Plans

Have you ever had one of those days where you have everything plannned out and it all kind of falls apart?
We are leaving for Holland Michigan today for a baseball tournement. Since we will be gone for 3 days we thought, great, we will seal the driveway. Joe gets up early and gets at it. It looks great, it had really faded and cracked. Needless to say it had taken 2 days of prep work to get to this point. He is about a third of the way done and we hear thunder and then feel, you guessed it, rain. All of his hard work is now down the street. A practice run, you might say. Very frustrating. He had checked the weather for Holland and not Indy! Its beautiful now, just a 30 minute shower, but all for nothing.
Amy is going through this right now too. She got her schedule for 7th grade. Most of her friends are in a different "group"(for those in different schools, we have 3 groups- navigators, explorers, and voyagers). This means she is also in different hallways and mostly different classes than most of them. She is very sad. Our plans are not Gods plans. Its hard to see beyond that now, especially at 12 when this is the most important thing. Life seems hard, but God is always good. In the grand scheme of things, we have it so good.
Plans for Costa Rica are going well. We still need about $400., but are still hopeful God will provide. We made $300. from the garage sale/ bake sale. (Thank goodness that is over) Our group seems fun and we are excited about the trip. A few things are still being hashed out. Things are bit more expensive this year due to fuel costs, and we are in Costa Rica during some celebration, so it will be busy. Gotta go pack.

Summer

My summer looks a little different than everyone elses in the house.
This week Dr. Crabb is on vacation, so I get the week off. Luckily the kids have basketball camp at the high school so I won't be bored. Running them all to different camps at different times. I t has been nice seeing some of the high school staff from when Joe was there. Mostly good memories. In betweeen camps we signed up for the summer reading program, got some groceries, and picked up pictures.
Some goals I have for the summer:
1.Teach the kids the 10 commandments. Last summer we did the fruit of the spirit and learned the Lords prayer. These things just don't seem to get taught anymore. I wish Awana was more accessible for us. Amy did it when she was younger and we loved it, but a drive for us during the week.
2. Landscape the front of the house. We got the plants planted last weekend, but now need to get stones in, up our steep driveway. I don't think they will be as much fun to play in as the dirt was.
3. Fix the back porch. Definitely the priciest and most time consuming. It will have to wait until after baseball I think.
4. Swim and have fun. Hike and go to local parks . I am not an amusement park person, but I know the kids want to go.
5. Survive Costa Rica. Can't wait to go.

As you may have, my love language is very much acts of service. Poor Joe, it is not his. His is words of affirmation. What I am worst at, I need to do better.
For the record, I am married to an incredible provider who happens to be quite handsome. Have I mentioned lately how good of a three point shot he has? And he has really become quite the baseball coach.
Gotta go get dinner going!

floods

south of us... on the southside of Indianapolis and toward bloomington there has been amazing amounts of rainfall. As we read the paper and watch the news I find myself wondering why I dont feel compelled to go down and help move sandbags?

http://www.indystar.com has all kinds of pictures of the devastation.

If it were my house and my land would I want people to help?

Yes I would....this has troubled me...

So I wonder if it were closer to home, maybe on the northside of Indy would I then feel compelled to help? Or maybe in the next neighborhood.....

Sorry but these are certainly not attractive thoughts... but honest thoughts nonetheless.

joe

rain

arrgh..... I like the rain... but it just prevents me from utilizing my time outside. We have landscaping to finish... a garden still needs tilling... a back porch that needs a lot of everything....

Not to mention a baseball game at 6pm.....

oh well, such is life.

maybe we all will get to go to church at the same time as a family this weekend? A little bit of silver lining in these rain clouds.

joe

summer school

if any of you need homework assignments to keep your math and reading skills sharp this summer just come on over to our house. I have officially begun creating our summer school curriculum individually designed for each of our children.

Math will be at most 1 hour per week.
Reading will be more like 30 minutes per day on average.

If they accomplish their goals then as a family we are going to go to Holiday World in Santa Claus Indiana.

I can remember my biggest decision when I was a kid in the summer was either go swimming and play home run derby with Darren Mullins in our swimsuits... or...... play home run derby first then jump into the pool with grass on us... That was pretty much the daily challenging decision. Which to do first...???? hmmmmm it is not an easy decision if you think about it.!!!

alas, summer is here and life is different.

Joe

SUMMER IS HERE!!!!!

WOO HOO!!! Summer is finally here! School got out yesterday, which I am a bit frustrated about because some of my other friends got out in May. Anyways, to greet summer, we are having a garage sale. I know my mom hates garage sales but, all the money goes toward our Costa Rica fund. So tomorrow and Friday from 7am to about 5pm, we are going to be working our garage sale. Please stop by. Soooo.... Yesterday [In my opinion and my friends] did not seem like a Tuesday in June. It felt like a Tuesday in April. Very wet with not much sunshine. Perfect. But, I intend to make this summer the best. Because I am very worried about Middle School. Its is my first year with; Periods, about 7 different teachers, not being with my friends, etc. Very nerve wrecking. On the bright side of things, because I got all A's the entire 6Th grade school year on my report cards, I get a cell phone. AHHH!!! I am so excited. Anyways, just wanted to let you know what was happening.

(PS- don't you just wish suns could actually smile like that!!! :D)

Amy

books

while we are on the subject of books..... one of my all times favorites is "how to interview your daughters dates." All fathers, here is a heads up...... they want our involvement even if they might act differently. Author is Dennis Rainey.... very small and easy to read.... look it up and I hope you enjoy.
joe