Kool-Aid and Cookie Stand

This summer we are being intentional with the boys and having a fun family devotional a week. I am pretty amazed at how much the boys enjoy this. And last time Christopher woke up and said, "Yeah today's family day!" So sweet.
So today the boys learned about responsibility and how everyone carries their own weight in the family. We had fun learning this concept carrying heavy books through an obstacle course through the house as the books were "responsibilites" and the obstacle course is every day life.

Then we read in Matthew 25 about the parable of the talents and how God expects us to be responsible with the money he gives us and to grow it for His kingdom. So we gave them each $2 and we came up with the idea of having a koolaid and cookie stand to 'grow' our money. They had fun handing out cookies and koolaid and especially doubling or money! We made $4.25 and the boys are each saving a dollar and giving it away to someone in need.

We also talked about how God gives us talents, gifts and time to be responsible with for His glory and it was easy for Caleb to figure out his artistic talent that God has given him but Christopher was a little sad as he couldn't figure out a gift of his. Then I shared with him how God has given him a gift of speaking and makes new friends easily and that maybe he'll be a lawyer and use his gift of speaking fighting for justice. He seemes pretty content with that.:o)

Brian took out the slip and slide for the boys to beat the heat while they sell cookies but it was Caitlin who played in it the whole time:o)

Mupenzi Jule

Last night, as a family, through Compassion International we chose Mupenzi Jule from Rwanda to sponsor. I confess I had always thought that when you sponsor a child they send you some random picture of a kid half way across the world and put your donation into their big fund. Boy was I wrong. Through my Hope Lives class and reading through testimonies of sponsored kids I am learning the truth. And learning what my role is in this war against poverty.
Mupenzi is a 6 year old little boy who has 2 siblings and likes to play soccer. His daily chores including carrying water and gathering firewood. Our boys have already printed out his country's flag and colored it and are ready to send it to him and get to know him. I am excited to get to know him too and even more excited that we get to make a difference with one life, one soul, a child of God who is in need.

Happy Birthday Christopher!

Today is Christopher's birthday but we celebrated yesterday with an awesome knight party. When the kids arrived we decorated crowns and shields and then we played a 'catch the dragon's tail game' and had a relay race that involved throwing wet sponges at a dragon that Brian painted on a sheet 30min prior to the party...that's my Brian:o) The dragon did come out pretty cool....
We then had cake and icecream and, I too, waited till the last minute to do his cake and was up until midnight the night before finishing his castle cake. I was tired and he was happy:o)

After cake and icecream we divided back up into teams and had a Q&A 'Jeopardy' game about the armor of God. Thankfully the teams tied and everyone got prizes:o) Brian then had the boys line up and had a knighting ceremony. He asked the boys to agree to the knight's vow, knighted each one and handed out each kid's crown, shield and sword. I think the boys thought this was pretty cool.

The party ended with a fierce battle! Believe it or not noone got hurt!

Thirty minuted later we were off to Mediveal Times to continue our celebration. The tournament and battle is what captivated Christopher the most. He asked if they knights really died.:o)

We came home and were exhausted, but thankful it turned out to be a successful day of celebrating:o) And the celebration continues today with Christopher's actual birthday and Father's Day. Fuddruckers has been requested:o) And a big thank you to my mom, dad and Nancy who came and helped this weekend. Thank you!

oh and OUR DADDY ROCKS! Happy Father's Day Brian! and Happy Father's Day Dad and Leslie!

Old and New

Here are pictures of the old and new exterior. We love the way it turned out. The brick is a light grey with a darker grey for the shutters. The door is now red and the old curly Q iron thingies and rotten posts are gone. Oh..and the nasty gutters are gone too!
And here is another picture of the interior with some furniture in...

Into things

Well if it's not her bag, my purse, or the toilet bowl, Caitlin will find something to get into!..here she is getting into the boys' snacks...

Caitlin...

I walked into the kitchen this morning and found Caitlin rummaging through her bag stuffing herself with cookies:o)

Summer=Swim!

The kids are ready for the pool today! After two years of being on the waiting list for our neighborhood pool we found out last month that we got in this summer! We were so excited! The kids love that pool and have lots of freinds that go there too.

C1 and C2 are almost done with swim lessons and when they started two weeks ago there were lots of tears and complaining...mainly due to the pool being cold. But we talked about what it means to perservere and their attitudes have done a 180 and they actually are excited to go now. Last night Christopher said he wished he could have 21 more days of swim lessons. :o)

They have progressed so much these past few weeks. Caleb swims all the way across the pool with good strokes and is able to take breaths while swimming and Christopher can swim about halfway on his own. I was surprised to find out how much Caitlin loves the pool. She heads straight to the baby pool and keeps crawling in until the water is up to her neck!...i'm freakin out a little but glad she loves it so much.:o)

Babop!!!!!!!!!!

that is Caitlin's word for 'lollipop'. the other night when Caleb was done with his dinner he went to get a lollipop and while he was unwrapping it Caitlin sat up straight with wide eyes, pointed at Caleb and screamed, BABOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was too cute and we were all cracking up...and yes she did get a babop after her dinner:o)