End of July / early August

Can you say heat wave? The heat record for this day set back in 1939 was broken as the temperature topped out at 100°! Thank goodness for AC window units and ice cream, kiddie pools and the beach (which we didn’t visit today because it was just too darn hot).

The big news for this month is that Elijah lost his first tooth. It was a traumatic moment with lots of blood and tears but resulted in two visits from the tooth fairy. You see, he timed it just right so that he spent the first toothless night at his grandparent’s house and then the next night at home and mom and dad… er… I mean the tooth fairy couldn’t be outdone. Needless to say he made out pretty well. One down… nineteen to go.
He finished swimming lessons a few weeks ago and has VBS this week. He’s done a lot of reading this summer with the incentive to earn prizes through a local library program.

Maylie is doing well with gaining teeth. I think she has about 4-6 left to go. She reached the official year and a half mark and her language is coming along great. Words include: mama, papa, ball, Ee-ya-ya (Elijah), bye-bye, hi (which comes out as a Southern “haaaa”), duck, wa (either wall or watch), “naing-naing” (no), hot (hhha, hhha) and then utterances that resemble “dog and cat”. Oh, and our all time favorite. “Eeee-yah!” not sure where she got the “e” before her Germanic “yah” but it’s the cutest thing, especially when she yells it at the top of her lungs in Walmart.

She remains a snuggler, is sleeping great (big, big praise) and loves to giggle at the antics of her older brother. She also loves to go in our room, or hers, and slam the door. I thought we had a few more years before that?


I’m keeping busy with women’s ministry at church, the kids and putting up with Doug (ha, ha) I also recently heard word that I’m one of fifteen finalists for MasterCard’s “priceless” TV advertisements. Basically, I viewed a new commercial of theirs, made up the script, and entered it in their contest.

Doug keeps busy sleeping on the couch, playing X-Box, and looking for the remotes that Maylie has borrowed and hid. Okay, I guess he’s been up to others things as well- work and all- but my mind is both devious and drained.

(That’s it ~ I’m commandeering the iBook! (doug))

Rachel was thrilled to pieces the other day when Maylie took the book “Anne of Green Gables” off the shelf. Thankfully she’s moved on from “The Scarlet Letter”.

Rachel and I are both participating in the skit for VBS. Oddly enough I play her father. She’s supposedly an early teen and her younger brother (played by a very good friend of ours) is as tall as me and has a goatee. I grew out my beard just so I’d be believable in the part. Sometime this week I’m going to add the line “Son, someday you’re going to make some basketball coach very happy.” ;P

Currently I’m putting together a modern worship concert in a community park at the end of August called ‘The Encounter’. We’ve done it a few times before and took a couple years off due to ministry responsibilities. This year we’re adding to the band a worship choir of about 20 people! It’s coming along well, though the logistics are both exciting and yet complicated.

Gotta run – Rachel’s trying to make Blueberry cobbler and May-may has decided to ‘help’ her by getting out every pot and pan so Rachel has her pick.

Oh, but you have to see this photo. Maylie wore this to church and turned heads as she walked down the hall. She waved like the queen of the parade to people who “oooh’d” and “how pretty”d her.

All is well and we remain thankful for our family.