Calm Before The Storm

Well, we just returned from a quick weekend trip to MN to help celebrate Great-Grandpa Fuller's 90th birthday. This checks off our last "big" summer event and ushers in about 4 weeks of "calm" before things get really crazy. I'm going to relish every minute of it!

  

Fun with some of the cousins at our hotel. 

All this excitement was followed by an alarm and loud knocking on our hotel room door at 12:30 AM, when we were evacuated due to a severe tornado warning. Yup, all 7 of us were awakened from deep sleep and ushered downstairs in our PJ's where we waited for 10 minutes.....YES, 10 MINUTES.....for it to pass.

The next day welcomed more fun. Grandpa didn't want anything fancy - just all the family together for a day. So, we hailed from WA, KS, OH, WI, and various parts of MN. This is the whole group, minus one. 

All the great-grandchildren.

We are so thankful for the godly heritage that we have been blessed with! Also thankful for the safety during our 20+ hours in the car and for fairly good travelers. Lastly, we praise God for His continued provision and encouragement. While we recognize that every good gift comes from God (James 1:17), we are grateful for the Diaper Genie He keeps using to bless us. (This is the third installment of about 800 diapers each that has been delivered to our door.) 

Freedom

"Creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God."

(Romans 8:21)

Freedom. What a blessed gift. I am so thankful for the freedoms I enjoy as a citizen of the USA, but am reminded that I have, oh, so much more, to look forward to. Upon Christ's return, believers will experience ultimate freedom from sin while creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay. We have so very much to celebrate!

Besides this past weekends Fourth of July festivities, our family has also been keeping busy with parties of other kinds. Rob officiated his first wedding last Saturday. Congratulations Caleb & Katelyn Rost!

That very same weekend, our church held its fourth Choral Clinic with Al & Kay Hawkins as guest clinicians. We had a wonderful time both improving our musicianship and getting to reconnect with these long-time friends.

After only a short 3-day reprieve, we once again welcomed some more long-time friends into our home for a visit. Dan & Becky Johnson, along with their children, graced us with four days of sweet Christian fellowship and oh, so much, laughter! A 24 guest Pork BBQ at our home with church friends, a day at the zoo, and various July 4th festivities were some of the highlights! 

Quick update on the babies:

Keira is getting around quickly and with ease now. Forward. Backward. You name it. She's pretty proud of herself. Little Miss loves her bananas, brothers, and daily dumping everything out of her dresser. And her many curls just make me smile - especially when left untamed. (There's no pony-tail here, people. This was just how she appeared after her bath one day.) 

The boys don't understand why sissy bothers with walking, as crawling clearly seems much easier. Drake can stand and balance unassisted, however, no steps just yet. He is turning into quite the daredevil and loves when daddy throws him HIGH into the air. He is also a little comedian and loves when we all sit and laugh at him. 

Taerik has actually been transforming into quite a mommy's boy and snuggle-bug. I didn't think he'd ever get there, but alas, he will freely lay his head on my shoulder now, or contentedly lay in my arms. You cannot feed Taerik fast enough, but once the shoveling process has ended, he loves throwing everything else on the floor. 

And, of course, they all love their daddy! Here they were on Father's Day. Blessed. And. Grateful.