A Chapter Closed....

Last week was a big week for us, we got Ohio cell phone numbers and on Thursday, May 22nd we sold our house in Kansas. It was a relief, but at the same time it was so sad. We feel like the page is turned on that chapter of our lives now. We had fun times in that house; we experienced grief together in that house. We fed our friends in that house; we marked milestones in that house. We brought our Brady home from the Hospital to that house; we had Riley’s first birthday party at that house. It was a good little house. We will miss that house, but now it is time for someone new to love it and take care of it. The things we did each year, like putting my Christmas tree up in the same corner of my living room, having Thanksgiving dinner in my Sunroom each year, making cookies in my kitchen for Ladies ministry, baking bread for Christmas gifts will forever be embedded in my memory, watching my children play in the yard and ride their bikes in that cul-de-sac will bring a tear to my eye and a smile to my lips. Goodbye little house on Mosley Ct in Wichita, I will forever hold you in my heart. Take care of your new owner as well as you did us…..

Enjoy Medina for Free Night!

On Friday, May 16th our family decided to enjoy Medina for Free….since moving to town in January we have received several welcome packets and certificates and coupons for free things welcoming us to town, so we decided to take advantage of this and go to all of these places and have a fun family night for as cheap as possible…..so our night started out at Boyert’s Greenhouse….we had received a certificate for a free flowering potted plant, so we headed that way, and we all piled out of the car to look for the best possible plant we could get for FREE. We got a beautiful little orange daisy flower with a purple center. It is sitting on my deck right now.
Our next stop was Hungry Howie’s Pizza where we got a free Large Pizza, we took that home and ate it and then piled in the car again, this time we headed to
The Munch Box, where we received a free cheeseburger, which Nate and I split.
Our next place of fun was Borders, where we had coupons for Seattle's Best Coffee, for buy one get one free smoothies, the boys enjoyed their strawberry and Nate and I enjoyed a Coffee Crunch.
We had also been given a coupon for free games of bowling, so we headed to the Medina Bowling alley, and bowled a game.
By this time we were all getting tired of being in and out of the car, so we went to the park by our house and the boys played on the playground while nate and I sat on the picnic tables and talked, we then decided it was time to go home, the boys kept saying this was the best day ever….I think they thoroughly enjoyed our FREE Medina Night….and it truly was the best day ever…being creative and finding ways to spend the evening together as a family....

School News....

Thursday evening May 8th, was our Spring Program and Friday, May 9th was Grandparents Day at our School.
Nate and I went to the program on Thursday night and it was so cute. They started with Brady’s group (PreK 3-Kindergarten) and as he was walking on the stage I said “Hi, grumpy” and he turned and looked at me, so he knew I was talking to him and he made my words true. He didn’t smile once and barely sang or did the motions to the songs. But he was still very cute.
Next up was Riley’s group (1st-8th grade) and Riley had a special part. He was a part of the “Heart Team” and he was very excited about it. He did very well and the program was so good. It was such a nice atmosphere in this Christian School with hundreds of children singing Praise and Worship songs to our Lord.


Grandparents’ day started at 8:45 on Friday morning, with coffee and donuts, since we didn’t have any grandparents that were able to be there Nate and I decided to attend. Riley was the only student in his class without someone there, so I went down to see his pictures of his grandma and grandpa and to look around his room, and look at his art fair project which took 4th place by the way, then I took him with me to see Brady’s class. When I went back to check on Riley I saw that he was borrowing a friends grandparents and doing a puzzle with them, so I went in the auditorium to get a seat for the program.
They did the same program as the night before and Brady didn’t let me down again, never gave a smile and barely opened his mouth to sing….such a joy, that kid…..Riley again did fabulous, they were released early so we borrowed the grandma of our friend Mary Gillentine and went to lunch with them. It was such a neat experience and I am already looking forward to Grandparents Day next year….

One Crazy Kid!!!!!!!!!

Our Brady is one crazy kid, this morning when I asked him if he had underclothes on, he gave me a sheepish grin and said yes, but boy did he look guilty, so I kept questioning him, only to find out he had an entire other outfit on under his outfit I had laid out for him to wear to school, it was a basketball jersey and basketball shorts, he does these sort of things all the time, he is just a very crazy and creative kid....
these pictures were one of those crazy moments in Brady's life, and he just kept modeling and asking me to take his picture, wonder who he takes after??? He might look like me, but he definitely acts like his dad!!!!!!!!
And brings so much joy to our family, don't know what we would do for laughs without this kid around that is for sure....

Ladies' Spring Celebration '08 ~"A Garden Party"

When your life changes in a very big way, you mark things by firsts. Like when someone you love is no longer with you, you say this is our first Christmas without that person, etc….Well it is the same, when you move away from people you love and have ministered with for a VERY LONG time and you begin again in a matter of speaking, you say, that was our first service away, that was our first Easter in a new ministry, etc…Well I had my first ladies meeting in February, and I have one more under my belt after last weekend. I held my very first “Ladies’ Spring Celebration” in our new ministry.


It was different than the last 7 or 8 years, and I was sad and missing my friends a little, but it went very well and now I can say, I have done a Spring Celebration in my new ministry.


Nate and I came up with the menu and he rounded up some guys to help in the kitchen, I planned the service and decorated the auditorium for the day. It turned out beautifully, not quite as big as last years for me, but there is always time for that in the future.

Over all I can say it was a success, there are always a few things that a perfectionist like myself would change if I could rewind, but I can’t so I stand happy with the end result, and I feel God was honored through our efforts, and now we have one more FIRST out of the way.

Ladies' Spring Celebration 2008

Awana Awards 2008

We reached a milestone in our lives. Each of my boys moved to a new phase of Awana. Brady will move from Cubbies to Sparks and Riley will move from Sparks to Truth in Training.

The awards ceremony was held on Wednesday, April 30, 2008. They started with Cubbies and Brady received a Big Blue ribbon for finishing his second book in Cubbies, they then moved to sparks and Riley was one of two that finished his third book in Sparks and received a large plaque and a Red ribbon and a lot of other cool things.


They were both so excited with their awards and their accomplishments, they are glad to have a break for the summer but excited for the new class they will be in when Awana starts back in the fall. We love Awana in our family. There isn't a better way to get children excited about God's word and hiding it in their hearts.

Race For Education~April 16, 2008

Nate and I both attended Christian School while growing up, and it has been really neat to have our boys in a Christian school the last few months. When I was in school every year faithfully we had a walk-a-thon and we would go around and collect sponsors for our walk, funny thing is I never knew what that money was going to, now as a parent that is the first thing I check out. Well my boys were in their first, we now call it, “Race for Education” and the money goes to help provide scholarships to our school, well I thought that was a good enough reason to support it.






I volunteered to help out during the time my boys would be walking, and Brady was up first. That little boy tore it up, and he walked 11 laps, each lap is a fourth of a mile, I was so proud of him. I thought oh, boy when Riley gets here he will probably only walk 5, so I told him that Brady had walked 11 to see if I could rally up some brotherly competition.








I took Brady with me to Riley’s so He walked a few with his brother raising his total up to I think 13 laps, well, my oldest son surprised me and he walked 17 laps, he was so excited and I was very proud of him too. Over all it was a gorgeous spring day and everyone had a wonderful time and everything was a success. I haven’t found out how much they raised yet, but I am sure it did very well.