40 yrs, 45 yrs, and a bunny

This has been a monumental week. On Friday, Scott turned 40! Honestly, we all think he looks GREAT for his age and no one is convinced that he looks "old." He took it well and we focused our energy on celebrating his life and accomplishments. No "Over the Hill" puns. We enjoyed the afternoon in Pendleton, Indiana, a lovely little community on Fall Creek. There are some charming shops downtown. We had wanted to stop in to this little used book store (Word for Word) every time we would drive through on 38, and this was our chance. We also were delighted to spend some time in an adorable children's book store called tadpoles. The girls loved it and I know we'll be back!

Today, my parents celebrated 45 years of marriage. That seems crazy in our modern world. They are in the minority these days, though. It's inspiring to realize that it is possible for a man and woman to live in a committed relationship, faithfully, for 45 years! And, actually, it has been longer than that, since they actually met 47 years ago! They had their first kiss by the bell at the Fairmount Wesleyan Campgrounds in Fairmount, Indiana. I am so proud of my parents - of their faithfulness to God, to each other, to their children, and grandchildren, to their call to full-time (and most often, bi-vocational) ministry!



Okay, the bunny. Tonight we were doing our Sunday night routine, picking up and putting away and recovering from the weekend. I looked out the front door and there was a baby bunny sitting by our driveway. Scott made some attempts to get a picture. This one turned out pretty good.

My mom brought me a tub of "stuff" and a box of my finest work from primary school a couple months ago. Of course, I resisted the box of "stuff" for a LONG time, but then I was afraid that there might be something in there I want or could use. What was I thinking? I still haven't been able to work through it. However, yesterday, I took a little stroll down memory lane and went through the momentos box. What a TRIP! Karis loved it and I can't believe how much she actually looks like ME! It was fun. Back in that day, I went by "Krissy"! :P In any case, there were some neat things in there. Sometimes we need to be reminded where we came from to see how far we have travelled.

Of girls, snakes, and daisies

We've had a busy couple of weeks, but they've been so good. We took a little mini-vacation/long weekend and "ran away" to Cincinnati for the 4th of July. It's become a tradition of ours to get away with my parents around that time. Cincinnati is a favorite, but we've also been to St. Louis and 2 years ago we visited Elizabethtown, KY and Dinosaur World!



This year was just relaxing. We made it to the pool every day and didn't have to worry about our "fair beauties" getting sunburned since it was indoors. We also managed to squeeze in some shopping and got some great bargains. And, we were thrilled to have the rain stop long enough to enjoy an impressive "small town" fireworks display. We properly exhausted the girls every day and they rested so soundly! I think this picture is probably something that we'll enlarge and display in our bedroom. Just looking at it makes me feel peaceful!










Karis has had a couple adventures this summer. She has attended 2 summer day camps at the local park. I let her pick them and she selected "Creepy Crawlies" and "Leapin' Lizards." Both camps explored reptiles and snakes. She absolutely LOVED it! We attended a presentation with Snakehead Ed (a former high school biology teacher who acquired quite a selection of snakes. Karis was eager to check them out. Here is a picture of her with Ed' 7 ft. albino boa constrictor. She happened to be wearing a yellow shirt that day and was nearly camouflaged. During the presentation, it took 7 adults to hold this snake completely "stretched out". You can only imagine the look on my face as she lingered while the camp director went to obtain a camera and snap the photo!







One of favorite pastimes this summer has been watching our flowers bloom. We have everything from coneflowers to daisies, and we've had irises. Right now, our Rose of Sharon bushes/trees are blooming, and the blossoms are just stunning. In addition, about 4 weeks ago, we discovered an odd-looking stalk quickly growing in front of our house. Scott was going to dig it out, but my dad thought it looked like a sunflower stalk. We waited patiently, and this last week, we found out that it really is! It looks a little out of place, but we're anticipating some sunflower seeds before long!