Sunflowers

Maddie's favorite color has been yellow for quite some time. 
Ron thought she would enjoy some Yellow Sunflowers in the garden this year.  You may remember me posting when we planted them.

 

Well they grew...

 

and grew...

and grew!  Eleven feet and 4 inches was the tallest one.  Maddie loves them and says they are all hers!  "Daddy planted them for me!"

At least something grew in our garden this year, besides weeds!

Lots of KIDS

So, I guess I have a little explaining to do with the picture earlier and this one.  Now that Ronnie, Nathaniel and Eli are back in school, Maddie and I are ...babysitting!

Monday we had 6 kids and today 7!  We will not have more than 7 and could have as few as 3on a given day.  The oldest 3 begin Kindergarten or "early fives" on Thursday and then they will be every other day.  Needless to say, we have our hands very full. 

Surprisingly though, it is going very well.  We are trying to keep a routine, which everyone seems to be doing well with.  We are going to try to have a theme each week (new letter each week) and then do a verse, song, crafts, worksheets, etc after that letter/theme!

So we are keeping busy while the boys are away!  Pray for patience.  I'm doing pretty good while the kids are here, but I need more patience for the evenings when I am exhausted and my own 4 are exhausted too!

First Day

 

Yesterday was the beginning of another school year for Ronnie and Nathaniel.  Ronnie is beginning 4th grade and Nathaniel 3rd!  But yesterday was the very first day for Eli!  Wow, my little big man is starting Kindergarten!  I can't believe it.  He was so excited he couldn't sleep on Sunday evening, he was up at 10:00 still thinking about things that would happen the next day.

Here they are, the school boys!

 

And there little sis, who is so proud and so not sure what it means!

I'll have to explain this one in another post!

For years I have thought of Eli as BIG.  He is a big boy, but the last couple of days he seemed so small.  He still has those "BIG" brown eyes and that "HUGE" personality, but with that BIG backpack strapped on his back, he looked "little" to me!  My little man - joining his Big brothers in school -wow, what will I do without him around!?!

 

 

Ron took the boys to school yesterday and walked Eli into his classroom.  He said he was not stop chatter - a nervous chatter, but an excitement!  Here he was, finally in school!

 

Then he picked him up yesterday afternoon - Ron asked him what his favorite thing was about his first day.

Eli's response, "Rest time. Cause I needed it"!

(that will go down in the quote book)

Aunt, Uncle and Cousins

After the funeral yesterday we had a short amount of time together with the Adkins family!

Maddie and Emmi took advantage of the time they had. 

 

These 2 are hilarious together!  They are both the babies and they both know it!  They are fun and they have fun!

 The "big" kids played some ball!

Other big kids rested.  It had been a long couple of days!

I snapped a lot of pictures, but below are some of my favorites of the kids with their Uncle Ryan!!

Quite the Crew!

It was nice to have a little bit of fun together after some long days!  You can see Grandpa, Papaw, Panpa a.k.a. Ron in the background!  I think it was good that we could all be together!  He needed his kids near him during this time, and I'm so thankful we could all be together!

Foundation and Hope

We traveled the last couple of days to Ron's hometown for his Uncle Jim's funeral.  It was a complete shock to all of us that Uncle Jim was gone.  He had been out mowing when he evidently knew something was wrong.  He made it up to the porch and called out to his wife, Joan, and then he died before she could even get to him!  It really is so sad to know that he is gone, but yesterday as I sat in the funeral service, a realization hit me of how "final" death is to so many!  Honestly, without Jesus  - death is the end - there is nothing else! On the flip side, with Jesus, death is just the beginning! 

So many have no hope at all when a loved one dies!  I realized yesterday you can even see it in the eyes of those who are left behind.  Yesterday was a celebration for those of us who know where Uncle Jim is and who know that one day we will be reunited with him in Heaven.  However, for some it was...so final!  It's as if they were completely and utterly LOST in every sense of the word. 

The trip and couple of days with extended family made me realize again just how precious my own family is!  I have 2 sets of Godly parents (both mine and Ron's) who have laid a foundation in their parenting and lifestyles that says, "Jesus Christ is Lord" and "without Him there is nothing - nothing else matters".  I am blessed beyond words to have that foundation.  Yes I had to make the decision for myself, no one could do it for me, but I also had people surrounding me to make it a decision I wanted to make. People who taught me that there can be HOPE!

My heart hurts for those who are blind to the saving power of Jesus Christ! 

I was so excited by the Pastor Carter's funeral message.  He offered each one there the opportunity to accept the gift Christ gave and make Him Lord of their lives. He did a fantastic job and Uncle Jim would have been pleased!

Jesus, help me to be an example to all those I come into contact with of Your love, of the Hope You have to offer and of the salvation You offer to each one!

It's a MIRACLE!

Just 2 weeks ago Ron's brother, Ryan, was in West Virgina putting on a concert when a few ladies in the church asked if they could pray for him. He was exhausted from the concerts and quickly agreed.
 
From my understanding, these ladies prayed for complete healing and anointed him and ferverently prayed over him.

Yesterday Ryan went to the doctor for chemo and the results of scans taken last week.

The doctor said he is COMPLETELY CANCER FREE!

Did you get that? I'm so excited I can barely type! There is absolutely no activity in his body at all!

Thank you so much for praying! It is a miracle.

They will continue with 2 more chemo treatments and still plan to do the stem cell transplant in the fall (probably late October), but we have not gotten this report of Cancer Free in 5 years!

We are rejoicing at the Answered Prayer and thank all of you so much for being a part!

Additionally we will get to hug Ryan and family tomorrow as we all travel to Ron's parents for his Uncle's funeral! We are celebrating Uncle Jim's life and rejoicing at Answered Prayer.

LOST

I have a feeling that in less than 2 weeks this little girl is going to be lost!

She has not known a time without Eli around!  And believe me when I say, he is the life of the party!

I'm praying that the both adjust well to being away from each other all day long!  

Hard to believe our little comedian is ready to begin school! 

Kindergarten here he comes, Ready or NOT!



Overcoming

This past weekend our churches held an Over-Comers Conference!  You may never have heard of this, but let me tell you it was great! 
Dr. Blake Neff (affectionately known on this blog as PAP, or my dad) was the speaker and held 5 sessions on the life of Joseph and how he Overcame in 5 different areas.

There were 14 days of devotionals that lead up to the conference and helped us to prepare as we read the Genesis account of Joseph from chapters 37-50!
Then on Friday night we began and continued with Session 5 on Sunday evening.

The Sessions were:

I. Overcoming Circumstances and how we all have to go through circumstances that we might not choose, but it's HOW we go through them and how we overcome those circumstances.

II. Overcoming Temptation.  We talked about how temptation is unavoidable and unpredictable and unrelenting, but how Joseph had a  Plan for Overcoming Temptation and we can too.  We must decide that no matter what cost we will NOT yield to sin.

III. Overcoming Bitterness was the session when we talked about forgiveness.  We talked about what forgiveness is and what it is not.  We learned that we must over and over and over again forgive those who have wronged us and how eventually the Holy Spirit will change our hearts to those who have wronged us.

IV. Overcoming Earthly Limitations.  Joseph was a dreamer who at the end of his life dreamed of the Promised Land.  We too have a Promised Land in Heaven and we talked about what that will be like.  We are not to live for this world, but for the world to come!

V. Overcoming Success was where we learned about success syndrome and how we can Remember to Overcome Success by remembering: Who we are, Where we came from, Who brought us and Why we are here!

It was a fantastic conference.  We had 8 people  ask Jesus to be Lord of their life and many more who said, I want to be involved more in the ministry of Christ and His kingdom! Ron and I pray this weekend and this time will have lasting impact on our churches! 

If you're interested in scheduling an Over-Comers Conference, let me know!  I have a good connection with Dr. Neff :)

It really was a great weekend!

Revelation 3:21 "To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne."

Adkins Olympics

We've been playing and talking Olympics around here. 

It's been fun to see the kids get so excited!  Maddie exclaimed the other day, "Gabby Douglas is my best friend".  It took me a little bit to realize she was talking about the US gold medalist gymnast.  She has asked to watch gymnastics nearly every day since seeing her first event!  She loves watching them float through the air on all the different events.

I've overheard several conversations between Eli and Maddie where one was "being interviewed" by a reporter.  "It's my last chance to win a medal."  "I would love to win a gold medal."  Even, "I have a good feeling I could go undefeated," as Eli exclaimed.  When asked what they were doing, they both replied they were giving "acceptance speeches".

And then after I put a stop to the gymnastic flips off the bunk beds, Maddie exclaimed, "It was a good day.  I wish I could but my mom said no more flips."

All 4 kids have been involved in the competitions. 

Honestly it is a little difficult to do laps in a small pool.

but they had fun.

They also used the wagon as a net and played some beach volleyball.

Then there was the cycling, and ping pong.  There was also some equine events, but they were also stopped due to young horses being ridden by bigger riders!

There has been a lot of disappointment in the fact that the coverage is so late at night.  We missed a lot, we've been up too late!  It's hard to see all you want and they got tired of water polo in the afternoons!!

But we love the Olympics. 

Nathaniel has said on numerous occasions, "I wish the Olympics were every year".

So as London games come to a close, the Adkins games will probably continue a little while longer!

What about you, are you enjoying the Olympic games?



Progressive Field

Today we had the opportunity to go to Progressive Field.  For those of you who are not Indians fans, or even baseball fans.  Progressive Field is the home of the Cleveland Indians Baseball team!

Last year we were given tickets by the Ruffers.  This year we were asked to join them on a trip to Cleveland.(this is particularly big because Mr. Ralph cheers for that team in Detroit)  We would also be going with another couple in our Farmer church (Doug and Mary Sue).

The stinky part about today was that Ron ended up not being able to go.  He had a funeral this morning and so was unable to make the trip with us!  (I am proud of my husband.  It is very difficult at times to be in ministry, but Ron does it well.  He always puts others before himself and I'm so proud of the example he is giving our kids.  He could have said, and been justified in saying "I can't be there on Wed, I'm going with my family to a ball game"  but instead he put the ministry to our people first and ministered to a hurting family.)

All that being said, it was hard to leave him this morning!

In addition to Doug, Mary Sue, Ralph, Cathy and the 5 of us there was also Bradyn (Ruffer's grandson who is Nathaniel's age).

We weren't sure it was going to be a good game or not.  Our Indians have been on a loosing streak and have not played well since the All-Star game!  Honestly though, that didn't slow these guys down.  They were excited to go and cheer for their team! 

As it turned out, our Indians just needed us to come and watch so that they could get a win.  The Indians are now officially 2-0 when we are present to watch!!

 All 5 had a great time!

Thanks you Doug and Mary Sue!

Thank you Ralph and Cathy!

We had a great time!

Fort Meigs

Today we took the kids to Fort Meigs in Perrysburg, Ohio (near Toledo)! 

Fort Meigs is a where we discovered the War of 1812 at the largest reconstructed fort is America.  It is 10-acres!  We had a great time inside the stockade walls as we discovered blockhouses, artillery batteries, a quartermaster's building and numerous traverses used by troops in defending the fort.

That's the book description of the Fort. 

Below is our version in pictures! 

It was an awesome place to visit and learn history. 

The boys were impressed that they couldn't even see out of the fort in places. It was pretty impressive!

 Eli was the only one who wanted to try on a uniform and pose with the soldier!

 The soldier even showed us how to shoot the musket!

"Wood's Battery"

(where the cannons were set up with a view any approaching British and Indians below)

These next few pictures were of Blockhouse 2 (there were 7)

This window had a view of the inside of the fort!

 These windows had a view outside of the fort to the river below. 

The kids liked "shooting" out of these tiny holes!

Then Maddie grabbed the "canyon" (as Eli calls it).

They all enjoyed this Blockhouse!

Then at the "Grand Battery" they all had their own cannon!

It was a fun time and we all learned a little history. 
Maddie enjoyed the beaded Indian necklaces and pretty dresses in the gift shop.  Eli couldn't decide, he liked it all.  Nathaniel enjoyed the Blockhouse where he could shoot the cannon and the small windows to fire out of.  Ronnie couldn't decide either, he liked it all!

It was pretty impressive!

Then we enjoyed a picnic on the grounds!

We still had a view of the fort during lunch and Ron snapped some pictures.  He remembers visiting different historical sites as a boy with his family, but this is the biggest!

Nearby is the monument for the Battle of Fallen Timbers.  Although everyone was tired from the morning in the heat, we stopped by to get a quick pictures of the monument honoring Major General Anthony Wayne.

We had a fun day!  And we learned A LOT!