Wrap up July and So Much More!

To say that July slowed down, or that after baseball - summer slowed - would simply be a LIE!  It didn't happen.
In fact, as I looked back over the July calendar today, there were not more than 3 days without something going on.  That's craziness, yet that is our life, I guess!


Not all the things were "busy" kinds of things.  Some were fun things.  Mini Vacations with grandparents, Birthday Parties for Great-Grandma, All Star Baseball Tourney's, Babysitting a 3 month old, lunch with friends, girls day out and many more!  Busyness is just the norm with 6 people in the house, especially when we Pastor 2 churches.

Today not only wraps up July, but it also wraps up 5 years here at Ney.  WOW!  That's seems crazy.  We've been here 5 years!  We thought it would be 2, now here we are beginning our 6th year.  

A lot has happened in 5 years.  We've added a baby girl, who is now 4 years old.  Maddie's reading and loves learning and has hair down to her bottom and is so tall (and getting taller) and just so fun.  Eli has grown from a tumbling toddler to a tumbling big boy!  He has probably shown the most change in his face.  He's lost the baby face and baby fat but still has the most adorable dimples and HUGE eyes and just is so cute!  Then there is Nathaniel who has grown from a little 5 year old into a 9 year old (next month).  His abilities has more than multiplied.  His athletic skills have just become so dominate.  He continues to be rough and tough, but has also kept that sensitive side that loves to hug his Momma!  Then Ronnie, just having turned 6 when we arrive in Ney, he was beginning Kindergarden.  Now in a few weeks he will be a 5th grader.  Is is possible that middle school is only a year away?    Still the little boy and yet growing and changing before our eyes!

 Wow what changes and those are just the kids!  Five years has brought changes in Ron and I too.  Very green when we began this ministry.  Desiring to love the people of this community and really not knowing what we were getting into.  There have been times that we would rather forget, difficult times and struggles.  There have been times of pure joy!  Times we have laughed and cried together.  We have learned so much about ministry and yet sometimes we still feel so new to this.  Ministry is difficult, ministry is fun.  Ministry is challenging and rewarding.  Ministry is something that Ron and I walked into somewhat timidly, not knowing what to expect.  We wanted to love the people of this community and share Jesus with them.  We have hopefully been successful in that and yet there is so much more we can share and do and show!

In five years we have grown to love this community!  We love the people who make up our church family!  We love our ministry to them!  We are so Blessed to be able to serve here in this community and to these people, truly Blessed!

We really don't have a clue how the next 30 days will all play out, let alone the next 5 years!  Jesus knows and we continue to trust in Him, just like we did 5 years ago this week!

Jesus thank you for guiding us, for walking beside us for teaching us and showing us.  Thank you for your love and grace and mercy and kindness.  We pray that, as a family, we would continue to follow YOU and Your leading for our lives and our ministry!  

The Zoo

This week we took the kids to the Columbus Zoo!  We haven't been to the zoo in Columbus in 5+ years and we knew the kids would enjoy it!  The weather was perfect and we had a LONG fun day!

We enjoyed a picnic lunch!

All the kids were looking forward to different animals, but they all enjoyed so much of it!

Below you can see it in Eli's face.  He was into the aquarium!  They all were - it is pretty amazing. We sat down and watched the fish and sharks swimming around!  We even got to see a diver feed some of them - really fun!

The manatee's were pretty impressive too, massive animals!

Another neat thing was watching this elephant get a drink!

Amazing how God created them!  Absolutely Amazing!

Maddie was impressed by the flamingo's.  

They looked fake, she took it all in!

 Then we went into the reptile house - not my favorite at all!  Eli and Nathaniel wanted to get in the line to pet a snake.  I got in line with them to take a picture, but at the last minute Maddie decided she wanted to pet it too.  I didn't snap her picture because she wanted me to do it with her.  It's crazy the things we do for our kids.  So Yes, I can now say I have touched a Corn Snake, it wasn't the highlight of the day!

Maddie was the most excited about seeing the monkeys.  This orangutan didn't seem to mind her checking her out.  Glad she kept still while Maddie peered in at her!

As we waited hoping the Polar Bears would go for a swim - I caught Eli taking the plunge!

We got several pictures of the kids on the statues, seems those are still a hit!

We had a great time at the zoo and made lots of memories!

It was a great day to see all the Amazing Creatures God Created!

Testimony

I read a book, some time ago, that said if we fail to give our praise to the Lord - the rocks will cry out in our place!  Why is it that we are "scared" or timid when it comes to sharing out loud the things that God is doing and showing us?

We have a time of Joys during our service every Sunday.  We put into place the practice of Testimonies and sharing them.  Ron and I were talking recently and I'm curious, why is it that we have gotten away from giving Praise for all the Lord is doing in our lives?

I had a conversation this week with a friend who was so excited about a time she had with her son recently.  The Lord provided a great teaching moment for her and she and her son prayed together and it was just a very meaningful time for her!

I had a conversation with another lady this week who was so excited that her sister had accepted Christ - PRAISE THE LORD!

These are amazing testimonies and yet we keep them silent!  Only sharing with one, or maybe not at all!  Why can't we share publicly all that the Lord is doing and how He is blessing?

"Jesus forgive us when we fail to praise you and cry out!  Remind us to PRAISE you and put those Rocks out of work!"

Girls Fun Day

On Monday we joined Ms Cathy and Reese (her granddaughter) for a fun day.  We wanted to go to a playground and have a picnic, but it was raining when we woke up.  We went instead to an indoor playground.  I didn't really get a good picture of it, but Maddie absolutely loved it.  She climbed to the very top and rode this slide down over and over again!  FUN times!

Then we went to visit Reese's Great Grandma at the Nursing Home.  Maddie is use to this and did great there too.  We share our picnic lunch with her!

We got a DQ treat after that and I think the girls had a fun time.  They were fun to listen to in the back seat.  Only a year a part in age and having so much fun together!

Thanks Ms Cathy and Reese for a Fun Girls Day Out!

Ball Games

While Baseball has been over almost 2 weeks, we have still managed to get in some Professional ball this month!  Early in the month we had been given tickets to a Toledo Mud Hens game.  We have never seen them or been there, so the kids were pretty excited.  They are Detroit's AAA team, but we still were excited.  When we told the kids they were playing the Columbus Clippers - the excitement grew even more.  The Clippers are the Indians Team!  

We got tickets behind the Clippers dugout!  FUN!  It was a little strange to be in the minority when cheering on the Clippers though!  

The boys were excited to see Ezequeil Carrera though, we had watched him play for the Indians last year!  We even saw him outside the stadium after the game and talked to him - Nathaniel vowed not to wash his hand after giving him a high-five!  He was very friendly and the boys were so excited!

We enjoyed the game and the Clippers won!

The exciting thing for the little lady in red, white and blue were the fireworks after the game.  

She loved them!

Then last week, Pap (my Dad) invited us to join he and Mom as well as my niece and nephew, Terra and Bradley, for a Tin Caps game!  

We were thrilled to get to go with cousins this time!

We were all a little concerned about the heat, but Dad got Fantastic seats (in the shade for the whole game) and we had a great time!

I just love all the grins!

The game didn't turn out so well for the Tin Caps, but these 4 got their rally hats and glove out to try to cheer them to victory!

We had a fun time and it was fun to see the 6 kids interacting together!

We also got to see Fireworks again.  They were Really Neat!

A fun evening with family!

Staying Cool

How are you staying cool?

Battle Time

Who is that masked man (or woman)?

These 2 have been beating the heat outdoors by playing army/warrior inside!

They are pretty cute!

Just don't get in their way!

89 Years

Today we went to the Nursing Home where Grandma Donna lives to celebrate her 89th Birthday!

There were 3 daughters, 3 granddaughters and 11 great-grand kids who came to celebrate with her (I didn't get them all in a picture)

It was a little chaotic, but we celebrated Grandma's Birthday!

Happy 89th Grandma Donna!

A little one

Last week we had a newborn in the house again.  Aubrie is almost 4 months old and we babysat her for a couple of days last week.  Maddie and I are super excited that come fall (when brothers go to school and the babysitting kids come back) we will be having her everyday!

Aubrie is a great baby!  

The kids all enjoyed having her!

But Maddie is by far the most excited!  

Aubrie's parents go to our Farmer church and Maddie has been so excited since before she even arrived.  We bought this little ladybug dress for Aubrie shower before she made her entrance into this world.  Then I got one for Maddie for her birthday too, so they could be twins!

She loved it!

And according to her...Aubrie did too!

It will be fun to have a baby around the house again!

Finishing a Season

Once again we are concluding a year of Baseball!  The All-Star time, although filled with Adkins, didn't fair so well this year.  They were entered into 2 tournaments, but didn't make it past the second round of tournament play in either one.  The team this year was young.  It was a 10 and under team and we had only 3 -10 year olds and also had 3 -8 year olds!

We had a handsome coach and 2 great players as well as a cute Bat Boy!

And a fan sprinkled in there too!

Eli was pretty proud of his .5 Bat Boy shirt.

So all everything is finished up!

Eli enjoyed T-ball.  Here is is pictured in the back row, 4th from the left

He liked that Daddy was his coach!

He liked moving up and getting a trophy after only 2 games in Pee Wee!

When I asked him if he was ready for next year when he could play in the coach pitch league (Pee Wee), his question back to me was..."Can I still be brothers Bat Boy?"  He loved helping out the big boys team!

This was a year of firsts in ball.

Pitchers...who would have guessed

and 2 of them at that!

More trophies and lots of fun memories!

Not sure anyone else realizes it, or even cares, but these 4 guys have been coach, players and bat boy now for 3 championship teams in a row! 

Fun times when it comes to baseball!

Mini-Vacation

This week we took a Mini-Vacation!  We met Ron's parents in southern Ohio for a couple of days!  

We met at Hocking Hills and had a picnic before we set out on some trails!

Ron's family had hiked many of these trials when he was a boy, and Ron and I hiked many in college (we were actually engaged at Hocking Hills).  Our kids however, had never been.

We first went to see Ash Cave.  They loved it.  So beautiful!

We hiked to the top of the waterfall too!

Then we went to Rock House!

I think the kids enjoyed this one even more.  It is pretty impressive!

We couldn't do any big trails with the little ones, but what we did was fun and I think they all enjoyed it.  It had rained prior to us being there, so it was a little wet, but the rain stayed away until we were finished!

We enjoyed meals together!

Then in the evening, the boys decided to hurry and get in 9 holes of golf.  The younger 2 were pretty upset with no where to go.  So we found a park and fed the ducks, geese and even swans!  Wish we had had more bread, but it was fun to watch these to feeding and watching.

This poor little guy was nursing a hurt leg, so we quickly called Eli off...

...and headed to the playground!

The next morning we went to the Great Seal State Park for some Disc Golf (or in our case-- Frisbee Golf)

This course was nothing like the Bryan Course we are use to, but it was amazing.  Wooded, and beautiful!  

We only played 9 holes as it took all morning, but it was really neat.  Probably not recommended for 4 and 6 year old (maybe not even 8), but I think all in all they had fun with their Grandparents being there!

Really a neat course and we didn't loose any Frisbees...permanently!

Finally Tuesday afternoon we got in the pool! (aren't these 2 cute?)

None of our 4 can swim.  They just haven't been around water enough.  But Daddy and Grandpa spent some time teaching them and they really enjoyed themselves.  We just need to get them in the water more.

Wednesday morning we had to say good-bye.  Never fun!

We had to head for home and help out the All-Star team.  Both boys made the team and had missed the first 2 games of the first tournament, but we made it for game #3 (A WIN) and game #4   (a heart breaker).  We are done with that tournament, but the kids did well.  Especially our boys.  With the week they had they came back and played so well.

So our vacation is over and we are recovering and preparing for another All-Star Tournament that begins tonight with a Double Header!  This weekend will be the final tournament!

So we had a fun Mini-Vacation, just needed a little more time.  We had hoped to see the Outdoor Drama Tecumseh, but the weather didn't cooperate with that, hopefully another time!