Reese in 3rd grade

 

Reese is my first born son. I am so blessed to be is Mom. He is smart and helpful. Reese is sensitive and compassionate. I appreciate that he is very observant and ready to serve. He is your typical 3rd grader. He loves to tease his 3 year old brother. This year he is enjoying being a boyscout, he is about to earn his wittling badge. He serves as an usher periodically at church, and he is wonderful at verse memorization. He has finished 1 book at Kings Kids and looks forward to finishing his second this year. Reese loves to fish, especially ice fish! He doesn't mind the cold weather and is not a fan of the hot weather, good thing we live in the UP!!!! Reese is a constant blessing and encouragement to me. I love you so much Reese!!!

update

I am not very good at this keeping my blog updated thing. I know I like to go to blogs and am very happy when someone is diligent to keep it updated:).

We are praising the Lord for answered prayer. Shane is now employed by Cleveland Cliffs Mining Co. here in the U.P. After 2 years of praying him home he is!!! Right now it is 9:30am and he is in bed. He is working Night shift for 7 straight days! Then he will be off for 4. His schedule is a swing schedule, but he is happy to be able to come home evey day instead of every 10 days! His laundry is autrocious!sp? The clothes he wears to work will always be brown from the soot of Iron ore. I love the reminder of answered prayer when I do laundry :)!!!

We spent Thanksgiving with my sister down in Milwaukee. Nikki did a great job as a hostess, everything was yummy!
It was a blessing to catch up with and old friend who I hadn't seen or heard from since 2003! She was a lady I had led to the Lord and I am excited to see how the Lord has worked in her life. She is a dear friend.
I also spent some time with Trish..that is always a blessing. The ride down and home were filled with good preaching and Odyssey stories:). The boys were fabulous.
I went shopping for Black Friday for the first time! I got to do that with Erika,Casey,Katie,and Carrie. We got to Kohls for 3am. It was fun to see the girls. I wasn't impressed with the deals...but managed to get the majority of our Christmas shopping done! woot woot!.

Our tree is up and we finally recieved our snow yesterday...6 inches or something like that! Love it!

Yesterday we had our Christmas play at church. Come as a Child by Ron and Shelly Hamilton. The children did wonderful. Pastor preached a very fitting message. WE must come to Jesus as a child. A child comes with pure faith and trust. We as adults have the baggage of skeptism and doubt. May we live by the faith of a child as we trust God for each step, His timing, and His provision! I love him so !

 
 
 
 

August

Wow August was a busy but wonderful month! We lots of company grace our doors. We started the month with Shelby, Shane's 19 year old daughter. She came to visit for 5 days before she heads to College. We enjoyed lots of beautiful weather by going to Uncle Pat's camp, kayaking, fishing, and boating. We celebrated Ronin's birthday and Shelby's birthday. Ronin's on the 8th and Shelby's on the 10th. We had a great time. Ronin is pacifier free, very exciting. He is a big boy and no longer my baby..well I guess he will always be my baby...unless the Lord gives another!
My friend Erika and her family came up for 8 days! She has five children that are absolutely wonderful to have around. She remodeled my upstairs bathroom. LOVE IT! Everyone needs an Erika! :) She is the lady the Lord used to disciple me and teach me what a woman of God looked like. She is a wonderful godly woman with lots of personality! She was a joy to have. Reese and Ronin enjoyed having built in friends! Shane was able to take the boys fishing several times, Reese was proud to show off his daddy's boat and go fishing. It was nice that Shane could be home for some of the visit:). We went to the beach on M-28. The waves were coming in and we were loving playing in them. Erika couldn't get over how clean it was. We laughed so much, it was great. Her trip is marked with coffee in our screen house, trix, bathroom remodel, relaxation, trampoline, and the words, random, and redonculis...just sayin! lol. Oh and we saw a baby bear up a tree and a mama bear trying to get to her cub on Presque Isle! We had some pedestrians jump in my van! This is how close we were to them! We also witnessed a calf being born at the Escanaba state fair.
God provided plenty of great weather and fellowship in August! I praise him for his goodness and everlasting kindness to me, my family, and my friends!

Ronin's 3 year Birthday!

O what fun! 3 is a great age! Ronin has hit many milestones and he has done it with great amusement and enthusiasim. He became a "big boy" and we entered the world of no diapers about 3 weeks ago. *Bliss* Today we had a big birthday bash. So many people came! The Paradowskis', the Bells', the Mallettes', Great Grandma, Grandma, Uncle Pat, Shelby, and Aunt Marie. We celebrated outside with plenty of hotdogs, chips, Potato salad and of course cake and ice cream! Ronin was delighted (of course) to be the center of attention. It was so nice to be able to do everything outside. We kept the food in the screen room so no bugs! It is nice to have a screen room. The bigs kids had a water balloon fight. Mrs. Bell and I had our own water fight and were drenched by the end! :) Everyone enjoyed themselves and I couldn't have done it without all the help I recieved from my husband, Colleen, and great Grandma. Thank you Lord your goodness! What a great day!

Lisa's Birthday

Lisa Marie Gibbs is my niece. We celebrated her 13th birthday on July 12th by treating her like she was Esther soon to be the chosen queen. She received the beauty treatment and was treated like royalty. Mrs. Russel my pastor's wife made it so special as she had all the good ideas and Laura was and is the beautician. Lisa felt like queen for the day! She is a great blessing to have around. She is so fun. Lisa has a servants heart and is always ready to be a blessing. I love her so! We took lots of pictures so I will post them soon.
Side note we are memorizing Ephesians 4:31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice.
Our Lord desires the fruit of our lips to be sweet as the honeycomb. God put a watch at our mouth.

The Fourth Of July

The Fourth of July is a special time of year. It is probably my favorite. The smells of mowed grass and sulfur...love it! This weekend we spent Saturday at the Autrain river on the Daddy's boat. There were alot of waves as the winds were bringing in some expected rain. We were thankful the wind kept us cool in 90 degree weather, the splashing water was a relief. Reese and Daddy didn't catch a fish not even a bite. Fishing is a means to get on the boat and enjoy the company of us. No dishes on the boat..just peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches and lots of water and some soda. Ronin can't run away on the boat...he just sits and sometimes lays down so he doesn't get splashed. He loves to be on the boat. He is always asking "what's that?"...or What's that noise?" Reese is so grown up. He does everything his Daddy does. He loves to fish. He also is First mate. He helps dock and load the boat. These boys are amazing to me. They run the show and I provide the PB&J. We finished the day with Fireworks and ice cream at Grampa's and Gramma's house. Uncle Ray came out as well.

Sunday we enjoyed church service. Four people gave testimony to salvation and got baptized. Mike, and his sons, Robert and Brandon. Haleigh Bell also got baptized. What a blessing to see these folk follow the Lord in Believers Baptism. We then headed out the Shane's Uncle Pat's "Camp" on Conway Lake. Once again the wind followed us! It was crazy out there! The "camp" actually is a lovely home that Uncle Pat has built..it is not quite finished but it is very comfortable. I made hot dogs and tenderloin sandwiches. We played in the water and sat on the dock. It was a special blessing to have been able to take Shane's Grandma with us. She shared stories of growing up on the farm in Minnesota. Her grandparents immigrated from England. She was born in Canada but after receiving an infection in her arm from small pox vaccination she moved to Minnesota with her grandparents to recieve treatment to save her arm. The canadian doctor wanted to amputate. Praise be to God the Doctor in MN was able to save her arm. I loved listening to her stories...some I can't blog about! Shane caught a couple of fish, but he lost the big one! He actually jumped in the water after it ....it had broken the line and Shane didn't want it to get away with his lure! :) To no avail the "Big One got away". We didn't do the fireworks in town...but came home, had pizza and cooked up the one that didn't get a way. We had a wonderful, relaxing, refreshing weekend. We will catch the fireworks in Negaunee at Pioneer days.

Reese

Reese is enjoying reading a book his dad got him "Encyclopedia Brown Solves them All". Reese is a very good reader, but he doesn't usually care to read , so Dad finally found a book that Reese enjoys. Reese enjoys jumping on the trampoline. His favorite thing to do is to go fishing. He even likes ice fishing. He likes knives, guns and his bow. Typical male. He is very helpful and sweet boy. I am truly blessed to be his mom.

Lisa And Ronin

Muddin

Lisa and I put on a chocolate face maske and Ronin had to join in.

Ronin couldn't find anything to wear...so he thought the sweater was a good choice to keep his legs warm! Lisa and I have been going thru clothes for a few days now. My friend Trish picked him up some great buys at rummage sales and another friend handed down some clothes...now we have clothes coming out of our ears! This boy can wear a different outfit for months straight. I have to weed because if it does not fit in the drawer it is outta here!!!! :) Thank you to my friends and their willingness to meet a need over and above what I could imagine! :)

Weekend fun and Summer happenings

So we are starting a blog. Right now because of Trish..but it is a great idea that I believe my children will cherish one day. My first post I am starting simple with the fact that last weekend my Husband Shane got our first boat. :) We love the boat! I hope it runs for a long time. We all enjoy the water and Reese likes to fish. Ronin does real well on the boat, he is better on the boat than on land....Ships ahoy!!! When Ronin spoke to his daddy today he greeted him by " HI Boat". :) lol

Lisa is up visiting and we are having a wonderful time together. She is enjoying youth group and loving on Ronin. She also loves to organize...especially Ronin's clothes, that way she has a clue what he will wear every day all summer long! :) She likes to pick out Reese's clothes as well. She hasn't tried to dress me yet! Reese is 8, Ronin is 2 and Lisa is 12. Lisa is looking forward to going canoeing this weekend and then off to Camp Joy for the week of June 27th to July 3rd.

Today was rainy, but beautiful.. the clouds were billowy. Loved today. We had a great time. Made Macaroni Dog Casserole..yummo ( it was a Rachel Ray )God you are so good to us. Thank you for the sweetness of the air and the laugher of my children.