It's been a few days!

Hi all- It's been a few days since I've updated you in our lives. I don't have any more embarrassing things to share about myself today. The last 2 posts kind of humbled me! I told Jeff that I needed to post a picture of myself (after realizing that there is not one single picture of me on this blog) so that people can see that my "double chin" really isn't very evident. Just a little "bump". But oh well, I am always the one behind the camera and that is in general alright with me.

This past weekend was pretty normal. Jeff of course worked non-stop. Either for the church or real estate. He NEVER gets a day off. He is desperately trying to obey the 4th commandment but sometimes that is very hard! (Keep the Sabbath Day Holy- his Sabbath is sometimes on a Wednesday afternoon or some other strange time) We have come to the conclusion that as long as he finds SOME time during the week to rest/relax/and reflect that that is OK too.

Sunday night I took the girls to the pool. We actually hadn't been there (besides swimming lessons) much this past week, I think only one time on Monday. They had a great time, it was actually a little chilly and Haley just shivered away! After that- we went home and I made spaghetti with my "special sauce" as the girls refer to it. Haley had been looking forward all day to watching Monsters Inc. on the Disney Channel but sitting still with her "night- night" (pink blanket) proved to be too much and before long she was a "goner."

Our friends (and loyal Blog readers- Lynn's words- "I love that blog of yours!") Duane, Lynn, Alyssa and Brittney Staten arrived from Michigan yesterday afternoon. We became friends with their family when Jenna was one and we were pastoring their church in Madison Heights, Michigan. Their girls were probably 7 and 10 at that time, now they are 14 and 17! Time flies by! They have grown to be absolutely beautiful girls. When they arrived we visited for quite awhile and Haley wanted to know when we were going to get off the couch and do something. We decided to go outside and visit so she could "catch bugs" while we talked.

We actually, a few days ago, caught a salamander ( a salamander in Iowa?!?!) in the back yard. Last night I was telling Haley that we should let it go because it won't live etc. etc. So Haley grabbed the bucket and sympathetically said to the salamander. "I'm sorry, I guess you HAVE to live!" Like the salamander was just going to be so disappointed that she was letting it go!
She took it down to our pond that doesn't hold water and let it go. And then she proceeded to take her little sand bucket and fill it up with water from the hose several times and haul it down to the pond to try and fill it up for the salamander. She quickly realized that that was a losing battle.

Well, I have bored you long enough. I will post pictures tomorrow of our events today with the Statens. We plan on going to the pool and having a bonfire tonight.