The Fifth and Final Wave

SOME OF MY FAVORITES

Too cute
Happy beach bums

Classic picture of Brent pulling Addie one way and Addie trying to help Alice

Sweet girl!

Emma enjoying the sunshine

Hamming it up for the camera

The black hoody brigade

A few videos to go with the events below...

Where I've been...

I am back after a month long hiatus from the blogging world. The past month was spent hopping around from three different house-sitting jobs, with a day in between each of them. During my time at the three different houses I was able to focus in on a movie I am making for some good friends of mine as well as a few other extra day and weekend trips. Below I have posted a few pictures to highlight the beginning of a very busy summer.

Our First stop....Camp Dakota, a camp made exclusively for those that love the sport of paint balling. The camping trip was a good excuse to celebrate Steven, Daniel and Ben's (Steven's friend) birthday's while enjoying some wonderful fellowship with family and friends...
...oh, and paint balling was pretty fun too! :) You can check out the rest of the pictures here.

Monday night Ultimate Frisbee has turned into a definite highlight during the week. The competition is fierce and amazingly we've only had one serious injury (that I know of) It is hard to back down when 3 or 4 other people are competing for the flying Frisbee, the competitiveness in me kicks in, to a fault (at times!) I am working on being more aware of those around me.

This week in particular was packed full of fun events with it being the 4th of July weekend. The picture above was during the Trinity/Hillcrest picnic, we enjoyed some good'ol American hamburgers, singing patriot songs, fellowship, bocce ball and volleyball

After the picnic Steven and I headed over to visit our Grandparents, Aunt Linda and her family and some extended family. Then, we headed over to Fort Vancouver and met up with some church friends for the annual 4Th of July fireworks show. The place was packed as usual as we dug down and played games, laughed and waited for the show to begin.

The real fun began (for some of us. ;) ) after the show. Steven let Jo drive the Mustang to the gas station and after a few exciting moments (way to go Jo!) Steven finally jumped in the drives seat and Kait's dreams came true, let's just say she had the ride of her life...even with the "wet-blanket" sitting in the back.
We finally fell asleep that night around 1:45AM then woke nice and early for another day packed with excitement, as a group of us headed down to Eugene for the Track and Field Olympic Trials.

Our main reason for attending was to cheer on Allyson Felix (her parents are on the far right in the picture above) in the 200m. Though we haven't met the star, yet, we have had the privilege of hearing Professor Felix speak at our Spring Bible Conference, he is a professor down at the The Master's Seminary.

Allyson Felix after taking 1st in the semi-finals!

Sunday she ran in the finals and came in 1st place once again!

The crazy crew:

Kevin, Sampson, Dad, Uncle Randy and Steven

Thank you all for ALL your help...you have been such a blessing to us and I know my Dad appreciates the extra hands...definitely lightens the heavy load on him.

Uncle Randy is BACK and this time we have proof! Here he is drilling the holes for the electrical wires to be pulled through.

Thank you Sampson for doing the labor intensive job and relieving my Dad's back from having to suffer through the grunt work. We ALL appreciate it!

Sampson at it again, only this time with a little more power in his hands

Uncle Randy, Kevin and Steven figuring out the best way to cut the wood for framing the window.

Tearing down the old shingles. Kevin was a hard worker and helped out in every area! We can't thank you guys enough, so..."Thank You, Kevin!"

The Randy's working together to fix the frame work

What was accomplished on this lovely Saturday afternoon? They drilled holes for the electrical wires, pulled half of the wires in the 'new kitchen,' got rid of the cement steps, tore down the old shingles, framed the window and put up the tar paper in preparation for the new shingles to go up. Way to go everyone and thank you again for your willingness to come down on a Saturday and help out.

Dad and Son getting ready to tear down the walls.

These are exciting times and great memories to be had for a little 3 1/2 year old.

The first two pictures turned out a little blurry but, it was too cute not to post it. Brent had a BLAST hammering the walls with Grandma and Dad. My Mom said that every time Daniel whacked the wall with the hammer Brent would exclaim "Wow, Dad, way to go!" "You are doing a great job!" "Good work Dad!" Gotta love him! Brent also did a really good job tearing the walls down, he turned out to be a BIG help.

Here I am standing at the entry way from the living room...notice no more orange counter tops. From what I hear (I wasn't there for this demolition) my Mom had way to much fun taking a hammer to the counters. In fact, the night before I heard 5 loud bangs in the kitchen as I was getting ready for bed, she was just a little excited. :)

Looking at the soon to be 'old kitchen' while standing in the 'old dinning room'

Looks a bit overwhelming, eh?

In this picture I am standing at the door that leads downstairs and looking at what is left of the sink and counters.

Dan the man has entered the building!

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Last weekend my Uncle Randy came down to help take out the dinning room door and raise one of the windows. They were able to get a lot done, unfortunately, I wasn't in town to take over as photographer so, we have nothing to document his time here....(I guess you, Uncle Randy, will have to come down again and pose for a picture. ;) ) Thank you Uncle Randy for your time! The pictures below are from this past weekend...Dad and Daniel finished raising the other window with Brent as the support crew. Dad, getting ready to take the window out. Notice, no more dutch door. :(

Raising the window

Men and power tools, watch out!


Brent's view of power tools

A video to go with the pictures of Brent and Alice way below. At the end when I ask Brent "What does a dog say?" you will hear him whine...please note (because I didn't catch it when I was taping) he gave a perfect impression of Beau, according to my brother.

Kevin and Jenny sent us some great pictures of the kids, enjoy!

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Aedan (2 1/2) Marybeth (8) Madeleine (1 1/2)

Sporting the Easter dresses from Grandma Morris
I miss them!

Sweet little Madeleine, this is another dress Grandma Morris found and LOVED, Madeleine wears it well. ;) So cute!

DEMOLITION PREPARATIONS
We did our best to contain the dust as we hammered away however, with no avail one thing was over looked...with the fan on and pointing out the door and the wind blowing just right it carried a lot of the dust outside and through our open bathroom window, oops!!
We are looking forward to the day we get to take a hammer to our lovely orange counter tops!

Mom, preparing for the expected long road ahead but, thankful we completed the job faster than expected.

And the FUN begins...I admit there was a little bit of a thrill hammering holes into our dinning room walls.

My sidekick, Beau, wouldn't leave my side even in this mess. Talk about loyalty!

It was a messy job.

The next step is for my Dad and brothers to lift these two windows higher in order for the new counter and sink to fit below them.
There is no turning back now!

The end result...a whole lot of garbage, two very tired women and one happy dog.

On May 14th, 2008 poor little Chiquito Joe (aka, CJ) was put down after a long 15 years of life. CJ was a special dog...he was a father to 12 puppies and before those privileges were taken away from him, he started to seizure. Many of his seizures lasted up to 1 1/2 hours and each time he started into one we thought it was going to be the end of him (the vet. was amazed CJ didn't die sooner, he said most dogs don't last after an 1/2 hour into a seizure.)however, he kept on trucking along for another 10+ years and along the way he lost all of his teeth (hence his tongue hanging out of his mouth in the picture to the above.) It wasn't until a week ago that we even considered to put CJ out of his misery, he never seemed to be in pain before, which is why we didn't put him down any sooner however, last week he lost the use of his back legs, at first we thought it was a temporary thing and we gave him aspirin (after consulting the vet) in hopes he would recover but, the poor guy only got worse, my Dad had to hand feed him and hold him up in order to help him relieve himself, it was the next day that my Dad decided to take him in and put him out of his misery. As hideous as he was, the little guy is missed.

CJ in his prime; with two of his offspring his life-long mate, Molly and his side-kick, Beau

Brent and Alice taking

advantage of the nice weather...

Beau was out enjoying the sunshine as well

Pretty little girl enjoying the outdoors

Brent's response after getting wet

Playing in the water on a HOT, HOT day!

Brent wearing Auntie's garden gloves...he was helping Grandma plant her new flowers.

Brent and Alice April 2008

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Daniel and Cassie brought the kids over for a little photo shoot, just for the fun of it. They came over just as we were finishing up taking pictures of some good friends of ours, the Lazenby family. I'll post a few their pictures a little later (after we finish the touch ups.)

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As for me, I am still up near the Seattle area and should be home by the end of this week. My time here has been busy and sweet and I am thankful for it. As for the family, they are waiting on some meetings to take place in order to find out whether or not they will get the house they won the bid on...so continued prayer for them would be appreciated. The dad is doing better each day, the biggest concern being his blood pressure going up too high.

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" O LORD, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup; You maintain my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; Yes, I have a good inheritance. I will bless the LORD who has given me counsel; My heart also instructs me in the night seasons. I have set the LORD always before me; Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved."

Psalm 16:5-8

For the past three weeks I have been up in the Seattle area helping out a lovely family as their husband/dad came home to recover from a stroke. Praise the Lord he is improving daily and each improvement is celebrated with the children, wife and himself rejoicing in the Lord. Their biggest hurdle now is finding just the right home for a family of 7, 1 dog, 1 cat, 2 rats, a piano and a layout that helps, rather than hinders, in the dads recovery. Please keep them in your prayers.

The video is of the 2 youngest children singing one of their many songs. It was a blessing to sit at their dinner table and hear the entire family sing and pray before the meal.

"Let Your mercy, O LORD, be upon us, just as we hope in You."

Psalm 33:22