Thank you all for your comments and for following our family blog.
Here are a "few" pictures (okay, so that's a stretch - there are a LOT of pictures) of the last month, or so. I wish I could update in detail, but for right now, this will have to do. :)
Our Aunt and Uncle BLESSED us tremendously with this van for us to use while we are traveling on deputation. It has been such a blessing with five littles. The extra leg room is so wonderful!! Thank you, Uncle Gary and Aunt Ruth, we appreciate it. Uncle Gary was just diagnosed with lymphoma this week and is undergoing chemo right now and will be for a while. I know they would covet your prayers!!!
The middle of June, we left our beloved home in Troy, MO and moved to Oklahoma. We all cried. :) We have brought all of our babies, except Kristyn, home from the hospital to this house. It's all our kids have ever known. A new family is enjoying living there now and we are so thankful that God called a new family to fill our spot there.
How did we collect so much stuff??
Our SWEET Kristyn turned double digits in June. I can't believe 10 years ago, she was born and we were the proud parents of a precious baby girl! Kristyn, we love you so much and are thankful that God chose us to be your parents.
For the Fourth of July, the kids wanted us to make their shirts. So they got all creative and decided how they wanted their shirts. I think they all turned out very cute!!
Waving at the parade...
One happy boy that got to play catch with Grandpa.
Tuckered out watching Daddy play ball.
Our handsome Jeren turned FIVE years old. What a little ball of wonderful, giggly energy he is!!!!! I can't imagine our life without this little man.
Misty's family was there for the weekend, so they helped us celebrate. ;)
He was VERY happy with his present from Mommy and Daddy and Grandma and Grandpa....
Last week was Youth Camp. We were blessed to have almost al of our nieces and nephews there to enjoy. It was so much fun for us and our kids to be together - some on the same teams. We will treasure this Youth Camp as it will be our last one for a few years. It was a good camp this year.
Thank you to Ryan and Alicia for having Kristyn on your team. She is still talking about it.
Karissa batting in soft ball.
Mark and Jana.....you know it was "TOTALLY COOL" that Owen was on your team this year. He was kind of worried that he wouldn't get to be on your team this year since he's was a "real camper" now. He was super excited!! Thank you for investing time in him for the last few years. He thinks a lot of you all and we do, too.
Best Friends!! Kristyn and Rachel
Tori, hitting a home run....... :)
Rachel the slugger....
Little fire crackers - Ashlyn and Isaiah
I love this picture of Keith and Kyle. Very typical of them.
Uncle Kyle doing what all the kids love - riding on the four-wheeler.
After Youth Camp we went to Grandma and Papa's for dinner. Ashlyn helping Grandma with the chocolate pie.....yum!!!
This week, we needed to travel to Pennsylvania to a camp meeting for a deputation service. It's a 19 1/2 hour trip from our home in OK to where we needed to be in PA. We broke up the trip and stayed with my cousin in Indianapolis for a night, then traveled to Hershey, PA to do some fun things with the kids. We have been praying that God will help our traveling to go well with the kids. We don't want them to dread our traveling and we know it's necessary right now. We have tried to do fun things along the way with them and so far, it has gone very well.
One of the fun things we did yesterday was visit the Hershey Chocolate Factory!
No, we did not let her buy this.
Our silly boy....
We got to the Hershey Factory early - we were the first ones to get on the train to tour the "factory". It's not really THE factory, but one set up like the real one. ;) That was a HUGE blessing and we didn't even know it! When we came out of the tour, it was eyeball to eyeball people!!! With five little persons in our family and needing to keep track of them, packed places do not set well, so we quickly got out of there!
Pennsylvania is a beautiful state!!!!
A friend mentioned that we needed to visit the Wilbur Chocolate Factory in Lititz, PA. Since we didn't spend a lot of time in Hershey, we decided to drive the 20 minutes to Lititz to see the Wilbur Factory. BEST decision EVER!!!!!
We enjoyed this Chocolate Factory SO MUCH MORE than we did the Hershey factory! For one, it's a little Mom and Pop place that is super family friendly. Not so commercialized and "stuffed" like the Hershey Factory is.
These are some of the molds that they use.
You can sit and watch the ladies making, pouring, freezing, coloring and carving the chocolate......
Check out this slab of chocolate that she's getting ready to break down to melt.....
We watched Kathy pour lollipop chocolates. She talked to the kids the whole time. She used white and red chocolate for these. She also made hamburgers (very cool), super man lollipops......you name it, she made it.
She made these paint brushes out of chocolate, then she wanted to dip them in colored "paint" (chocolate) and was asking the kids what colors she should use.
How cool is that?
We watched them make some of these and put them out.
Wilbur Chocolate is known for their Wilbur Buds. It's little "kiss" shaped chocolates. We all agreed that we liked them better than the Hershey Kiss.
Right outside of the Factory is a gorgeous park that we spent the rest of the day at. This was a much needed time for our family. There was a spring that fed a "creek" that traveled all throughout the park. The ducks were very friendly. :)
The playground had a fun train to play on.
Lots of placed to climb and sit and enjoy God's BEAUTIFUL creation and enjoy each other.
Keith spotted a stump to prop the camera on and decided that we needed a family picture. I may be biased, but I think God blessed us with the most beautiful children ever created!!!
After the park, we headed back for the night.
So the bottom line is, if you travel all the way to PA to visit the Hershey Factory, that's fine. Spend an hour in Hershey, but leave the rest of your day open for the Wilbur Chocolate Factory and the beautiful park next to it and the gorgeous little town that it's in. (it's only 20 minutes from Hershey)
At the Wilbur Factory, we saw the video that plays (information on how chocolate it made) at the Hershey factory, you get the same information, you get to actually watch the chocolate being made, not just see a video on how it's made in the "big places". You get free samples at Wilbur. :) Yum!!! The Wilbur Bud is actually 14 years OLDER than the Hershey Kiss. The staff at Wilbur is over-the-top friendly, even to big families' (a big plus in our book). So this is not a knock on Hershey at all, just another option for families when you're in the area and another Chocolate place that we enjoyed a LOT!!!!
Some beautiful Pennsylvania farms......
Thank you for sticking with us. I hope that as we figure out a new "normal" for our family, I will be able to post more often.
We covet your prayers for our family!!!
Have a great Sunday!
