Images From The Fair

On Friday, we went to the State Fair!

What fun. We saw the Living Statues,
enjoyed Fair food from Dinosaurs,

and really enjoyed the beautiful weather.

We try to go to the State Fair every year.

This year was extra special, as we took

time to just enjoy.
We enjoyed the Candy Castle display.
Oma and Papa gave the kids $12 to spend.

They bought candy, slushies, ice cream,

and anything else they could find

with a sugar base.

We enjoyed the thousands of booths,

people, and animals.

We saw the Master of The Chainsaw.
He used chainsaws to make a

statue with three

bear heads and the word welcome on it.

We went into the Four-H building

and saw the baby chicks hatching.

The kids each held a baby.

K. is still talking about it today. How soft and

small the chick was, how fun it was to watch

them hatch.

He held his chick so long, it

fell asleep.

Doodles was such a big

girl holding her chick just the way

the girl showed her.

Papa took the kids on the train display.
They walked all through the cars.

K.'s favorite part of the train was the caboose.

He loved that you could climb up high to

look out.

By far, our favorite part of the fair

was the Extreme Canines Stunt Dog show.

This show was truly amazing.

We waited for one hour, just so we could have seats

to watch these dogs perform all

sorts of really cool tricks.

Each animal was a rescue animal.

The group works with each dog,

and then takes them all over the country.

We staid all day at the fair. We enjoyed the butter sculpture,

ice cream,

and of course milk. It was a wonderful day, made

even more wonderful by getting to spend it

together.

Aint She Fine, Our Baby is NINE!!!

The first birthday that she had with us, she turned six.

She seemed like such a big girl back then.
This week, she turned nine! Where
has the time gone, and how did I ever get old
enough to have a nine year old.
This party was much smaller than the first.
Just our family with Oma and Poppa.
It was just as much fun, and
I believe the birthday girl enjoyed herself a lot!
I think about the kids' birth mother a lot.
I really think about her on their birthdays.
I wonder where she is, how she is,
if she's thinking of the kids.
I always try to pray for her,
for the day my children might want to meet
her. I pray that their hearts, and hers
will be prepared for that day.
I know that she never chose to
willingly put them up for adoption.
I do know that she chose to give my
children life. On their birthdays, especially,
I thank her for making the choice to bring them
into this world.
I am sad for her, that she missed out on
the absolute joy of being their mother,
but I'm happy for me, that I get to spend
each and every day with the two
most wonderful children on
the planet.

I'm thankful for the chance to get to be
a parent. Although this road
was not one I had expected,
it's been a great road to travel.
When Papa asked Doodles if she
was excited about her birthday, she said that she
was nervous. I asked her why. She
said she didn't know. She wasn't sure if
it would be happy, or what it would be like.
At the end of her day,
I asked her, "How was your birthday?"

Her response, "REALLY, REALLY happy Mommy!"

I'm so thankful that I've been a part

of her life.

I'm so happy that the Lord brought

both she and her brother into

our family.

I look forward to many, many

more birthdays with my wonderful

daughter.

I thank her birth mother each day, but especially

on her birthday, for choosing to give her life.

Thank You.

There's Always Room For Dessert

One of our favorite summer time activities is going out for

ice cream after dinner. We have a favorite place

that Jon and I used to go to before children.

When the kids came into our family,

we had even more fun bringing them with us for an

after dinner treat.
Oh the excitement of choosing what flavor of

ice cream that they want.

Last week, my Great Aunt Pearl, who lives

in Arizona, sent me a note with some money in it

so that we could "take the kids out for ice cream cones".

You don't have to ask us twice to do that.
The kids enjoyed two scoops of hard ice cream.
K. had some cherry jubilee,

and Doodles tried Moose Tracks for the

first time. She liked it so much that she told us

that was the kind of ice cream she wanted for her birthday.

Our kids have become ice cream experts. The first summer they

came to us, they were four and five years old.

They had NEVER had soft ice cream cones.

They were so excited the first time

they had that cold summery treat.

Now they are experienced with

the art of ice cream eating.

As K. happily proclaims,
"There's always room for dessert."

Too Young to Be a Grandmother

My grandkids.
Their mother.

Our Kitchen

This weekend, we worked on our kitchen. We

put in a new sink.

We added a new counter.

Jon is very good at planning. We even did a dress
rehearsal with the Formica, the dowels, but not the
contact cement.
Everything looked great. We got
the counter on with out any problem.
It was actually fun.

The trouble came when Jon went to use the

cutting tool. It wouldn't cut around the sink or

near the walls. Luckily, Jon was able

to borrow a tool that did cut closer.

Now all we have to do is add the metal trim

and the tile back splash. Our kitchen is looking

good.

Summer Evenings

One pitcher of Lime-Aid

One bowl of watermelon

Two cute kids.

One perfect dinner outside.

Oh how I love summer evenings.

A Day At the Fair

One of the things that I love best about the summer are all

of the local fairs.

This weekend, we enjoyed a day at the fair.

The kids had so much fun choosing between

rides and games. Doodles chose a game,

but while she held her prize, and watched

her brother on a ride, I think she may

have doubted her decision.

K. chose the bumper cars.

He had become quite curious about them after reading

something about a boy on bumper cars in a book.

Here he is chasing Jon and

trying to crash into him.

Look at the boy drive! He loved the

ride the whole time!
Notice the look of pain on Doodles' face.
She was really happy with her prize,
but really wanted to be doing what her brother was
doing.
All in all it was a very fun day at the fair. Lots of
sunshine, laughs, and fair food.
A great way to spend an afternoon.