Just an update, no pics.

I thought I'd post just a few things of late. The biggest news is that Tyler shot an eagle the other day! My friend, Lisa Sexton thought he actually shot an eagle in the sky with a gun! It's amazing that I'm such good friends with women that have no clue about sport lingo! It was hole 9 at Valley View and I got to see it. I was steamin' mad because I was waiting at the golf course for him to finish. Tyler would golf all day, every day if we would let him. He is one of those kids that can golf for two hours and talk about those two hours...for three hours! Anyway, I wasn't sure it was an eagle because I was up on the hill, but I had a great veiw of the green. Tyler was down below the green and could not see it go in....poor guy. There was this disbelief as he made his way to the green, couldn't find his ball and looked in the cup.....there it was!

The other news is that I went back to work yesterday after being out for four years. As some of you may know, I have a BA in Health and Physical Education....I know....a bit chubby for someone with such a degree! I never thought I'd teach PE because I had more of an interest in higher education administration and went straight from undergrad to grad school to BGSU to get my MA in College Student Personell. Anyway, I worked in higher education for a number of years before staying home full-time with the kids. I've come to realize that a career in higher education administration isn't the best job for me in terms of being the mom that I want to be. Teachin PE works will with my life right now. I only teach a few days each week so it isn't too difficult, although I did have a hard time not being home when my girls woke up. They are a bit more clingy today, but that's okay.....I like it.

TJ's first football game is tonight. Go Gales! Dane had a scrimmage this past week and they looked pretty good.

Oh, yeah...I turned 44 yesterday! I'm not one for celebrations at this point...and gifts are not a big deal. Oh, but celebrations and gift-giving are important to two little girls. The best gift was watching them with excitement as I blew out the candles on the cake they made with daddy and helped me unwrap the gift they bought for me! What a joy!

First Day of School

Tyler and Dane ready to go for Day One at Fairfield Christian Academy! Dane was excited that the first day of school was also a game day so he could wear his football jersey.

This is TJ's happy photo....actually taken after the one below. TJ goes to the public high school....Lancaster High School.

This was TJ's first photo for the first day of school. I said, "Hey, let me get a picture of you on your first day of tenth grade!" His response, "Are you serious!?" I then told him, "Hey, after this I only have two more first days of school to take pictures of you!" Ugh! (Sory for the potty chair in the background. With seven people in this family, I needed a back up near the closest toilet for the girls to take care of their business if the big one was being used. By the way, this was Tom's potty chair when he was a toddler.....I guess it is at least 44 years old!)

The boys were perfectly fine going back to school. Last night I heard Ty and Dane in bed talking. First, they had a devotional together...how cool is that? I then let them talk because I remember the days as a child sharing a room with my four (yes, four) sisters and the night before school starts chatter. We did have a nice prayer time with the boys before they went to bed. It did get side-tracked as TJ informed us that he would not take the College Prep program next year but preferred to take Auto Tech. I'm not opposed to him going into the auto business, I just have my heart set on that boy going to college. In fact, there are two things that I tell my boys that they are NOT allowed to be when they grow up.....unrighteous and self-righteous. I figure I really don't care what they do for a living as long as they live within these two realms and love the Lord with all their hearts, minds, strength.

This morning I made sure we got the photos and Tom made sure they had a little devotional time....what a guy. He shared these words with them from Ephesians 2:8-10.

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." These were the last words for them as we sent them out to their first day of school for the year 2007-07!

A Football Player and a couple of beauty queens

Number 32 of the Lancaster Golden Gales 2007

TJ with Mom and Dad.

TJ is one of only five sophomores playing on the varsity team this year. Right now he is at Tight End and Outside Linebacker.

I just made this arrangements of photos on the wall. The girls love to point and say, "Baby Sarah, Big Sarah."

A couple of beauty queens!

Something Funny!

Gotcha Day on November 1, 2004.

Gotcha Day 18 months later!

I made this arrangement of photos for Tom's office this morning. I framed five different photos for him....each a photo of him in the early days of each of our children. I wanted an early photo of him with each of the kids so it seemed appropriate to have the Gotcha Day photos with the girls. As I was putting the photos in the frames I noticed something interesting about the photos....Tom was wearing the exact same thing on that day.....18 months apart! So, I go over to his office to arrange them on the wall and there Tom sits at his desk wearing that same shirt. That must be one nice shirt to hold up so well!

Guangdong Reunion

Lilliana Rollings and Lily Alexander in July 2007

Lilliana Rollings and Lily Alexander on November 1, 2004

Cribmates in China....Lily Alexander, Hannah Horne and Chloe Lenhart. This was taken in November of 2004 on the famous red couch of the White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou, China.

The same cribmates(out of order) in July of 2007. Chloe Lenhart is on the left, Hannah Horne in the middle and Lily Alexander on the right.

Eight of the Guangdong 12 at our Reunion in Owensboro, Kentucky in July of 2007. (left to right) Lily Alexander, Ashley Gebhardt, Jasmine Hodapp, Chloe Lenhart, Lilliana Rollings, Riley Williams, Hannah Horne and Kendall Warren. Missing from the photo this year was Chloe Cowan (I know I didn't spell that right), Ruthie Meyer, Joy Sourwine and Mandy Cook.

Picture Two of the same crew.

The Guangdong 12 on the red couch in November of 2007. Sitting on the couch left to right: Ashley Gebhardt, Lily Alexander, Jasmine Hodapp, Chloe Cowan, Kendall Warren, Lilliana Rollings, Ruthie Meyer. Standing in front, Mandy Cook. Sitting on the back of the couch left to right: Chloe Lenhart, Joy Sourwine, Riley Williams, Hannah Horne.

Well, we took a road trip last week to Owensboro, Kentucky. We stopped in Southern Indiana to visit some old friends that attended church with us while we lived in that area. We spent the night with the Byers'.....Steve, Julie and Philip. It was so much fun to see TJ there with them. They were one of our favorite sitters for TJ. Phillip was good to TJ when TJ was smaller than he....and he was good to TJ this evening as TJ was slightly bigger than him! We also enjoyed allowing them to meet our little girls for the first time. The next morning we had breakfast with some other friends from our old church....the Meaders, Sellars and Kennedy's. It was so much fun to be with them! It was so comfortable that it was hard to believe it had been several years since we last got together. I had always enjoyed spending time with Connie, Cindy and Janet.

(I didn't take any pictures of this time....what was I thinking?)

After breakfast we made the final two hour drive to Owensboro. This was the city TJ was born in so it was good to think back to those early days as first time parents making that drive from Louisville to Owensboro to hold our 6 pound 2 ounce boy for the first time. This day we allowed him (at nearly 6 feet 2 inches) to drive a bit along the way. We met our travel group at the Owensboro Christian Church for the day. It is always good to spend time with these families. They will always hold a special place in our hearts. Nine of the girls were from the same orphanage as Lily and the other three were from a nearby orphanage. We spend two weeks together in China sharing in a moment that changed our lives forever! Forever we will be connected to them!

Other things to note: We are getting ready to start school. TJ will start the tenth grade and is busy with football right now. Ty will be in the ninth grade and is ready to take off with the golf team. Dane will start sixth grade and is going to try football this year. Lily and Sarah will start in the 3 year old preschool program two days each week. Me? I've agreed to teach PE two days each week at the Christian school that the lower four attend. Tom isn't starting back at school although he often talks about the possibility of a Ph.D.