Sparkles...

Before (no ear sparkles)

and After (pink sparkles on the lobes)

If you look closely you can see beautiful pink sparkles on Kara and Kailyn's ears...what fun for two little girls! Kara's friend Kailyn turns 5 today! To celebrate we went and visited this weekend and one of the highlights was getting Kara and Kailyn's ears pierced. Kara loves her new pink sparkles and is taking very good care of her ears.

We love our friends and with the transitions that are coming up in our lives we are cherishing the time that we have to spend with them.

A few other highlights:

A stroll downtown

A visit to the library

The group picture, which is always fun :)

All made for a wonderful, friend-filled weekend!

Happy 5th Birthday Kailyn!!

The Dreaded Pantry...defeated!

I can not keep my pantry/mudroom/shoe room organized for the life of me! It drives me crazy! It is the first thing we see when we enter our house and it always makes me nuts. Today Kara asked if she could organize the shoes in the pantry. You have no idea what a service this is to a mom who can barely bend down to put on my own shoes, let alone organize and put away all of the shoes that clutter up our little pantry floor. She began and worked for over 20 minutes until she had them all paired up and removed from the floor so I could sweep it out and organize. What sweetness! She thought it was fun of course, because she is MUCH like her daddy (which I adore :) She loves projects and loves to organize and sort things. I told my little 4 year old how much it meant to me, and she just kind of stared at me blankly. When she is a 7 month along pregnant mom of three little ones, she will understand...and I will thank her again. So thankful for my little helper!

July...where did you go?

I realize that I went a whole month without posting anything at all. July was a crazy but wonderful month! Here are a few pics of our month that flew by.

Blueberry picking

The Beach

A wonderful visit from family

Fourth of July FUN!!

Wycliffe

Kara's new friends who taught her how to use an I Phone :)

Time with the Tuckers

It went by WAY too fast!

Sunny Florida

We're back from Florida, and we will never complain about heat here in Michigan again :) Despite the heat, we had a wonderful time there. We just returned from our two week orientation and training with Wycliffe Bible Translators. The program was entitled "Equip" and for good reason! We truly do feel equipped for this next phase of our lives, Partnership Development. Ben and I thoroughly enjoyed being together all day every day for 2 weeks straight, and the kids had a blast in Wycliffe's kid's program. They had a wonderful staff who loved on our kids like crazy. We're so excited to be a part of this organization, and our time there just reinforced that excitement. Thank you for all of your prayers as we were away.

Daddy's Day

Happy Father's Day

As many of you know, around our house Daddy is pretty special. He is our hero!! He can fix everything, do the most push ups, he's super smart, and most important of all he loves Jesus and leads our family in loving Him too. So, Father's Day is quite the holiday here.

Kara wanted to do something extra special for Dad this year, so she washed the van :) Super fun on a toasty hot day!

So, Happy Daddy's Day to the BEST Dad in the world!! WE LOVE YOU DADDY!

Update

What a busy season of life! We are in the midst of a 6 week online course with Wycliffe that culminates in our two week training in Orlando that we will attend in July..just 4 short weeks away. Funny how hard it is to keep up with homework and three small children..not to mention the one on the way who also likes to drain the life out of me. Props to you of my friends who have gone back to school while being moms. I can't quite fathom finding the time to think! It has been good so far though. We're learning a lot about the ins and outs of Wycliffe which we have had many questions about. We are more and more encouraged as we learn about the structure of Wycliffe and the accountability they will provide. Also just learning more of their heart and meeting people who have dedicated their lives to working with the organization has been great. Amazing people.

Currently we are getting all of our medical records up to date, having exams done for all of us, choosing insurance options, and definitely the most overhwhelming, choosing a field assignment. It has been amazing to see how God has led us to where He has. Right now we are in serious conversation with Tanzania, a country in Africa. There is a cluster project in process there and there is a position needing to be filled that fits Ben to a T! We would appreciate your prayers as we make our final decision. The amount of need is overwhelming, and it has been difficult know where we should go. But, we are trying to follow God's leading, and Tanzania seems like it would be a great fit for our family. We are also in conversation with Senegal and Cameroon. So, who knows? We really could end up anywhere! We will keep you updated as things become more certain. Thanks for all of your prayers!

Fans

Kara had another great week in her new found soccer career, and this week she even drew fans!

We topped the night off with a most delicious Tulip Time Corn Dog. Love this time of year!