Well, it looks like it has been a really long time once again since I updated my blog. I guess I will never, ever truly get into the habit of keeping it up to date. {{Sigh!!}} Even when I updated it the last couple of times I didn't go back and say anything about what we had been doing and I missed such an important thing…our vacation to Topsail Island in May 2008. I was so thrilled to be back at the beach once again. After taking a year away from the beach in 2007 when we went to the Smoky Mountains, it was so nice to be back at the beach. Instead of trying to type all what we did here, which would take me forever, I will just leave the links to the photo albums that I have uploaded to Facebook and if you want you can look at them. (You don't need a Facebook account to see these photo albums, but if you don't have a Facebook, get one…more on that in a second…) I didn't get the last few photos uploaded, but the best are here:
Topsail Vacation Days 1 & 2
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=28163&l=411df&id=618024210
Topsail Vacation Days 3 & 4
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=28504&l=48ce4&id=618024210
Topsail Vacation Days 4 & 5
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=29207&l=39ce6&id=618024210
Speaking of Facebook, have you checked it out? I am having a lot of fun there. I am not sure if you don't have a Facebook account if you will be able to see much, if any, of my profile page because I have most things set up for "Friends Only", but you can check it out anyway. http://www.facebook.com/photos.php?id=618024210#/profile.php?id=618024210
I actually opened up a Facebook account quite some time ago, but then really didn't get it and didn't take the time to do anything with it. I opened my account to keep up with what Nathalie was doing, but even then very seldom went there. Well, on Memorial Day at Potato Creek, Kim and Kassie kept talking about Facebook and how I need to get back there and do something with my account. Nearly all of their past exchange students are on Facebook too and it makes a great way to keep in touch with them. So, after that I went and tackled Facebook and figured out how it all works. I even invited Marica to join and both Adam and Jared now have an account as well. There are a lot of silly and not-so-good things on Facebook, but I you decide to join, just make sure you have your privacy settings set so not everyone can see your Facebook and be careful what applications that you add. If you do join, I hope that you will let me know so we can be Facebook friends!
After vacation of course, was Adam's graduation and open house, which I actually did write about on my blog, but here are some photos from that event as well:
Adam's Graduation
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=28435&l=a24e2&id=618024210
Adam's Graduation Open House
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=29165&l=4bb48&id=618024210
On June 11-13th I went and stayed with Grandma Eunice for a while. She had been in the hospital for hernia surgery which was supposed to be quite simple, but she had some complications and ended up having to stay for a week. When she got out she had to be on oxygen and lots of different medications, and they didn't want her to stay alone the first couple of nights. It was very nice to stay with her for a few days because I haven't done that in a very, very long time, but I wish it would have been under better circumstances. She is doing better now, but it is still in low spirits because she just doesn't feel back to normal. Being on oxygen really got her down, but I am hoping she will be off of it soon. (Maybe she is now, it has been a couple of weeks since I talked to her.)
June 16th, Tucker had a moment of "fame" by making Grown Up Doggie of the Day on the site called Daily Puppy: http://www.dailypuppy.com/dogs/Tucker-the-Bichon-Frise_2008-06-16
Then one other day he had another moment of fame…a few months back Purina was having this call for photos to be sent in which would appear on Times Square for a special promotion. I received an e-mail from Purina a few days ago that said on June 19th Tucker's photo appeared in Times Square! Here is a link, just type in "Tucker" and "Elkhart" in the search boxes at the top of the page and you will see him.
http://www.longliveyourdog.com/dogpark/TimesSquare.aspx
On June 20th, Adam had his IUSB orientation. Mark and I went with him and they had separate sessions for parents and students. He got signed up for his classes that day as well. He had a bit of trouble with getting classes that worked for his schedule, but we finally got that all worked out. He wants to continue working as much as possible and with gas prices, he wants to take as many classes as he can at the Elkhart campus.
So his first semester as a college student looks like this, which equals 14 credit hours. The nice thing is he already has 9 credit hours from the classes that he took at Bethel during his senior year in high school.
INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTING- Mon. evening at Elkhart
ENG-A 190 - ART, AESTHETICS, & CREATIVITY- Tues. & Thurs. at IUSB
INTRO TO BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES 1- Tues. & Thurs. at IUSB, with a 4 hour lab on Thurs.
ANTH-E 105 - CULTURE & SOCIETY- (Anthropolgy)- Wed. evening at Elkhart
Later in June we had VBS at church where Mark was in charge of Games, Jared helped with the preschool class as well as being "Captain Taylor" in a daily skit. I was in charge of taking photos and making a Powerpoint presentation for the final night. Adam wasn't able to help each night, but since the theme was Amazon Expedition, they wanted some "wild animals" displayed on the final night so he brought in some creepy crawlies from Martin's Pet & Garden for the final night when we had Parents' Night.
The day after VBS was complete; we left for New York and a week of WOL Camp. We left Friday morning June 27th and returned July 6th. We went to Niagara Falls the first day and stayed overnight in a church in Batavia, NY, Friday night. Saturday morning we got up for our final 6 hours of traveling to Schroon Lake, NY. We took the church van and had it filled to capacity, with 11 teens, including Jared, and 4 leaders…Mark & I, as well as Scott & Lori Hembree. When we arrived at camp, it was not great weather, cloudy and we knew it was going to rain. By the time we got the kids across the lake to the island it was coming down pretty good, so we quickly got back on the boat to get back the mainland and then it really broke loose and the rain was coming down so hard and the wind was blowing so much that the rain was coming across sideways! The waves in the lake were pretty big and the boat driver honked most of the way across because he couldn't see! We got so WET, we could have probably swam back and not gotten much wetter. When you get off of the boat you have to go up a hill to the parking lot and the water was running down the hill so fast it was like a river. What a mess, but something we will never forget!! Sunday afternoon, Mark, Scott & Lori and I took a day for being tourists and went to Fort Ticonderoga and a battle reenactment. It was a very interesting thing to see. Monday and Tuesday were Teen's Involved Days and Thursday was the Teen's Involved awards ceremony. Monday night we played carpet golf in the WOL Inn, where we tied for 1st place but because Mark got a hole in 1 on one hole, we won! Hooray! On Wednesday we went over to the island to spend some time with the kids and all of us leaders did the high ropes course with the girls. Wow, okay, that was fun, but very scary and I can't say it is something I would do again. I loved the zipline, even though I screamed half way down. LOL! Friday was the 4th of July and we went over the Island briefly and then came back for the celebration. We went to the parade, the Schroon Lake concert, which is hosted my WOL, and then the fireworks. They set them off right near the lake and there are literally 100s of boats that come in to watch, what a pretty, pretty site. We headed for home Saturday morning and spend the night Saturday night in a hotel in Ohio and arrived back to the church Sunday at about 11:30.
Here are some photo albums from camp:
Niagara Falls
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=31933&l=ea067&id=618024210
WOL Island, Inn & 4th of July
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=32128&l=ea1a7&id=618024210
WOL Island High Ropes Course (Yes, there are even photos of me!)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=32278&l=5940e&id=618024210
WOL Teens' Involved
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=32812&l=02f24&id=618024210
Our speakers for the week were Jimmy DeYoung, which we also heard last year, but you can never get tired of Jimmy, and Ray Pritchard. Jimmy spoke on Revelation and Ray spoke on love from 1 Corinthians 13.
Jimmy DeYoung: Prophesy Today
http://jimmydeyoung.gospelcom.net/pp/
Ray Pritchard's Site and his Facebook
http://www.keepbelieving.com/
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=766840206
Since camp, the boys crammed in their 4-H projects and we got those turned in earlier this week and now that finally brings me to today! Wheww!! The 4-H fair starts today, but we aren't going until tomorrow. Jill & Anna are in a production of High School Musical and tonight Jared and I are going to see them. Tomorrow evening Pat Benetar is going to be at the fair, (free concert!) and Mark is going to watch her while the boys and I enjoy time at the fair.
