God has given me some verses for my trip to Ukraine that starts Tuesday...

 
Fall 2005?

 
Christmas 2008

August 2009

Seth & Blake – November 2008

Seth – August 2009

Blake – August 2009  (interesting pose  :-)  )

Hannah – August 2008

Hannah – August 2009

 
Bethany & Seth – August 2008

Bethany – August 2009

Eli – Fall 2008 (notice the Ukrainian deco on the table!)

Eli – August 2009

Matthew – Feb/Mar 2009

 
Matthew – Feb/Mar 2009

Matthew – August 2009 (He’s our introspective professor)

 
 
Micah – Feb/Mar 2009 (What a peanut he was when we met him 7 months ago!!)

Micah – August 2009 – WOW…what a difference in him.

Silly boys.  These guys are really great buddies.  It’s pretty cute.

 
Eli and his toy.  He’s still in his own world most of the time, but we have seen more glimpses of him lately.  It’s a good thing.

 
The whole family came with me for the Worship Ministry Retreat August 28 & 29 to Falls Creek.  We had a splendid time.

 
Gum anyone?  Falls Creek is a youth camp here in Oklahoma (at one time the largest in the world…don’t know if it still holds that record).  This tree is where students stick gum.  It’s been there since long before I went to camp there (ahem…20 years ago).

 
Micah really LOVES water.  He had a great splash time.

 
Matthew can occupy himself as well as Eli does.  It’s quite astounding really.  Living your first 6 years to yourself does that to you I guess when you’re left in a bed, high chair or play pen.

Mary was out watering the plants this week and had the two boys who had already been to school out there with her.  When she turned on the water, here they came!

 
Micah pouring beans.  He did this for a LONG time!!

 
Unsure if he’s pretending to be a babooshka or what!  But TOO FUNNY!

 
Matthew LOVES to swing.  Can you tell?

Micah has had two really good days in a row.  Today at school he did great.  The other kids are doing great too.  Bethany seems to be struggling with math, but the jump for 3rd to 4th in math is a big one.  Lots of new concepts.  She’s very smart and wants to excel, so I have no doubt she’ll be off and running in no time!

Blake’s first marching game is tonight.  Moore War!  Go Lions!

A band that I’m in (Red Dirt Road) is recording a live album tonight…that’s why I can’t go to the game to see Blake.  But next week, I’m there.

Looking forward to the long weekend.  It’s gonna be a good one.  I’m doing a tile job this weekend but it’s a pretty small one.  Trying to pay off the hospitals.  The next surgery is next Friday so we’ll start again with bills.  It’s Micah this time.  Matthew’s teeth are next then Eli and his ear drum.  We hope they’re all patched up after these!

Blessed be the Name of the Lord!

We were in the thick of fundraising and the excitement was nearly unbearable! We were heading into the unknown but were very excited about it. If we had known everything then that would happen up until today, would we have done it anyway? Hmm.....let me think.... YES! YES!! YES!!!

This was the weekend that we not only had our first fundraising effort, but this marks a year since Eli had his 2nd fundoplacation and g-tube put in. Probably, it also marked when the TEC started (though we can't be sure about that).

It marks a year since Blake started high school. A year since Hannah started junior high.

What a year!

Yesterday was a hard day at school for Micah, but he did GREAT at church in his new class!

TODAY... Eli had a dentists appointment today. His two front teeth have always looked "dead". But he is now in a medical condition that we felt if something needed to be done, it could be. Thankfully, they are fine and nothing needs to be done. The doc did tell us that he has ground his teeth in the back nearly to the nerves (that sounds like it would hurt if he breaks through). He said when that happens, we will have to act, but now is not the time. Unfortunately there is simply nothing that can be done to stop him. If someone has an idea BESIDES a mouthpiece of some kind, we'd love to hear it. He doesn't just do it when he sleeps. He likes the sensory stimulation he gets from it.

At the dentist, they had to wait a good bit of time and Micah was out of control. Trying to hit Mary and screaming. He didn't want to be in the stroller. He NEVER does that with me. It's frustrating to both of us. She disciplines him much more than I do and doesn't let him have an inch, but he doesn't have the same respect for her. I think that's normal for all kids, but maybe you get more used to it when you have them from birth. I don't know. We are getting weary of the behavior problems. He's our first child with discipline issues and we frankly don't know what else to do. We are definitely needing to PRAY MORE and PRAY MORE TOGETHER and PRAY WITH HIM about it. Unfortunately, that's sometimes our last resort. If we could just keep him at home all the time, it'd be great! He's generally very good at home.

Enough of that! Blake has his first football game tomorrow night (he's in marching band). Mary's gonna try to go over and watch. I have an engagement that I had before I found out when the first game was. Blake's great at springing stuff on you the day before or just a few days before and there's sometimes no way to change plans that quickly...especially with church stuff or when others are involved. I sure wish I could be there for his first game though. Ugh.

Here's a picture of Hannah, Bethany & Seth that I found that is too cute! It's from the fall festival last year. 2 magicians and a mime. (Hey! Maybe I could get Micah to be a MIME!!! Mimes are quiet right??? :-) ).

Okay...there's more than one. Eli in the middle and then there's this one. YES...our Christmas tree was UP October 31 (not decorated yet, but we were in the process). At that point, if we were going to miss Christmas with the Kids, we were going to have it early. Of course we ended up not going to Ukraine until February 13. :-)

I have more pics of the kids that I will post in another post. This post is LONG ENOUGH!

In case I haven't reported it, I'm returning to Ukraine September 15.

And finally...if you missed the article about our family in the Baptist Messenger here in Oklahoma, it reappeared in the Baptist Press. Here's a link... http://baptistpress.com/BPnews.asp?ID=31174

Blessed be the name of the LORD!

Yes...I know I have not posted in several days.  :-)