We had a lovely trip to AL this weekend to visit with some good old friends and to meet their sweet new additions. The girls had a blast renewing old friendships and having an official 'sleepover'. It was great fun for us all. On the way home this evening however Mia couldn't seem to calm down... she talked to me for 5 HOURS STRAIGHT! Abby went in and out of consciousness but when she was awake she fought to give some input as well. Among topics of conversation:
-"when I play soccer I'm going to try to score, but if I can't I'll pass the ball to the other characters on my team"
-"sometimes you cut my hair mommy, but sometimes the dentist does"
-"If you're good the devil doesn't slap you"
I wish I could remember them all... Josh put the kids to bed tonight.

My girls acquired and lost their first pet in the last month. A one-year-old chinchilla named chili. I found it dead one morning, and although it may have been overfed chinchilla treats and was overweight we're really not sure what happened. This opened a whole can of worms for my emotionally-supercharged eldest daughter. Josh, looking for comforting words to their many sad questions came out with "he's in a better place" (not sure I agree oblivion is better than a cage in the play room) to which Mia responded " He's in a BOX in the GARAGE Daddy!" It's been a bit pitiful around here and I've been busying myself with friends, tea parties, water balloons, face painting, bike riding... basically a one man circus :P So yesterday we did a 3 hr round trip drive to adopt a new chinchilla. This one's name: Darlington Wigglesworth aka Dr. Wiggles. Mia is already praying for his long life :)

It's gotta be procrastination, or (and I'm not kidding - I've talked to people about this) a little OCD? The pattern is, 6 months off pleo, then a huge summary note or picture grouping, best intentions to stay in touch, then another 6 months off! What is my PROBLEM? We actually have had an unbelievable summer, so its not even like I had nothing to write about. I'll keep it short... and I WILL do better :)

Josh's brothers both got married, bringing two wonderful additions to the Reaves family. Both weddings were spectacular and perfectly representing the couple involved. Jared's was local at a beautiful mountain golf course and Jake's was in Denver at a place where huge red rocks shot out of the side of a mountain. It was like nothing I'd ever seen before. Of course this meant time with Jeb, Sheila and family which was wonderful, especially since they are the kids' only cousins and it had been a long while since they'd been back from MX. After Denver we caravaned (sp?) through WY to camp at Yellowstone. (Did I mention I'd never been anywhere west of mississippi?) The scenery was amazing, the kids spotted everything from bears to elk to prairie dogs and even had snowball fights in June! (Yes we froze!)

The kids attended a fabulous VBS on evidences of God, where Abby came out giving me lengthy explanations for how a disected sheep eye or the design of the chicken egg support the evidence that God created them! It was too cool! We had a couple of extra kids that week and wore ourselves silly! Last week was a gospel meeting, which is a bit different in the spanish work than most english I've been to. Lots of door-knocking, ladies classes, meetings and eatings mostly in my home and one study after another. There is so much need, physical, moral, spiritual and the blessing is that it's pretty apparent so if you can muster the energy you will be useful! It was SO encouraging and so much more enjoyable in these last years since my spanish is coming along :)

On an even lighter note, Abby and Mia have decided to follow their current role-model (Teddy Roosevelt) and turn their bedroom into a museum. I was leery at first, doubting their skills in taxidermy, but its turned out to be really cute: fossils, rocks, shells, pressed flowers, pics of animals and places they've been. Abby put her piggy-bank in the hall to collect admission! (Which side of the family do you think that comes from?!) The best part though - working together. Alleluia!

Maybe you're in the same boat as me. I've always been concerned about what my kids are exposed to. We watch very few TV shows, and seldom. We're careful who we let the kids play with, etc. One thing I've let slip lately though is reading material. I tried to be careful not to let too much princess or Barbie in as God's little princesses are quite different from Disney's. Lately though Abby has been so independent and devouring any book she can get her hands on, and I've been paying more attention to the characters she reads about in these 'juvenile' novels she often receives as gifts. I noticed words like 'hate' and 'stupid' being used. A little girl who has a boyfriend in kindergarten and first grade. Overall so many are just not edifying or educational. I have to say it shook me up. So my goal this week is to purge out the old leaven and 'makeover' our book shelves. A few new favorites of mine in case you are also in search of a good series "Magic Schoolbus", "Magic Treehouse", "Little House" and "Cul-de-Sac Kids". I was especially impressed by the latter as the young characters make references to God, prayer, teaching friends about Jesus, and leaving problems in God's hands. This floored me. So please give me your favorite titles and authors for 2-4th grade readers, and even younger. We're going to need to makeover our shelves!

We were blessed to have a niice family weekend in Myrtle Beach. We made a birthday surprise for Daddy on the beach... 34 sand candles and a message visible from the 17th floor!