Thanks Mrs. Jimmie Ruth!

Throughout the children get special packages in the mail from our sweet, dear, and precious friend Mrs. Jimmie Ruth in Arkansas! We love and miss her so much! Their Easter package of goodies just arrived this week, and they KNOW if the package is from Mrs. Jimmie Ruth, then there will be gummies inside!

Thanks Mrs. Jimmie Ruth! We love you!

L Loves to Play Putt-Putt

One of L's friends had a birthday party today! His birthday is not until December, but he wanted to have an outdoor birthday party, so we celebrated early! I thought it was a fun and creative idea! The children enjoyed pizza, putt-putt golf, petting a pony, feeding some animals, and eating cake! L's favorite part was playing golf!

Early Birthday Celebration

Dad's birthday isn't until Sunday, July 12. We're celebrating early because he is going to be busy on his birthday as the World Changers Worship Speaker. He actually had two celebrations. On Thursday, we asked some friends if we could bring some pizza over and visit with them. When we got there, Dad was surprised with a yummy ice cream cake! Today (Friday) we served Dad his favorite cobbler he requested instead of cake, and he got the Bourne Trilogy as his gift from Mom, T, K, and L!

Happy Birthday Dad!!!! We love you! We are excited to hear how God is going to use you mightily next week!

If you'd like to keep up with the Philly World Changers project, you can click here. The staff will post pictures and updates on the 2009 World Changers Blog!

4th of July Weekend!

We had a fabulous 4th of July weekend!

July 3rd

• Went over to Mr. Bob's house to watch the huge logs in his yard be cut down to lumber he's going to use to make some benches. Mrs. Dollie showed us their beautiful gardens and bird feeders!
• Went out to eat lunch!
• Went grocery shopping
• Dinner and Red Lion, PA fireworks show with some friends (see picture)

July 4th

• Our friend, Brian, got to hang out with us while his Mom and Dad went to a wedding
• Went to Brian's house and swam, ate dinner, set off fireworks, made s'mores, and hung out with three other ministry families!

July 5th

• We got to see some precious friends of ours from Mississippi! Christine's parents live just a few miles from us! We haven't seen our friends in about two years! Now, we're going to get to see them TWICE a year!

Dad and I were talking about how this has been one of the BEST 4th of July's EVER!!!! We were disappointed about some of PA's firework laws, but the good times with friends evened it all out!

Old Friends

We got to take a road trip today and visit some old friends. Heath and Matt have known each other since high school. Nikki and Annie met in college. We are two families who have moved to PA from MO. It was nice to see some old friends today. The children had fun playing with Matt and Annie's pets (5 cats and 2 dogs). We hope to be able to hang out with our old friends again very soon!

T and K were privileged to be able to help walk the dogs today. They said that was their favorite part about our whole trip today. L got a blister from her new flip-flops, so she got to ride on Dad's shoulders.

Miss Jimmie Ruth

Easter 2007 at WHBC

Jimmie Ruth is a special lady! When our family moved to AR, L was only 6 weeks old. L and Jimmie Ruth bonded immediately through many hours in the church nursery. As L got older, Miss Jimmie Ruth became the "gummy lady" because she always had packages of gummes in her purse! T and K had Miss Jimmie Ruth as a Cubbies teacher.

We moved away from AR in May of 2007. The above picture was our last Easter at WHBC. But, every Easter since then, Miss Jimmie Ruth has sent the children a special package in the mail. She also sends packages at Christmas and Valentine's Day! The children also get cards for their birthdays! 

We're thankful for Miss Jimmie Ruth! It's nice to have someone to love on your children. Even if they do live 1,035.74 miles away! 

WE LOVE YOU MISS JIMMIE RUTH!!!!

THANK YOU FOR OUR EASTER GOODIES!!!!

More about our visit to Grandma's House

The children enjoy riding Miss Kitty while we're at Grandma's house.

This is our cat Lolly. Grandma kind of adopted her when we moved to PA. Mom wasn't too thrilled about the idea of driving in a mini-van with three children, and a cat nearly 1, 000 miles. So, Grandma took Lolly home with her. The children couldn't believe how much Lolly had grown in 4 months!
Grandma has a really cute dog named Cody. He is great with the kids! The children keep reminding Mom and Dad that we promised them a dog once we moved to PA (since we had to get rid of our other pets). Maybe this spring...if our landlord gives us permission.

CA Cousins

We made a last minute decision to travel to Southern MO to visit Heath's sister and her family before they move to Southern CA. According to mapquest, once they move we will be 2, 634.17 miles apart!

My sister-in-law has always been like a sister to me, and I am also thankful to call her my best-friend. Her children are sweet-natured, well-mannered, well-behaved, and truly a delight to be around. We love them! Jess and Don (the mom and dad) are wonderful parents who strive to point their children to Christ in all they do.
I am certain they will have a wonderful, happy, and healthy life in sunny Southern CA!

So, Uncle Don, Aunt Jessica, Allison, and Carter, we love you and we will miss you greatly! Let's promise to meet up at Grandma's house in MO from time to time. We promise to come to CA and visit so we can go to Disneyland, and build sandcastles at the beach!

Adventures in Babysitting

We had fun babysitting some new friends of ours so their Mom and Dad could have a much needed evening out. The children had a lot of fun playing together. All you Missouri Tiger fans who read this blog may notice the baby wearing the orange OSU jersey. His mommy is a big OSU fan. Because of MU's recent loss to OSU, we owe her and her family a dinner. Just a friendly wager between some Big 12 football fans who have found themselves a long, long way from Big 12 territory.