Abundance !

It has been another week blessed with family and friends. Take a peek.....

Laura emailed this picture of Ben and Amelia, who went to her first game at Safeco Field last weekend. The ballpark is within walking distance of their apartment in Seattle so it's likely little Amelia will see a few more games before they move to Pasadena :).



Monday was sisters' lunch and we had a HUGE dilemma because my camera battery was dead...
we ended up with this picture taken on Marva's phone :).

It was a damp and rainy day on Tuesday so Abby, Sophie, and Noah put on all of their swimming gear and went for a dip in their (imaginary) lake in their basement.

Abby

Sophie

Tori went with me to visit Mom B. on Wednesday - Tori's always a day-brightener for her.


Thursday was Grandparents' Day at Byron Christian and I was treated to tours by both Deven and Tori. They were very kind and considerate and I loved spending the morning with them!

The stained glass picture we are standing by was done in memory of Bill's dad. It is in the middle school building.

Tori with her two Grandmas :)

The programs were great reminders of the blessings of a Christ-centered education. This short clip is from Tori's program.

Lunch in the park before the kids headed back to class in the afternoon.

Ty is having a terrific season on the ball field. He hit an over-the-fence home run on Thursday!

Playing right field

Great swing

Another easy score on Friday evening.

This picture of Amelia and Laura was taken during our conversation via Skype on Friday evening - what a honeybee!

Saturday morning we had a cleaning marathon at Bill's mother's house. There were twenty of us there clearing stuff out of the basement, cleaning floors, and moving furniture. We got a lot done in three hours' time, thanks to our wonderful family. Wish I had pictures....it was a great crew!

In the evening we went to an Alano Club anniversary dinner emceed by our brother-in-law John. We were blessed to be there for the celebration of life and sobriety! Thanks, John, for giving me permission to write this and for being a committed friend to so many who are walking the hard road you know so well. You are an inspiration to us and we love you! (Okay, he didn't give me permission to add that last sentence, but I put it in anyway....)

Dashing couple - Denise and John

Great emcee !

Denise and Katie

Beckie and me - shot from the end of my arm :)

Marva and Dave

Anjali, the daughter of our friends Kevin and Carmen, was baptized on Sunday morning. It was a special moment for our church family who prayed them through the many ups and downs of the adoption process. Anjali is a delightful little girl and a great blessing to all of us!

This is a picture Anjali took at the luncheon after the worship service - that's me with two very special young ladies in our church, Peyton in front and Mariah (Anjali's sister) in back.

My friend Abby was wearing a medal that she earned in a 3-mile run on Saturday - way to go, Abby!


It was great to spend some time with Tony & Kirsten and their kids during our visit with Mom B. this noon. What a beautiful family!


We spent the evening at Steve and Lynn's where we enjoyed supper and some very competitive ping pong games. Deven has a way of placing the serve at the very corner of the table and beat me four games straight. I tried to blame my trifolcals, but.......

Steve played against Bill......gave it his all....but lost against that great English Bill has a way of putting on the ball.

Tori was a great hostess! She prepared and served this tray of snacks - and earned a tip from Grandpa :)

These two friends, Anna and Jozlyn, saw each other at church this morning. Neither knew the other had the same outfit....cute!

May your life be dotted with all kinds
of happy moments, special occasions,
and unexpected joys!

Easter was a wonderful day that began a fellowship breakfast between the two worship services at church. We visited Mom B. in the afternoon and our family came for supper in the evening - even Zac was able to join us:) He usually needs to head back to Ohio for Monday classes. The kids hunted for Easter eggs and got their bags of treats from Aunt Laura and Uncle Ben who never miss an opportunity to send gifts and goodies from Seattle.

I was able to spend Tuesday afternoon and Thursday with Abby, Sophie and Noah. Tuesday fun included watching Noah at hockey and Thursday fun included three hours at the park, enjoying the beautiful weather!

Ty plays on the freshman baseball team for South Christian and had some games this week. He had several great hits and scored lots of runs.

Good eye - Ty takes a walk this time

Laura sent these pictures of Amelia who will be four months old this week. Oh, how we miss her!

Laura wore this dress as a baby :)

Today we enjoyed time at the birthday party of my friend Kaye who is now 80 years old! It was a wonderful celebration, with plenty of time to visit with her family and friends.


Nephew Brian is leaving for Ft. Leonardwood on Tuesday where he begins basic training in the National Guard, as you can see on his sweatshirt. It was good to spend some time at his going-away party before he leaves.

Bill, Barb, Brian

These flowers are in Tori's room :)

May your life be decorated with bright and colorful moments
as we live as Easter people!

Adventures Far and Near

What a wonderful week we had in Seattle with Laura & Ben and Amelia!!! It's always great visiting there, but this spring break was extra-special. We took Tori with us and, oh my, what fun we had with her and Amelia!

We went to the Aquarium where we could touch lots of underwater sea creatures and plants. We went to the beautiful Woodland Park Zoo, Kerry Park, and the Seattle Center. Tori and I went to Pioneer Square and rode the elevator to the 35th floor of the Smith Tower where we had great views of the city, Puget Sound and the cargo ships, and the mountains.

We enjoyed a 'Ride the Ducks' tour (which was GREAT fun!) and took the ferry to Bainbridge Island. We rode on the monorail, buses and a carousel and wemade stops at the gum wall and the Troll that 'lives' under the Fremont Bridge.

We also did some of the traditional things like walk through the Market, get hot-from-the-cooker donuts, and have breakfast at the 5 Spot. Such fun! With all those activities and our time together, you can imagine it was really tough choosing which pictures to include. They are divided into two slide shows; the first is full of family photos and the second is of sights around Seattle.

Thanks, Laura and Ben, for your hospitality and for giving us lots of time with Amelia. She is SO precious and we are so thankful for the week we were able to spend with her and with you!

It didn't take long for Bill to get back to work after we arrived home. He is compiling the order forms for the Co-op and this is how most of his evenings are spent:

The week before we headed to Seattle was packed with family and friends. We celebrated Zac's 19th birthday on Sunday, the 29th. I have only one picture to commemorate the occasion.....

Happy Birthday, Zac!
We love you and are very proud of you!

Anna quickly became a great knitter - this is her
wearing one of the sweaters she made :)

On Monday evening we went to Rick and Beckie's to see the pictures of Rick's trip to India. Kenny was wearing his 'favorite' sweatshirt. He must take really good care of it because it looks almost like new :)

Tuesday night - special time with special friend, Sue. Love that lady!

After Bible study on Wednesday, Beckie and I enjoyed lunch together....

....and it was a special treat to see my friend Isaac :).

May you have many 'aaahhh' moments that decorate your life
with color and sweet things :)

as we celebrate our Risen Lord !