The J6 Journey: Year 6, June 7th-10th, 2021: Do They Have to Grow Up?

Well, at least I didn't have a headache today. And I accomplished a few things. And it didn't rain all day like I thought it would. I called my doctor and got a telehealth appointment set up. I set up another appointment for next week for an IAHE thing. The eye doctor called and said that Abishai's glasses were ready so we picked those up today. Then we went to the dollar store and got the two things Keturah needed for CIY, woot, woot! Check mark that off my list of things to do before the week gets crazy busy. I was wondering when I was going to find the time for those two things. I got a new small floor fan for my desk that won't vibrate itself across the floor or try to hurt us because it doesn't have a cover over the blades, yeah. And I picked up a $10 pair of quilted slip on shoes, in gray, just because. We got to eat early because Jared got home early and it was all leftovers. There's now loads of plastic ware in the dishwasher ready to be washed, yeah! I had some space to think about what happened yesterday, and I went and listened to the new podcast thing that the church is going to put out every Monday to summarize the sermon and go along with the daily devotionals. And then I looked at the devotionals and the group discussion questions. I caught up on my Bible reading, too. I didn't finish loading videos on the previous blog post, but I think I have time to get that done. The Smiths were getting rid of some twin mattresses so the middle kids have new mattresses and boxsprings and we have mattresses sitting in our garage once again, yippee! So we did that switch after dinner. I went ahead and washed Keturah's bedding so we are waiting for that to be done so we can throw it in the dryer in time for her bedtime her in an hour. We are cutting it pretty close.

I texted a few people today, like Benaiah, and just let him know I support him, but I'll respect his wishes to just let it go and process it on my own. I asked my friends why I do I feel the mama bear instinct is getting stronger instead of weaker and they said that their instinct's is getting stronger, too, so I don't feel so alone now. I thought it was just because I'm more in tune with my emotions. Nope. It's a normal thing at this stage. But we can't act on that instinct at all. We have to let the kids do their own thing and just be here if they want us to get involved and be content if they don't need us. And trust that we have instilled the right things in them. Which I know we have. It was very obvious that in less than 24 hrs Benaiah had talked it through with the right people and had a very good grasp on what happened and what his part was and what the takeaway lesson was and how he will do better. And that's all we can do at this point. We can all move on. So after this post, I'm moving on. And I told Jared that I wasn't accusing him for not having feelings. I wish I wasn't so emotionally fragile. That's all. I told him that I admire his ability to let things just happen and not get emotionally involved. Sometimes I think he should. But sometimes I think I do go overboard. So, he shouldn't feel like I'm accusing him of not being like me. I don't want him to be in this instance.

Otherwise, it was a quiet day. Abishai enjoyed some pool time. It was warm. Justin didn't need to mow or anything. I was going to go out after dinner and do some weeding in the flower garden but was puttering around waiting for the laundry instead. I was also waiting for Abishai to be ready for bed because we needed to place his lost tooth strategically for the tooth fairy! Yes! He got his glasses AND lost his first tooth via a cucumber at dinner tonight! It took 3 days for the tooth to fall out. That's a pretty normal timeline. It stopped bleeding pretty quickly and he was right back to finishing up that cucumber in no time. No drama. Easy peasy. Woot! Woot! But will my kids PLEASE stop growing up? Life is going so fast! And this week's activities are going to pick up from here on out, so I made sure to spend time resting today and did nothing but play video games this afternoon and catching up on my Bible reading, etc. Declutter my brain a bit, too. Then we can hit it hard for a few days and rest on Saturday. I have 4 hrs of helping an online conference in the afternoon and then a one hr online mtg tomorrow. Then maybe 1 or 2 online mtgs on Weds plus Bible study. Then two moderately long online appts on Thursday and then a two hr long line thing for the conference thing again Thursday night. Then park day Friday morning, karate Friday night. So, Saturday I will collapse and rest. That's the plan. Here we go!

The Creek's CIY Mix team is RED and called The MOOSE GOOSE. Oh my word, how goofy is that? But Keturah took it to heart and put two and two together, red for Canada and moose being IN Canada, that she wanted a new RED shirt with Canada on it and she wanted some new masks with Canada on it. So, I splurged and used my Amazon points on a new t-shirt and two new masks for her. I figured I could always cut up the masks and use the fabric on something else. And she did grow out of her PEI Rockets light pink shirt finally, so she has nothing Canadian in her wardrobe. I think it's sweet that she is proud of Canada and made the connection, so, why not!

Just a quick email over to Bearean Builders this morning saying I wasn't sure it was my quick handling getting this textbook series out of the box or poor handling putting it in the box during packaging or in transit, but could I have a new outer casing for the series? Sure thing, they said and within a couple of hrs, it was on it's way! I said just to mail it flat and I'll glue it together. The bottom is actually ripped so it was going to take a lot of tape and not just doing some regluing. I told them I worked in a packaging warehouse and I totally understand that the glue sometimes just doesn't do a great job. I wouldn't write a bad review or anything. Things like this just happen. Sometimes, you just have to ask. I actually enjoy writing to companies and seeing what if they can fix small issues like this. And I like giving them positive feedback when they've gone far and above and added extra goodies and I love their packaging or super quick shipping or something. Because companies do care about this stuff. It's what sets one company apart from another. Each tips book is separately wrapped and none of the textbooks are damaged. It was just the outer box. But I want the box so that when it sits on the shelf, it's all nice and neat and together.

Trying to get a photo of this guy with his eyes looking at the camera and a non quirky smile is impossible.

But we picked up his new glasses today! He wore them for about an hour during screen time and an hour through dinner time. He was concerned that they were going to get hurt during wrestling time with Daddy so he took them off. I think his eyes were getting tired. We'll working on it more tomorrow. But the assistant got them fitting well around his ears and nose. He's just not used to it. I think he'll be a bit harder to deal with than Keturah was, but not too much so. He's gotten used to the idea of them and picked a spot for the case and the cleaning fluid and all that. He can tell why he needs them. But since he can see pretty well without them, it will be hard to convince him that he needs them all the time. Little bits by little bits.

Keturah switched chores with Justin. And I think it was a great thing. She's doing a better job brushing the dog than he did. And he's doing a better job vacuuming than she did. It's a win-win!

I looked up at dinner across the table and saw a bit of red coming from Abishai's mouth. He was only eating a cucumber and it quickly dawned on me as he put his hand to his tooth. Oh! His loose tooth! It's time! It's out! Here we go! He stayed calm, we did the salt water rinse, it stopped bleeding, and he was back to finishing up his cucumber in no time. Woot! Woot! What a big brave boy today! In fact, what a big brave 1st grader!

My last baby lost his first baby tooth today. Stop growing up!

New to us mattresses, coming in hot!

Jared's just a tad excited about his back surgery next week. I am, too, but I worry about the aftermath of pain management and 6 weeks of muscle recovery and if I'm going to have to sleep on the couch because of it. Sigh.

New mattress for the tall one.

This one had room for one of the box springs and well, poor puppy now has to climb up higher. The jury is out as to whether this is going to be a good thing or bad thing for him. I don't want him falling, breaking something, and then having to be put down because of it. We'll watch him carefully over the next few days.

I haven't had to wrap up a tooth in years and years. I always put it in a regular kleenix, not toilet paper, and fold it into a square. Then I use scotch tape all over it. Then I label it with child's initials and date. Then we put it under the pillow for the tooth fairy. The tooth fairy comes and then she had a special wicker container she had started to put them in, but then quickly outgrew it. She put that container and the overflowing contents into a gallon sized bag and that's where it's been. So, yes, all the teeth are safe and sound, save the one that Benaiah's first one that got lost at the bottom of the lazy river in Kentucky Kingdom and the one that Justin threw away thinking it was a nut from a brownie he had been eating. Stay tuned to see how inflation has affected how much money the tooth fairy has to leave when she takes the tooth tonight.

Oooo, perfect spot! He didn't want to leave it under the pillow at all, and now the tooth fairy doesn't have to roll him over. He's often right up along the edge of the railing, so she would have had to roll him over and possibly wake him up. This is the perfect spot!

He's got a little hole in his mouth! So cute!

And he's got a little spot on the shelf for his glasses case and glasses cleaner. The cloth is inside the case. And I think he's going to remember to clean his glasses and do it better than Keturah does. Keturah never cleans her glasses. I don't know why. Grandma can't stand it and makes her clean them. I gave up a long time ago and made it her decision. It's a fight I don't want to fight. I clean mine every morning as part of my morning routine and sometimes more often. I can't stand dirty glasses. We'll have to get a photo of the three of us with our glasses tomorrow. Life moves on!

Oh my goodness. My people cup is overflowing. I'm done with seeing people. And it's people I will never ever see again. Phew! I was definitely ready for the 4 hrs to be over. It was fun volunteering to check people into this new conference format, a virtual, INTERACTIVE homeschool conference that IAHE is helping with but the Virginia organization is running, but wow, my butt hurts from sitting in the same chair for 4 hours. I took a 15 minute break, too. And my throat was dry and I was tired from saying the same information as well. I'm definitely NOT ever going to work at a call center. Yikes! And then I had a long IAHE rep meeting tonight and although I sat on the couch instead of at my computer, I hurt from staying in one position that long, too. Can everyone just go away now? I'm tired of my screens! I mean, I stare at the phone off and on all day, but I'm usually up and moving around more. Or it's different things. But, I'm glad I helped out and that I didn't have to go anywhere to do so. I still could easily have dinner with my family and cleared the fridge of leftovers. I had to mitigate some fights and they did have some extra screen time, but we managed. I also didn't get outside today, maybe that's why I'm a bit cranky. I was a tad cold, too, but that's because I showered and didn't move much, so I guess that's ok. I feel like I missed out on interacting out with the kids though, which kind of bums me out. Tomorrow I have one quick online appointment and then Bible study, so I'll try to make it up to them then. I have a one hour appointment, then a 30 minute appointment, then a 2 hr online commitment on Thursday, so it's going to be rough then, too, but it will be broken up with a few breaks. And then we'll be outside on Friday and Saturday and Sunday, hopefully.

I offered to our new neighbors/old friends who got keys to their new house/house that our old friends moved out of down the hill, for the kids to come help move things and clean things because they'll be having their daughter's high school open house this Sunday there. And Jared and I can't do any of the helping. I'm sure they've had lots of offers but we are literally up the hill. It's the offer that counts, at least in my book. Then it's in the recipient's court to receive it. Because the kids are bored. That will change soon enough with CIY. And I will finish up my projects while they are doing that and then we will do fun things in July. Just got to make it until then, I think.

My brain hurts a little bit, my body hurts a bunch. The kids are meh. But, things got accomplished I guess. Abishai had Mountain Dew for breakfast and then spilled it, so he got himself a sippy cup and I gave him a bit more Mountain Dew (and took out the inside part of the spout because it just bubbles up through there anyway). So, here's this toothless kid with new glasses and a sippy cup. I should have taken a photo. And then he couldn't fall asleep because of daylight stupid time and because I didn't give him a good lunch and he had no carbs at dinner and he played a lot after dinner, so he was hungry, so he comes out here and says his feet aren't tired and proceeds to play on the mini trampoline and the bike. Then brushes his teeth, because Daddy forgot to have him to that. Then, he tells Daddy that he's hungry, so they eat pretzels together, but all I here is more chatter and stories. Kid, go to bed! Motormouth! Motorfeet! Bed! Now! Momma needs quiet! Lol! Actually, he was really tired and slept in this morning. Daddy had to wake him up at 8:30am before he left. I think he's been staying up to read books at night. We might need to keep an eye on him about that. Uh-oh, he's out of his bed AGAIN. 9:30pm!

Meanwhile, I've had to get on Keturah and Justin because they are on their phones too much and not reading enough. GRRRRRRRR, dudes! What happened? You were reading just fine! They did play outside today and this evening, I'll give them that.

It's kind of hard to write about what others did when you didn't really observe them doing it.

Jared breezed in to get his avocado that he forgot for his lunch.

He said that Benaiah didn't have any issue dropping off his stuff to CFA yesterday. He was going to do some door dashing tonight and then fill out his passport paperwork. He's said that for the last 4 months, so I'll believe it when it actually happens.

Inflation! The last kid gets the big bucks for his first tooth! $5 instead of the $2 the other kids got, lol. Oh, as Justin grumbled, "He's spoiled." But, this 6 yr old also said, "Hey, that's Abraham Lincoln!" without being prompted, and he has NOT been taught about who's on each bill yet, so, he's also the SMART kid for the making the connections and deserves that $5, I think.

Jared, who doesn't believe in the Tooth Fairy, found these funny memes from one of his favorite cartoonists. Ok, ok, yes, it's funny.

And then when I showed them to Keturah, she didn't understand what "mouth stones" meant. Good grief.

I spent 4 hours in this chair today checking people into a virtual conference telling them that they will actually be in a zoom room and to be read to interact with a room monitor and speaker and such so be sure your camera and mic are ready to go. Most understood, thankfully. The time passed pretty quickly, but my rear end is sore, despite having a chair pad on the chair.

Someone wanted to use my favorite cookie and muffin box to store his arsenal. Hm,....we'll see how long this lasts.

Well, if I have to wear a band-aid, I might as well make it a Disney Emoji band-aid with Mickey and Minnie Mouse on it.

And hugs and kisses representing Jared and I, right? Lol.

So, blue eyed, toothless, big guy, what did the tooth fairy leave you this morning?

Ah, this thing! Nice!

And then 10 minutes later, he's jumping on the trampoline because Daylight Stupid Time, and none of us fed him well, so he's hungry, and he claims his feet aren't tired, so he needs to jump some more, and chat some more since I wasn't available to chat with all day. Go to bed, big one!

The introverted me is sooooo done with this week but I've got give that me another shot of extrovertism and make it through. Two more online appointments plus hosting the zoom room tomorrow, and then park day and then rest day. I just had a few short phone calls today and Bible study tonight. It was a good day for a bit of resting, so I had a little nap. It was supposed to rain for a good portion of the day, but the weather changed a ton. I scribbled down at 2am on our wipeboard, Movie Marathon Day! Well, I don't know why I think it's going to over well, and be a great surprise because it never does. Late risers. Mommy moving slow so Mommy didn't eat her pancakes for breakfast, although she did make them. Instead, I ate them after the movie for my 1pm lunch. I had sausages for breakfast. I had them all list out 3 movies they would choose and none of them matched, of course, so I choose. I choose Jurassic World. I missed half of it because I was answering someone on FB, but we were all in the same room. I was thinking we would watch like three Star Wars movies in a row or something, like Episodes 4/5/6, but nope, we got through 1 movie. Then we ate lunch. Then I had to get on the phone with my doc at 2:30, which was close enough to their screen time, so the day ensued as normal. Oh well, I tried. At least I was in their presence for part of the day today. And Abishai was not the least bit scared this time. He actually laughed several times when dinosaurs and parts of things buildings were flying around. Oi! I think he's been watching too many violent video games or something. I don't know. Other options were Men in Black, Star Wars, Marvel movies, some animated movies Keturah likes, yup, those kinds of things. I guess we could of tried Back to the Future trilogy or Karate Kid, the originals. Now THOSE are ones I could handle. Maybe another really actually rainy day.

Abishai was in the pool twice today, first time before the movie while I finished breakfast and he was very cold, and then tonight with Daddy. I could his laughter as I walked down the street to Bible study. I had a hard time keeping his glasses on him today. And he is staying up too late reading books which is making him difficult during the day. We might have to set some times where we check on him or something. Or just wait it out until the days get shorter again. We'll see. But right now, he's being quite difficult. I came home from Bible study and basically said, I'm not dealing with it, I need the bathroom and I'm thirsty and go to bed. So he finally did.

I had Keturah weed the bamboo while I was gone and I tried to convince Justin to prep the yard for mowing tomorrow. I don't know if he did it or not. Poop patrol and trimming. It's going to be getting hotter and hotter as the days progress and I don't know when Grandpa is going to call on him again. We have park day on Friday morning and the afternoons are not the time to do yard work, so we'll see. Tomorrow night might be a good time to do Grandpa's yard, or Friday night. But that's not up to me. And if Justin didn't do it, that's just more work for himself in the morning, when he gets up late, and then spends all day on it because he has to take a lot of breaks. Not my problem. I should probably get out there and do a quick weeding of the flower bed area, too. We've got a bunch of greenery and flowers coming up, and some dead stuff that could be taken away. It's not awful by any means, but it could be done. I also want to pre cook some roasted vegetables in the morning in preparation for dinner. I should have time to cook stuff for dinner but the kitchen gets too hot for the oven to be on. A quick shower and then I'll be on the phone by 1pm.

I have to tackle some paperwork before I start my own screen time and try not to think too hard. I tried not to reach for any heavy reading or listening today, so just Bible listening and fell asleep to Proverbs. Well, some of those chapters sound exactly the same, ok? Like really the same about humility and laziness. Lending money. Foolishness and wisdom. You'd think we would get the point. But we don't. And so we need spiritual milk. Just like some groups of people that I need to be more patient with and not just tolerate. More intentional with and cheerful with. And just be mindful that I am blessed to have other places to go to be filled up and challenged. Poured into and poured out. Both. I'm right where I need to be. Although this week, I'm being stretched and I choose to be. And that's ok. Next week. I'm going to be bored or I'm going to be exhausted because Jared will be in so much pain. I just can't predict what it will be like. So I wait. With anticipation. Baited breathe. Nervous. I'm not ok. Nope. And he won't answer me about the Michael W. Smith thing on my birthday in Tennessee. I keep telling him we need to talk about it and he says, no or not now, and I'm like, I need to make plans....I need an answer.....It's 4 1/2 weeks away, I need to reserve a hotel room. Well, I actually can still reserve a hotel room myself. I don't need anyone else to do that for me. I'm going. And whether I take my own kid or Jared goes with or I go with a friend, there's usually two queen beds, right? The cheapest room usually is anyway and it's a Monday night. Look up the venue, and the route and boom, I can do that. I know Nashville well enough and can ask my friends down there. Easy peasy. So I would just rather have it in his name because I hate handling all that stuff. But I can do that. So, I will. I'll figure it out. Done. Thanks blog post for figuring it out with me.

Ok, what pics do I have? I don't know.....oh yeah! I tried out this app that makes our selfies into cartoons! Check them out! The only problem is that I haven't been taking the best photos lately so I need to up my photography skills and be more patient.

This one came out really cute, and it made the mask look like a bandana.

This one was from away, so it's a bit more pixelated.

I didn't have a good close up one of Keturah, but I had downloaded one of her from when she was litle, so I used that. Adorable!

Handsome boy.

Yuppers!

This set of mine came out fine, just as long as you don't look at how creepy Abishai's face got, lol. They had cartoon face, baby face, and renaissance face.

Um, no, no, no. Jared's didn't come out right at all. No.

Mine from that same photo were ok, but I liked the previous set better.

We baked the Pokemon cookies so we wouldn't heat up the oven later in the day.

Just because....summer....

Yes, they make them in a way that you can just eat them unbaked right out of the box.

Abishai's biggest asks now a days is "Swing me, Mommy! Swing me, Daddy!" and "Swim with me, Daddy!" And how can you say, "No," to the last kid? You can't. You just can't.

The yellow flowers are blooming! I love love love how our flowers bloom at different times. First the daffodils. Then the irises. Then the purple stalks. Then these guys. Then the soon to be pink ones. And the purple asters. And the roses are on their way out, too. There's always something new going on in the garden one by one. Someone took the time to carefully plant these so I don't disturb them much. They keep getting better and bigger every single year. So much so I might have to cut them back at some point! I already have to push this tree bush thing Jared planted off my face when I walk down the sidewalk and that's AFTER he staked it! It shouldn't have been planted in the flower bed. I'm not sure what he was thinking. It's between the daffodils and the purple asters which are prolific enough. Too much for the area there in my opinion. You are going to start choking out one or the other thing there for sure. But what do I know. I've only got a brown thumb, not a green thumb. Although, I haven't killed too many things outside. I do kill things inside because of forgetting to water them and not giving them enough sunlight despite my best efforts. I'd say the outside plants do pretty well though under my supervision, more so because I don't mess with them rather than I do, lol.

Well, the day started off slowly but man, soon it was lunchtime and I had to fly through the rest of it from one appointment to the next to a few errands to dinner and to volunteering again. And here it is 10pm. Phew! But we made it! Justin mowed both yards today and boy was he not happy about it either. Keturah spent the majority of her day in her room sorting orbeez and listening to music. Abishai had some pool time this morning, and I watched him because I wanted some outdoor time myself, unlike what I had on Tuesday. Then he got to have screen time early because of my online appointments. Then while Justin was on the screen, I took Abishai with me to the post office, dry cleaners, and CVS to pick up deodorant for Justin which turned into about a dozen other things, but, hey, everybody was happy by the end of it. Then home for chores, dinner, and set up for actually participating in this virtual conference.

Got the kids set up on a DVD instead of using wifi and all went well. At least on my side. There were some big storms out in Virginia where the conference was being streamed live from and the power went out mid-afternoon. But they got it back up for the evening session. It was soooooo cool to have first of all, live streaming with camera angles and screens in front of the speaker of all of us on zoom. And then, they could tell the tech people to break us off into different zoom rooms for a few minutes to have a little discussion about a question. It was so neat! I didn't know you could that! Jared knew. And I guess Gary might, too. And I'm like, why aren't you doing more things like that instead of traveling so much for the ministry? Dude! It's like an introvert's/chronic health problem person's dream! I can stay comfortable at home with my own food and meds and surroundings and still have real conversations people and be an encouragement and randomly mingle. The first room I was in had another moderator in it, but the second time it happened, I got to talk to a brand new homeschooler in Virginia who is looking for a home based teaching kind of job so she can homeschool her 13 yr old. I had just a few minutes to encourage her, but I did my best. It was like if I turned to her sitting next to me and then the speaker cut us off to finish up the session because the tech people did a little countdown and then literally cut us off. It was quite interesting! And I got to see our fearless IAHE Director Tara Bentley and everything is right in the world when Tara takes to the platform, right?

When talking to my counselor today about what we usually talk about, it's just that. Just the familiarity of someone like Tara or the other leaders in the IAHE who really "get it" who put their whole hearts into the homeschooling movement and believe in it 100%, and not just dabble in it for a year or two, and go back and forth, and such, those are my people. Those are who make my heart sing. And then I got to my Friday group or other play groups, and I'm there to give a little encouragement to them, and they give me feedback on what I can work on personally or what I can give our team to work on for the website or magazine on what the community needs. That IS my job. Reps are the liaisons between the organization and the community. And sometimes I forget that. Especially on Fridays. But Fridays I can be myself, too, the weird person who is just accepted with her crazy ideas and opinions, no judgments, no holding back, IF I can get a word in edgewise. But I don't usually leave feeling that I disagree with what is being said, either. That's different than how I feel in other social situations. So, every group has a purpose in my life. I'm content where I'm at. I'm trying to hold onto that. I'm trying to stay calm and open for surgery next week. Jared is, too. He's counting the hours down. And it's a great reminder to stay in the moment and things like volunteering for this conference and my appointments helped the week go by fast and kept me from dwelling on it too much.

Tomorrow I have to get up and take Keturah to do the lemonade stand thing again. I was reminded when telling my counselor about next week and how I didn't plan anything for Keturah's birthday next week because of the surgery and she and I kind of agreed to just do something in July after CIY that she really has had a lot of friend time with the same girls she would have invited over for a birthday party these two weekends and then next week they will go to CIY together, so they will have 4 days together. That's a TON more social time than usual. So, I think she's good with all that. She's very excited about CIY. Her Canada red Moose shirt came today, the $20 splurge I bought her because that's the color and mascot of her team and it warms my heart that she sees red and moose and goose and immediately thinks of Canada and is sad that her pink hockey Rockets shirt is too small. That tells me that just because the last 6 months of our time in Canada was awful, that we created a lot of fond memories, too. And that brings me great joy. Not many kids can say they lived in a foreign country for part of their childhood. It's pretty neat to see that. I think I might go grab some cupcakes from Kroger and bring them to her and her friends on Saturday just so we can celebrate her. That might be fun.

And then the boys and I go to Greenfield for park day with splash pad, finally! A splash pad! Woot! Woot! And karate in the evening. So, carry on!

Time to study Daniel 2 at Bible study after Dan will preach on Sunday about it! These simple things that aren't taught at much in Church in Sunday Schools anymore.

When he's cold, he gets up on the edge of the trampoline, his "hot spot," and warms up.

Trying to be outside for a few minutes today while Abishai goes for his daily swim.

He looks so much older from this angle!

Cutie with his blue eyes and freckles!

And then I went looking for a certain photo because I learned a tidbit of information from a friend and foudn the most cutest pics from 11 years ago! This is baby Socks. He was just 3 months old. Yes, 3 months. Like, um, he was bigger than a lot of dogs when they are full grown. But we loved on him so much when he was little. Adorable!

Such a cute puppy!

Always furry.

Keturah thought this was Socks. This Baxter, Gary and Leah's last dog. He was much, much thicker than Socks and weighed over100 lbs. He was a bull mastiff mix and spent most of his time outside. His hair was much more wirey and didn't shed like Socks' does. Benaiah was 8 years old or so.

Abishai? Nope. Justin and Cooper Zigler whose older brother just graduated high school this year.

Who knew that these two would play regular Bible Bowl on the same team just a few years later. Jordan Henry. This is our backyard in Beech Grove.

Auntie Stefanie and a baby Auggie, 8 months old or so.

Keturah, 3 years old.

Keturah, 2 years old.

Keturah just about 15 months I think.

Macinac Bridge from Macinaw City. Awww, my baby girl!

And this is why she won't wear pigtails anymore. Look at how cute she is!

Not sure why we have a computer at campsite, but hey, the boys were into it. The 2nd to last time I tent camped.

Grandpa Johnsons with a little Justin and a little Benaiah. Justin would have been 4 years old and Benaiah was 7.

This was the photo I was looking for because this young lady, Miss Alison Anness, just got engaged this week! She will be a Mrs. soon! Craziness! And that baby will now be a teenager this coming week! Ah! Where as the time gone?!