake before. They really enjoyed it. My nephew Timmy even stated...I love the lake there are no alligators or sharks to eat us :). Remember he is from Florida so those are things he would most definitely think about.

Holding our Aunt Linda's pet chicken...Kris loves them and wants his own now.

Sara and Lexi...Lexi was a bit nervous but Sara was like an old pro holding this chicken.

Friendly little bats roosting in the rafters of my parents cabin!

The kids and I had a great time in KY! The kids love KY and ask every time we leave when God will move us there. I just keep telling them it's in God's hands. Right now He is using us in IL and until He opens the doors there and shuts doors here we will keep serving Him here.
I have to agree with them though. I too LOVE KY! A piece of my heart is buried there with our oldest son, SeanPatrick but I just love KY.
While there Sara became sick. You would never have known it the way she played but her stomach was in great pain. She has been dealing with stomach pain for some time now (2 yrs) and the doctor has repeatedly stated that the umbilical hernia has closed. Well this weekend is flared up and guess what IT'S NOT CLOSED!!! Poor thing! Her little belly button looked like a golf ball was sitting under the skin. We had to cut our trip short unfortunately but I wanted to get her home to see her doctor. At the advise of my sister n law we drove straight home from KY to the ER at home. The ER was a nice 3 hour visit-Sara & I got home at 4 am. UGH!
Ya know I really do not like ER doctors. They always seem to act like we are there to waste their time. That is how we were treated and I made sure to let that doctor know that my daughters health and welfare is of up most importance to me.
We were sent home and told to give her motrin or tylenol and see our family doctor. Xrays and lab work came back fine. But when we saw our family doc I was told that the bruising in the belly button was not a good sign :( and now we are off to see a surgeon next week.
UGH!!!! I would rather it be me than her in this pain. It breaks my heart to see her in such pain. I hope that the surgeon makes a good decision and fixes this hernia asap!

Time is ticking away...from me too fast!

Wow has a month really almost gone by since my last post. Goes to show just how crazy busy things have been around here…and how my mind has NOT been on writing. I do enjoy writing about our adventures but lately I have been in a funk and just haven’t wanted to put it on paper let alone into cyberspace. So I will just update with some pictures. In the last month we have celebrated Easter, my 40th birthday (ok so that wasn’t all that fun) and then today we have been celebrating Kristofer’s 8th birthday.
I have been busy with work. Yep I am working now…on a temp job during April and May. It’s an online job scoring the ISAT which is our state aptitude testing for the schools. I cannot share all that much about it but let’s just say my brain goes to mush after reading hundreds of 5th grade essays. It is nice to get a paycheck again,  which is always a nice thing. We are hoping to use what I make to go towards our trip to Florida to see my nephew graduate from High School. We can’t wait to get to Florida…all we want to do is completely veg out on the beach and just play in the sand and soak in some rays! Now that will be a nice vacation after our very cold winter. Counting down the days I think at this point we have 6 Mondays till the kids get out of school and the next week we are Florida bound…YAY!!!
Easter was a great family day. We bypassed the traditional Easter baskets and just filled a big bowl with candy and eggs for the kids to find. We decided to get a family gift this year…croquet. The kids have been having so much fun playing this together and we have enjoyed it as a family as well. Next family gift for the summer is going to be a volleyball/badminton set. This is going to be a very fun summer…

Sean and the boys checking out the stars. The boys truly enjoy spending time with their daddy!

Another day of bounding with nature and Daddy :)

No fish this day just lots of weeds, oh and a few frogs!

Kristofer's Lego robot. He got up at 6 AM to build this just for Eli...all before school started. What a great big brother he is becoming to Eli.

Well if you have made it this far then you must really be a fan. But seriously, I do hope to get better with posting on a weekly basis at least...and then back to daily if possible. We shall see. I can say please pray with us that our desires for our family will match up with God's timing!

City Museum

So Friday March 12th on Sean's 50th birthday we tookt he kids for a day adventure and headed to St Louis. Destination: City Museum Let me just say...that place ROCKS! Seriously the kids had a blast! Every floor had something fun to do and was some how connected to the next floor by a secret passage way or a tunnel or slide or something. I have never gone up and down so many flights of stairs in my life and PRAISE BE TO GOD my knees held up. A little sore but not terrible! We had a lot of fun watching the kids run from one thing to another. Well here just check out these wonderful pictures of the days events...
We never knew where these tunnels would lead so we were constantly running up and down the stairs to follow the kids.
Inside the many caves the kids went exploring...remind you this is all inside of a 4 story building!

Climbing up into the wire tunnels.

This was the human hampster wheel...the little guy was pulling the brake and as soon as he let go my four when rolling backwards. It was really funny to watch!

Here we have Jaron the dragon, Kristofer the snake, Eli the tiger and Sara the bunny all getting ready to eat a fantastic pizza!

one of many tunnels to climb through

Sara loved the sea turtles.

This was on the first floor and behind the whale were the caves. Above the whale and the pteridactyl (sp?) werw a bunch of tubes made from cage iron and other tubing that the kids could climb through.

Kris loved this area! When he looked up he freaked and asked if we could PLEASE take it home with us :) My little dinosaur lover!