Kansas

Rob left today, Easter Sunday, for a short term mission trip along with five others from our church. They are going to help build five houses in a two week period to the area that was hit by a tornado last year. They will only be gone a week but I don't like when he is gone. Just glad that my finals for school are coming up so I can work on them this week while he is away. If it weren't for school I would've went to Kansas but with doing school on line and finals a week or so away I thought it best to stay behind. How awesome it is to help others in need. We will go on the mission trip in October 2008 wherever they decide to go whether it is back to Kansas or some other place that needs the help. It is always a great feeling to give than to receive and that is what our Savior did for us this past Friday on Good Friday when HE died on the cross for our sins. "OUR" sins...I cannot fathom that at times. Someone died for US!!! How wonderful is that. For me, for you, for each one of us. HE endured the pain for each one of us.

The drama today at church was unbelievable!!! The reenactment of the day HE died for us. The thrashings HE endured. Only Jesus could've endured that pain. There is NOT one of us that could've endured that pain but HE did because HE loved us so much! PRAISE HIS HOLY NAME!!!!! Thank You Jesus!!!

Keep smiling.

Gabby

Just call us CRAZZZZYYY!!!! We got another dog. Her name is "Gabby" She is a husky, shephard, border collie mix. She is about 4 1/2 months old. Our house has been to quiet without Goliath (we still miss him) and we talked about getting another one. Before we left for Oklahoma Robert went to get a haircut at Shelly Stulz' and she told Robert about a friend that got one of the puppies and they were giving them away for free so we went and got one out in Imlay City. There are 3 left if anyone is looking for one. Robert and I took her today to get her shots and that free dog is now no longer free....lol. She needs grooming desperately but she has to have her shots in her for 5 days before the groomer will groom her so she will go get her first grooming on Saturday. Rob bathed her today but she needs trimmed and etc...Our other dogs we did ourselves because they are short haired but she needs clipping so this is new to us. I hope she stays on the smaller size. She isn't potty trained but only a couple accidents so far so she will stay on the hardwood and linoleum floors till she gets house broke.

Last Basketball game

The boys didn't fare too well in Oklahoma at the National Tournament for homeschooler's but they made lasting memories. They won their last game and Robert played an AWESOME game for his finale. It was teary eyed that day knowing that organized school sports are now over. If Robert had his way he would love for us to homeschool one more year. #24 above is Tim and the next picture down is Sam. Rob and I will miss these boys along with Robert. We have enjoyed all of them and their families; they are awesome boys and hopefully Robert can pull some of them together to play basketball at Joe Dumar's fieldhouse during the summer. Out of the 10 on the team; 8 of them are graduating this year. So it will be a whole new varsity team next year. Thanks for the memories!!!! Keep smiling.

Oklahoma City Bombing

The above pictures are of the site of the Oklahoma City bombing. I can't believe it has been 13 years in April. How often we forget what happened in the past. Even after so many years my heart was broken realizing how many lives were lost because of three people. The picture right above is a wall in front of the memorial museum of different writings and drawings of kids to show their concern. On one side of the building that still stands is the writing of team 5 that showed up. The picture of the elm tree above still stands after the bombing and they honor it as the symbol of human resilance; "The spirit of this city and this nation will not be defeated; our deeply rooted faith sustains us." This is the writing near the tree. The fence is a fence for passer byers to leave tokens of love and rememberance to the lost lives. The Jesus statue stands across the street where there is a church and the parsonage was destroyed during the bombing and the pastor of the church had this Jesus statue put on the corner where the parsonage was and it says "Jesus Wept." Can you imagine how many times a day Jesus weeps for us sinners here on earth. It was truly heart breaking to know that 168 lives were lost and out of those there were 19 children. God tells us to forgive but it sure is hard when children's lives were lost. Innocent children...I just sometimes don't understand it all but I am going to trust in God and keep the faith. Keep smiling!!!

Myriad Botannical Gardens

On Wednesday, March 12th Rob and I went down to Oklahoma City and there was a botannical garden that was transformed like the rain forest. It was beautiful. I love to garden so it was neat to see some of the things that we cannot grow in Michigan. I can't wait for the warm weather to start my gardens (flower and vegetable).

Oklahoma Update

No new pictures to post today. The boys lost again last night so their spirits are down today. Thank goodness today is a free day. This morning they found a gym to practice in because they are needing it. So now they are seeded in a bracket and the bracket plays start tomorrow. The games they have been playing are to see where they get seeded at. They are not very proud of the seeding and were expecting better but hopefully they will end in a win of the bracket they are in. Only time will tell. So today we are just chillin out. Went and did some laundry and sat out in the sun. It is 78 degrees today so beautiful out. Hope the weather is shaping up at home.

Robert the character

At some point when taking the pictures today one of the guys noticed that Robert had his shorts on backwards...probably Pete #12 on the left...he is the fashion model of the group. They tease him all the time about "What not to wear" if you have ever seen the show. Pete gives everyone tips on how they should wear their clothes and etc..So Robert being his funny self turns his shirt around to make it look like Jeff's head is on Roberts body. These boys are so hilarious to be around. We laughed for the longest time. Oh yeah at one point Coach Al wanted Robert to stand on the bench with the other boys. Since he is the heaviest we didn't think that was a smart idea and neither did Robert. Keep smiling and I can say that today because we are!!!!!!

Summit Team

Here are some awesome pictures of the guy on the basketball team. They are great sports for all the posing they did this afternoon. We all met at Olive Garden for lunch and then went back to the hotel for a picture shoot. It has been a great day so far and hopefully take they will bring back a win.

Summit vs. Dallas Thunder

The boys played a tough game today but unfortunately it was a loss. The score ended up being 54-59. This huddle was before the game started and as you can see all the boys shaved their heads except for Tim on the right in the purple shirt. His sister is a hairdresser and she wasn't to keen on him shaving his head. Most of the boys were shaved before they arrived in OK but the ones that didn't were all shaved last night. It was a GREAT competitive game!!!! Tomorrow night they play at 8:20 p.m. It has been a lot of fun for the boys so far. They will have lots of memories for years to come. It is definitely becoming bittersweet to know that they only have four more days to play competitive ball together. I hope Robert has made friends for a life time because these boys are awesome.

Flag football in Oklahoma

Here is Rob and Robert and the guys playing flag football out today. The warm weather brought smiles.

This is the picture of the sun that I took today while sitting out watching the boys and coaches play football. The high today was 70 and it felt soooo good. I hope it follows us home next week. Maybe I will stay here. It would be real easy too since I despise cold weather.

Speed Limit

This is the craziest speed limit sign we have ever seen. Behind the hotel we are staying at their is an apartment complex that we go through to go the backroads and we came across this 8 1/2 speed limit sign.

St. Louis, MO

We left Michigan on Friday about 2 p.m. and arrived in St. Louis on Friday night. We got up on Saturday morning and went to the Arch which is the gateway to the West. We took the ride to the top and have some great pics of that also that I will post later. It took forever to load this on my slow laptop. The little elevator that we took to the top was quite cozy and I wish I would've taken a picture of that. There was enough room to seat 5 people and if you are clostraphobic you definitely don't want to ride to the top. Of course Robert complained the whole time. If it doesn't have to do with sports or a video game it is boring to him but as we tell him it isn't all about him.

We arrived in Oklahoma City on Saturday night about 7 p.m. It is much warmer here than Michigan but it still isn't 70 but it is better. We found a Wesleyan Church to attend this a.m. and boy what a difference...lol. There were probably 40 people in attendance and since we were out of towners we stuck out. The preaching was really good and they were very welcoming. Must be that Wesleyanism.

Keep you updated this week on the blog. Roberts first game is Monday night at 6:20. Not too much to see and do around here. Reminds me a lot of El Paso and the mission trip to Mexico. The roads are all designed the same way. Brought back many great memories of Tapestries!!!!