Summer

Whew! It's been almost 2 months since I've done any blogging....except for the post dated one I just put up for Josh's birthday.  Don't forget to scroll down and read it too.

Summer vacation is now in full swing. We started it off by taking a camping trip to Texas. We arrived VERY late at night at Cooper Lake State Park, near where my brother, sister-in-law, nephew and niece live. The following day we arose after about 5 hours of sleep to head out for Dallas. I had made reservations for a birthday surprise for Josh.

It may appear that the younger boys were the most excited, but did you catch the grin on Josh's face? He doesn't always show his emotion quite as exuberantly as his little brothers. I think the reaction would have been bigger had he not accidentally seen Legoland Discovery Center listed in my bookmarks on the computer. I had done such a good job of keeping the surprise a secret until the day before.... It was still a fun surprise though. I would say it wasn't everything we expected or hoped it would be, and it would have probably been just as fun to take them to a plain Lego store...but we can now say we've been there and done that. I hope it at least is a fun memory that they will hold for a long time.

We spent the remainder of our trip relaxing and enjoying doing nothing. We were able to visit with Rudy, Christy, Gillan and Gracie each day. Gillan and Gracie got to stay in the trailer with us on Friday night and then they all went swimming in the lake the next day, after Craig cooked them a "beastly breakfast" (Gillan's words).

We made it home without incident just in time for a week of Vacation Bible School and Josh's actual birthday day. VBS was a fun week for all. It is an amazing (unheard of) blessing to be in a church where they actually have to turn volunteer workers away!! Wow! There is such a sweet servant spirit among our church family. I spent the week keeping the nursery for the worker's children. Along with Nathan, we had 3-4 more toddlers each day. It was fun and easy.

 
So now here we sit on this side of VBS with the remainder of summer ahead. Josh has camp coming up soon and then in July we have music camp. Between that I'm not sure what all we will do. Maybe some swimming, reading, organizing......and MATH!

June 6

Today our Joshua turns 10 years old. Ten years old!! How can that be? We're in the double digits now and over half way to "adulthood." Impossible.....

Josh is such a neat kid. He is a thinker and a question ask-er. He likes to be in the know about things, and remembers most of it. Though he is not fond of math, he still has such an 'engineer' mind. He can imagine, draw and build complex things. He is interested in how things work too. I haven't seen it yet, but was thrilled when I learned he found an old lawn mower in a junk pile and dismantled it. Maybe someday he'll put it back together.... It would be nice if he could get it running since ours is broken. ;)

Josh also loves history, science and reading. He is like his Daddy when it comes to reading random information. If either of them are sitting at a table eating and there is something there with words on it, they are reading it. Cereal box, paper, junk mail, camera manual.......anything! Soaking in information to be filed away.

Josh is a great big brother to Andrew and Nathan. Though he can be a bit bossy at times, he loves them fiercely. They are his best friends and I love that.

I recently had the unfortunate opportunity to witness Josh's raw emotions in grief when his kitten was killed by a stray dog right in front of his eyes. It was both heartbreaking and beautiful all at the same time. What I mean by that is, yes, it was heartbreaking to see him so sad and to know what he had witnessed, but at the same time, it was beautiful to see the deep care he had for the life of that little kitten.

This year was the year Josh made his profession of faith public and was baptized. He is like me in that, he has a very quiet faith. He doesn't talk about it a lot, but you can tell it is there and he exudes a sweet spirit.

I haven't recently done an official height check, but Josh is quite tall next to kids his age, and some even older. He is up to my shoulder and wears a size 7 to 7 and a half (men's) shoe. I'm not prepared to look him in the eye and then soon be looking up at him. That's going to feel really weird...

For now, I want to try as best I can to be in the moment....for time is flashing by.

Happy 10th Birthday Joshua!! We love you SO very much. Keep growing and learning about all kinds of things, but most of all grow and learn all about the LOVE of God!

Be full of love for others, following the example of Christ who loved you and gave himself to God as a sacrifice to take away your sins. And God was pleased, for Christ's love for you was like a sweet perfume.  -Ephesians 5:2