A few More Masquerade Pix

Midnight Masquerade!!!

We celebrated Allison's B-day last Friday night by having a Midnight Masquerade. The party started at 9:30 and went to midnight. Everyone came dressed in formal attire, we played several games, voted on masks (Most Creative, Most Ridiculous, ect) and has a treasure hunt outside using flashlights. It was a fun night, one Allison won't forget.

Meagan & Allison

Back into the Swing

Life's somewhat back to normal. We're back into a school routine. Justus going to Baylor Tues. & Thurs. Co-op starts in 1 1/2 wks, and will be on Mons., piano on Weds. I'm hoping by the first of the year I can have Meagan proficient at driving our little trooper(which is a standard), so she can drive to piano and start driving to various other places in Waco. Her being independent will free me up some-that will be nice:). I've added alot of pix. Nina & Zach were in a wedding in June, Gretch is pictured with our new little havanese puppy-Stormy. Summer now 14 mons. is starting to exert her own little will-which at times is quite funny. She doesn't realize that she has old parents that have not only been around this block a few times, but after 6 kids we own the block!
Meagan & Allison took some beautiful pictures a couple of wks ago I thought I'd share. Unfortunately they were right before Meagan got her braces off. She'll be taking graduation pix in the next couple of months-so stay tuned. Justus is the only one I don't have pictured. But he's doing great-growing by leaps & bounds literally. His voice hasn't started changing yet, but he always tries to make it sound deep-he's such a cool kid. Keep in touch everyone-Love, Ang

Talent Show

The church had a talent show last Sat. night. Our family performed a 20 min. skit based on an Adventures in Odyssey. It was great fun. Zach played the infamous thug Rodney, and was very convincing:) I played Connie, Jeremy played Whit, Allison was Alexis, Meagan -Mickaela, Justus-Trent, and Janae Golden played Sarah. The whole skit in a nutshell, was that a window got broke at Whit's End, and everybody thought Rodney did it, and Rodney blamed Alexis. Meagan played a ditzy blonde, that was Rodney's character witness-if there is such a thing. There was a trial, Connie was the judge, everyone presented their cases, and in the end everyone found out that Whit broke the window. The talent show was a great success, lots of people participated, and it was super entertaining.

Nerve Wracking

Just an update to you guys in the family. The fire department has now been out here 4 times in the last 48 hrs. They put out one significant fire yesterday that started in the neighbors yard and by the time they got here had spread onto our property. That spot is not far from the house. This morning after surveying the property behind us we saw one fire, Zach put it out, then we decided to call out the FD just to soak the area. When they went all through the property this morning they found 3 more fires. We really think it's almost over, but it's nerve wracking having to continually check for fires and to keep finding them! I was suppose to go down to PA today, but I just couldn't leave the Meagan & Allison alone for several hours until Zach got home. Nina took a picture of me talking to the fireman this morning. The 9-1-1 operator knows us by name now-that's kind of scary. I just ask for you guys to pray that this will be over soon and that the Lord would send a big, soaking rain.

Huge Wildfire Around Our House--Seriously

Yesterday was crazy, hectic, scary, prayerful, and thankful. About 10:30 yesterday morning I saw smoke coming up out of the woods just a short distance from our house. Our property was being showered with ashes. A very long story short, over the course of the day approximately 50 acres of wooded area around our house was burned, including our back pasture. We think the fire started by a cigarette being thrown out the window. Almost 30 emergency vehicles, from 5 area fire departments were spread out over our property, news media, planes flying over head dumping pink powder were all part of our day yesterday. The fire came within a couple of feet of our trees in the creek. Right on the other side of our creek sits the propane tank, we could have had a big problem. But as I sat across the street with the kids, watching the fireman battle this tremendous fire, it was as the Lord put a shield all around our house. The fire literally went all around us. Except for a burnt pasture and aback fence that is now gone, we are OK. Last night Zach & I walked over the back of our property and the man's 3 acres behind us, which was completely burned, and spotted 5 small fires. So we called the fire department back out, they sent 3 trucks and soaked everything again. We got a hotel last night just to be safe, Zach once again surveyed the property this morning and said there were no flames, just smoke from things still smoldering.
We're glad it's over and SO THANKFUL to our Lord, that he protected us yesterday. Hopefully my next entry will be a little less dramatic.

Back on the Air

We FINALLY got high speed out here on the prairie. So I can once again blog and share our life with family and friends. Alot has happened in the last 6 mons. Meagan turned Sweet 16, and is now driving! We went on a wonderful family vacation to Colorado, Summer turned 1, Justus turned 11, we had a "Cousins Camp" with Jessi's family, and did all kinds of fun, outdoorsy things, and a few weeks ago my sister, Christina and her husband Jesus, welcomed their first biological child into the world, little Bella Elizabeth! The year, so far, has been good to us, I look forward to the rest of '09.

Summer Turns 1

Baby Summer turned 1 on June 30th. It's sooo hard to believe. i'm getting to be old-because I can honestly say now that time really flies by. We had a fun week with little Summer, on the day of her birthday she enjoyed a piece of juicy watermelon on the front porch, the next day I brought the kids to a spray park-it was Summer's first time. Once she figured out the water wasn't going to hurt her-she just loved it! Then 2 days after her birthday we had a "Cupcake" Party for her. Meagan & Allison made all the cupcakes-they did a great job, they looked professional. We made fruit kabobs, smashed a cupcake pinata, then had cupcakes and gifts. It was a great day!

Fun and Thrills in Colorado!

We spent a week in Colorado Springs with DJ and Vanessa. We had a superb time. Focus on the Family, Whit's End, 2 Whitewater Rafting trips, and a Family Float that even Summer got to participate in, were some of the activities for the week. If you've never tried whitewater-ya gotta try it!

Oh Happy Day!!

Thirteen years worth of prayers were answered last night, as I watched Zach baptize Allison into the body of Christ. I don't have the words to express the feelings I had as I watched my 2nd child obey the gospel. As it says in the scriptures,"I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in the Lord". As the mother of 2 babes in Christ I ask for your prayers on behalf of Meagan & Allison, that the Lord will take those tiny mustard seeds of faith, and nurture and grow them into mighty trees planted by the waters.
P.S. I'm having trouble posting pictures, I'll try to have her baptism pictures on here soon.

Marcela Diniz Marcelino!

Ana Paula's baby girl arrived Saturday morning-the 10th-around 9am. They named her Marcela.
Ana Paula and Marcela are doing fine, they came home this morning. Ana Paula's older sister Milena has been very good about keeping me updated. She sent me several pictures this morning.
Here is a close-up of beautiful little Marcela. Congratulations Lucas & Ana Paula, what a beautiful gift from God!

Very Soon for Ana Paula

Just thought I'd inform everyone Ana Paula is scheduled for induction on Saturday the 10th.
Ana Paula is family to us, and it's hard for me to miss such an important event in her life. But my heart will be in Brazil on Saturday, as I anxiously await the big news!