And once again...

I have failed in my duties to faithfully keep my blog. I apologize.
Although, in my defense, I have been rather busy these past few weeks. J and I returned from CHIC (Christian High in Christ), exhausted, but Undone. I will admit I had my doubts about whether this would be worthwhile, (not being a fan of catering to the popular belief that teens need to be entertained) but I believe this was a truly wonderful experience. It was definitely fun, but the speakers were very thought provoking and Biblical, and the morning groups were really great. I also saw many people I hadn't seen in years! The Covenant world is so large, and yet, so small!

I had about a week home after CHIC, before we went off to Grandmother's house for a good part of last week. Every Summer, most all of Mother's siblings converge on Grandmother's house for a few weeks. Since we're a pretty wide-spread family, this is usually the only time we get to see these aunts, uncles and cousins. This year was Grandmother's 80th Birthday (I can say that, since she doesn't have a computer ;P), and we gave her a surpise Birthday dinner. Mother has five siblings, and all but one were present, along with all but three cousins. A gathering like this has not happened for a long time, since not everyone is there every summer. For a present, Mother's older sisters organized the making of a family quilt for Grandmother. It has a picture of each family, and everyone made their own square to go on it. It's now hanging above Grandmother's bed.

B and M continue to adjust, as do we all. Although, most of the adjustment happens by throwing temper tantrums! Since this is a sign that they feel comfortable and safe enough in their position in the family to state their opinion loudly and vocally, we like to think that it is a good thing (for the most part:)).

E is also going through a big period of adjustment after having been bumped one down in the birth order, and made an older sister. This process is not made any easier by B, who is developing a large competetive streak. Anything E has, B must have too, preferably better or bigger. This competitivness has manifested itself in many ways, mostly in the clothing department, though. Thankfully, E is the Amazon queen, and thus is a size larger than her sister, so Mother has pulled out the next size clothing, and separated theirs, so E's in on one side, and B's is on the other. This system has been working wonderfully, as Mother chooses their clothing, and getting dressed now take about five minutes, compared to the 1/2 hour it took before.
Also, this week O, C and E are attending VBS at our "second church" (our church is very small, so we go to this one for mid-week bible studies and VBS stuff), and B is not. Mother decided that, although B is adjusting wonderfully to Sunday School, she was not ready to be away from Mother for about 3 hours every day. This has caused major tears, since E gets to go, but B is slowly getting over it, and is directing her attention elsewhere. Like tormenting her younger brother. Ah, well. One thing at a time, eh?

But all in all, life is getting easier. B and E are learning to share, and that is one huge blessing. On the other hand, the baby (yes, that is how I refer to him! I called E the baby up until we got off the plane from Ethiopia) is taking only about hour long naps eahc day, which is causing Mother great stress, as he is cranky/crabby for the rest of the day.
But God is still good!!
That's mostly our mantra. :)

I am now sitting at the train station, waiting for the next train, since I missed the last one. I'm heading to a two day conference with some more cousins, this time from Daddy's side of the fam. I shall miss my family dreadfully, but I console myself by thinking that I will be back with them in a few short days.

A funny:
I work in a coffee shop/gelateria, and yesterday I met an employee I'd never, um, met before. He started asking me about school, and life, and stuff. I answered politely, and then asked him about his school, and life and stuff. He told me he goes to community college.
Him: Yeah, but I'm just working this to save up. I'm moving to oregon next year.
Me: Really? That's cool. I'm moving to Africa.
Him: *blank stare* Why?
Me. To love children.
Him: Oh... Cool. See ya.

Yeah. Nice talking to you too. That's what I get a lot these days. Apparently taking a gap year, and moving to Uganda to kiss orphans is no longer acceptable in our society. Who knew?

Blessings from us.

And I will post more often. Really I will.

God is good!!

Summer

Is here.

Let me rephrase that. Summer has been here for a while. In fact, I do believe that Summer is already 1/3 over. If you see my June running around, please send it home, won't you?

Despite the fact (or perhaps because of it) that our weeks here have been somewhat slow and lazy (a wonderful thing for adjustment), I have not felt a great inclination to blog. Maybe this is a good thing, but I keep thinking about continuing our Ethiopia Trip Saga. I love closure, but have no desire to bring it about right now :)

So instead, I shall share a bit of Summer so far...

Swimming season has begun! We've been to the beach several times already, but somehow there are no pictures from said beach... So I shall put in pool pictures as substitute. These are from our wonderful time in Florida!

(Please excuse the bad photo quality. I was not there when these were taken. Thus the bad photo quality. And maybe the fact that the children were weilding the camera...)

Mother did B's hair. Since it's so short (yet growing rapidly!) we can only do so much with it. But I think she looks adorable!

Of course, then E needed a hairdo too. It doesn't quite work as well in her hair, but it still looks darn cute! Like someone out of a Dr. Seuss book.

M learned how to chop potatoes. Hm... More like mutilate them. For the record, that is a "safety knife", he was being monitored while using said knife, and I highly doubt he could've killed himself with it. So, he is learning valuable lessons about cooking at an early age. Yup, this one's a chef...

Hanging out with cousins and family. A lot of our time in Florida was spent either eating, or preparing to eat.... Funny how that works, isn't it? We had several delightful, fun meals together as a family.

One of my new most favorite pictures! M and I with Oma.

Oh look! More eating!

When we got home, we decided we needed a new family picture! What a good-looking family!

While things for the rest (read "younger set and Mother") of the family remain nice and easy, things for me speed up this month. Next Sunday, J and I head off to a nation-wide youth conference in Tenessee with our Youth Group. Preceeding that, we have a day-long conference downtown. A few weeks after that, I attend another conference at my cousin's college. All of these things are done in Jesus' name! How refreshing to be fellowshipping with fellow Christians so often!!! In addition to all this conferencing, I have work, and babysitting, and a Girl Scout Gold Award project that somehow needs to get done before September... June! I need you back!!

These past few days have been a bit chilly and gray. I know people think I'm bonkers, but this is my kind of weather! I'm hoping this cool spell stays for a little bit, or at least cools down what Summer we have left!

God is good!