Gotta read this!

The Geise family showed up at the Adoption Fair at our church several years ago thinking God was calling them to adopt from China.  On that day, God made it clear that it was actually Ethiopia.  Through that process, God has called them to move to Ethiopia..........an amazing read....read it!

Father's Day......a new home office for Tom!

Today was Father's Day.  We weren't sure what to get Tom for Father's Day.  He hates to have us spend much money on him so I knew we had to keep it simple.  He had some suggestions, but none of them hit me as much as the idea that I had!

First, I consider myself extremely blessed to have Tom as the father to my kids!  I have always considered him to be the best person I know.....and he hates when I say that....because he is also the most humble person I know!  This last year has been a challenging year for us in terms of parenting.  When I have been weak, he has been strong!  When I have emotional, he has been together!  When I have been angry, he had the voice of reason!  When I wanted to react, he helped me find restraint!  When I didn't know if I could love enough, he loved enough for both of us!  When I wanted to shut down, he stepped it up and showed up!  He has helped me be a better parent in some tough times!  I so love and respect him for who he has been...especially this last year!

Through this, we've also gone through some serious transitions with our church.  Tom served as the interim lead pastor during a tough transition.  When many would have wanted to run, he stayed!  He stayed because God called him to stay!  I'm so grateful to have a guy that seriously seeks the heart of God in all that he does!

He was recently called to be the Lead Minister at our church.  For twelve years he has served as the Worship Pastor and now he preaches just about every Sunday. Quite honestly, I enjoy his messages.  I have the privilige of hearing them several times each week as he prepares!  There are seven of us living in this 3-bedroom home.  Every space is taken up by either a person or the belongings of a person!  We don't have an office or den as a place to get away to read and/or study.  Tom has made the front porch a place where he reads, studies and prepares for Sunday mornings.  For several months now I have complained that our front porch looks like a bit of a Hillbilly porch!  The old ladderback chair looked cool, but wasn't comfortable for reading.  So he used it as a table and sat in a lawn chair.  Many mornings he sits there with his Bible, an assortment of other books and his laptop.  There are the occasional days where it is the newspaper!  On many Sunday mornings, if a neighbor would be out, they would probably hear in the distance the sermon that would be given later that morning at our church!  Many Sunday mornings, I get to hear it as I contemplate getting out of bed and getting ready for the day!  I admire this in him and consider it am blessed at seeing and hearing his heart....coming from the front porch!

So the girls and I set out to shop on Saturday morning!  Lily is proud to say, "We got daddy a new home office!"  It's a simple chair and a simple table sitting on a simple porch!  I'm glad it doesn't have that hillbilly look!  So, maybe one day he will have some fancy office where he can bring his hundreds of books out of the basement and placed on fancy bookshelves.  Until then, his front porch home office will do....Happy Father's Day, Tom! I like the view of the front porch when you are sitting there!

GRADUATION PARTY!

You are invited to TJ's graduation party!

Saturday, June 26

4:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.

The Chapel

Fairfield Christian Church

1965 N. Columbus St.

Lancaster, Ohio  43130

(Park in the corner lot of Whittier and Columbus and enter Door H)

I guess the tooth fairy is visiting our house tonight!

It is a momentous occasion in our home as Lily lost her first tooth today!  This tooth has been hanging around way too long!  Quite honestly, you would think after having experienced three kids who have lost many teeth over the years, you'd think I wouldn't be so wimpy...but I hate the look of a loose tooth!  I do have an issue with some of the folks out there that "represent" the tooth fairy!  Lily says, "Mom, the kids in my class got $10.00 from the tooth fairy when they lost their first tooth."  My response, "Lily, I don't think that tooth fairy knows our family."  She follows that up with, "Well, I hope the tooth fairy that knows us can leave me a dollar and a quarter."  Personally, I still think that is a bit much for a tooth, but I'm thinking our tooth fairy can deliver a buck twenty five!  That's a first tooth deal only!  The bummer part is that the tooth fairy is really tired and wants to go to bed, but I still hear voices coming from behind their bedroom door!  Hope they sleep soon because I would hate for the tooth fairy to fall asleep and skip out on her duties!  Wouldn't that be heartbreaking for such a momentous occasion!

One down, four to go!!!!!

TJ receiving his diploma!

TJ was hugged by three of the principals.

TJ with Grandma Flo (My mom)

TJ with Grandma and Grandpa Alexander (Tom's Parents)

TJ with Tom and I

Well, he did it!  TJ graduated from high school this past Sunday!  We were excited...and proud!  We will be having a graduation party on June 26th.....more information coming on that at a later date!  What's next for TJ?  On Monday morning he started a full-time job with a local concrete company.  We are proud of you, TJ!

End of Kindergarten

Sarah with Mrs. Davis.  It was fun to see how much Sarah adores Mrs. Davis!

Lily with Mrs. Oller.  Lily thinks she really rocks!

Sarah and some of her classmates.

Lily and some of her girlsfriends from Mrs. Oller's class.  This girl thing is wild!

The girls and I on a walk at Chestnut Ridge.

The girls graduated from kindergarten this past Thursday.  It was quite the celebration!  Most of you would be shocked to see how much these kids have memorized in the way of Scripture and songs!  Amazing!  It's been a great year for the girls.  Both of them loved their teacher and their friends.  Both Lily and Sarah have finished the year well and both are so stinkin' smart!  I'm very proud of them.

The big graduation takes place tomorrow....TJ will graduate from high school.  I hope to post some pictures tomorrow night.  It's been a wild year as the girls started kindergarten and TJ wraps up school.  God has shown himself to be extremely good to me and extremely faithful!

My first dance recital!

(sorry, posts won't be in order!)
Today (June 5th) was my very first recital!  I've done just about every sport as a child or adult.  I've taken my boys to a variety of sports committments for almost 19 years.  Today was my first dance recital!  I made an honest attempt at doing the bun in the hair thing on my own, but it didn't work out so well.  Fortunately, there were women at the recital that knew what they were doing.  I watched and took mental notes and think maybe, just maybe, I might be able to be successful at my next bun attempt.

The girls take lessons from Erin Moris at Leaps of Faith.  Tom and I have a lot of appreciation for Erin and her ministry to reclaim dance for Kingdom purposes.  It was a beautiful night of worship as we watched the students who dance under Erin's leadership!  The girls are in a class of just three girls.  They were beautiful!  They danced to one of my favorite songs, "Beautiful."  If I can figure out how to upload videos from our new camera, I will share it.  Until then, trust me.....it was beautiful.  As much as I loved watching my boys in all of the sporting events of the past, I don't think I ever cried tears while watching them.  I'm getting way too soft as watching my girls dance, made me cry.  I am so blessed to have had them enter my life.  They have brought into my life pinks and purples.  And now they've given me dance!