{Katrina}

Happy 13th Birthday,

Katrina!!!

Kaitlyn's Audition:

This is an audio of the song Kaitlyn played for her audition into the Music Academy

(click here to read the story).

We thought you might like to hear it!

Enjoy!

IF:

IF

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream---and not make dreams your master;
If you can think---and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:.
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build'em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings---nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And---which is more---you'll be a Man, my son!
-Author Rudyard Kipling-

Accepted!!!!!!

After LOTS of work, LOTS of practice, LOTS of patience, and finally LOTS of worry....Kaitlyn has been accepted into the Pensacola Music Academy Summer Camp!!!!!!

Kaitlyn's friend, Katy, told her about this camp early in May and that she had applied and was waiting to hear back from them. Kaitlyn was very interested and started looking into it right away. In order to apply, she had choose a song that would demonstrate her level of ability, then send in a recording of her playing it.(The instruction offered will be well above amateur levels.) She talked to her piano teacher to pick a song that she should play for the audition and started playing, playing, playing until it was perfect. It was a hard couple of weeks of waiting and more waiting, but she finally got the call from Florida and  a few days later received her acceptance letter!! She is so excited and Katy is thrilled to not be going alone!!
Plane tickets have been purchased and the girls are flying to Pensacola, Florida on July 9th. It's a two-week, very intense instructional camp with a Gala concert on Friday night to cap it off.  They will return home on the 21st.

This has been a faith-building experience.  The Lord orchestrated every minute detail of this becoming a reality!  Because of the distance and the expenses involved, we normally would not have even considered this.   When it was decided that Kaitlyn would apply, we placed the entire situation in God's hands.  As usual, He showed His awesome, creative ability to work it all out -- and we stand amazed and thankful.

{Happy Father's Day!}

"A Father carries pictures where his money used to be." 

Author Unknown  



{Visit with Ava}

Well, our week with Ava is over :( but it was such an awesome week! It was really busy, but we had a great time with her. Ashley came up Friday night and we enjoyed our visit with her as well. They left to go back to Virginia Sunday afternoon, so now we're all sadly wondering around, trying to get used to having a quiet house again!! Little voices are such a blessing in a house!!!

Here are some pictures of our week with her! I ended up having lots of other kids as well, so everyday, there was at least one other child for Ava to play with, if not two or three other kids!!!!! The kids I babysit, Paizley, Blake, Madison and Nick all loved Ava! She was so sweet to all of them and they all played together so well! We all miss her and already can't wait for the next visit!!

I think the favorite was definitely the trampoline all week!











Driving her "kid" to the store!!!!


More belated birthday time!!!


Ava wanted her hair braided every day and Paizley wanted to look just like Ava!!






She LOVED helping me cook dinner and set the table every night!!


Nick and Ava filling the pool with some VERY cold water, but they didn't care one bit!!


After nap time every day, she would say "I took a really good nap. That means I get a Popsicle!"


Trina and Ava playing with squirt guns.


Ready for church. She loved going to church. After we got back on Sunday night, she asked when we could go back to church. After church on Wednesday night, she said "I want to stay at church forever"!! She is  friends with all the little girls there now, and she always looks forward to seeing them!


Playing in the sand box






"watering" the flowers


 Riding "horses"!!!


Playing in the pool




Helping to set the table


Such good eaters!


Obviously this is not Ava, but I just had to post the picture of my adorable, little Blake!!!
He's so sweet! Ava just loved him and he absolutely adored her!


Working on their "flips"










(Sorry the pictures aren't in any sort of order!!! We took so many picture using a couple different cameras, so I was having trouble sorting them all!!)

We love you SO much Ava,

and we already miss you!!!

Ashley,
Thank you SO much for allowing us to have time to spend with Ava!
You have no idea how much it means to us to be able to have a part in her life!
We so enjoyed our visit with you as well! Thanks for coming....come back soon!!



{Kaleb}

Happy 15th Birthday,
Kaleb!!!

{Vacation}

Why do vacations go by SO fast?

We just returned from a week in Virginia at the Massanutten Resort.

                              

                                            

We were in that section of condos on the very top all the way to the right.

 We've been going there for years, and have talked about going someplace else, but when it comes right down to it, we just love it too much!!!

We have a very unusual family tradition for our vacations - do NOTHING!! Sometimes we will site see somewhere or something, but apart from eating way too much food and spending hours in the pools, there's not much else we do. We love it!!! This year was especially "schedule" free!

Saturday:

We left our house Friday night around 10:00p.m. and arrived at our condo around 1:30a.m. Saturday morning. Later that day, we had to go in to Harrisonburg to get some groceries anyways, so we decided to do some shopping!!!!

Sunday:

We went to church. 

Monday:

It was Memorial Day and the Resort was packed, so we decided to just stay in. Some of the kids had brought bikes, so they rode around a little. Mom and I ran back into Harrisonburg to get a few things and run in some stores that we weren't able to go in on Saturday.

                                

We tried out this recipe for homemade Orange Julius! It was so good (and a lot cheaper!)

Click here if you want the recipe!!

Tuesday:

 Dad took Kaleb and Katrina to a nearby park to ride bikes for a little while in the morning.

                                  
                                                               A man's work is never done!
                                               
                                                                          Mr. Long-legs!

                                 
                                                                    Never too old to swing!

                                              
                                                        Katrina at a very large tree in the park

 In the afternoon, Aunt Dianna came over and we had the pleasure of going to visit mom's aunt and uncle who live not far from the Resort. It was such a wonderful visit! Both Aunt Margaret and Uncle Glenn have had some health issues over the past few years, so it was just so wonderful to get to visit with them and see them doing so well!

                                   

Mom and Aunt Margaret. Isn't she the prettiest lady? 

                                  
                                           Karen, Uncle Glenn and Aunt Dianna looking at pictures.

Aunt Margaret's daughter, Karen, was also able to be there,

and we thoroughly enjoyed our visit with her as well!

Wednesday:

 We finally got to go to the pool!!! With the holiday and everything, it was just packed!

We spent the morning at LeClub in the gym, indoor pool, hot tub and playing horseshoes!

                              

                              

 Mom and Dad went to the sales-pitch/lunch to get a $125 visa!!! So while they were there, we went to the outdoor pool! It was probably the coolest day we had there, so it felt really good as long as you were in the water, but when you got out, it was freezing!!! It was still in the 80's, but there was a breeze, so with that and being wet, it was pretty cold! So we sat right in the middle of the sunniest place there to warm up! After about 3 hours, we went back to the condo and realized we were TOTALLY burnt!! Everyone's face and arms were SO red!

We also managed to lock ourselves out of our condo on Wednesday as well! It's a key card and if you get it close to a cell phone or credit card, it basically disables it. So we had three keys and ended up ruining one, but it got put back with all the rest. So before we left for church Wednesday night, we just picked up a key and went! Unfortunately, it was the bad key, so we were locked outside at 10p.m.!!!!

                                 

                       Katrina, Kaitlyn, Kelley...

                        Might as well get comfortable!

                                               
                                                      Kaleb decided he might as well take a ride.

                                                
                                         On the phone trying to get security to bring us another key!

Thursday:

We again spent the morning at LeClub indoor pool and things and then when they closed for pool aerobics, we went to the outdoor pool again for a little while.

                                

                               
                                                                              Katrina

                               

My nicely toasted forehead!!

We went back to the condo and decided to do the Go-Karts!

                               

                               

Kaleb and Dad - the professionals!

                                             

                              

Kelley and Katrina

                              

Kaitlyn

                              

Some of us where a little too competitive...

                              

...and some of us just didn't know how to drive one of these things!

                              
                                                                             :)

                               

                              

After we were done with the Go-Karts, we headed to the park one more time.

                              

                               

                              

                               

                               

Kelley and I played some catch

                              

Kelley and Kaitlyn made "ducks"!!!

Around 8p.m. Ashley and Ava arrived! We had worked it out so Ava could come while we were there and then we could take her home with us for a few days.

                                           

                             

We didn't get to see Ava on her birthday, so we brought her presents with us!

Friday:

We had been saving for a long time and had purchased tickets to see the Jonah show at Sight & Sound Theater in Lancaster, PA (no, that is not close to Virginia!!) It took about 4-1/2 hours to get to Lancaster from VA. We had to check out of our condo by 10a.m, but the show didn't start until 7:30p.m, so we had a lot of time to kill! After we checked out, we went to the pool and spent some time there. Ava LOVED the kiddie pool!!!

                                 

                                

                                 

Such a cutie!!!!

                                 

                                

She thought that was the greatest thing ever!!

                                

Kaitlyn was finally old enough to get in the hot tub!! It's a huge joke, because no one believes any of us are over 16, so every time Kelley, Kaitlyn or I step in one of the hot tubs, a poor life guard comes running over saying, "I'm sorry, but you have to be 16 to get in"!!!!!! I always feel so sorry for them when they find out they we aren't 16...we're 17, 19, and 21!!!!!! We've made it a habit to never get in unless mom or dad are there to vouch for us....unless we're carrying ID!!!

                              

Kaleb and Ava went to play basketball while everyone else got dried off.

                              

And then she was WORN OUT!!!!! She fell asleep about 20 minutes after we left!

                                             

We stopped at Golden Corral on the way to Lancaster and Ava was in love with dipping her strawberries in hot fudge sauce!! I don't have any clue how many strawberries that girl ate,

but with all the hot fudge, she was wired!!!!!!

                               

   In Heaven!!

                               

The Jonah show was AMAZING!!! I absolutely love going there and Ava is still talking about it today!

If you ever have a chance to go, you definitely should! Simply Fabulous!!

We saw Joseph last year and have seen Noah and Abraham and Sarah in the past.

When we heard they were going to do Jonah, we were super excited!!!

It was pouring the rain when we got there. Dad sort of dropped us off before he parked, but we still ended up having to run a long ways to get to the door. By the time we got there, we were so soaking wet!

It was a little better when we came out, but we still got pretty wet...and we hadn't dried off from the first time!!

                                

Pappy giving Ava a ride!!! 

It was 10:30p.m. when we left Sight & Sight and roughly 2:30a.m. when we got home, so we were all super tired. But we've managed to get everything put away and most of the laundry done today!

Poor mom and dad had to get up and get a couple things done, re-pack and they headed out before noon for NY. Dad has a business meeting on Monday and then they'll come home Monday night.

We had a GREAT vacation! It's sad that it's over and we're already looking forward to next year!