Costa Rica update

We have reached our monetary goal, thanks to many very generous friends and relatives! How humbling it has been to be on the recieving end of such giving. Thank you, may it be used in a mighty way. Any more money we recieve will go toward any needs other team members have and then to Project Abraham itself. As I eluded to before, with fuel prices increasing all of our expenses went up. We have been meeting every few weeks with our team that will be traveling and working together. There are 12 of us, ranging in age from 12 to 55. Our group seems fun, and like they will work well together. We are really looking forward to this.
We are taking some toys and books for the kids at the orphanage and clothes too. We actually leave all of our clothes there for the woman to have when we leave. (I hope they have short, chubby girls there!)I am trying to take some medical supplies, but have not gotten that ok'd yet. Pray this would be approved if it is a need that needs met. Praising God for His provision once again. He is so Faithful, and we are so blessed in so many ways.

Missing Daddy

Joe and Aaron are at Notre Dame basketball camp this week. They left this morning at 9am. The kids and I went to the new Monon center water park along with a couple friends for the day. We weren't there too long when they spotted lightening. Long story short, we got free passes for another day, and went home and played. We got our free mini pizzas from papa murphys thanks to the library's summer reading program for dinner and watched "I love lucy" dvd's. When it was time for bed though Annie lost it. She missed her Daddy. Every time I would get her quieted down, here she would come. "I can't sleep without a kiss from Daddy". How precious. Joe had games tonight, but I got a hold of him and he talked to her. She finally fell asleep on our bed with the dog in the room. Andrew was out cold before I left the room the first time. Amy didn't cry, but said more than once that she missed Dad and Aaron. Joe said Aaron was doing fine, wanted to stay in his room(Joe's) tonight. Lights out is at 10:45, Aaron was asking to go to bed at 10:00. He was up this morning before 7 making sure he had everything packed, so I am sure he is exhausted. It is long week of basketball for him. He is the smallest kid there, she he gets eaten alive. Pray for them, and for us this week.

PMS at the Zoo

I thought today would be a great day to go to the zoo. The weather is beautiful, we had time this afternoon and I wanted to see the Koala bears. I forgot to attribute the fact that I was PMSing. Now I usually don't have to schedule things around this, but I may want to rethink this in the future. Aaron and Andrew were whining and crying they wanted to go home half way there. That is never a good sign. I had packed a lunch in the cooler, so everyone was "starved" by the time we got there. Traffic wasn't too bad. I only answered "how much longer?" a dozen times or so.
The parking lot was packed. I decided to drop the kids off in the shade with the cooler to set up the picnic with Amy and her friend Kayla, while I hunted for a parking place. I don't really like SUV's anymore. And I really don't like the small daycare busses. I had to ask for forgiveness a few times when I wanted to hurt a vehicle because it took up 2, 3, 4 spaces. Why do they not have bus parking that includes those small buses? Maybe a shady area. I also think they should have a"members only" area. I drove back by to check on the kids, who were now finished eating and decided to tattle on each other. I packed up the cooler and Andrew the instigater, and found a parking place a mile away. I had yet to eat, and was getting a headache. I called my husband for support, who I asked to pray for me because I was going to lose it. He proceeded to laugh. Ha ha.
The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. Oh yeah, Annie decided to announce that you could see my underwear through my shorts quite loudly at one point, that was pleasant.
The zoo has made some nice improvements over the winter, and we did have fun. I am sure none of you will ever want to go with me to the zoo though.

Holland

Just because a town is named after a foriegn country/town, whatever it is, doesn't mean it is one. I really think they think they are(sorry Linda!) What is with the traffic laws there?- weird. We had a really good time, reminded us of Goshen Indiana a lot, size etc, without the amish obviously. Lake Michigan was really pretty, the kids had fun playing in the sand. Joe wasn't even too neurotic about the sand. We reminiced about all of our trips to the "dunes" in high school. We had fun with new friends from baseball too, getting to know them. Aaron's team went 1-1-1. A little frustrating at times, but hey they are 9-10 years old. I love watching them.
Annie, and Andrew had fun at Grandma and Grandpa's with cousin Caleb. Fun memories for them too. They caught and ate fish. Played in the water and played inside. They were exhausted, they fell asleep on the ride home at 730pm.
We stopped on our way home in Kokomo to eat at Hacienda, Joe's choice for dinner. Yummy! A real treat for us since we moved down to Indy. Nothing quite like it down here. Joe got fun presents for fathers day: flip flops, a desk chair, outback gift card, Hoosier's dvd, reese cups, ND slippers, and peanut m&m's. An odd collection of gifts, but lots of thought behind each one. Really, he just kept coming up with new ideas as the week went on, and the chair broke. The baseball players gave their Dads t-shirts that said "My Dad Rocks"with the boys numbers on them. (Our logo is the Rocks) Very cute shirt.

Michigan

Today we are leaving to Michigan! We are dropping the youngest two off at grandma and grandpa's house with our cousin that we are picking up. Also we are dropping Kelsey off at grandma and granpas house. We are going because of Aarons baseball tournament. We are staying at a hotel by the name of DoubleTree. It has a spa, an indoor pool, a vedio arcade, and a pool table. It's gonna be great!

monday dinner

On Monday nights Amy is going to be cooking dinner from now on. Last Monday she made spaggetti and meatballs. (It was really good!) When were done with dinner I, Ann, get to make brownies for dessert.

Birthday Boy

Today is Aaron's 10th birthday. How can he be 10 years old? He is my little boy. As always, he was up at dawn. He can't get out of bed until 7am though. We did gifts and cake last night due to the hectic pace of today. He had no problem with that. His gifts from us were a new basketball, baseball cards and fact book, andy griffith dvd's, and a signed Joseph Addai Superbowl Football. He liked them. He also got to eat Oreo cookie dessert for breakfast, a big treat at the Bennett house.
He loves all things sports, yesterday he played basketball at open gym for 2 hours, camp for 2 hours and then baseball practice for 1.5 hours. He loved it, and luckily, God graced him with his Daddy's athletic ability, and he is pretty good. Aaron is a smart young man with a bright future. He is very compassionate and a good big brother. He is reading trying to read through the bible right now. He has his moments though, as we all do. I pray he will grow to be a man of integrity, who loves the truth and will fight for what is right. That he will love God with His whole heart and learn to compete and play with the right motives.
The verse I gave Aaron when he was born was:
Jeremiah29:11
"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."