Serving and playing together

We've had an amazing summer of playing, working, and being together. All the ages and stages are fun- it's really neat to see what kids can accomplish now and especially what we can accomplish together. Here's a few pics

For Manna Serve day we went to Rick's Place and helped with a lot of tasks. It was extra fun that super friends went with us!

We celebrated our serve day at Pelicans! 

So blessed to have friends with a pool. Lot so fun there. 

Family wii night was super fun! 

We always enjoy Chick-Fil-A dress like a Cow day!

Pelicans

Watermelon hits the spot after a hot day serving. 

Summer at Manna nights were also fun!

James and I tried a new spot pharaohs village

cookout fun with friends!

Sandy Cove 2019

We were blessed to be able to go to Sandy Cove in 2009 after James returned from Iraq through Operation Oasis. We really enjoyed our trip and felt led to give back to the scholarship fund. but we had not been back to Sandy Cove until last week. I'm so glad we went back. It was such a refreshing time. We really enjoyed the activities, the food, the time as a family, the time as a couple. Just a wonderful blend of time.
The days followed this basic pattern
-James and I read Bible by the beautiful river (thankful for sleeping teens who can stay in room with sleeping kids.)
-brown bag devotion as a family (thankful for Sandy Cove making it easy and fun to do devotions)
-breakfast (thankful for kitchen staff who made delicious food and cleaned up after us :)
-tennis/ mini-golf
-worship time together as family- fun song, worship song, movement song
-adult worship/ teaching time while kids went to Club Cove/ Cross walk where they learned about God and had lots of fun playing games, canoeing, swimming, kayaking, ...
-spaghetti time- where couples had an hour-ish together to talk about lesson, hang-out, rest
-lunch (ditto above thankful for kitchen staff)
-rest/ fun family time- (thankful for so many fun activities- the marina was a family favorite. also pedal cars, archery, the blob, the pool, ...
-dinner (yum!)
-Club Cove or family fun depending on what we felt like
-evening activity- ice cream sundaes, rocket launching and rootbeer floats, reptile show, s'mores and campfire songs)

we loved the speaker Todd Wilson- the Family Man, the beautiful views, worshipping together, having time as a couple, not having to cook or clean ;) , the family devotions, all the fun together!

Maryland 2019

We got back Friday night from a wonderful week in Maryland. I'm praying to get pictures posted soon but wanted to write some of the highlights of our week while it's fresh (and before i get back into the day to day)

We left last Saturday 29 JUN which was 27 years after the day James and I met which was also R-day and 23 years after we got married. We left early and arrived in DC around 1 where we found out that the parking spot we'd so carefully reserved was an uncovered spot but you had to drive under a 6' high entrance to reach it. :( so we drove to the Museum of the Bible and found a spot right beside it!! Score!! We got a membership because it was not much more than one day admission. What an amazing place! Really neat to see the exhibits about all the reformists. The kids loved the kids' area which thankfully we saved for last or they wouldn't have wanted to leave. I do wish we'd gotten to take a guided tour- next time we'll make a reservation for that. and we'll spend more time on the 3rd floor but definitely glad we went. It was wonderful to see the "impact of the Bible" which showed the Bible's influence in areas like film, music, literature, history, government.

We walked the 1/4 mile from the museum to the mall and got tacos and philly cheesesteaks for a picnic on the mall. Then walked around looking at the monuments. Thankfully James thought of checking Ft Meade for hotel reservations so we stayed in a nice hotel for a much lower price than anywhere else. Thankful for our teens watching kids, James and I went to commissary and PX to get some needed snacks- including sushi and apple fritters for us and red, white, and blue popsicles for kids!

The next morning we drove to Baltimore. It was really fun to see the familiar sites from our Baltimore days as we drove to our old house. Then we all loved going to Sherwood Gardens. The kids climbed trees, threw frisbees, kicked soccer balls, and just loved being there. And we got some great pics! Then we drove to the Inner Harbor for more reminiscing and enjoying the view! The kids played for a while in a playground by the inner harbor that we'd last visited when c was just days old.

Next stop Fort McHenry- we love that place too! We had a picnic lunch complete with Nutella which kids first tried in Baltimore. James got his lifetime National Park membership which we'd been meaning to get. We got to do the flag talk with the park ranger, talk with a park ranger about artillery, see the musket and laundry demos, tour the fort, and watch the video. Good trip! Then we hit the road to Sandy Cove! Good day in Baltimore!