Fun pictures and another update...can you say roadtrip???

Yes folks, school is almost out and we have finally made our plans and purchased our tickets to come to IOWA!!! We are so excited it won't be an actual trip on the ROAD, but one in the AIR!! Thanks to fare sales at Allegiant Air, we got one way tickets for $29! Unbelievable! I told the kids we would certainly be driving when we went home for a visit, unless there was a miracle! Well, we got our miracle! We don't have all the details worked out, but we know we are arriving in IOWA on Tuesday morning, June 2nd! Yes, that is one week from tomorrow!!! No, I am not thrilled at all!! The kids are not excited at all, we are not hoping to manage to see all of you when we are there...woops, I slipped into Not Me! Monday mode! Must be habit! It is Monday after all!

I was also looking for an excuse to post some of the recent pictures I have taken for my on line photography course for learning to use my camera! How appropriate! These pictures were taken by me in a creative mode as my manual calls it, anyway, not in automatic mode. Hope you enjoy them!

Learning to "freeze the action"Believe it or not this is Holden diving in...learning to "imply" the action.

And Alayna and Holden jumping in together

Learning to use metering...good thing it wasn't about finding a great background huh?? Oh well, at least the subject was fabulous!!

And this is my favorite slightly blurry picture! It could have been great if I had gotten it in focus. Still a lot to learn!

Last week were the last baseball games of the season. Here is Holden receiving his medal from his coaches. He had a great team and great coaches. Each kid got to try every position and the coaches pitched to them until they got a hit...even if it took 40 swings! Holden was a great batter consistently hitting it hard and was aggressive in the field unless he was swatting at bugs in the outfield or picking weeds! We were very proud of his efforts to be a team player.


Gabriel was the catcher and Riley played first base for most of the season. They also worked very hard, were aggressive in the field and had some great at bats. I promised them a trip to Nokomis Groves for ice cream if they got a home run OR a win, but neither materialized for either of them. In spite of this, they never got down or seemed disinterested in playing. They definitely learned how to lose with grace! That made us very proud. They were two of the most respectful and coachable kids on the team.We do have one more playoff game to play tomorrow. We lost our first one last Thursday after the rain kept postponing the game all week! We are in the consolation bracket and will be out if we lose our next game. Since we haven't won all year, we are counting on being done! What matters is that they learned a lot!

Adding one more update here. We found out last week that the house we were planning to move into (that was on the market that we were sure wouldn't sell any time soon), was sold! It is great for the owners, but we are back to square one! I am learning that I was not nearly thankful enough for what God provided as we look around at what is available and scramble and try not to stress out. I am glad I will spend much of June in Iowa and will be too occupied to worry about our housing situation here. Paul found this house for us and he will be able to find another. I am excited to see what God has planned. He clearly did not want us in the other house. We have prayed for clear guidance and that was a door CLEARLY closed! It is so hard to walk the line of faith in God's provision for our every need and my efforts. My part and His part are not always easily discerned and both Paul and I tend to be doers, forgetting to wait on His provision. We wonder how often we have missed His best for us this way. Please pray that we will rest in Him and His timing and provision. Doesn't that sound easy enough? As I read through the books of Samuel in my reading, I see that others found this difficult as well and had varying success with consulting God before they stepped out in battle. I absolutely LOVE the story of David and find it hard to put down lately. I think that is partly because it is so parallel to what is going on in our lives right now! God is faithful and I thank Him for his encouragement and His Word! I thank you for your prayers and support and hope to see you soon!!