Busy Summer Days

We have had a busy few days around the Adkins home. It all started out on Wednesday evening here in Ney. We had some pretty nasty weather coming our way. The weather man said 90mph winds in Elkhart, Indiana - headed our way. We kept our eye on the radar and at about 10pm our town tornado siren went off. We got the kids and took them down to the basement. If this thing hit us it looked like some serious winds that could perhaps be tornado force. We carried Maddie and Eli down as they slept. Ronnie and Nathaniel had to walk. We had put some blankets and sleeping bags on the cold concrete floor, so we camped out for a while.

Ronnie went to sleep. Maddie and Eli sat calmly, but Nathaniel; he looked very concerned. He sat and prayed. We waited for about half an hour and heard nothing. Ron ventured upstairs check the radar and discovered that it had broken up right around Ney and then come together on the other side of us towards Defiance. We seemed to be spared the brunt of it. We were extremely thankful and after watching the news for a few more minutes I took the kids back to bed. As I tucked Nathaniel back into bed, he questioned, for probably the fourth time, "is it over?" I assured him that it was past and now was just rain. He turned to me and said, "well I prayed that it wouldn't hit Ney." As I explained to him that it had broken up and gone around Ney, I told him we should thank Jesus for answering his prayer. What a privilege to see with Nathaniel that Jesus answers our prayers.

The next morning we had to be up pretty early. Ron had a meeting in Ohio City and was dropping us off at Granny and Gramps (my Grandparents) house in Payne, on his way. We go to their house at least once a month and the kids love to visit.

Maddie enjoyed Granny's toys.

The boys enjoyed some cookies...

and some reading time with Granny!

From Payne we headed to Van Buren, IN to my parents house. My sister, Joanna and her family were staying with mom and dad while they attended the Celebration of Missions in Marion. We got a few hours to spend with them.

Here Ronnie and Aunt Jo have put together his world puzzle; a new gift for his birthday. Elsie helped show it off!

My sister also went through some winter clothes to give to Maddie as her girls won't be needing them in Arua. Elsie watched as her mom showed me what she had and she just couldn't bare to part with everything. SO below she is wearing a favorite jacket. I'm pretty sure it won't fit for long, but she needed something to hold onto, especially during those 90 degree days! Isn't she a cutie?!

Ron and Billy went to Celebration while Jo, Mom, Dad, the kids and I had some time to hang out. Then of course we had to have more reading time.


Here are the Adkins/Coppedge cousins in birth order!

Friday morning we woke up and headed to our friends, Russ, Connie and Anna's house. While the kids and I hung out with Connie and Anna...

Ron and Russ went over preacher stuff. You see Russ and Connie were both in Discipleship groups that Ron and I lead in Circleville. They now live in Van Buren, and just recently Russ has been appointed to a UM church in Marion. The Lord has called him to Preach and we are excited to see what the Lord has in store for all of them.

Nathaniel is extremely "Fatherly". Here he is 'taking care' of Anna.

My crew with Anna. They all love Anna's little chair. I think that is why Maddie is not so happy here, she wanted to sit in the chair, but she wanted to sit in it backwards!

After a few hours of visiting we headed for home. I snapped this picture when we stopped for lunch. These 2 are so cute together.

So then this morning was our last tee ball game of this year. As you can see in the background, it began with rain, but it did clear nicely as they got into the first inning! Below Ronnie knocked one into the outfield. He gave up on the grand slams today and just tried to hit the farthest.

Maddie enjoyed herself too. She didn't watch much, but she didn't let anyone else either!

So there you have our last couple of days. It has been a busy few days, but a fun one too. We're looking forward to some rest tomorrow - AFTER 2 services!