Cousin Time

What a great start we have had to our spring.  This year we have had the joy of having lots of visitors come to our house over the last month and a half.

I think our most anticipated visitors however were my older sister (Amie) and her family.   Amie and her family have been serving in full-time ministry overseas, in Africa, for the last 3 years and so we were very anxious to get to finally see them all again in person.   We got to enjoy a week together and had a fun time just watching the kids play and catching-up on life over the last three years.   Thanks to modern technology such as the internet, and Skype we have been able to keep up a little while they have been away so catching-up on life over the last three years in a week was somewhat manageable, though we wish we could have had more time.

We had a great time with them here, and with six kids running around the house and three years of playtime to catch-up on I forgot to take many pictures, but sometime memories are best made not behind the lens of a camera.

Here are the few pictures we did get to remember our time together.   They happen to all be mostly of the kids, but they were the most entertaining during the day and our activities seemed to revolve around playtime and kid activities anyway, with a few work projects for the men to accomplish (thanks to my brother-in-law for his willingness to help with tree pruning and some gate building for our fence).

 Superheros took over our trampoline all week 

 Lots of arts and craft time

Leaning to make coffee, South Sudan style 

Enjoying their "kids" coffee (mostly milk with a little South Sudan coffee) 

A train ride at the park  

Ice Cream night at our local Ice Cream shop - Thanks Grandma for the special treat! 

The two youngest in the group playing trains 

Construction work at the kids Museum (Gwen watching and waiting for the day she will be allowed to handle a saw)  

Cousins, 3 months apart, great friends, and sad to say good-bye

We had such a great time together and I wish that we lived closer so all the cousins could have more time together.  It was an encouraging week to hear how the Lord is using my sister and her family so richly in the area God has called them to serve.   We can't wait for our next time to be together, whenever that may be.  

April 10 on 10

We have been quite busy the last month with lots of company and fun visitors so I hope to be able to blog soon about some of out special visitors.  For now I have another post for a "10 on 10" photo day. I took a picture every hour (almost every hour) for ten hours on April 10th.  This is what our day looked like...

7:00 am 

Let the dog out and found our deck covered in yellow pine tree pollen.  This time of year the pollen is really bad.  Though the weather is nice we have to find indoor activities so we don't end up bringing all this yellow pollen inside the house. 

8:30 am 

Playtime after breakfast.  Gwen's favorite dress-up outfit at the time is Neal's policeman costume.  Though she really only like the hat and handcuffs. 

9:30 am

Silly picture taking by Neal...there was lots of laughter over the silly looking photos he could make

10:00 am

A last minute trip to see daddy at work and find an indoor play area for the kids to burn off energy.  (I love how Neal is rocking out to the music in the car)

10:45 am 

Playing at the indoor play area in the mall.  The perfect place for little Gwen who could climb on anything and everything that she wanted (bonus is no yellow pollen all over her hands and clothes to clean up after playing. Indoor play areas are so wonderful at times, though crowded)

11:30 am 

Meeting Daddy and some of the TWR video team for a team lunch after playtime...still one of my favorite places to get a burger 

1:00 pm

Back home, and headed for nap/rest time.  

2:00 pm 

A snack and some quite reading time for me, the reading didn't last long as I ended up falling asleep.  We all had a good afternoon nap.

4:00 pm 

Afternoon tea party

6:30 pm

Ending the evening with our weekly family movie night.  I can't wait to see 4 kids on Daddy's lap soon, I do't know how they will all fit.  Feeling blessed beyond measure by the wonderful family the Lord has given us...