Boys and Snakes! Yuck!

My least part of the vacation was they had a 2 hour seminar on snakes where the kids could hold them when it was done and they could watch a snake being fed. Okay for those of you that really know me you know I have a HUGE fear of snakes. I am NOT a fan at all. However my children wanted to go so bad so I sucked it up and went with them. They had a great time. This page is for the boys.

This snake was eating a yummy frog. Ugh I made Nate take the picture.

Katie and the Pinata!!

Friday, July 4th Pinata time!!

One of the things that I love about Caddilac State park is that they have a DNR that really caters to the kids. They put on all kinds of fun stuff for them. Fishing clinics, archery, pellet gun shooting ect.... On the 4th of July they had pinata's for each age group. The kids had such a fun time. Katie actually got picked to whack at it a few times and did a great job!!!!

Camping food!!

We left last week Wednesday for about 5 days of camping fun!! We went to a place about 2 hours north of us called Cadillac. They have a nice state park there and I actually took my camera along. We did a lot of tubing, swimming, fishing, eating.......

We do a lot of our cooking in a skillet right over the fire. This is one of the suppers that we had.
This one was all vegetable. I think we had almost every veggie in there and cooked together
it was soooooooooo good!!! Great job, Nate!!!

Fun at the park!

Okay, I know I am now a week behind on my blogging. We went to this fun park on a week ago Monday with my friend, Cheri and her kids. It was a really windy day but lots of fun!!!

Rocks in the Sun - New book by Troy Livesay

I would like to really promote this new book. Rocks in the sun

You all know Troy and Tara from reading my blog and from the different mission trips we have gone on.

Their heart for the Lord and for the Haitian people is just awesome! If you have not already I urge you to check out their blog and to see what is happening with the livesay family. They are VERY dear friends we love their family so much!!! If you buy the book a portion of these fees go directly to the Livesay family as a fundraiser! Please pass this on to anyone you know who may enjoy it!! Thanks!!!

Video of our firepit!!

Doesn't this just look so relaxing!!!

Brand new fire pit!

Last weekend we had no children at home. The boys went to Mackinac Island with Nate's nice and my girls all went to Cran Hill camping with my parents!! Friday night was the only night we had free so we did what any couple who has been married for almost 18 years. We went out to dinner and then to Lowe's to buy the stuff we needed to put in our fire pit!! We then went home and put it in and then sat around the campfire for the evening! Actually it turned into a very nice evening and the fire pit looks so nice!!

Your names hidden meaning 1

I found this on Kim's blog! I thought it might be fun!!

What Brenda Means

You are full of energy. You are spirited and boisterous. You are bold and daring. You are willing to do some pretty outrageous things. Your high energy sometimes gets you in trouble. You can have a pretty bad temper at times. You are wild, crazy, and a huge rebel. You're always up to something. You have a ton of energy, and most people can't handle you. You're very intense. You definitely are a handful, and you're likely to get in trouble. But your kind of trouble is a lot of fun. You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone. You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together. At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together. You are very intuitive and wise. You understand the world better than most people. You also have a very active imagination. You often get carried away with your thoughts. You are prone to a little paranoia and jealousy. You sometimes go overboard in interpreting signals. You are balanced, orderly, and organized. You like your ducks in a row. You are powerful and competent, especially in the workplace. People can see you as stubborn and headstrong. You definitely have a dominant personality. You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection. You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive. You have the classic "Type A" personality.

What's Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

Your names hidden meaning

I did two of these! LOL I was born with the name Sandra so I was really curious as to what that said!

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What Sandra Means

You are the total package - suave, sexy, smart, and strong. You have the whole world under your spell, and you can influence almost everyone you know. You don't always resist your urges to crush the weak. Just remember, they don't have as much going for them as you do. You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection. You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive. You have the classic "Type A" personality. You are very intuitive and wise. You understand the world better than most people. You also have a very active imagination. You often get carried away with your thoughts. You are prone to a little paranoia and jealousy. You sometimes go overboard in interpreting signals. You are balanced, orderly, and organized. You like your ducks in a row. You are powerful and competent, especially in the workplace. People can see you as stubborn and headstrong. You definitely have a dominant personality. You are wild, crazy, and a huge rebel. You're always up to something. You have a ton of energy, and most people can't handle you. You're very intense. You definitely are a handful, and you're likely to get in trouble. But your kind of trouble is a lot of fun.

What's" Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

Happy 10th Birthday Ekaterina!!!

Hard to believe that our "Katie" is 10 years old today! She is such a sweet, fun kids!!! She is known to be quite a tease but loves to laugh and have a good time!! Katie has been with us from Russia now for 5 1/2 years and we are just so blessed that God chose us to be your family!!!

She gets to go camping this weekend with her grandparents and sisters and we even found out last night that one of her very good friends will be camping at the very same place!! How cool is that!!!

Quote

Modern man unconsciously holds highest the humanistic ideals of happiness, freedom, and economic, cultural, and social progress for all mankind. This secular view says there is no God, heaven or Hell; there is just one chance at life, so do what makes you most happy. It also teaches that “since all men are brothers,” we should work for that which contributes toward the welfare of all men. This teaching–so attractive on the surface–has entered our churches in many ways, creating a man-centered and man-made gospel based on changing the outside and social status of man by meeting his physical needs. The cost is his eternal soul.
- K.P. Yohannan

Father to the fatherless

My friend, Terry, made this beautiful video!! Enjoy! She made this for Father's day. I did email it to someone of you so you will be seeing it twice.

Happy Birthday, Nate!!

Today is my dear sweet hubby's 39th birthday!!! Happy Birthday sweetie!!!
Hard to believe that I met you just before your 18th birthday!! :)
We love you so much!!!

June 13th Happy 2nd Gotcha day!!!

Two years ago today our adoption of Hannah was finalized. It is so hard to believe that she has been here that long. The time has gone so fast.

Trip to China

You should be able to click on the link above and to see just how far Hannah has come!!! She is such a sweet, sweet girl. We have only had a few issues with her and just has been a wonderful addition to our family.

Hannah we love you so much and are so blessed that God chose you to be a part of our family!!!

I have insisted we recover the genuine Gospel of Jesus–that balanced New Testament message that begins not with the fleshly needs of people, but with the plan and wisdom of God–”born again” conversion that leads to righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Any “mission” that springs from “the base things of the world” is a betrayal of Christ and is what the Bible calls “another gospel.” It cannot save or redeem people either as individuals or as a society.


- K.P. Yohannan

Founder of Gospel for Asia. If you are at all interested in Mission work of any kind then this link below for a free book is a MUST read. It will change the way you think about missions.
Revolution for World Missions You should be able to just click on the link.

If that does not work then use this. https://www.gfa.org/freebook?form=frb1&theme=frb1&motiv=WA36-VLB1


September 5, 6 and 7Th. Our church. Lighthouse Community church of Allendale, Michigan will be hosting a mission conference. However it will not be your normal type mission conference.

You can see a brochure and register online here. The Isaiah project

We will focus on Worship and Mission as a RESPONSE to a vision of God—(just like Isaiah in Isaiah 6:1-8; Moses in Exodus 3:1-10; and Paul in Acts 9:1-22, plus others).

Gospel for Asia (see above) is going to be the keynote speaker and they are an awesome mission organization!!

There are some awesome speakers lined up for our break out sessions. One of them is Troy Livesay who you have hard about on my blog and has for the last two years run the mission that Nathan leads teams too. They are great friends and have a wonderful family of 7 children and they moved to Haiti 2 years ago to follow God's leading!!

for more info you can email me directly at telltheworld5@gmail.com We would love to see YOU there!!!

Michigan White caps

The kids earned free Michigan White caps tickets for a reading program that the school did. Last night was such a beautiful night. The team lost but we had a ton of fun!!! We get to go again tonight for a Godwin Plumbing work Picnic. This is always a really fun night. Jared, we will keep an eye out for you. Make sure you send a wave towards the Miller Lite deck!!!!

I do not know if any of you have heard about someone called Rubber boy
But I will say He is very hard to watch. He can do all kinds of weird
things with body parts and I really couldn't stand watching him.

White caps game

Here are some more pictures from the white caps game.

Yes, I took this one myself.

This was from the Cotton Candy!

Poor Nik!

These pictures are kind of cute!! We planted new grass where our deck used to be and in other sections of our back yard. Nikolas has a squirrel feeder back there that he keeps supplied with corn. Poor kids had to walk across the fence to get to the feeder without touching the ground!! He did a great job!!!

Before and after Deck

This is a before picture of part of our deck. The picture is not so good but its the only I could find at the moment.
A few years back our hot tub completely quit working and it was not worth putting more money into it. We had a dream of redesigning that part of the deck so that we would have a lot bigger back yard. We took off the whole section where the hot tub was.


These pictures below are the finished product!! I think it looks wonderful!!! We spent $0 money on it. Yep, you read that right! No money!! Everything we used came off of the part of the deck we got rid of.

The whole part where the steps and grill are is where we redesigned it.

Happy 8th Birthday Hannah!!

Today is Hannah's 8th birthday!! More amazing is that this is only the 2nd birthday she has ever celebrated!!! So please join me today in wishing her a happy birthday!!!

We are headed off to the white caps this evening and then again tomorrow!! I will try to remember my camera this time!! :)

Storms!

I cannot believe the storms that we have been getting lately. Fridays were bad and then Saturday nights were terrible too. I cannot remember the last time that we had 6 hours where it NEVER stopped thundering and lightning. It was crazy. Yesterday we had another set of storms roll through and our Neighbors's (across the street) basement flooded. I felt so bad for them. We were able to help carry things out and vacuum up a bunch of water but its scary how quickly that can happen. I have not see todays weather yet but I pray the worst is behind us.

Got tagged

I got tagged today by my friend Kathy.

Top 5 things you love most about the summer.

1. Things slow down a little
2. warmer weather (notice I did not say Hot)
3. I get to go to Haiti
4. The beach
5. camping


5 Things I hate about summer:

1. Heat
2. Humidity
3. Heat
4. Humidity
5. Heat and Humidity!

LOL need I say more!!

I am tagging:

Diane

Jen

Cheri

Julie

Karla

Mari

Terry

Paul Washer: Loved

There is a blog that I read every day called Defending Contending

They are a group of people that are willing to lay their life on the line to share the truth. It is not for the faint of heart but boy do I applaud what they are doing and that they are trying to get the truth out there when so may people and ministers today want to water down the truth of Jesus Christ. this video was on their today and thought I would share it with all of you.