I need your help...

I'm working on care packages for our sweet sponsor kids in Adacar, Uganda. Our church has a care point there. They will be going to deliver the care packages (which include: band-aids, crayons, note pads,journals, pencils, pencil sharpeners,glu sticks, stickers, bubbles, matchbox cars, bouncy balls, underwear, chapstick, letters and pictures) to the kids in June. There are still 78 kids without a sponsor and who will not be recieving care packages. Please help us if you can. If you can fill a gallon ziplock bag (it fills up quick) with some of the items above and get it to me by June 23. We can at least get a care package to all of the 200 kids in Adacar. Thank you!

What We've Been Up To...

Summer is definitely here! 94 degrees last week. We celebrated escaped the HOT weather by hanging out at the pool. Tripp is a fantastic swimmer. He swims so much better than me. He is also such a huge help. He takes Jasper to the potty and really spends a lot of time trying to teach Jasper to swim.
Zoee loves her puddle jumper!! She calls it her swim coat and has now worn it to bed, to the grocery store and to pick Tripp up at school 3 days last week.

One of our favorite evening past times is fort building. With a little creativity and a couple of blankets, an entire kingdom can be constructed.

King of the castle and head architect

Water gun fights are a daily occurrence these days.

We decided to wash my car. I've owned it for 6 years and I have never washed it (Bill has). It was so much fun. We recruited our neighbors to help (and bring all the supplies).

The kids love the back yard sprinkler. To be honest I do to!

Oh, and Zoee has set up an office in the kitchen to manage her e-mails and facebook account.

She sees me do this every morning with a cup of coffee. She prefers milk.

On an exciting/sad note...we will be moving to Orlando in the next 6-9 months.

More to come on that...

Birthdays and Baptism

Happy Birthday Jackson

We were so excited that Tripp wanted to be baptized. I love the way our church does it. They make a huge production out of it, calling it a family birthday party. The kids all get their own table with a cake and a nice devotional bible. They all film videos before hand explaining why they want to be baptized, who they want to thank and their favorite bible story or verse.

The best part was that Bill was the one to baptize Tripp.

All of his friends came to celebrate with him.

This is how Jasper felt about the whole thing. He was sooooo tired.

Zoee couldn't wait to have her turn on stage.

Strawberries

I kept Tripp home from school on Friday so we could go strawberry picking and make some jam.

We went with our good friends and had a great time.

The jam was yummy and so easy to make.

Zoee made Lilya carry her strawberry bucket.

Tripp dropped all of his strawberries on the ground.

Swiss Day

We have been soooo busy since Easter. I have not had time to even turn on my computer.
Tripp's class read a book called Treasures on the Snow. It is about forgiveness and takes place in Switzerland. After reading the book they had Swiss Day at his teachers house. They watched the movie, ate Swiss food and potato soup (that's all they ate in the book), took a long hike around Mrs. G's property (It was beautiful), and shot a bow and arrow (in honor of William Tell).

Tripp said, (in regards to the movie) "When Danny jumped off the train and ran to Lucian to forgive him...a tear fell out of my eye...but I wasn't sad...I was happy"

It was sooo much fun! I love Tripp's school. They do such a good job fostering a love for The Lord and a love for learning. He has really thrived there this year.

Trying some Swiss cheese, and Swiss chocolate hot chocolate

They all wore name tags with the Swiss flag on them.

The white cross was symbolic of the cross that Jesus died on.

The hike through Mrs. G's woods. It was a very "Charlotte Mason" experience!

Some of her property

I almost stepped on a turtle

They loved running through the field with the horses

William Tell lived on a mountain in Switzerland. The soldiers in the market place put up a large poll with a green felt hat and feather (to represent the emperor). Everyone was to bow down to it. William Tell refused, saying, "I will only bow down before The Lord."

The emperor ordered the soldiers to tie Williams son to a pole with an apple on his head. If William Tell could hit the apple without harming him son he could go free. If not...he would be thrown to the dungeons.

William prayed to God and hit the apple slicing it exactly in half.

He was set free!

The Swiss invented Velcro.

They wrapped up in wool type garments and tried to get Velcro balls to stick to each other.