More Poconos...

One afternoon most of the family went to Tobyhanna State Park for a hike. (I stayed back for Emma's nap and Lydia stayed to nap too). Luke and Jeremy took turns hauling Mario in the backpack. Caleb picked wild blueberries and enjoyed eating them all! (Reminds me of Blueberries for Sal. Anyone else remember that one?) He did bring home a couple in his pocket to show me, and he also showed me sadly that one got smooshed. Caleb also became "the Tobyhanna Ninja" and stopped everyone from passing him until they told him their favorite color. He loves being a warrior....

Almost every evening we were able to swim in the indoor pool in the community center. What a blessing! All of our kids loved it. Two mornings we ladies also went to the pool for high impact water aerobics. We younger ones were surprised by how sore we were! Ha! (Most of the ladies at the class were probably 60+) =) It was very fun. In these pictures are Aunt Kate with Emma and Elizabeth and then Caleb floating on his back, which is quite funny. He always closes his eyes.

One morning we went horseback riding. The kids were all too young, but thankfully Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Rachael volunteered to stay home with them. Since Elizabeth and Caleb got to ride horses just a couple months ago, I didn't feel too badly. I loved riding the horses through the gorgeous PA woods, enjoying the ferns and other trees and plants. Sooo much more beautiful than California. At least to me! We got to ride the horses across a stream, too, which was fun. Here's Luke on his horse, Sarge.

Our Pocono vacation - part 1

We just returned from a 10-day trip to PA/NJ. The majority of the time - 1 week - was spent at a huge, beautiful rental home in the Poconos. Luke's grandmother lives in the Poconos and invited us all to her 90th birthday party, which she began planning 3 years ago. So Luke's parents thought it would be a perfect time for us to have a big family vacation there.


We started the trip with 4 of the 5 of us (not me) having the stomach flu. Yuck, yuck, yuck! Luke, Caleb and Emma all threw up on the plane. But by the time we landed in Philadelphia and were picked up by Luke's sister Kate and her husband Josh to drive to their house 1/2 hour away in New Jersey, everyone felt much better. (Unfortunately we must have still been carrying it and passed it on to several more people that week...)

Sunday we went to church at Kate and Josh's church and then drove up to "the big white house that's sometimes yellow", as we called it all week. It has 6+ bedrooms, a 72-inch T.V. a pool table, hot tub, an amazing kitchen and many levels of decking. The next morning we discovered a deer in the backyard with her fawn. She seemed to be waiting for something, so....we fed her. Which made Luke very mad. But the kids liked it. =) She came back daily at mealtimes hoping for more.


We spent lots of time hanging out at the house - the kids quickly became addicted to playing the Play Station on that huge T.V. Lots of games were played and most nights after the kids were in bed various ones of us hung out in the hot tub. What great times those were - talking, laughing, and sharing.

One of the best things about the week was getting to meet our first-ever nephew Mario, brought home from Guatemala by Papa Jeremy and Mama Lydia only 2 weeks before! He is 1 and such a cutie with smiles and hugs for everyone! Here is Luke with Emma and Mario. He's bigger than her, I think!

More to come...

I love summer weekends

Last weekend was almost the perfect summer weekend for me. On the Fourth we headed to Tulare, CA for a birthday party with friends including a wonderful pool to swim in and delicious tri-tip to eat. Okay, if you're not from CA, you probably don't know what tri-tip is, so it's a specific cut of beef and there's only one on a cow, it's kind of like a steak and when we looked up a definition online, it said, "most cuts of tri-tip are sent to California" So we greedy Californians get to eat it all. Then we headed west to Hanford, CA to see our usual fireworks show. To hold to tradition, the kids ate snow cones, and shared them as you can see. I love to see Elizabeth being a little mother and sharing with Emma to make her happy. It was a gorgeous day, only about 92 degrees, so by the time it got dark, it actually felt cool! Emma screamed when the fireworks started, but I put my hands over her ears, and then she was okay. The kids loved the fireworks and so did I, as usual.

Saturday I headed up to Shaver Lake, CA with a group of 15 women - some on W.I. staff and some from the community - for a one-night camping trip/mini-retreat. There is a retired couple who built a beautiful home and on their property also built a camp area for people from the inner city to experience camping. There are 3 tent cabins with cots and sleeping bags; an outdoor cook tent; and these amazing showers that are open to the sky. How fun it is to take a shower and be looking up at the incredibly blue sky and towering pine trees... Our host also has a large pontoon boat and took us all out on the lake for a few hours. He always takes us to a cove that it only accessible to boats so there are way less people. We hung out and swam, jumped off rocks, sat in the sun, etc. We also had awesome worship times and a "God date" on Sunday morning.

What else can you ask for on a summer weekend?

Summer is upon us...

This week Elizabeth and Caleb are going to VBS - although at the church they're going to they call it VBB - Vacation Bible Blast instead of School. They explained why once, but I can't remember now. They are having a great time, and this year I did not have to peel Caleb off of my leg on the first day. He's getting older.... Tomorrow is the last day, and tonight they are having a dinner for the families to eat hot dogs and come and see what they've been doing. I don't really want to go (Luke has a meeting of the Police Chief's Advisory Board), but the kids are very excited, so we probably wlll.

I can hardly believe that my little watermelon is big enough to climb the ladder to the slide all by herself. Ahh, it is bittersweet as they grow. Wonderful for them to be able to do more on their own, but so sad as they leave behind their cute, sweet baby ways. Just now as she was playing in the kitchen she was singing, "hug-a-baby, hug-a-baby" in a very cute voice, sounding like all one word. The things I hope to remember...

The heat of summer has hit us off and on, this week it is only in the mid-90's. That means it's nice and cool at night and in the mornings. I am glad for the kids to have activities like VBS - oh, VBB - and swimming lessons to keep them somewhat occupied. This has been the first summer that I really have felt like Elizabeth needs SOMETHING to do other than hanging around home asking me what she can do all the time.... Although it was also nice last week for me to have a "week off" from kids' activities. No driving, rushing out the door, etc. I am hoping to re-charge and be excited for new curriculum for school in the fall and have some new ideas for creative ways for Elizabeth to learn next year...

Our own Kit Kittredge

After Elizabeth's ballet performance - for which her hair needed to be in a bun - she declared that she needed to have her hair cut - it was just TOO long and hot for summer. So when I asked her how short she wanted it cut, she said, "About here, like Kit Kittredge." For those of you without a girl of the right age, Kit is an American Girl living during the Great Depression and also the subject of a movie coming out this summer. Elizabeth has read pretty much all the American Girl books, some series twice. (Felicity is a particular favorite of ours.) So here she is, looking amazingly like Kit. (check out www.americangirl.com if you want to see the real Kit)

Awana celebrations

I can hardly believe it's time for year-end celebrations already (uh, maybe since I have another MONTH of school to do?!) but it is, and we celebrated at Awana for the last 2 weeks. Elizabeth got her first book award for Sparks. She's a good way into her second book for next year when she'll have her last year of Sparks.



Caleb also got his first book award for Cubbies. There are only 2 books in Cubbies and they do one each year. So next year will be his second year of Cubbies. He just loves it, and I am so thankful for the leaders and everyone who invests in him, because he is often shy and Cubbies has helped him overcome that tremendously. He loved his leaders too.

So Wednesday nights will be free for awhile....

PE for today

It's only mid-May and we're being bombarded with the 100's already. Ugh! So I finally decided it was warm enough to let the kids swim in their inflatable pool. (ya think?) These two love it. But...Emma screamed when I put her in. So she stayed in the bucket that we use to wash off feet. Maybe next time.... All was fine and dandy till I decided it was time for Emma's nap and we tried to go in the house. Luke had been home for lunch and when he left he locked us out! I always have my phone and keys, but I had put on my swimsuit too and so they were in the house. Not very helpful. So I told the kids we were not going to wait outside for 4 hours in 100-degree heat for Luke to return. We (not too gracefully) climbed over the fence and walked to the neighbor's house to use their phone! Hey, maybe it's God's way of nudging me to visit my neighbors more. After we got home I decided it's just too stinkin' hot and I turned on the air conditioner. Usually I try to wait till mid-June. At least I will enjoy the coolness for a few lovely hours and then turn it off in the evening.

why I don't blog more often...

So earlier I was getting ready to post about our trip to the beach house (which began 2 weeks ago...), when in walked this:

Luke and the kids were outside repairing the chicken coop on his day off. And apparently digging in the mud too.

And now it's entirely too late...

Trip to the ranch!

The next morning after bowling we took a field trip to a ranch where the kids learned a bit about ranch animals and also got to ride on horses. In her continuing spirit of trying new things, Elizabeth climbed right up on that horse. At first, they even let her walk the horse on her own, as you see above, which made me nervous because she's never been on a horse before. Eventually someone came and led the horse. Caleb also got to have a ride although he was led the entire time. They loved the animals and whole ranch scene, so I'm considering enrolling Elizabeth in a little day camp there this summer. They do have a homeschool class there on Thursdays, with more ranch learning and horsemanship. But right now we're committed to ballet, AWANA, T-ball. I think that's enough, but am willing to consider it for next year.

Emma loves birds. She followed the "quack quack"s (ducks) all around and then she saw these geese headed down the road and became extremely excited. She called them "quack quacks" too, and chased them until they ran into a horse corral. she was even flapping her arms. I think that in this picture she looks like she's one of their little gaggle waddling along. Very fun.

"Fun" activity...

Ian, Caleb, Elizabeth and Abby (Above)


A couple weeks ago our staff went bowling. We're trying this quarterly fun activity thing, so this was our first one. It was pretty fun, it was the first time our kids had been bowling, which means that I have not been bowling in over 7 years! So we went to the lanes at the student union at Fresno State, which are a good family place to go. At first Elizabeth said she did not want to do it, but since everyone there is like extended family, I said she had to She did, and she did so amazingly great! She beat everyone on her lane, including the grown-ups. Yes, the bumpers were up, but she still beat the grown-ups on her lane! And actually, she beat everyone on the staff except for Luke. Little miss competitor keeps saying that, sounding disappointed that she didn't beat Daddy too. I know as a child - and sometimes even now - I have a hard time trying new things, and I do not want her to have that same hang-up. So I am thankful that she was somewhat successful and also that she enjoyed it.


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A glorious day

Easter was truly a glorious day for us. I love celebrating Jesus' resurrection, and this year we satisfied my need for traditional celebration by attending First Presbyterian Church downtown on Easter morning. Most of the time I am fine with our very non-traditional church plant, but on Easter I very much enjoy celebrating with lots of people and singing joyous hymns. So we did! The kids even got dressed up in fun Easter clothes. Luke chose these dresses for the girls, and since he rarely expresses any preferences about the clothes I buy for them, I happily agreed and we bought them beautiful dresses this year.

The rest of our day was rather quiet at home, eating ham and potatoes and asparagus. Quiet, that is, other than the sounds of our neighborhood coming to life in springtime - people playing basketball at the park across the street and our neighborhood wheelchair man who blasts the tunes as he rolls by daily. (He won't speak to me, so I'm not sure what his name is.)

Our cherry tree is in full bloom and is quite beautiful and smells amazing. The bees think so too. Yesterday you could hear the buzz from several feet away, there were so many bees pollinating our tree. But on the day we took the picture with Elizabeth in the tree, it wasn't quite as warm out and not as fully blooming, so it was safe for her to climb in it.

A retreat

On Sunday, Monday and Tuesday we headed to World Impact's camp in the high desert, The Oaks for the W.I. West Coast Staff Retreat. This was the first one since we've been here (7 1/2 years). It was good, albeit tiring with three little ones who decided not to sleep well. There was a great speaker who is the director of YWAM in San Francisco but just returned from 25 years in India.

On Monday afternoon I got to hang out with Elizabeth and Caleb while Luke attempted to get Emma to nap. So we painted pottery, took 2 hayrides (we're on one above), decorated and ate cupcakes, and just enjoyed a beautiful sunny day. That was fun for me. I think we're finally about caught up on our sleep, although Elizabeth had to fight off a yucky cold after we returned. I hear lots of people in L.A. ended up sick too.

We also enjoyed yummy (and, I fear, very unhealthy) Oaks food and great child-care during the sessions by awesome volunteers. It was good to get away and fellowship with fellow urban missionaries.

Our little flower

Emma loves to dress up, so thanks to Target's $1 bins for these cute dress-up things. She's at such a great age - that I love anyway. And it's easy to enjoy her very laid-back happy personality. She's rarely angry - although she has started to express her will about things she can't have. She still loves to be the center of attention and to make us all laugh.

She is finally learning to talk, and it makes me laugh when she changes the way she says something. So far she can say words like "eye", "no", "bubble", "birdy", "baby", "what", and others I'm sure. She also says, "mmhmm" for yes right now.

There's also a picture here of Emma with Jonathan Zuniga, her "partner in crime". He's a couple months older than she is, and they take care of each other at babysitting, giving hugs and sharing toys. It's very cute. so enjoy our cutie!

A sad day.

I am feeling very sad about this still. Our dog contracted parvo virus and died Wednesday night. Apparently it can live in the soil or in rodents. So if he ate a mouse..... He was very sick Wednesday morning and some friends who had nursed their dogs through parvo gave us websites, medicine, etc. I knew we could not afford the thousands of dollars that vet visits for parvo would cost. So I diligently gave him his medicine and pedialyte hourly on Wednesday till bedtime. But during the night he took a turn for the worse.....

So Hines is buried with many chickens and bunnies and who knows what else in our backyard.

Sad days...

How could I forget....

When giving a recap of our week, how could I forget Caleb and Emma's nail polish adventure?! On Wednesday morning I was at women's covenant (our staff women's coffee time) and Luke was at home with the kids. He was on the phone talking with a guy from a supporting church when Caleb ran in with paper towels covered in bright red and yelling, "It's not blood! It's not blood!" He yelled loud enough that the guy on the phone said, "It's not blood?" So Luke got off the phone and went to investigate. They had completely emptied a bottle of red nail polish in the living room. I'm not sure what the extent of the painting was. I know there is still asmall spot on the rug because they ran out of nail polish remover. But at least it's not blood....

A week with us...

Sunday was a beautiful day with sunshine and 60+ temperatures, and a rare day when our whole family could spend a good amount of time together, so we decided to head to our favorite park, Oso de Oro. It was designed for the handicapped, so everything is very low to the ground - perfect for little tykes, too! Emma's favorite part was the duck pond. She stayed there just running around and laughing at the ducks for quite a long time. Whenever we're leaving the park, it's tradition for them all to climb on the bear. Yeah, it's not a golden bear (like the park's name), but it is a bear. It's always been a milestone when each one could climb on with no help. Emma's the only one who's not there yet. It felt like spring to me, ahhhh... But alas, the rest of the week has been cold and rainy. I know, I use the term "cold" like a Californian, because by that I mean highs in the 40's.

On Tuesday night after meeting with my LTG (Life Transformation Group, like an accountability group), I helped our friend Maytag roll egg rolls. Maytag is a junior at Fresno Pacific University (FPU) and grew up in the ministry of W.I. She's raising money to go on a missions trip to Vietnam this summer - as the group's translator! By the way, her name is Hmong. In Hmong, "May" means "girl" and "tag" means "last". Her dad was hoping she'd be the last girl, but she does have one younger sister - hee hee! Anyway, I love the egg rolls and she had to make 500 of them! We feasted on some at our house.

Today we enjoyed a field trip with Tower Christian to Young at Art, a kids' art studio. Our kids each got to work with clay and they were able to choose 2 pieces to fire. Next Thursday we can go and they can glaze them, then we have to wait another week to pick them up. I think they enjoyed it. Elizabeth loves anything "craft"-y, and Caleb just enjoys new things. Emma sat and watched wordlessly.

That was our week - oh yeah, interspersed with strategic planning meetings and work at the thrift store, and school.... Yikes! I was hoping life would slow down in January. Maybe February....

more pirate pictures....

Birthday Ahoy!

Caleb turned 4 on Wednesday and celebrated with a boys-only pirate party! He was very rigid about the boys-only rule and instructed me that even I could not attend. Even as I was making his favorite mac and cheese for them to eat, he told me, "Mommy, after you make the food, you have to leave!" So I took Elizabeth and Emma and went to the mall.

Meanwhile, Luke ran a pirate party full of "Aargh"'s and "Matey"s and he even said there were some English accents! They had a treasure hunt with a treasure chest of "booty" (candy) at the end, they played "walk the plank" and "sharks and pirates", both made up by Luke. Then they ate beans and weanies, mac and cheese, grapes, carrots and the pirate ship cake.

Caleb loved it. I think his friends did too!!