Puppies, Jesus, and Max Lucado?

This was the first day of school 2011 - who knew what the days ahead had in store??

It has been a really crazy few weeks since our last puppy post. The puppies will be 2 weeks old on Thursday the 22nd. They are growing very big and are almost ready to open their eyes.

Here is a pic from their 1 wk b-day

WORLD MANDATE

We traveled to Waco, TX for World Mandate. We celebrated & worshiped Jesus for 3 days! Isabelle shared about her Global Orphan Project and God showed up big. It was an awesome weekend. Check out her blog for more details Arts for Orphans

At World Mandate, Isabelle was able to share her story about orphans and talk about Jesus. Again, check out her page for more details.

Jimmy Seibert, Senior Pastor Antioch Community Church with Isabelle

James Mark Gulley & Carl Gulley - 2 amazing brothers serving the Lord with passion & zeal. James Mark & another brother Stephen write alot of the worship songs for World Mandate - if you are looking for a great worship CD, check out the Antioch Community Church website to purchase one. They are always on at our house. Carl directed World Mandate and is so encouraging to Isabelle & John Michael! Thanks Gulley's for making us feel so welcome!

Jim Yost, missionary in Indonesia. This is one very special man. He followed the call of God on his life in his early 20's to Papua, New Guinea and God continues to use him in that area of the world. He ministers to problem young people in ways that I cannot begin to describe. He asked this question to us during his talk, "If your church was closed one Sunday, would your city miss you? Are you having such an impact in your city for God that the people would miss you if you closed the doors?" WOW - something to think about.

MAX LUCADO!

What a crazy deal God had in store for our kids...to meet and hang out with the creator of one of their favorite cartoon series "Hermie & Friends" If you have small children or grandchildren, this is a series you do not want to miss!

Max is a wonderfully gifted man that God is using to change the world! We are so blessed to have met him this weekend.

Puppies, puppies, EVERYWHERE!!!

When I posted last night, I thought for sure we'd not have pups until the weekend. By 9am this morning the birthing process had begun. Kevin kept texting me at school "4 pups", "5", "6", I called him at lunch and he was at "7" At 12:30 he texted me one last time "9 total"

Pups resting & snuggling together while mom went outside for a few minutes! She didn't want to be gone long. She is a great Mom!

Moving the pups to the garage. Kevin was hoping to move Molly to the garage before she gave birth. He was planning to do it after lunch today, but Molly had other plans!

Momma resting with her pups in the warm garage!

More photos to come!

Meet Molly!

On Monday evening as I was washing dishes I saw something run across the field from our house. I didn't think much of it because we have all kinds of wildlife out here in the country. About 5 minutes later, we opened our garage door & found this sweet girl waiting for us. She was clearly malnourished and starved for attention - we gave her water and something to eat and she went on her way, or so we thought. The next morning, we found her sitting on our front porch looking up at us through our kitchen window.

Kevin spent the day with her taking her to the vet at lunch. This dog never left his side. He didn't even need a leash in town or at the vets. The dog almost trips him or I when we walk with it because it is glued to our leg. At the vet, Kevin discovered some very interesting things. This sweet dog most likely had been dumped in the country - clearly she hadn't been fed or cared for. We thought that they may have dumped her puppies with her. NOT!! She hasn't had the puppies yet! Yes, you heard correct, she is going to deliver in 3-10 days!! And probably 6-10 puppies!!! WHAT!! Even if we wanted to send her on her way, we can't - Molly (as the kids quickly named her) has become our dog! Puppies & all.

This is where you'll find Molly today - laying on the kids patio. She is so tired and so ready to have these babies. We got some boxes and blankets to make her a cozy spot to deliver. Beyond that, we really have no idea what we are doing. Thankfully our closest neighbor is a vet (that's where Kevin took her - so he is aware of the situation) and my cousin is a vet, so I'm hoping to get some good info from her too!
The newest member of our family has been a big blessing of JOY & laughter for us all! We are excited to see what the days ahead have in store!!! We'll keep you posted!

Summer Fun

Summer 2011 has been full and fun. These photos are a snapshot of all that we've done! They are in order from most recent to latest - going back to the last day of school.

We were in KC for our birthdays (Kevin & Kelly's are 2 days apart!) We went to the Roasterie plant, to see how coffee is roasted! It was very interesting to learn all about coffee, where it comes from and how it makes it from coffee bean to the cup! The kids were quite amused by our lovely hats...well maybe Kevin had more fun with them? :)


One of JM's favorite activities is to ride his bike to McDonald's with my dad to get pancakes...it's a pretty decent little ride from their house and a much anticipated adventure.

I really wanted a Coconut Cream Pie for my birthday - so I made one, for myself. Well my dad absolutely LOVES coconut so he loved it too and was thankful it was my birthday! My next goal is to make a recipe my friend Bonnie sent me - that claims it tastes 100 times better than an almond joy - which I really like too! So we'll see if I like it better with chocolate!

While in KC, the kids went with my parents and sister out to our friends house the Labeths. The Labeths & my mom & sister have been teaching Sunday School together this last year, so they had an end of the year party at their home complete with carnival games and horse rides. Isabelle & JM were there early to help set-up and were complimented on being great helpers! JM was pretty excited to ride bareback with Rodger - he just loves hanging out with him!

Over Memorial day, we were blessed to spend time with all our Redford cousins, including the newest Redford, Aleyah Grace. The big kids loved holding her and watching her play! It's fun to have a little one around again...the rest are growing too fast!

The last day of school, I surprised the kids by inviting my sister and niece to show up at our house for a quick trip to Branson & SDC....they were surprised!

This is Isabelle's first ride on Wildfire....it goes upside down! She has been waiting and waiting to be tall enough to ride - she finally made it and boy was she pumped. THere were NO lines, so she eagerly asked to ride 2 times back to back...I thought I could handle it - not so much...I was a bit woozy after that! It took a few hours to feel better!

Olivia, my niece, really loves the kiddie rides now...they are getting to be "babyish" for my kids, but the have such JOY seeing their cousin having so much fun! They are troopers and joyfully ride with her as many times as she'd like. I was very proud of their sweet hearts!

This was our first attempt at SDC...we drove through the worst storm I have ever been in. This was the Friday before the Joplin tornado. It wasn't raining when we got to Branson, so we thought we'd be good to go...as we rode the tram to the ticket gate it started raining and never stopped - poured and thundered and lightning until the wee hours of the next morning! The kids told Olivia to make a sad face about the rain, she wasn't too sure about that.

The last day of school....

Isabelle's butterfly release....this was a really fun project to watch develop. After about a week of feeding and watching them...we let them go on the last day of school.

So many fun things....

This last week Isabelle's school finished their collection of items for Haiti! They collected toothbrushes, toothpaste, bar soap, and twin sheets...The kids really got into helping Isabelle help children around the world! It was so encouraging to see their generous spirits...

This is Isabelle with her principal, Mr. Pefley. He is a great encourager of Isabelle's big heart!
These are Isabelle's teachers - Mrs. Whittley - Social Studies, Mrs. Edwards - Homeroom - Math, English, etc., Mrs. Cherico - Science
These teachers have been great for Isabelle. They have been great in sharing her story and encouraging the students that we can all do something to make a difference!

Isabelle's whole 3rd grade class with some of the boxes of items that they collected!

HAPPY EASTER...

I used my timer on my camera to try & take a family picture..hadn't done that before!

I thought this pic turned out pretty cute. After looking at the pics, I was struck by how big our kids are getting....whew time really does fly!
The best of friends!

The kids got a Butterfly Garden from my mom & dad...you send away for caterpillars and then you watch them grow and turn into chrysallis. We are still waiting to watch them become butterflies! Hopefully we'll get some photos to share!

Happy Mother's Day!

The kids gave me a great mother's day! Isabelle created this really cute sign for me while I sat on the deck reading my Bible. It was a beautiful morning out on the deck and she loved that she had to be sneaky to get the sign created and put on the refrigerator. I felt very loved!

John Michael's Graduation John Michael has had an incredible first "real school" teacher. Mrs. Lickteig has been so patient, loving, and caring with him. She has taught him so many things from education to real life things! We feel so super blessed to have had her as his teacher. I feel very blessed to have been her aide for the last 6 months...she has taught me many things as well!

The kindergarten classes are right around the corner from our classroom. Over the last few weeks they've been decorating and preparing for kindergarten graduation this coming week. JM kept asking when his 1st grade graduation was. He didn't understand why kindergartners were the only ones who got to "graduate". He wanted to graduate - after all he was going to 2nd grade! Since he never went to 1st grade at a public school, he never had a kindergarten graduation...he had no clue what he was missing!

So last night we staged a little graduation for him, complete with Pomp and Circumstance thanks to a you tube video, a diploma, and cap!

Isabelle created this adorable sign!

JM receiving his diploma...complete with hat, made by Kevin, colored by Isabelle

JM with 1st grade diploma! He was pretty proud...we had lots of fun!

SUMMER HERE WE COME!!!!

Time Flies When You are Having Fun!

It's been a long time since I've been able to sit and blog! We are so glad the snow days are over and the spring time sun has arrived. The trees in the back yard are becoming greener everyday. It's fun to see the leaves on the trees budding, the grass growing (our first spring in our new house with a yard!), and preparing to enjoy our screened in deck! We have had some fun things going on over the last few months...

The beginner violin we started Isabelle in just wasn't very well made causing LOTS of frustration as the strings would break & it would easily go out of tune. So we ventured to a wonderful Strings shop where we were able to rent a better violin for her to continue her lessons. She LOVES the violin and we are blessed by her music. She has uncovered a little hidden talent we didn't know she had! Her teacher is thrilled with her progress! It's fun to see her really enjoy playing this instrument.

John Michael turned 7 on March 16! Boy, was he excited. He had 2 family parties with all his grandparents - one in KC & one at home. Nana made him a monster truck cake & as you'll see below it was a theme. A few weeks before his b-day he went to a monster truck show in KC. It was a little boys dream!

One of his favorites desserts is oreos - so I made him an oreo ice cream cake! It was deliciously rich and absolutely tasty! We've never had an ice cream cake before, but it was great because we stored the leftovers in the freezer and didn't feel a rush to eat it quick.

This was his first year to celebrate at school. Thanks to my friend Bonnie, who is a fabulous trained baker for introducing me to brownie pops! JM wanted me to make these SO bad. The turned out so well, the kids at school loved this unique different treat that tasted a whole like a soft oreo!

Yes, my attempt at turning a pastel colored melting chocolate to red didn't work. They were more of a pink color - but JM didn't care one bit. When we ran out of icing we made a powder sugar icing and sprinkled them with chocolate sprinkles!! YUMMO!!!

JM also started soccer this month. He is enjoying playing this spring with kids that he knows from our community. It's fun to play with kids from his class.

Just last weekend, I had the privilege of attending a leaders retreat for Moms In Touch International. Moms in Touch is a prayer ministry designed to pray specifically for our children and their schools. It is an amazing ministry. You should check to see if you have a group in your area for your school. If not, start one! You can be public, private, or homeschool. You can be a grandma, aunt or teacher - it just takes 2 to pray together for a group! http://www.momsintouch.org/

I am leading a group in our community! We are SO excited to see all that God will do!

Our retreat was held in our state capital - Topeka. We had the honor of meeting with our governor, Sam Brownback. He is a Christian who is seeking the Lord for His leadership of our state. It was an awesome experience to see a man in public office who has reverence an awe for the One who put him in office! I can't wait to see all that God has in store for our state.

This is the State Senate - the original pieces from our original senate. The cushions on the front are where the pages sit. The Senate & House allow students to come and page for them starting at the age of 12...In the near future we will have pictures of Isabelle sitting right there. She is SO excited to be a part of history in our state government. This picture was just for her!

Today we participated in the Global Orphan Family 5K...check out http://artsfororphans.blogspot.com for pictures & updates....