Some prayer requests and an update

It's been weeks since I've blogged...again. Life has been busy and full. Today I am praying for some very dear friends and ask that you would pray with me.

A very dear and looooonnnng time friend, Dave, is having his first treatment of chemo today for Follicular Lymphoma. He is young, a father to 5 children from age 7-20. Please pray for God's healing and for His peace that passes all understanding. My heart breaks for him and his family as they walk this path. Please pray that God's awesome power will be shown and lives would be changed for His glory through all of this!

Another dear friend, Erin, is scheduled for a c-section this morning. This is her first baby and it is very breech. Pray for a safe and healthy delivery and easy recovery.

My hubby and I had a WONDERFUL getaway to a beautiful, rather warm climate. It was so perfect! Just the break we needed in the middle of the craziness of life to reconnect and spend good quality time together.

And just for fun, a few pics of my girls having fun at homeschool co-op. We are very blessed to have a great professional photographer as part of our co-op who so graciously wandered around with her camera the other day to get some great candid shots for the yearbook. Thanks Susan!

And this shot was taken by my good friend, Mary Lou - AKA Miss Lou Lou :-)

And finally, I have 10 weeks and 5 days left until my due date! I can't believe I'm almost there! Can't wait to hold our sweet Caroline!

Horsing Around

So today my dear friend, Stephanie, invited my girls and I on a field trip to the horse farm where she works. Oh, how excited they were! Here are some pictures of their day of fun. Unfortunately, I realized later that we never got a picture of the girls with Stephanie :(

Maia even got to "fix" a tractor and "drive" another. Wink, wink. Stephanie got some other cute pictures. I'll have to post them another day.

Thank you, Mrs. Stephanie!

Our little sorta-vacation :)

I haven't posted in awhile. I've been too busy enjoying our special blessing this week! Our very dear friends are on a mission trip for the week and asked us to care for their dogs and home while they were away. I remember the hesitant way Erin asked in her e-mail, afraid that we might be inconvenienced! Little did she know what a blessing it has been to "vacation" at their home where the kids can swim in the pool and Tom can fish or kayak. We've enjoyed lunch and dinner almost every day out on the deck overlooking a beautifully landscaped yard and the water. Morning quiet times have been heavenly, surrounded by God's beautiful creation. I've even had some quiet moments all to myself in the hammock (and plan a few more before the week is over)! I went in to work both Monday and Wednesday as normal, and Tom is working a full week, but Tom's nearly hour-long commute has been cut in half for the week, and my normal 30 minute drive to church has been cut to only 8! Giving us much more time in the evening to enjoy.

On Saturday we will return home, to our cute little house in town, where the scenery is basically the neighbors' houses just a few feet away and the town playground...but it's home and it's where our hearts hang :0) Real life is calling to us, "remember me?" as we will probably have to machete our way through the jungle that has most likely taken over our yard since we've been away. And there are bills to pay and errands to run. But for now, I think I'll pour myself a glass of iced tea and slip outside to enjoy a bit more of this peaceful little retreat while the kids are STILL (at 8:30!!!) asleep!!! Shhhh...