Progress...

So the basement was excavated on Wednesday, Tyler and my Dad put up the framing for the footing on Thursday, and the concrete was poured on Friday (thanks to my brother Mark for hooking us up: he sells concrete)! To top it all off, my other brother Greg did the drawings for us! I'm so blessed to have such a talented, generous family! Thanks everyone! I think it looks totally professional, don't you? Next step is putting up the Logix (styrofoam forms) for the walls, and hopefully pouring concrete end of next week. I'll keep you posted!

The kids have just loved seeing all of the action, and my mom is on holidays now so she's helping me with the kids! Thanks Mom!

Home Sweet Home

Where do I start? We have been living in an appartment since the end of June, and were contemplating what to do with our lot. We were pretty sure we should just sell it because we knew we weren't going to be able to build any time soon. Then we found this house (which I believe God lead us to), and we are going to move it onto our lot in Niverville! We absolutely love it (It's a 1940's character home, re-done), and it is truly a blessing from God. My gracious daddy is helping us through all of the technical stuff, and he and Tyler will be putting in the basement. So as of Monday, we should have a big hole on our lot, and hopefully soon a basement. The house will probably be moved the end of September. Thank you Jesus! We are so excited, and feel extremely blessed. God truly has been with us every step of the way, and we are looking forward to all that He has for us. It hasn't been an easy summer for us in a lot of ways, but He is always faithful!

Summer Fun and Photo Shoots

Noelle and Kaelyn being princesses...aren't they sweet?

Celebrating Tyler's birthday!

Noelle and Eiley picking (and eating) raspberries
Isn't she the cutest clown you've ever seen?

I just love this beautiful smile

And this beautiful smile too!

Trust

Sometimes I get frustrated as a parent when my daughter doesn't trust me. I know that if she'll just allow us to help her with things, like Monkey Bars for instance, she'll realize that we'll never let her fall. Alot of the time she refuses help and would rather do it her way, or even give up, than accept help from her mom and dad. The other day we convinced her to let Tyler help her on the monkey bars (okay, we also bribed her with candy)...and she did so good! Since then she has been trying all kinds of things that she was too afraid to try before. She was even telling people how she had trusted her dad and then got candy. Maybe we shouldn't have bribed her, but we really wanted her to realize that she can trust us!

I was lying in bed and I realized that this is kinda how I am with God alot of the time. He is just waiting for me to allow Him to help me, but I insist on trying it on my own or even give up without asking Him for help. Our pastor was speaking about trust this past Sunday, and it really hit home. We've had a few really difficult circumstances in the last couple of months, and sometimes I can try so hard to figure out how to solve things on my own. I can hear Him calling me, but too often I decide that I better try it on my own, just in case. I realized that He is calling me to trust Him...He will never let me down. He is our provider, and has good plans for us! Even through these difficult times, He is faithful, and his Grace is sufficient for anything we have to walk through. I think of how much I love my kids and want to do everything to help them. God loves us so much more than we can ever imagine...and all He wants is for us to trust Him! Well Lord, I'm done doing things on my own...please help me to remember to give everything to you, and trust you fully!

If you want to hear this really awesome sermon I was talking about, go to http://nivervillegoodnews.com/nmmessage.html and click on the August 3rd message.

New 'Do's' and Fun at the Zoo

My sweet soon-to-be-sister-in-law Michelle gave my kids the sweetest haircuts ever. Doesn't Elliott just look like a little punk-rocker? He looks so grown-up. And Noelle looks like she's ready for kindergarten with her little bob. Thanks Michelle!

We had a really fun family night at the Zoo this past week...Elliott hadn't been since he was a wee babe, so it was fun to see his reactions to all of the animals :)