I love it when boredom sparks creativity!!! This was the scene at our house this week. I was working in the flower beds and the kids really wanted to go swimming. It was so hot!! They started off playing with the water hose. Then it ended up like this...








homemade water slide!!!!









Water plus cousins......









plus mud equals tons of fun!!!

More Pool Pictures

We can't get enough of these summer time shots!!!










Ethan's turn!!!









Aaron learned to swim without floaties!!! Hooray!!!









Lauren did not want her picture taken!!










Aubrey (my niece) enjoyed watching all of my wild children!!

The Ag Cat

This is the new thing around here these days. Thad plans on flying it up north to spray crops in a few weeks. I am probably not sharing all of the important details that you guys want to know about the plane. You will just have to email Thad for those :)









The boys had to check it out and give their approval.








This plane is huge huh?









The whole group standing proudly in front with Daddy. Ethan was riding on the tire right behind Thad. He doesn't like his picture taken lately.






Everyone had a turn in the pilot's seat!









Since he didn't get to ride on a tire in the first picture!

An Update on N61PT

For those of you unfamiliar with N61PT--it was Thad's Cessna 206. Oh, how he loved this plane. It was a terrific airplane and it has found a new home. It will be used by Wings of Faith Ministries Inc. It truly made it easier to part with it knowing it would be used for missions. This is the newsletter that we received today.

http://wingsoffaithministries.net/newsletter/newsletter.pdf

Check it out to see how it will be used for HIS service!!

Now for a little trip down memory lane with the 206:





OshKosh Trip 2007














Shading the coolest guys there!












Made it through a cold Michigan winter

















Carried a lot of precious cargo....


















and future pilots!!!!

I am a Dreamer

Does anyone else spend every single night in another world? I dream every night! Some of my dreams are definitely God sent dreams and others are just plain silly. I often travel in my dreams. I think I am a traveler by heart too;) Lately, I have been to Los Angeles, Ireland, and Brazil in my dreams visiting all of our friends that live in those places. Anyway, over the years I have learned that God speaks to me alot at night. I will wake up with a person (that I haven't seen in YEARS) on my heart and I have just learned to pray for them when that happens. God has shown me before that He does that when they really need prayers. It blesses me and it blesses them too! I am careful with whom I share my dreams but there are certain times when I know that I am supposed to share for encouragement. I had a dream a few months ago about a woman and this her occupation. I didn't share the dream although I thought it was really profound. Then a lady at my mom's workplace shared with my mom that she had a dream about our family and she prayed for us (the same week!). It was very encouraging for me to hear that so I decided that I needed to share the dream I dreamed with the woman. (Is this confusing?) So I did. I shared and she listened and asked me to write it down. This week I found out that the dream did come true. She is doing just what I dreamed about--a new occupation. It is so cool when God uses us for things like that. I don't share this to say "OOO, Look at me." I hope that if you have the same busy nights dreaming like I do that you will be encouraged to pray and see what role God has in it for you!!

Happy Father's Day!!!

I hope all of you dads have had a great day!!!! We gave Thad the gift of a huge nap this afternoon while I took the kids to see grandparents. He and the kids are fishing now so everyone is HAPPY!

We had an awesome week at VBS!! I had the opportunity to share the story of Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection along with introducing the evangicube to the first graders. They all loved the story and the cube. Each one wanted a turn telling the story to the class using the cube. LOVED IT!!! We are still very tired from so much going and we are looking forward to resting this week.

We finally got a working dryer yesterday. A quick trip to Lowe's did the trick. The new dryer was returned to Sears after no one would hook up the side vent for us. Eleven days with a new dryer (not working) = one messy house with clothes hanging everywhere! Lots of washing and drying yesterday.

The kids can't wait to spend some time at the pool this week. I am going to try to get some pics to post soon!

The New Dryer

Still, no working dryer yet. They didn't give us the correct side vent parts. We have a brand new dryer sitting in our washroom that is completely unusable. It is amidst the clothes hanging all over the room drying on hangers, doorknobs etc. Life goes on.
This week is VBS so I will not guarantee another post. We will have a great week but will be tired when we get home. Not to mention chores, cooking and raising all of these kiddos. I hope you have a great week and our dryer should be working by Tuesday. I'll keep you updated on that;)

No More Days like Yesterday

Ok, so yesterday was not one of the good ones. For some reason, it makes me feel better to tell you how not fun it was. First of all, it was Aaron's bday and we wanted to make it special so we made cinnamon rolls for breakfast complete with the candle, birthday song etc. He loved that! The current issue we have been dealing with is our dryer. It is just really old. The knobs quit working and we figured out a way to keep using it for months. Then it started taking about three cycles to dry at times. So we decided that today was the day we would go get another one. I measured on Sunday. Thad measured on Sunday. We took all of the kids to Lowe's and neither one of us seemed to remember the measurements exactly. In most cases, this would be no big deal. In our case, it is a very big deal. We were young when we built this house and didn't know. Our builders didn't think to tell us that our space in our washroom only leaves a little room for a dryer if you want to open the back door. So we can only have a dryer with a small depth ( that doesn't sound like the proper wording). They do not make many dryers that have such. Most of them would not allow us to open our back door. So we go have lunch at Mccalisters and the plan is to come back later with the exact measurements. We get home, do a few errands around the house, measure etc. We decided to leave the kids with Thad's mom while we go to try and find one that will work. Are we frustrated? Just a little;) We go and only the cheap ones have our measurements. I am all for a cheap one. Thad is not. He likes quality. This on top of a very jittery,smothering sales person was not a fun time. But........we find something that will work. Yea!!! Feeling a great sense of accomplishment, we head home. My phone rings and Lauren has fallen down and cut her knee. After looking at it, we all decide she needs stitches. So my mom n law, Brendan, Lauren and I head to the er. Thad took the boys with him. We arrive in the er at 6:05pm. We are not seen until 10:25pm. Oh yes,fun night. So the story will wraps up like this. We have a dryer being put in today. Lauren has two stitches in her left knee and we are praying that today will be a nice, relaxing day.

Happy Birthday Aaron!!!!

My Aaron is 5 years old today!!! He has been doing a countdown since his last birthday. He asked yesterday how long til he is seventeen. We swam on Sunday with mostly cousins and they had a great time. Check out his lego cake. Not professional looking but he was happy with it!