My New Best Friend!

Many of you have probably watched the movie "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead".  Joe and Rachel got exposed to that when they visited his aunt and uncle in Texas.  We were all very convicted to try this and have since ordered the Breville Fountain Elite.

Joe, David, and the little boys are going to supplement their daily food intake with this nutritious juice, while Rachel and I are going on a "reboot" to our systems.  I plan to do it longer, not only to lose weight, but hopefully to eliminate headaches.  So with great fear and trepidation, we started today - Day One - of our juice fast.  So far so good, and I have consumed great quantities of spinach, lettuce, and celery in remarkably good drinks!  It's amazing what the flavor of fruits will disguise!  I'll keep you posted of our progress!

You can watch the movie on Netflix, Amazon Prime, or here:

http://www.filmsforaction.org/watch/fat_sick_and_nearly_dead_2010/

It's interesting, funny, and very convicting.  Let me know what you think if you watch it!

Church Picnic

Each year, our church has a worship service and picnic at a local park.  Some years it's blistering hot and others it has been freezing cold. But this past Sunday's picnic was just right - warm temperatures and a gentle breeze!  Enjoy the photos!

Isaac was sung to during the announcements because of his birthday several weeks ago!  He was so thrilled to go up front!

This ride was the highlight of the entire day for the younger kids.  It's amazing no one got hurt or sick!

David's developed quite a strong pitching arm!

All in all, a great day of fellowship with our wonderful church family.  We all went home tired, dirty, but definitely refreshed.

A Quick Trip to the Farm

Watering trees, running around in the dirt, picnic on the porch, and enjoying the beauty of the Arizona countryside....................oh, how I miss this place.

All in all a really great day!  The boys got lots of exercise, enjoyed the fresh country air, and slept the entire way back to town!

Look Who Is Six!

What an excited boy!  Isaac is officially six years old as of yesterday.  He has grown two inches during this past year - and ten inches since he came home from China three years ago!

Isaac LOVES puzzles, so he can always count on a newer and harder puzzle for birthdays and Christmas!

One of his favorite gifts was a bubble windmill - 500 bubbles per minute, supposedly!

Joshua has had such a hard time being happy for Isaac and his birthday - one of the many lessons to learn when you are young.  But he did much better yesterday and now is looking forward to his birthday in May!

Big sister, Rachel!

Oh how I love this boy!  He has brought such joy and laughter to our home and gets so excited over the simplest things in his day.  May God richly bless you as you grow, my boy!

And what could be better than getting mail on your birthday?

What a special day you had young man!  We love how you are growing, both in height, but in wisdom.  You have made great progress over the past year and we look expectantly to the year to come!  You are much loved!

One Little Two Little Three Little Bubbles!

Every Wednesday, we go to Preschool Storytime at our local library.  The  boys love it and we check out books at the same time.   When we first go in, Miss Michelle, the children's librarian has some sort of activity that they can work on until everyone arrives.

Then we all sing "Shake Shake Shake My Sillies Out"........in hopes that it will help the wilder children settle down for a story.  This was a small group of children this past week - there have been up to 50 kids on other days.

There is quite a bit of change in activity, which keeps the attention span on the books for the day.  Book, song, book, song, etc.  Each week there is a theme.  Some of the books are really sweet, but some are so ridiculous that I have seriously thought of writing children's books.  I wonder how some of them ever got published.......  Anyway, having the bubble machine and singing the bubble song is a highlight for these two boys!

Singing the bean-bag song is another good one.   (I know this is not a thrilling post, but hey, I'm doing this for the grandparents, Courtney, and family posterity!)

After story time (when Beth was here), imagination was at its finest with these two little boys!  They play so well together and use their imagination tremendously!

Beth got to enjoy the wonder of Thomas and Friends after bathtime.  Thomas, Percy, Emily, etc. are constant topics of conversations around our house!

Stay tuned for a birthday post...............some special little boy is turning SIX on Wednesday!

A Walk Around the Lake

When my friend, Beth, was here we helped ourselves to a delicious Mexican meal at a local restaurant.  So afterwards we decided to walk around the lake and enjoy the gorgeous weather!

The temperature was in the high 70's with a light breeze - the absolute best time of year!

Isaac and Joshua love these turtles, but during the heat of the summer they are a serious burn risk.  So they jumped at the opportunity to sit on them before it gets too hot!

All in all.........a lovely afternoon!  Good food, a good friend that goes back a long time, and good weather.