Each Boy

We had a few students come over tonight (do you notice a theme?). It is summer, after all.  They ended up coming about an hour after I thought they would be here so I went ahead and put the children to bed before they came, much to the disappointment of our 3 older ones.  Simeon already had a line-up of toys he wanted to show Mac, one of his favorite Ignite kids.  So I think it made Simeon's night when Shane and Mac walked in to their room, turned on the light and let Sim talk Mac's ear off about all his favorite things.  It was super cute.  

And it must have been so exciting that Sim couldn't sleep because almost 2 hours later, I was upstairs talking to one of our girls when Simeon walked out of their bedroom singing, the light was on, and he had a pile of books and toys in his bed.  Lieren was fast asleep. 

Here are recent videos of our 3 boys, starting with Simeon, who has become one with the Strider bike. He loves that "orange bike" as he calls it...

Blaise acts so big to me sometimes.  He is really only saying a couple words; all done and water for sure with a few others that are inconsistent.  All our other kids were saying a lot more by this age.  But he grasps an incredible amount and he watches his siblings with a keen understanding.  He imitates them and can do things that surprise me all the time.  He just wants to be like the big kids!  Hence, here he is, working the stomp rocket like it was made for babies...

I mentioned Silas had swim lessons last week.  When we arrived on day 3, his teacher announced to us that it would be the day he learned to swim.  I certainly wasn't sure myself, but she proved me wrong!  The whole family went back for his final lesson, the 4th one, which was on the 4th of July.  So proud of how much he accomplished!  And of course, now Simeon is begging to take swim lessons and wants to quit wearing his Puddle Jumper.  It's amazing the trails the first child blazes for the rest...

He Turned Five

We have students at our house again tonight.  It's a smaller crowd, though...just the graduated seniors.  Tonight was their last time at our weekly high school gathering so they went to dinner after and came over.  I told them as I headed upstairs that they were welcome to stay as long as they wanted.  And they are welcome in our home anytime.  We just love this class and will miss them so much.

While they reminisce and talk about the future and play video games, I am wondering how in the world our oldest turned 5 this week.  But at the same time, it's hard to believe Silas has only been in our lives for 5 years.  I surely have been a mom longer than that.  I mean, I really can't remember life before him.

Silas is really into Legos, playing games, and reading.  He learned to swim this summer, but still likes the security of his puddle jumper.  He is always asking to do something "fun" and has recently started telling us during the quieter moments that he is "just too bored of this."  He likes to sing and plays well with his siblings.  He loves sharing a room with Blaise in this house.  Turning 5 seems like such a milestone.  And Silas definitely is acting older to us these days.  

We celebrated with family earlier in the week, then on Friday took Silas and 3 of his friends bowling.  It was just what he wanted to do for his birthday.  And it was a first for Shane and I, taking Silas and his friends on an outing...

There's Haley in the back with Silas, Jack and Hudson in the front.  They were silly as can be in the car and we just kept shaking our heads at them.

After we buckled the kids in the car, I asked Shane to take a quick picture of us girls.  Natalie, Megan, and Trisha have been such good friends since we moved here.  We all have children the same ages and our kids love playing together.  We also do preschool at the same place and go to church together so there are lots of reasons we stay connected...

So excited to finally get to Bass Pro for bowling in the Fishbowl...

Silas got a strike the first time!

Shane kept the crowd entertained...

Checking out the gifts...

Then we had the families over for pizza.  The kids played, had a water balloon fight, and generally entertained themselves.  It was such a nice evening to sit outside and enjoy it...

Silas requested a tiger cake this year...

This was the best we could do by the end of the evening...

And after everyone left, we stayed outside and chased fireflies.  It was the perfect way to end a delightful day...

Home

We've been in our house 2 weeks.  We got to start moving things in on that Tuesday, moved more on Thursday, then did a small final move and slept in the house on Friday, 2 weeks ago yesterday.  

On that Saturday night, after us being in the house barely over 24 hours, Shane left on the biggest mission trip he's ever led (51 students and adult leaders) to Haiti.  I was never more thrilled to see him than when he walked in the door at 3:45 am the next Saturday night.

Just having him back this week has made me feel a bit more settled in the house.  We've already celebrated birthdays here, had friends over, and made some sweet memories.  But it's such a big house and one of the reasons we knew we would love it so much is that we could have students over here, just like we did in the "old home" (that's what Lieren calls our old house...so sweet, and I'm praying wherever we are always feels like home to her).

So tonight we finally invited our high school students over.  And can I just tell you, after saying goodbye to my parents several weeks ago, saying goodbye to the old home, and surviving a week with Shane gone, my heart hasn't felt this full in a long time.  It was a reminder that God still redeems.  And He is always working good on our behalf.

As I sat outside with a group of our students and leaders this evening, I felt that finally the place feels a little more like home.

                            

Little Buddies

Walked in after putting Blaise to bed the other night to find this...

Afternoon Adventures

A week ago today we said goodbye to the house we've loved for the last 2 and a half years...

And said hello to another...

We're not sure how long we'll be here, but for now, we are finding there are all kinds of adventures to be had when you don't live on Main Street anymore!