Seth and Noah's Birthdays, June 2011

Seth and Noah celebrate their birthdays a week apart. They had a party at their house with yummy cake and ice cream with the whole family. We were home from the lake two weeks-including the boys birthdays and Survivor Week, so Noah spent Tuesday night with us and we went mini golfing at - you guessed it - Wilderness Falls. I seemed to have picked up a bug and couldn't talk, so decided to fit in a stop at the doctor's office on the way home. Poor Noah had to stop with me; but he was very patient and I was glad to get something to take care of the cough. We topped off Noah's birthday with a stop at Chuckee Cheese for a few arcade games and ice cream. After a short rest at home, we were off for another great night at Survivor.

Seth spent Thursday night with us after Survivor ended and drove to the lake with Les and I - a day before the rest of Seth's family arrived for a week of vacation over July 4th. It was fun to have Seth spend a day with us. We spent time on the wave runners and took a trip to El Capitan's for lunch to celebrate Seth's birthday.

Children's Museum, June 2011

DUPAGE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM

Carrie and Jay introduced me to the Children's Museum, so I thought it would be a fun place to take the kids for their day out with Grandma. After taking Jay and Grace, they offered me a Grandparents Membership where I could join for $100 which would include 2 adults and 6 children. After doing the math I decided it would be a good deal since we have 11 grandchildren. Since Les probably wouldn't be too interested in accompanying me with 6 grandkids, I thought maybe Amy would benefit as the second adult. I mentioned to the Museum employee that Amy had 7 kids and wondered if it was possible for her to take all seven kids, which she was a little reluctant to allow, so I told Amy she'd have to figure that one out.

So when Jenny and the kids came down in June, and Seth and Noah had birthdays in June, we decided to try out the new membership. Carrie is also a member so she and Jay met us for lunch at the museum. We had a lot of fun and I think even the older boys enjoyed themselves in the midst of all the little kids. At the carpenter's shop each of the boys made a little car with wheels. The wheels were bottlecaps from various items like milk cartons, etc. The boys were imitating Jay in the last picture with their arms crossed. And Jay had picked this up from his mom so they were having fun with it.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY, JUNE 19, 2011

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

We were blessed to have both Paul and Amy and John and Carrie and their families with us on Father's Day. Dan and Jenny couldn't be with us as that is Dan's day at church.

Les is the master chef and cooked some great fish which he had caught at the lake! Amy got some great pictures of each of the kids with Grandpa on his special day.

CYC BASEBALL - JUNE 18, 2011

CYC BASEBALL

Saturday was Caleb, Seth and Noah's last day of baseball and our first game to watch this season. It's a family affair with all the Moms and Dads, brothers and sisters and Grandmas and Grandpas coming to watch and Paul coaching Caleb and Seth's team. Each of the kids got a medal for participating and I got some good photo ops. It's a great safe environment for the kids with an added Gospel message for each group.

Nathan's going to be a good little ball player, getting lots of visuals from his brothers and added tips from Grandpa. He and Grandpa play catch together: Nathan's got a great throw!

Lake Fun with John, Carrie and Jay! June 9th - 13th, 2011

MORE FUN AT THE LAKE

with JOHN, CARRIE AND JAY

Jay was so excited about the boat ride when they got here, so off we went in the pontoon - and a beautiful afternoon to go with it. Jay loves the beach at Frankie and Louie's so that was our next excursion: playing in the sand, chasing bubbles, playing in the water, riding on the raft with Mommy, and jumping off the dock into the John's arms - no fear! When we walked up the dock they have a big life size pirate at the end of the dock - Jay looked up and said "Jesus". Out of the mouths of babes.

Feeding the ducks, throwing rocks in the water, fishing and riding the wave runner were other fun water sports.

When Jay gets up in the morning he's ready to go. Les said it's like someone wound him up. He would come up and play with all the cars in the basket, plus his own mater, Lightening McQueen and another one I can't think of the name. He'd say, "Play cars." "Gamma, catch em". "Mama said no crash."

Other fun sayings of Jay's:

I play b ball (baseball) with dada and gamma . I fun. I dit(get) it as he chases after the ball.

When Jay goes to sleep he likes his blue blanket and teddy. He reads the Toy Story book and can fill in the blanks as you read. Woody is a cowboy and Jessie is a cowgirl!

Also Brown Bear, Brown Bear he can almost recite from memory. Then the grand finale is singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Jesus loves me!

Les and John got up early one rainy morning and went out fishing in Les' new boat. They brought back four nice big ones. John said he caught a lot of fish, but they were all too small to keep. We did have fish for dinner one night - yummy!

We celebrated John and Carrie's 10th wedding anniversary with their favorite rice krispie treats and we watched Jay one night while they went out to their favorite BBQ place -Wobbly Boots.

Great times and memories here at the lake with John, Carrie and Jay!

Memorial Day Weekend! Jenny and Dan Drive Home! May 29th, 2011

After a fun week with Jenny and Dan and the kids, they make the 9 hour trek home so

Jenny can be at work at 10AM on Monday. We had a great week with all of you! Have a safe trip home!

A Trip to Frankie and Louie's and The Bridal Cave!

A Trip to Frankie and Louie's and The Bridal Cave!

Even with the cooler temperatures and overcast skies, we tweeked out a little

bit of sunshine and a fun morning with a pontoon ride to Frankie and Louie's where Isaac and Levi had a blast playing in the sand and water and Elise drinking from her straw and experiencing the sand for the first time.

Our friends the Dockerys stopped to see the kids; Chuck at Frankie and Louie's and Paula came by the house later in the afternoon to say hi! They are great friends!

Saturday, May 28th, Jenny and Dan took the boys to the Bridal Cave while Les and I watched Elise. I was glad to see Jenny could take pictures there, so now we can let others know about the Bridal Cave along with pictures.

Fun at the Lake with Jenny and Dan and Family! May 24- May 29, 2011

Our week at the lake with Jenny and Dan started Tuesday morning with their arrival at 3:45 AM. Yes, that is AM! The kids all settled in their beds and awakened at their usual time... "early". We let Dan sleep in since he had driven all night; then Jenny took a nap with Elise in the afternoon. The weather forecast for the week was scattered thunderstorms every day, (bummer), so we got our boat rides and swimming in between the raindrops.

Isaac at 4 years old is in the stage of wanting to do projects. So Isaac helped me spray the cushions on the pontoon boat as I wiped them off. He was so cute as he said, "I won't be tired when you have some projects for me."

Isaac loved riding on the wave runner with his dad and even being in the water when I was sitting on the patio with my jeans and sweatshirt on. Other fun projects that Isaac likes are putting puzzles together, playing with play dough, and "making things with the activity beads".

Levi, our 2 year old grandson, was so cute playing with the farm set and singing "Farmer in the Dell". No, I didn't get a picture of him playing and singing.
He loves doing whatever big brother, Isaac does. I love the way Levi says "Iyak". He doesn't get the "s" in there; that's the best I can do in spelling out how he says it. He also has quite an imagination. We would go for walks and he would hear the deer up on the hill "sniffing" and was concerned about the coyote "Kote" (Levi's pronunciation") which big brother Isaac informed him about. It's so much fun just to take it all in.

Our little 10 month old Elise is a bubbly little girl, even after a short night of sleep or up at all hours of the night she still has a smile for everyone. Elise is crawling everywhere and pulling herself up wherever she can. She's saying words now. Daddy's teaching her to say "da-da" and Mommy "ma-ma". She also says "ba-ba". Grandpa thinks he heard her say "grandpa". I love to watch her pick up cheerios with her little fingers and then every once in awhile she pats her hand down and gets a whole handful. Elise has two teeth on the bottom and 4 teeth trying to come in on top. Maybe that explains some of her sleeplessness!!!

We celebrated Jenny and Dan's anniversary and Jenny's birthday while they were here; the boys helped me decorate their cake while they went out to dinner at The Trail House Restaurant. Before they got to the restaurant their curiosity led them to The Bridal Cave nearby where they inquired about the cave and someone there gave them a free pass for 2 adults and 2 children. So Saturday due to weather conditions they set off for the Bridal Cave while we watched Elise.

Grandpa and Dan went out fishing one cold, rainy day and caught nine fish. They also caught quite a few on the dock with the boys, which Isaac and Levi thorougly enjoyed. What a great week we had with Jenny, Dan and the 3 grandkids!!!

Les Caught a Big Bass!

Les caught this big 2 pound bass which was 18 inches long. Great catch, dear!

The fishing has been great! The weather, not so great! But we have much to be thankful for, with our neighbors to the south in Joplin Missouri getting hit with a devastating tornado killing over a hundred people.

CALEB, SETH AND NOAH, MAY 10, 2011

CALEB, SETH AND NOAH

Grandma got her Mother's Day photo op in with the three boys, Caleb, Seth and Noah.

Grandpa has been helping the boys (Caleb and Seth) with their pitching at baseball practice on Tuesday nights. So Grandpa asked the boys to come over to our house early so he could show them how to mow, before they went to practice. Caleb and Seth are both good workers and got right on the mowing. Seth did the push mower and Caleb the riding mower. Grandpa told Seth it was harder work to push the mower, but he would get done sooner. Seth liked that idea. So when he finished he and Noah came in and played the football game on the computer. It was really a hot day (in the 90's) so we gave them plenty of water to drink. Thanks Caleb, Seth and Noah for helping out.

Have a great season playing baseball.

Sleepover!

Sunday night Jenny and Dan spent the night as Jenny works Monday, and Dan is home with the

kids so doesn't have to go into work first thing in the morning. John is going to Michigan and Carrie had a meeting at work so Jay is spending the night with Grandma and Grandpa also. The cousins had fun together. Jay loved feeling Elise's head and the boys gave each other hugs when they got up. We took Jay home Monday afternoon; Carrie's sister Lena was there to watch Jay until Carrie got home from work. John's in Michigan until Wednesday.

MOTHER'S DAY, MAY 8TH, 2011

MOTHER'S DAY, MAY 8TH, 2011

We had a wonderful Mother's Day and were blessed to have all our

immediate family with us. Paul and Amy were our gracious hosts and had yummy beef sandwiches for everyone with everyone contributing a dish to eat.

Isaac and Levi were all excited about seeing the goats and chickens at Uncle Paul and Aunt Amy's. Jay didn't want to get near the goats. They had fun with the Easter egg hunt. The older boys, Caleb, Seth and (John) hid eggs in the front yard, while Paul , I and the little ones hid

eggs in the back yard for the older boys. Paul and Amy will probably be finding hidden eggs in their yard all summer. We also got to celebrate Grace's birthday with the family and sing Happy Birthday.

Grandma Marian had gotten all of the moms flowers again this year, but I forgot to get pictures til later that night, so I got one of Jenny and I with our baskets. We'll have to get one of Amy and Carrie. I didn't get any pictures of Caleb and Noah either and not a picture of all the grandkids with me. I am really slipping.

Les sang us the Mother's Day song which some of the young mothers aren't familiar with. Here are the words for those of you who don't know them.

MOTHER

M is for the million things she gave me

O means only that she's growing old

T is for the tears she shed to save me

H is for her heart of purest gold

E is for her eyes with love light shining

R means right and right she'll always be.

Put them all together

they spell Mother

A word that means

the world to me.

PS Can anyone tell me why this is leaving all the spaces between lines? When I try to fix it, it won't remove the spaces.

ALL IN A DAY'S WEEK!

Connie, Mel and Les as Mel and John get ready to leave for their trip back to Texas.

Our friends, Mel and John were in Chicago over the weekend for their daughter's wedding, and were heading back to Texas, so stopped overnight to visit. It was fun to see them after we had just been together with them on our way back from Texas in February. They had their truck filled with gifts and belongings of their daughter and husband.

We arrived home from Cancun on Thursday, April 28th with a full week ahead of us. Paul and Amy invited us for dinner after church on Sunday, so we could see all of them after our 3 weeks away. It was great to see everyone again. Selah is growing and changing so much. She loves to be talked to and held, which Grandma loves to do.

The older kids enjoyed our Easter egg hunt. Amy and I hid the eggs filed with coins, so that was

an incentive for them to find the eggs. Nathan was sleeping so he missed out on the hunt but we plan to have another one soon. Included in the eggs were scripture verses with a symbol of Easter, so after all the eggs were found, the kids took turns reading scriptures and sharing the Easter story.

Grace's turn to spend the night with Grandma and Grandpa!

We had our special outing to the Children's Museum - Grace's choice for her birthday. It is very educational and has something for everyone. Grace wasn't interested in the water way and air tunnel; but really enjoyed the building area, where she made two little cars out of wood and bottle caps. Grace, you are really good with the hammer. Grace also enjoyed the puzzles and lights.

Since Grace has such a nuturing instinct, she really enjoyed the American Baby doll with the bitsy bear and cradle. Grandpa made her special Mickey Mouse pancakes and Grace wanted to make her own Cookie Birthday Cake with decorations. It was a great day with you, Grace.

Up to Lake Villa to see Isaac, Levi and Elise, Jenny and Dan!

Wow! Elise has change alot. She's crawling now, pulling herself up, eating cheerios with her fingers, and lots of smiles for Grandma and Grandpa. We found a couple of great garage sales while we were there, too. Jenny got these fun beads for the boys, so you can make lots of neat shapes and iron them so they permanently stick together. The boys had lots of fun with them.

National Scrapbook Day
My friend Paula, came from Algonquin on Friday to spend the night and attend NSD with me. It was fun to get together and get a head start on our albums and reminice about the good ole days. On Satuirday when Bonnie got here she was wowing about my azalea bush and took some photo ops of me with it for a beautiful page in my album. Maris, Paula, Carrie, Bonnie and Carolyn were all prize winners. We featured our Fabulous Power Palette this year and several did great pages using it.

Easter Sunday, April 24, 2011

Easter Sunday we took a bus to the Chadroui Grocery Store, then caught a taxi to Rossy's church for the 11:00 AM Service. The service was all in Spanish and Rossy tried to interpret the message for us. We did learn a few words, especially from the screen with the words to the songs. One of the songs was about Jesus as king (Rey) and reino which is kingdom. The core of the message was "Go back to the cross and remember what Jesus did for you on the cross." Also "give time to God and meditate on His Word and be sure you're ready to meet Jesus."

Rossy brought her daughter, her boyfriend, her granddaughters, Briley and Jimena to church with her, then we all went out to eat at a restuarant called Vaq'va which was recommended to us by Andrea, Rossy's daughter. We went there last year and really enjoyed it so they wanted to go there again this year. The food was very good and a fun place to go.

Trip to Bonfil with Rossy-April 23, 2011

Saturday, April 23rd we took a bus to Chadraui ( a grocery store at the entrance to Cancun City) to meet Rossy where we went with her to Bonfil to see the children she ministers to. We rode with Rossy and her daughter and friend, and granddaughter and her friends in their van which is in much need of repairs or replacement. It rained while we were at Bonfil and the roof was leaking on Rossy where the holes were. Her daughter Andrea had a wet seat from sitting where it had soaked the cushions.

A total of 21 children came today. They were having a funeral down the street where some of the children were attending.

Rossy had made up some resurrection eggs and told the children the Easter story using the eggs and also some pictures she had of the crucifixtion and resurrection. The children were very attentive to Rossy message. Even though we couldn't understand what Rossy was saying we could see the attentiveness on the children's faces, especially a couple of older children in their teens. Rossy said she would like to start a Bible Study with the teenagers on Friday nights.

Les took pictures of the buildings and surrounding area with the new water tank and her replacement for the water pipes which had been stolen while Rossy was staying with us.

After Rossy's message the children decorated little crosses and wrote a message on it. Many wrote Jesus loves me (Jesus amo mi), but one little boy wrote Jesus loves me and died for me.

It certainly would be helpful to know more Spanish when we are there with the children. I did learn how to say "What is your name?" in Spanish and tried to help them write their names.

Rossy's daughter Andrea and her friend made hamburgers for all the children after the class so everyone went home with a full tummy.

After the children left, a man who does general construction work, Carlos Tellitud, came to meet with us. Rossy had met him at the Catholic Church just a week ago. He had been recommended to her by someone at the muncipal building. Carlos had plans drawn up of Rossy's construction needs and went through all the plans with Les, via interpretation by Rossy, as he doesn't speak English. Before he left, Les asked if we could pray together about the construction process and the possibility of us bringing a team down to help with the construction. Carlos was very open and we gave him a million dollar bill, which he was very receptive to. So we are praying about how this could all work out.

Doug and Linda's Last Day in Cancun!

We had a beautiful view of the ocean and the big cruise ships coming up the coast from Cozumel back to the states. Doug and Linda came for dinner at our villa their last night here. We ordered lasagna but it wasn't as good as the pizza we had earlier in the week.

You can see the cruise ship way out in the distance on the horizon. We actually saw four cruise ships that evening while we were sitting out on the deck.

When Doug and Linda leave tomorrow all of our friends and family will have gone home. We will miss them, but will enjoy the last week here on our own. Tomorrow we have plans to go with Rossy to Bonfil.

We had a beautiful full moon and took some fun pictures on our deck at the Sands.

Rossy Visits Us at the Sands-April 17, 2011

Rossy came to visit us at The Royal Sands Sunday after church. She brought her jewelry for Betty, Sharon and Linda to see. You can see the pretty blue necklace Betty has on. Betty had requested a blue necklace when Rossy was in Illinois so Rossy put together some beautiful pieces for us to see. Sharon and Dave and Les and I went to church with Rossy on Saturday night with the pastor from Rossy's seminar; which is an English speaking church so we enjoyed participating in the church service.

OUR BEACH FRONT VILLA P5148

Jenny was asking about our beach front villa and what it looked like compared to the one at the Royal Caribbean, so I took a few pictures for you. We have great sunrises. I woke up at 6 AM today and called Ree and Joe as they were leaving at 6:30 AM for the airport. I was so excited about our beautiful sunrise so was glad I woke up.

We have a great villa, and found out this morning that the people who are coming to our villa were in the same villa we are going to be in next week. How ironic is that. So who knows, we prayed about it and we may end up with back to back weeks in one or the other villas.

We also were kidding about our beach front villa having a 14 inch TV while our old villas at the Royal Caribbean have the new 37 inch TV's. Our consierge said you shouldn't be watching TV but the beach in your beach front. I guess he's rght!!! We did have a great week. It was fun having both my sisters and their husbands here and also our good friends, Linda and Doug and Betty and Harold.

Celebrating Connie's Birthday!

Ree and Joe's last day here at the Sands we got together here in their villa and Ree and Joe and Sharon and Dave surprised us with a sit down chicken dinner and yummy chocolate brownie alamode and key lime pie to celebrate my 64th birthday! The Sands was having a Farewell BBQ downstairs with musc which we enjoyed from Ree and Joe's balcony. It was great to celebrate with my sisters. Wow, where has the time gone. I can't believe I'm that old already! I have been blessed with a wonderful family and friends. Blessings to you all.

JUNGLE TOUR, MONDAY, APRIL 11TH, 2011

Monday, April 11th we had our first big excursion, The Jungle Tour, which included a 45 minute boat ride out through the lagoon and mangroves to the Caribbean where we spent 40 minutes snorkeling. Les and I followed the guide around; he threw out fish food and all of a sudden we had hundreds of fish swimming around us. They were so close we actually touched a couple of them and Ree said a little one got under her mask. Sharon and Dave floated away from the group where Sharon got some foot cramps and the water patrol rescued them and brought them back to the boats and hoisted them up on deck. Thank goodness we all safely made it back to shore with another 45 minute boat ride.

OUR 8 HOUR YACHT RIDE!

We had gotten a voucher last year for an 8 hour yacht ride for 8 people after Joe and Ree and Doug and Linda had bought their villas last year. We weren't sure what we would do all day on a yacht, but the time actually went by quite fast. We left at 11 AM and went about 20 miles out into the ocean to do a little deep sea fishing; we didn't catch any fish, but we did get to see some dolphins swimming in the water. We came back through Isla Mejures and anchored the boat while the guys got out to swim and eat shrimp ceviche. Then we docked the boat and walked around the island looking at the shops for souvenirs and had lunch.

We boarded the boat again about 4PM and the captain, Guellermos, and his helper, Ernesto, gave us a tour from the water making the way down the 7 miles of the island, where we saw the Rolandi Hotel where we come to eat, the place where you can swim with the dolphins and other points of interest. We then headed back to Cancun through the mangroves just in time to see a beautiful sunset. Our captain got a great picture of us with the sunset. So a good time was had by all.

OUR VIEW FROM THE SANDS!

Our view of the ocean from the beachfront villa at the Royal Sands.

Les actually got up early one morning and saw the sunrise. I have yet to

see the sunrise this year, but we've also seen some great sunsets which I will post next.

Sunday night we all met at Dolce Mente Pompei, an Italian resturant, for dinner and a photo op. They had live music with a guitar player. Everyone enjoyed the food and fellowship. We have been having fun giving our waiters and taxi drivers the Million Dollar Bills with a gospel message on the back. We get lots of positive reactions. A fun time was had by all.

Welcome Home to Cancun, Sharon and Dave, and Ree and Joe!

Welcome home Dave and Joe. The people at the Resorts

always welcome us this way and make us feel so at home.

Sisters together again in CANCUN. Sharon and Dave arrived about 2 PM on Saturday with a stop in Houston and Ree and Joe came from Cheynne with a two hour layover in Charlotte, NC. and arrived at 10 PM Saturday night. Very tired from the early morning rising and late evening, we called it a day and went to our individual villas for a good night's sleep. Ree and Joe are enjoying their first year as owners at the Royal Sands. None of us brought guests with us so all have a vacant lockoff if anyone wants to join us.

Doug and Linda's new villa!

Doug and Linda staying in their new villa D1015 at the Royal Caribbean for the first time. We are going to miss this great villa but glad we have our friends there so we can come and visit.

CANCUN 2011

Our second night in Cancun we went to the La Habecheula Sunset for dinner. We got to see this beautiful sunset as we were leaving the Royal Caribbean. The sun really sets quickly once it starts to go down. Can you believe it's only a couple of minutes between these two pictures? At 5:30 AM Thursday, April 7th, we rode with the Hawkinsons to the airport to catch our 8AM flight to Cancun. The morning started out a little foggy but by the time we left the fog had lifted, so we were thankful for that. We arrived in Cancun at 11:30AM after a pleasant flight with Doug and Linda. We also sat with a young lady who was flying to Cancun for a friends wedding and was a little apprehensive about going through customs so we told her we would accompany her to her destination at the American Express shuttle. I had the opportuntiy to share the Way of the Master with April and found out she is also a believer. (The Way of the Master is a great evangelism course teaching you how to share your faith with others the way Jesus did. I would recommend it highly to everyone.) We enjoyed our first evening with Doug and Linda eating at Captain's Cove, which has become a traditon on our first night out. We are very thankful for a safe flight and the company of our dear friends, Doug and Linda..

Regionals-Cinema Saturday, March 12, 2011

March 12th, Bonnie Schmitz, Linda Madding and I went to a Cinema Saturday Event in Crystal Lake, IL at the Showplace 16. This event took the place of Regional Convention. Displays included the new baby boy and girl coversets and the fabulous power palette for girls and rugged power palette for boys. The Make a Wish Foundation came out with a new coverset and accessories. Also, a portion of the money for each product goes to the

Make a Wish Foundation.

Creative Memories introduced the Album of Hope Movement!

What is the Album of Hope Movement? One of the greatest gifts a parent can give a child is an album of hope. It's the gift of self-assurance and a sense of belonging. It shows children they have a stable foundation and that they're part of something larger than themselves. It tells children they can be strong and believe in their dreams because they have a family backing them. It's for moms everywhere. Join by sharing your hopes for your children and letting them know how much they're loved. Together we will help raise the next generation of happy, healthy and confident kids.

Rhonda Anderson, co-founder of Creative Memories, also has a faithbooking site where she shares how you can make a faithbook. Go to http://www.faithbooking.com/

In Joel 1:3 "Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation." Scrapbooking is a wonderful way to preserve our photos and God stories and the faithfulness of God in our lives.

You can make your faithbook for yourself and for your children by answering 10 questions, which can be found at Rhonda's site.

A SPECIAL DAY WITH ELLIE! MARCH 9,2011

Our special overnight with Ellie started at McDonald's with lunch and play in the play ground.

Ellie helped sew her little build-a-bear together with needle and thread, stuffing her and naming her Sweetie with her own birth certificate and outfit.

The Children's Museum in Naperville has become Ellie's favorite spot for her special day out with Grandma. Thanks, Carrie, for introducing us to the museum. We started our adventure on the upper level in the Math Connections and Art Gallery for young explorers where Ellie set up her own little stage with family members. We brought our lunch so hung out in the snack area on the lower level to eat. Then came the most fun in the Waterways and Bubbles area. Ellie was having lots of fun surrounding herself with bubbles and playing in the water. Then on to the AirWorks to see what effect the wind has on different things. Ellie ended up in the art studio making a stained glass picture using black masking tape and painting the glass with different colors. What a fun day with Ellie.

Selah is 3 months old!

We went to Paul and Amy's for lunch after church on Sunday, March 6th, and got to hang out with the kids in the afternoon. Selah is smiling now and likes to be held. We played games with the kids. Monopoly is the game of choice. Seth really likes his White Sox monopoly game which we played, then Grace and Ellie and Noah wanted to play their version while the other boys played Scrabble with Paul and Les.

Florida with the Hawkinsons, Feb. 28-March 5, 2011

Cameron Cove in Florida with the Hawkinsons

We had a nice relaxing week with the Hawkinsons with an ocean front view.

Seeing dolphins, seagulls, herons, sandpipers and pelicans was interesting. Also the sea turtles come out in May so they paint the lampposts around the pool and complex facing the ocean black so the turtles don't come out too early. Since it wasn't May we didn't get to see any of them.

I have been taking an evangelism course at church called The Way of the Master with Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort. Our home work was to talk to strangers about the gospel so I took the opportunity to talk to several people on our trip. It is interesting to hear people's responses, and it was exciting to lead a young lady at the pool to the Lord. There are people everywhere who are just waiting to hear the good news of Jesus.

Jay's Storybook - February 20,2011

Jay's looking at his storybook, all about Jay's second year.

It's fun to see how you've grown and changed in a year!

Scrapbook Retreat at Michigan City, Indiana - February 25-27, 2011

Back Row:

Stacy Schott, Paula Dockery, Robin Hahn
Middle Row:

Jodie Beverage, Donna Preisler, Lisa Dailey, Linda Madding

Front Row:

Jen Franzoni, Carrie Schelling, Connie Larson, Vicki Williams, Connie Osborne

Not pictured: Debbie Lauthen

GRAND PRIZE WINNERS

BACK ROW:

CONNIE OSBORNE: IDEA BOOK

JEN FRANZONI: SNOWFLAKE MAX ALBUM

FRONT ROW:

LISA DAILEY: NANCY O'DELL PERSONAL TRIMMER,

STACY SHOTT: DOODLING AND SWIRLS TEMPLATE

ROBIN HAHN: MINI HEART MAKERS

VICKI WILLIAMS: MINI HEART ALBUM

Scrapbooking at the Wade Inn, Michigan City, Indiana

We had 13 ladies join us for a weekend of album making and sharing. We completed 425+ pages during our 3 day weekend. We had lots of great stories and pictures preserved and shared. The Wade Inn was very comfortable for us and the caterer served us lots of yummy food, including pizza, lasagna, chicken salad and chicken wraps. I think he thought I told him we wanted food enough for 30 instead of 13. We had lots of leftovers plus all the snacks everyone brought, so everyone took something home, so hopefully didn't have to cook a couple of days.

Thanks to all who attended and contributed. A great time was had by all.

Elise is 6 months old!

While celebrating birthdays we also got to spend time with Elise; I can't believe Elise is
6 months old already. Elise is learning to eat from a spoon and likes her oatmeal, her bouncy seat, her bath and playing with her toes. It's fun to just take it all in. We got to watch Elise and the boys while Jenny and Dan went to the blue man group. I always love holding her,

and she was happy with Grandma and Grandpa.

Isaac's 4th Birthday and Dan's 40th Birthday!

Isaac with Grandma and Grandpa celebrating 4 years.

Celebrating Dan's 40th Birthday!

We enjoyed celebrating Dan and Isaac's birthdays this year: Dan turned 40 and Isaac 4 so lots of milestones. I made a storybook for Isaac highlighting the special events from the past year, such as our trip to Cancun together, Mother's Day at the lake, our first Larson annual reunion, the birth of Isaac's baby sister, Elise, and celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas together; letting Isaac know how special he is to us and to Jesus.

Selah Joy is 21/2 months old (Feb 17, 2011)

Grandpa and Selah Joy

Selah Joy is sleeping through Ellie's birthday party.
She's cuddly and fun to hold and has a lot of long black hair.

Happy 6th Birthday, Ellie! February 17,2011

Ellie and Grandpa

Ellie and Grandma

For Ellie's 6th birthday I made her a storybook highlighting her 6th

year and letting her know how special she is to us and to Jesus.
We love you very much Ellie! God bless you in the year to come!

Happy Birthday Ellie!

We had fun celebrating with Ellie on her 6th birthday. Ellie made her little gingerbread house and shared pieces of the candy with all her brothers and sister and cousin, Jay. You will have fun playing with all the fun gifts you received.

Happy Valentine's Day! February 12, 2011

Happy Valentine's Day! We had to get our grandkids fix, so we went to Paul and Amy's Sat. night to watch the kids while they went out. They took Selah with, but we got some cute pictures of her before they left. Amy left us some yummy home made pizza for dinner and then Grandpa had gotten a valentine cookie cake we shared with the kids.

Sorry, I didn't get a picture of it.

Grace and Ellie wanted to dance so Grandpa gave them some great lessons in dancing, twirling and following. The girls are really quick to learn and loved having grandpa twirl them up in the air. I didn't get any pictures of Grace, so we'll have to do that again, Gracie.

We always like to do a little craft so each of the kids made a little valentine's flower pot with their pictures in it. Noah didn't stick around for pictures. He had gone up to bed and was asleep when I found him. We must have worn him out. The kids tried to show Grandpa how to play baseball and bowling on the wii? It's not like the real thing! The kids really enjoy it though! Wii followed by a movie and it was time for bed. Good Night to all our sweet little grandchildren!!!

HOME AT LAST! February 11, 2011

Home at last! After two and a half weeks on the road, we made our last stop yesterday at the lake. We were greeted with a foot of unplowed snow on our road, so parked at the top of the hill on Country Oak Drive and made the trek down the hill on foot. I followed in Les' footsteps. I don't think I'd have made it on my own. We carried a small suitcase ( I should say Les carried the small suitcases and his computer) and I carried my purse and computer. We found everything in order when we arrived, running water, electricity and heat; so enjoyed a nice quiet afternoon and evening there. Les did some shoveling up the steps. And I did some blogging.

Early to bed and early to rise, making the trek back up the hill. Les made two trips, the first one without me and the second one, I followed again in his footsteps. I must say we are glad to be home and found the weather around the country wasn't much warmer than here, but we did miss out on the snow! Thank you so much Paul for shoveling. What a blessing to come home to a nice clean drive way.

TRAVELING IN OKLAHOMA! FEB. 9,2011

Don't let the sun fool you! What a day of travel! We stayed in Dennison Texas last night and when we got up to leave this morning it was snowing with low visibility. We waited 'til 10 AM to leave (when it quit snowing) taking Route 75, 69 up into Oklahoma. The farther north we traveled the smaller our 2 lane road became. We were traveling at a rate of about 25 miles/hour. Then our speed picked up to 35; Les said, "Well, we're going 35 now." Right after Les said that, we came to a halt. We sat sandwiched between miles of trucks behind and in front of us. Les walked to the truck behind us and asked the trucker if he knew what was going on. He said one of the trucks in front of us couldn't get up the hill. After one and a half hours and singing and praying, we saw some activity ahead of us. The fire departement, sheriff, and high way patrol all came on the scene and slowly one of the trucks began moving slowly forward up the hill. Then another one started; but shortly afterward stopped and another 20 minutes of waiting, the caravan began to move. And 7 hours later traveling a total of 250 miles, we arrive safely in beautiful Joplin, MO. We did notice a big difference in the road maintenance between OK and MO. Much better in MO.

More tomorrow as we check out the roads down to the lake after their 22+ inches.
SNOW, SNOW, SNOW EVERYWHERE!

THIS POOR FELLA DIDN'T FARE VERY WELL!

THANK YOU LORD FOR A SAFE TRIP!!!

Mel and John - Texas 2011

Starting the long journey back north; we stopped to see our friends, Mel and John, in Sun City, Texas, just north of Austin. We did enjoy a balmy 50 degrees while we were in Austin. Mel and John took us to a fun place to eat, Rudy's Barbeque, inside a gas station with picnic benches and placemats for plates to eat on. We found this Del Webb had younger retirees than the one we visited in Florida, so would be a better choice for retirement if we were to move south, which we won't. We have found we bring the cold weather with us so we might as well stay home.

A VISIT WITH MOM AND SYLVAN IN TEXAS!

Mom and Sylvan on Sunday morning ready to go to church.

Wednesday, February 2nd we arrived in the deep south at Mission Texas. Who said it's warm there in February. We are as far south as we can get in the United States and are greeted with 35 degrees the first day and then on down to the 20's and an ice storm. We went outside the next morning and thought it was hailing.

While visiting Mom (Grandma) and Sylvan, we discovered they had very little water pressure. Les said, "We have to do something about this." So on Friday Les cut into one of the water pipes and as you can see in one of the pictures, the pipe was almost totally blocked. So what a blessing, Les replaced the pipe and wow! Now Mom and Sylvan have lots of water pressure to take a shower, flush the toilet and run water in the sink. Les, you can fix anything!!! Thanks!

Mom and I went shopping while they were doing the repairs as they had to turn the water off. So we went to Mimi's Cafe for lunch! Mom walks with a cane or walker and becomes short of breath with little exertion so we didn't venture out very far after that. Mom loves to play cards, so we played some golf most every night; with a bonus night at the recreation hall with an Elvis impersonator. We were glad we made the trip down to see them in spite of the weather. By the way, it did get up in the 70's on Saturday and 80's on Sunday.

Visit with our nephews in Texas - February 1,2011

Our road trip started with the first three nights at the lake; out to eat with the Dockerys at Chances R. Then on to Chandler Texas to visit with Les' high school buddy, Larry Pfeiffer.

Tuesday night brought us to the Rainbow Courts in Rockdale Texas where we met Daniel and Carolyn and Emma who arrived first. Little Emma is such a cutie; she kind of reminds me of Elise with little or no hair and about the same age. Micah and Jenny arrived next, taking us to The Oriental Restaurant where we met Michelle, Matt, Tyler and Hannah. It was fun seeing all of them again which is less than a year ago at Micah's wedding.

After dinner, Micah and Jenny took us out to their house and gave us the tour. They had just moved in November, so are still getting settled. The horseshoe wreath and cross were both made by Micah for Jenny for Christmas. How cool is that!

Tyler shared that he enjoyed the letter he had received from Caleb and Hannah told us about a school project she had making a creature out of recycling materials.

We really appreciated the boys and their famililes getting together with us.

On the way out of town we drove by Michelle's new office which is being built

right off the main street.

JAY'S 2ND BIRTHDAY!

Happy Birthday Jay! We celebrated Jay's birthday on January 26, as we decided to take a trip to the southern tip of Texas to see my Mom and Sylvan who are wintering in Mission, Texas, about as far south as you can go without being in Mexico.

We had a fun time with Jay, being the Woody fan that he is. He was all taken up with the gift bag with Woody and Buzz Lightyear on it and kept saying "Woody and Buzz Lightyear." We even found rings for the cookie cake with Woody and Buzz. Jay gave us a little dance routine with his keyboard tunes. What a blessing to get together with all our grandkids. We will miss them while we're gone.

John, Carrie and Jay meet Selah

Sunday, January 16, 2011, John, Carrie and Jay meet Selah for the first time. We got together at our house for pizza and enchilladas after the Bears game. Da Bears won and will play the Packers next. Jay was okay with Mommy holding Selah as long as he could sit on Mommy's lap too. John provided entertainment for all the kids with games on his iphone. It was fun to watch Jay and Nathan; Nathan was trying to get Jay to come to the table and eat his pizza and was successful in getting Jay to the table. A fun day was had by all.

Rossy Prepares to go home as Bears play Packers, Sunday January 23rd

Betty stopped to see Rossy before she left to go back to Mexico.

The day before Rossy left the Bears played the Packers, so we had two sets of fans rooting; Paul and his boys were dressed in Bears shirts while Jenny and her boys were dressed in Packer shirts for Dan, a big Packer fan. All this after a busy morning at church with Rossy.

Jenny and I and the boys went to see Selah and the rest of the Larson family on Saturday.

On Monday we were up early and to O'Hare for Rossy to catch her 8:30 AM flight back to Cancun. We were on our way to Jenny's then before 8AM, as Jenny was working Monday night and Dan was going to the Bears game, so we watched the 3 kids. It was fun as Elise took a liking to us and cooperated with her feedings, while the boys enjoyed playing with Grandpa.

ROSSY'S SHARING HER VISION WITH CHURCH FAMILY AND FRIENDS

Rossy shared her story, Bonfil's story and her vision for Mission Educ-Arte. Rossy's Vision is transforming lives and changing hearts through the love of Jesus.

Pastor Jim encouraged Pathway Christian Fellowship members to support Rossy and allowed her to share during the Sunday church service with some slides to visualize Rossy's needs. Rossy was allowed to display her jewelry and people were generous in supporting Rossy and her ministry.

Les, Pastor Dave, Florence and her husband attended the open house for Rossy!

We had an open house for Rossy where she was able to share her vision and needs with friends and church family; she also had a display of her jewelry for people to purchase. Everyone was very generous in supporting Rossy.

Mark and Lois Simpson met Rossy and were very helpful in helping Rossy with her vision and providing a means for Rossy to receive donations through their River of Life Ministries. We are praying for God's moving here in providing a team to go to Cancun to help with some rebuilding and establishing outreach programs.

MISSION EDUC-ARTE - SHARING VISION WITH BIBLE STUDY WOMEN

Linda, Rossy, Stacie, Shirley, Laura Lee and Alice Sylvester along with Almy, Linda, and Mary Etta were in attendance at our weekly Wednesday morning Bible Study. Rossy made yummy enchilladas and beans for the group and displayed her jewelry, and shared her story.

Barb, you're a great hostess!

MISSION EDUC-ARTE

EDUC-ARTE has a vision for reaching mothers and children of Bonfil, meeting their physical and spiritual needs. You can be a part of this mission by helping us take care of our urgent needs, such as:

• Teachers and workers who have a servant's heart.
• Food, because many children do not have daily meals.
• Rebuilding from the destruction of Hurricane Wilma, such as the loss of the classroom's roof.
• School supplies and Bibles for the children.
• A vehicle for transportation
• A spiritual foundation in which the children will learn and grow.

HOW YOU CAN HELP
Mission teams are needed and welcome for:

• Vacation Bible School
• Outreach Programs
• Building projects and repairs
• Worship Teams
• Arts and Crafts
• Making Jewelry
  

Your help and support will expand God's kingdom where together we can make a difference.

For more information, contact:
ROSA MARIA ARRIOLA
rossyarriola@yahoo.com.mx

Send donations to

RIVER OF LIFE MINISTRIESAtt: Mission Educ-Arte, P.O.Box 2035, Bolingbrook, Illinois 60440 http://www.riveroflifeministries.com/