Bike Riding, Vacation Bible School, and other misc.

J7 riding 2 wheeler all by himself!
Look at him go!!
Princess4 at Bible School program "singing??" This little light of mine
J7-VBS program
The proud winner of the drawing for a VBS pack back

Princess4 and her duck quacker prize

(wonderful toy-every house should have 1)

and J2 eating his 10th snow cone for the night

I wish I could say this is where I have been.....but I can't

All of our pix today come to you courtesy of Gram and

This is where she has been.

They downloaded with the VBS pix so I thought I would share

Gram and her nieces and nephew at the beach in San Diego

Old Point Loma-never been there-but heard it is pretty

We are still pushing forward with gazelle intensity(Dave Ramsey term)

For a debt free life.

A task that is often a struggle but we know will be rewarding in the end.

Daddy is still working 2 full time jobs and doing a side job of welding in the evenings for a little extra income.

One day this week, Daddy-with much sadness in his heart-sold his beloved motorcycle (which was already paid for) in order to knock out another debt.

On this same day, Mommy who was driving Daddy's commuter car (which is covered with liability only insurance) hit a deer on the way home from VBS. So part of the $$ we had planned to use to knock out debt will be used to fix the car.

It would be very easy to loose our focus and loose our joy during this time but I am clinging to scripture to remind me that He has a plan...even though we don't understand it right now.

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,

knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. James 1:2-3

Now for some exciting news!!!

I have a new camera on the way!!!

I am sure you will be the first to know when it gets here

and you will reap the benefits~

cut from the same cloth

My guy and his two little guys:

Smart-check (I will never be at a loss for a fix it man with these three around-jeans and boots on and pliers in hand-I am convinced they can fix anything)

Silly-check

Crazy-check (You would be amazed what they can come up with when they put their three heads together)

Addicted to video games-check (not so much J2 but I know the time is coming very soon)

Have stolen my heart-check (along with the princess)

Meanwhile back at the ranch...

Life goes on at it's normal hectic pace.

Potty training has been accomplished...Hooray!! Thanks in no small part to Daddy. It always goes better when he is engaged.

My Math class is almost over...yippee!!! I have to take 2 tests this week and hand in my last assignments (all of which are already completed-thank you very much) and then I have a little under a month before my first full time semester starts.

Cousins have been here for a week of fun! Wish I had some pictures to show you...but i don't...maybe Aunt Christy will share some with us. For now you will just have to take our word for it...We had a Ton of Fun! Including a trip to the zoo!

We all survived our annual 4th of July party without any casualties. We always have all the family out for homemade ice cream and fireworks and this year we surprised Daddy by also celebrating his 30th birthday (which is Friday). I am quite proud to say my kids kept it a secret from him for over 2 weeks. They helped make posters and pass out invitations and never made a peep about it. He knew everyone was coming for the 4th like normal but didn't know we were also celebrating his birthday. When he left to go get the fireworks with Aunt Christy and Uncle David we put up some old pictures of him and some silly posters and a few black balloons and waited for his arrival. All in all it was a great night with family, friends (33 by my count) and food! We always enjoy having everyone out and when the evening is over Daddy and I always comment on how much fun it was and how we can't wait for next year!

Signing off for now~
Abbey

Summertime!!!

A Fun but Crazy Time!! I am enjoying the summer with my kids but seem to be behind on everything so somethings got to give and since my family needs to eat, and bathe, and wear clean clothes, and not live in shambles, and since I don't want to fail my math class, I guess it is going to have to be blogging. Sorry! More to come later, but for now a little break from blogging!

Philippians 4:6

~Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer
and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God.~

Don't worry....about anything...pray... about everything

I struggle with taking everything to Him in prayer...I quite often just try to handle all those "little things" by myself. Stupid.

The other day as we were going somewhere in the truck I looked back in the back seat to see Princess4 bowing her head in prayer. Her hands were clasped tight, her eyes, she was squeezing closed as tight she could, and her little lips were mouthing a prayer. What she was praying about I don't know. Whatever her little 4 year old mind was thinking about at the time. Possibly what we would have for a snack, or that I wouldn't make her take a nap, or that we would go swimming that afternoon...the possibilities are endless. What I do know is that little prayer was heard by God.

Why can't I be more like that!

Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said,"Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 18:3-5

The Details-

As promised. ~Sat. May 31st Libby was invited to meet Alex Gordon -3rd baseman for the Royals - for a pre-Alex's Lemonade Stand publicity event. It was a ton of fun! Very exciting to meet a "celebrity" and a great experience to be with all the other childhood cancer families with whom we share a indescribable bond.

Libby and Alex Gordon

Posing for Channel 9 news although you couldn't see Princess4 on the broadcast

This past weekend we were working at the Alex's Lemonade Stand at Hy-Vee in St. Joe. It was a lot of fun also! We worked Friday and Saturday and met a lot of nice people and raised alot of money!

Selling lemonade

Princess4, J2 and new friend Sadie

On Friday we met a family with a little boy -16 months -who was just diagnosed (at the age of 13 months-Princess4 was 15 months) with neuroblastoma at the beginning of March (almost exactly 3 years after Princess 4's diagnosis) and we were able to share our story of healing and hope with them. I was able to visit with the mother of this sweet little boy and share with her my experiences, give her a hug, and tell her I will be praying for her little boy and for her. On Saturday one of the other ladies at the stand told me the mother of this little boy had said how great it was to be able to talk to me and to see Princess4-in all her healthy/orneriness. It seems like it was just yesterday I was that frightened mommy not knowing what was going to happen next. When the Mozer family asked which stand we would like to work at this year I said either St. Joe or Liberty it didn't make any difference to me, but it just seemed to work out for us to be at St. Joe. Now I think I know why. God intended for us to be there to meet this family and share with them, pray for them, and to give them HOPE! (edited) when I went back and read this I didn't like it so I wanted to add that he only true HOPE we can have is through Christ! At the time I told the Mozer's I would work at St. Joe this little boy hadn't even been diagnosed yet but God knew and already had His plan in motion.

The grand total for all the stands in the KC Metro area was over $87,000! (St. Joe raised over $2800). When all the late donations come in and all the corporate sponsor donations come in and everything is said and done the grand total to be used for pediatric cancer research for local kids is expected to be about $125,000.00!!!!!!

Saturday after the stand we camped out at Wallace State Park at Cameron.

It was a nice evening and the kids had a great time (for the most part). Princess4 got her toe smashed in the door of the camper and ripped off her toe nail...pretty gross and sore (but a good reason to be a pampered princess which she is always looking for...gotta love her!)

We did a lot of hiking, mostly back and forth to the bathroom but none the less hiking. And we cooked over the campfire. Gram and Micah stayed with us and a good time was had by all.

Since returning home we have been trying to rest up and heal up the hurt toe and I have been studying like a maniac for a math test which I took this morning. Glad it is over with. 3 more tests, a handfull of assignments, a semester project-which is 17 pages of word problems-yuck, and a final-double yuck!! then I will have 1 class down!

Until later!

Love,

Mini Vacation- kinda

Well....Daddy was home most of the week because they were short on work so we had a mini vacation of sorts. We slept in, went swimming, went to ballgames, and played games. We had a ton of fun together. But we also got a little work done around here, plus we have been doing Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation things for a week it seems and to top off the week we camped out last night. I have much to fill you in on and a ton of pictures to share but right now I have a lot of things that have to be attended to(like my children) so for now I will leave you with one picture and try to get more details to you later.
Love,
Abbey