I'm Back...Did you miss me?

 

It's summer and life is busy! I hadn't intended to do so little blogging but that's what happens when life gets busy. I would guess many of you are pretty busy too!

 Here is some of what has been keeping us on our toes lately:

~2 weeks ago on Saturday the kids and I headed down to my sister Anna's and stayed the night at their house ready to head to Iowa on Sunday.

~After traveling to South Eastern Iowa we stopped to see my Grandma who lives in a nursing home. We surprised her with our visit and she was happy to see us and we loved seeing her. The picture below shows all of us except Anna. (Grandma, Anna's children and my kids and I).

~Next we headed to Sharon Bluff Bible Camp- Junior Week. Of Anna and my kids the 6 oldest were campers (though Aaron and Beatrice were attending a little young) , The youngest 2 children were just tagging along and Anna and I went to camp to help out however we could.

~The kids had a fun week at camp. There were 47 campers ages 7 (supposed to be eight but they allowed several 7 year olds to come) to 12. They were divided into 4 teams. Their day was busy with:

• Devotions and Prayer.
• Chapel (morning and evening)
• 3 Bible Classes
• Bible Drills
• Eating yummy meals.
• Memory verses.
• Sports
• Canteen (a fun thing for my kids as it was so unusual for them to buy treats like that. I am glad to have them eating healthier foods again now however!)
• Swimming
• Music, Drama and Games.
• Other special Activities.
• Sleeping.

Anna and I were fairly busy too. Between us we:

• Were dorm moms for the girls dorm.
• Worked in the kitchen.
• Did laundry
• Helped with the children
• Did a little life guarding
• Anna was camp nurse.

It was really fun to work and visit with the others there. We enjoyed being with old and new friends. I had a lot of fun seeing the different personalities in all the kids there and looking for the ways each of them excelled.

Kitchen workers- I think it is a ton of fun (though hot!) to work in here.

~On Friday  at noon camp was over and we headed north. We spent the night at Anna's (and I was able to throw in a quick wedding flower consultation with a daughter of some friends there) and then headed even further North. We had some slow traffic and so it took longer than we hoped but we made it eventually. It was so nice to be home and see Ken again! I don't like being gone from him so long but sometimes that seems to be what works out.

~On Sunday we went to church and then we went to walk in our town's Independence Day parade (they always have it on the nearest Sunday to the 4th.) Right after I got to the float (for the local Republican party) a friend who was going to be with us fell through the hay wagon and hurt her leg. I ended up taking her to the emergency room while Ken and the kids walked in the parade.

~For the 4th of July we stayed around home for the most part. There was tons of laundry to do, a weedy garden to work on and some bees that I needed to check (I was able to put on the 3rd honey super). We all worked hard much of the day and then that evening we went and saw the fireworks. It was rather stormy too (though the rain stopped here at the time of the fireworks) and we had an awesome display of fireworks in one section of the sky and lightening just across from it.

A patriotic fruit salad.



Strawberries I had fun picking and turning into Jam on the 4th.




















~On Tuesday we had company come! My Aunt  and Uncle and two of my cousins with their families and my sister Anna and her family came up to visit. Some stayed at my parents but Anna and family and my cousin Shelly and her kids stayed at our house. We had a lot of fun being together. We spent a lot of the daytime over at my parents.


My Mom and Aunt Merna with their Grandkids

Pam, Shelly, Rowan and Anna enjoying a taco made with bark and other natural ingredients. (by Rowan and friends)

~Last night (Friday) we had everybody over here for Supper. My sisters and all the younger girls (8 of them) came and helped me prepare a "fancy" sit down meal. The girls all dressed up and were servers. We fixed up the tables complete with name tags. We had 33 people here for supper and it went well.

The adults ate inside.

The children (including these lovely servers) enjoyed outdoor dining.

~This morning our guests all left. I had a fairly lazy day though I did pick strawberries and make another batch of jam. We have had a busy two weeks but it has been a fun blessing as well!