The End of Emma's Soccer Season

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Congratulations Emma!

Well, this past weekend was Emma's last soccer game. What a way to end the season too! Before the game, we had a party at Pizza Hut, and the girls got their trophies and the coaches their gifts. We were all excited to see the head coach's daughter. She was one of the best on the team, but she was in a terrible car accident a couple of weeks ago and broke her jaw and leg. We are thankful that God spared her life. Emergency workers used the "jaws of life" to get her out of the car when they arrived at the scene. We enjoyed the lunch together, but the talk there was of all of us dreading going out to the field for the game because the weather was awful for playing that day. We had high winds (gusts up to 50 mph) and rain. The regular temp. was only in the mid-40s at the time too. Wind chill definitely was in the 30s. Games are only canceled for lightening. Anyway, we noticed the rain slowing and then stopping as we left Pizza Hut and went to the field. That was our first answer to prayer. Well, Olivia and I stayed bundled under a heavy blanket and still felt like we were going to blow over or at least freeze. She was not a happy camper, and our team was losing 3-0. I thought, "What an ending!" Everyone was saying things like, "This is just crazy!" or "We're all nuts being out here!" I finally looked at one of the other moms and said, "I just pray we would score, and I wish Emma could make a goal since this is her last game. That would make it more worth it." Well, not two minutes later the score was 3-2 and our EMMA made the second goal!!!!!!! I jumped out of that chair, which did blow over then, and about threw Olivia on the ground. Ha ha We were so excited! The crowd really got intense as we saw a chance to tie or maybe even win. Well, we DID win with the score ending up 5-3! What a game. Emma played defense almost all last season, but this season she got to play almost every position. The coach was great in moving the girls around even during the game at the half to teach them what is like to play in different parts of the field. We saw great improvement and skill as the season went on with Emma. She had never scored before in either season. It was a special time! On our way home, it started to rain. God is always good!

What A Cutie!

Okay, Sarah just sent this to me yesterday. Do I not have the cutest little nephew?!? Man, I miss him!

Our Little Helper

Last weekend Olivia really wanted to help Daddy out in the yard. We have a great backyard with many beautiful trees, but it makes for a lot of work in the fall. Olivia saw Kris outside with the leaf blower and enjoyed playing while he worked, but when he got his rake, she just had to help with one herself. You can see the beautiful leaves that were still left in the back part of our yard behind the deck. Well, those pretty much all came down this week, so this weekend will call for some more raking. :-) The colors are all about done now. How sad. We sure had great color though this year and it was nice while it lasted. By the way, Olivia's jacket is reversible. She wanted to wear it on the flower side that day, but we have since changed it back to the solid color. I like it much better that way. :-) The flowers were a bit too much. Ha ha

The rest of our fall color tour

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It's Coming Again!

Yes, the pictures you see are real. Snow has already fallen in MI, and it is predicted to fall again this evening and tomorrow. I doubt it will really be staying around long or accumulating here, but it is making me wonder what we are in for this winter. I do love the snow and am glad we have experienced real winter again these last couple of years. Of course, a few months of it would be just fine. We do have long winters here. In fact our first fall here, we saw the first snowfall with accumulation at Thanksgiving, and then when my parents came the following April, we went from near 80 degrees the day we picked them up to snow that weekend. Aahhh, MI. . . . My husband is not thrilled with the whole thing, let me assure you. Winter in MI has not settled well with him. :-) He does miss that S.C. warmth.

Down by the Mackinac Bridge with a huge moon and gorgeous sunset!

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A fun day at Uncle John's Cider Mill with the Bradleys

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Finally Updating! :-)

Well, I really am still alive and well. Whew! The last few weeks have been so busy but full of lots of fun. As I have mentioned before, Fall is my favorite time of year. It is especially awesome in MI. The colors we've seen this year have been the best yet since we moved. It's been great having all the opportunities we've had out in nature recently to talk of God's power and majesty with our girls and to be in awe of God as Creator together as a family. The last few weeks have brought everything from visiting a cider mill with friends, an incredible week of warm weather with a surprise visit from my parents (who came with us on a fall color tour up north and along part of the western shoreline of MI), to freezing cold temps this past week (complete with snow!!!), a cold 9:30 AM soccer game, AWANA Sparks hike at City Forest, and a fun Harvest party with our Sunday school class Sat. night. That included children, and we had a bonfire, hayride, awesome food and fellowship. We had some new people come, and Kris was able to give the gospel to the husband. We made smores and enjoyed hot chocolate and spiced cider. I tell you what, it has been really fun! I thank God for giving us these wonderful past few weekends. I will be posting lots of pics as I can get them sorted out.

My nephew, Jonas--Changes from July to September

Another fun-filled weekend with our free AWANA Family Carnival, featuring all of our church's ministries

Fun Times With the Girls

The slide show below shows a variety of things the girls and I did while Kris was at the men's retreat up at Camp CoBeAc this past weekend. We had a fun girls' night on Friday, complete with the McDonald's play place, renting a movie, and having popcorn. I put them to bed and watched Pride and Prejudice myself. :-) Sat. morning started out with Emma's soccer game. She did a great job! They are trying the girls at different positions each game. She was on offense this time and played the best I have ever seen her play. We went home for a snack and change of clothes and then headed to the Chippewa Nature Center for their BioBlitz weekend events. It was lots of fun. We saw an animal show first where I took the pic of the raven. Someone had captured the raven in New York to have as a pet. The people got in trouble and had to release it. Well, ravens are known for following wolves and such creatures while they are chasing prey. The raven goes down and bites the wolf's tail, and when the wolf turns around to snap at it, the raven dives in and steals some food. After this raven was released in NY, it started going to the parks and treating people like the wolves to steal their food! It even dropped rocks on people's heads, so they captured it again and put it in a zoo. The mistake there was that they put it in a display with crows and/or blackbirds and other such birds not realizing (somehow) that ravens eat these types of birds. Needless to say, they had some complaints from the visitors to the zoo. Way to go zoologists! Anyway, that's how we have the opportunity of seeing him here. Hope I didn't bore you, but I thought it was interesting. :-) We took a hike into the woods after looking around at things in the main buliding, and the girls were given instructions on how to use their tools for exploring. We found all kinds of creatures and fungus. Ha ha What fun! After a great nap that we all took at home, we headed off to the fairgrounds in the early evening for the balloon festival. It was great! We sure missed Daddy while he was gone, but it was a weekend filled with excitement.

Fall is almost officially here--my favorite time of year!

Kids Say. . .

Miss Olivia is so funny. She just keeps us laughing. I took her to the doctor for a check-up so that she can be in preschool this year. I thought while we were there I would point out a little red, dry spot I've noticed at times over the summer on her arm where it bends. He said, "Oh, that's just a small patch of eczema." Olivia didn't really pay attention to what he was saying at the time. Well, notice the sound you hear at the end of the word "eczema." Later that evening when I said to Kris that she had a patch of eczema, she pulled her arm away from me and said, "No! It's Olivia." I looked confused and said, "What?!" She proceeded to to inform me that the spot was "ecz-Olivia" not "ecz-Emma" I laughed so hard!

I found out about turning my pics into slide shows. Enjoy!

Two Years?!

I can hardly believe that today (well, o.k., it did just turn midnight, so yesterday) marked two years since we left our home in SC and moved north to MI. Wow, God has done amazing things in our lives, and we praise Him for His plan being perfect. His ways are truly not our ways, and as Kris would say, "We shouldn't want our way."

I am quite behind in the posts lately. I have lots of pics I took last week and will be working on updates on the blog this weekend. I just wanted to reflect a bit on the last two years and thank the Lord for all He has done. God is always good!

Beginning School Work

Well today Olivia came home from school with her first school paper. She was really excited to show us what they had worked on today. They are learning the number 1. I thought I would capture the moment. :-)

First Days of School

Well, here are my girls and their first days of school. Emma started 1st grade yesterday, and Olivia started K-3 today. Olivia will just be going for two mornings while I teach general music during those times. Both girls loved school and are excited about being there. I am happy for them and sad at the same time as I have no more baby at home. On to new chapters and other exciting things. . . .

Last Days of Summer Break

Well, the girls and I had a very fun time together on Saturday. We went blueberry picking and brought home 13 lbs.! It was Olivia's first time, and she picked some but had more fun eating them than putting them in her bucket. :-) Emma was a big helper. She didn't want to leave until my 2 gallon bucket was full. We actually picked close to 10 Qts. It was a perfect day and something I could finally do with them. I am glad we had the time together before school started. We ended our "blueberry day" by making a pie. We had lots of fun, and it was sure worth it! Talk about a fresh pie--from the field, to the oven, to the table.

Gym Shoes Blessing

While at Meijer the other day, I decided to stop in the shoe dept. I saw they were having a sale and wanted to check on a plain/cheaper pair of gym shoes for Emma. She has to have a pair that will stay at school and can go only on the gym floor. We found some that I thought would be great, but they did not have her size. I thought, "Oh well, let's check somewhere else. I am not paying $20 to $30 for a pair of shoes she will wear only 2 times a week." As we were leaving the area, my eye caught a clearance sign. There wasn't much on it, mostly sandals. Lo and behold, I see a pair of plain white tennis shoes for girls that were Reeboks. They were the only pair on the shelves, and you guessed it, they were Emma's size. Get this--only 5 bucks! I am including a pic of the tag (couldn't get a very clear shot) to prove it. Check out the original price. God is good and always provides what we need! The coolest thing was Emma calling Kris on our way home and telling him that she just had to share what God had done. Praise the Lord!