just all-around great days!

We've been having some really great and fun days that have really been keeping us busy.

Earlier in the week...

While Letty was napping one afternoon, Ivy, Owen, and I got our aprons and made a pie to surprise Daddy when he came home from work.

Another day, we made our way over to Justin and Sarah's house to see their new baby chicks and new goats named Willow and Nellie.

Yet another day, I met up with some of the ladies I worked with at the law office I worked at for the 5 years before staying home to raise our family. We had a lovely dinner in the gazebo at Bonnie's house and talked of old and new times and of each others' families, laughing so much. It was so nice to catch up with these ladies as they are, like any co-worker, ones who you just get to know by working with them for so long. Such a nice time! Thank you, Bonnie, for opening your home to us.

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On Friday...

Since Nathan had the day off, we planned a special family activity. We decided to take the kids to the playground to play on the swings and slides and other equipment then eat a picnic lunch there and then finally play and run through the water sprinklers at the park. We arrived at the playground and were too hungry to play right off, so we had our picnic first.

After eating, we started to play on the playground when a woman came up to me asking if we were going to go over to the Thomas the Train activities. I explained to her that we were not as we didn't buy any tickets. Then, she asked if we wanted to and explained that she had these wrist bands that she was not going to use as her kids were too tired to go over. I said that I would check with my husband but that I thought that we would use them. She insisted that I take them and said that if I wasn't going to use them to just pass them along to someone else. I thanked her very much for her generosity and thoughtfulness and then went to see Nathan. As I explained to Nate the gift we were just given, we thought that it would be good for me and Letty to go over to the train station to inquire about what all the bracelets would allow us to do, while he, Ivy and Owen ran through the water as the kids were really looking forward to doing the water sprinklers. So, Nathan, Ivy and Owen got wet...

while Letty and I went to the train station.

As I was just about to walk into the train station, two girls were standing by the door. They then asked me if I had tickets to ride the train yet. I told them that I had these bracelets but wasn't sure what that allowed us to do. They explained to me that you needed tickets to ride the train and then further explained that they had won tickets from a radio station but did not want to wait around until the scheduled time to use them and THEN they asked if I would use them. Dumbfoundedly and not sure what to say, I said something like, "Sure, we could probably use them, but how much do you want for them?" They said, "Nothing...just use them!" WOW, Lord, another gift? This was too much! So now, I had in my hands bracelets, which I found out gets you access to the inner train station grounds where all of the extra Thomas the Train activities are that we could be a part of without paying anything extra, and 2 tickets to ride Thomas the Train...all just handed to me by 3 very generous and thoughtful ladies! Needless to say, we went and enjoyed the Thomas the Train activities...

a bouncy house (Ivy's favorite)

a hay maze

face painting

a misting tent (Daddy's favorite)

making a necklace out of colored raw noodles

playing with a Thomas the Train set (Owen's favorite)

watching a lady juggle while walking on stilts

and riding Thomas the Train!

Because we had only 2 tickets to ride Thomas the Train and because Owen was under 2 years old and could ride for free, Nathan, Ivy, and Owen rode the train, while Letty and I stayed behind so that Letty could be fed her bottle and so that I could find my missing wallet! (Don't worry! Someone found it and turned it into Lost & Found! Another blessing!)

(What you don't know is that the few weeks leading up to the Thomas the Train events, Nathan and I had been contemplating about taking the kids to the Thomas the Train events but decided that it wasn't really worth spending that kind of money for what you did especially since we didn't have any die-hard Thomas the Train fans in our family yet!) Wow! What a blessing! What memories! I love to see how the Lord provides even when we didn't have a need but perhaps He knew we needed family time! ;)

Later that night, a friend of mine, Sarah, and I had planned a girls night out. We went out to a local Irish restaurant (Nathan's favorite) and went to a playhouse to watch the performance "Singing in the Rain." It was wonderful!
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On Saturday...

We went swimming down at what we call Papa Roger's pool.

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Today (Sunday) was filled with A LOT of great stuff.

First, the building where our church usually meets had been previously rented out for this Sunday. SO, our pastor decided to have a Service Sunday instead of a Sunday Service. Our church body split up into 3 groups and set off to actively worship our Lord through serving Him today. Two of the groups went to two separate homes to do work projects there, while the other group did a prayer walk around the town where our church is being established.

Our group worked at Miss Mary's house, scraping paint, cleaning out gutters, and prepping her house to be painted. Here are some highlights from the day...

A friend Errin, being 6 months pregnant, willingly offered to watch our and her kids today. Thank you Errin for your service!

Miss Mary's brother, Oscar, also turned 93 yesterday and was celebrating his birthday today with his sister and brother. (They meet together every Sunday to share a meal and spend time together.) Of course, we had to take the opportunity to sing Happy Birthday to Oscar. The advice Mary gave us was "Behave yourself." Oscar's advice was "Keep breathing."

Thank you to Mr. Rod for coming to check up on us and for being willing to run after anything that we might have needed.

One of the MANY favorites from today was when we ALL sat around Miss Mary's living room, prayed together, read from God's Word, shared testimonies of how the Lord worked or blessed us this past week, and answered Nathan's always challenging challenge question, all in front of Miss Mary. What a sweet time!

After our work at Miss Mary's house was done for the day, we all enjoyed a time of fellowship back at our house eating pizza and just hanging our for a little bit. Another favorite of the day was getting to spend this time with our friends.

Later in the day today, we attended the (supposed to be surprise but they found out) 50th Wedding Anniversary Party to honor Papa Roger and Nana (a couple whom we have enjoyed and had the pleasure to get to know and trust over these past years and whom have adopted our kids as if they were their own grandkids and have helped us out SO MUCH).

It was so great to see ALL of the fun our kids had dancing...all of the fun Papa and Nana seemed to have dancing and enjoying the company of their family and friends....yet another favorite of the day.

Happy Anniversary, Roger and Gloria!

Like I said, these were just all-around great days!