Concepts in Pictures and Color

I have so enjoyed all I am learning this year in helping teach my youngest treasures, whom have learning challenges!

Interestingly both Hannah and Caleb have been diagnosed with Auditory Processing Disorder, but both of them display it in totally different fashion.

Caleb struggles with hearing and discriminating sounds, so  he really struggles with spelling and hearing the words he is reading.

Hannah struggles with storing and reproducing sounds in the proper order.

Caleb has an amazing memory when it is in story or sentence form, but struggles with memorization of math facts and processes, grammar rules, and sequenced things like months or books of the Bible.

So he can memorize verses and speeches to amaze people, but still can not tell you the months of the year every time.

Hannah on the other hand has always struggled with memorizing of any sort.

In fact we were recommended not to try to have her memorize for quite a while.

This last year she memorized the whole 23rd Psalm and we were so very proud of her.

We used lots of hand motions and changed some words to help her.

And example would be, "in the presence of my enemies".

She was really struggling with this line till I figured out it was the word "presence" that was throwing her off.

Her idea of this was "presents", and it was not going to change from the concrete form of 'presents' to the non-concrete form of 'presence'.

So we changed it to "in front of my enemies", and off she went.

As she memorized, she slowly stopped the hand motions, but when she got stuck all I had to do was put my hands in the right place and it would clue in her memory.

All this to preface the above picture-

 I did not want to cram verses into little minds with no understanding.

So with some help from teaching from Dianne Craft I came up with the above picture for Hannah.

With lots of color and pictures she was able to learn the verse and know its meaning at the same time.

I have also learned, at least at this point, we will only work on one verse a week with her.

She needs the constant reinforcement and when I try to add in a second verse for her Awana she mixes up the two and intertwines them and their meanings.

So I will be praising God for each verse and picture she memorizes at her own special pace---

Just the way God made her!

Welcome Home Ball

The official welcome home ball for the 3rd ACR was a happening thing in Austin, Texas last night.

Erinn and Michael dressed in their best for the night.

Gotta love the Stetson, which is part of the official uniform of the scout of the 3rd ACR.

Caleb thinks it is very cool and that he has spurs too!

What boy wouldn't want to be a soldier then!

Thanks guys for the sacrifice of time, of the first year of your life together, to help keep our country safe!

Praying God bless you greatly in the coming year.

Small Visitor

 Yesterday morning we had a small visitor try to fly through our window.

I brought him in to warm him up and keep him still to see if he was just shocked or really hurt.

The kids ran down and we got this picture.

Then......

 we found out he was doing pretty good!

And the chase was on to try and help the still stunned bird out of the house:)

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father.  Matthew 10:29

Justice for the Sergeant

We are pleased to announce the promotion of our son-in-law, Ryan, to the rank of Sergeant in the National Guard!!!!

We are proud of your accomplishments!

Proud of the way you willingly serve our country!

And thankful for the sacrifice you and all your fellow service persons and families make!

Keep up the great work!

And as for the Justice part...

You did not think I was talking ''justice" about Ryan's promotion  did you?

No!

Justice is the newest family member in Danielle and Ryan's family!

So introducing....

Justice!

Don't you just want to snuggle up to that face!

Well Hannah informs me that when we go down to help Danielle move next month that I can do all the moving I want, but she will be Justice-sitting!

The name comes from when Danielle picked out our golden we have now.

We planned on breeding her till we realized she had a personality we did not want to pass on:/

So when we named her Liberty we planned on getting a Justice for breeding purposes.

We never did.

But now we have our Liberty and Justice.....for all of us:)

Sister Time

We have so enjoyed having Erinn home:)

In the mornings we have had a little time with her while Devynne has been sleeping in.

This morning a game of "Ticket to Ride" was on the agenda.

This is a wonderful game if you are looking for a game for various ages.

Hannah can even play this with a little guidance and it has become our favorite family game.

I am looking forward to hopefully a little time in the next weeks to post about some of our school changes.

I am excited to see what is happening.

If you have a struggling learner try this site and I will post more next week on what we are seeing in only two weeks.

A Texas Surprise!!

I mentioned the other day we had a surprise coming!

I was being very literal.

Our church flew Erinn back to Medford from Texas to surprise Devynne at church on Sunday.

Erinn and Devynne have been good friends for about 4 years, and both of them were missing each other.

We planned our trip to Texas to be 2 weeks after Devynnes surgery.

They moved it back two weeks so we were somewhere in the middle of Arizona when she was having her surgery.

When things started not to go well it was very difficult for Erinn to be so far away.

We prayed a lot, remembering that God is in control of all things including the timing of Devynne's surgery and our trip.

Well after her long nine week hospital stay, Devynne came home on Friday.

Erinn flew in quietly on Saturday.

She hid behind the curtain at church till the pastor said that the church had to go all the way to Texas to get her welcome home present.

What a surprise.

We are glad for the opportunity to see her again so soon too.

Thanks Michael for making the sacrifice of time with your wife so soon after returning home.

In the picture above Erinn is on the far left next to Brian and Jen, Devynnes parents, then Brenna, her sister and Devynne, then her grandparents.

My Crazy Man and His Zip Line Action

Zip Line Action

After the wedding we stopped by David's brother's house so we could visit and David could help with their project.

Hannah got to play with her second cousin, Elizabeth.

David and Caleb had the fun privilege of removing the grime from the line, two times because it got dumped in the pond again after he cleaned it the first time.

Right here is about where they realized that you do not stay dry on kayaks!

Here is the test run of the zip line.

Mostly because the women standing around were thinking the guys were crazy.

The zip line when from this pole beside the barn, 257 feet down across the pond.

David with the release lever while his nephew, Preston gets ready for the first human trial.

Hannah enjoys playing with here second cousin, Deserie.

We were shocked by two things that day.

1) Paul, David's brother, was intimidated by this once they got ready to go--he is one of those crazy try anything guys.

2) That David pretty much jumped right up and did it--my Mr. Safety first and how is your insurance coverage---comes with working in insurance for 22 years.

Even more of a surprise is that I got one clear picture of his run!

I was a beautiful day with a wedding and family fun.

Video to come when I can figure it out.

It's Happening...

.....after 9 long weeks, and my just posting about it, Devynne is on her way home!

Praise God!

His faithfulness is new every morning!

His mercies go on and on!

More surprises to come, but first a quick trip to a wedding....seems like there are more and more of them all the time, might be because I am getting older--ya think!

A Very Important Visit

Last week on our way to see Drew we stopped in Portland for a very important visit.

We started out with a new experience.

Can you tell the kids are excited?

Soon this was our view.

And Caleb, who does not like heights, was feeling kinda sick to his stomach.

And there out the window on the right you can see the brother to the sky-tram we were on.

And straight out the front you can see our final destination on the hill

Oregon Health Sciences University, set on a hill with lots of parking at the bottom of the hill.

And Caleb and Hannah with our reason for our special trip---Devynne!

Devynne's father is one of our pastors. And they have been good friends.

You might remember Devynne in pictures from Erinn's wedding, as she was one of the bridesmaids.

Devynne just underwent her fourth open heart surgery-9 weeks ago.

It has been a very long haul to get to this point of recovery and we are all so thankful to God for His gracious healing.

Here we are waiting for her dialysis to start.

Sadly due to the surgery her kidneys are not functioning correctly.

But the whole family has been an amazing testimony to trusting in the Lord in ALL things.

Dev has shown me courage and peace under fire that I can not even imagine.

Pray with us that her kidneys will kick in soon, that her heart will keep going with a normal function and that her voice may return.

A Bountiful Harvest!

What a blessing this year has been in the yard.

Living in town we try to make the best use of the land we have to provide some of our daily needs.

In the past we have always moved before our trees produced.

Last year this pear tree produced 2--yep count em--2 pears.

This year we have two very large bowls full!!

Our apple tree that was here before we moved in is loaded.

Still working on dealing with worms in these, but they should make great applesauce by next week.

David who eats tons of greens had about 10 varieties growing.

We are down to a few left and just planted some that will handle some frost---which is funny since we have been about 100 degrees for about a week--:)

We have about 7 blueberry plants that produced a small crop for us this year.

Here are the last few stragglers.

Our peppers did not like our long, cold, wet spring.

We got a few large green ones and a few small red ones.

They were fun to watch grow, none the less.

David's green beans--Caleb were late and we will probable not see any out of them.

David picked up a couple of raspberry plants to replace the ones that died last year.

What an unexpected joy to see quite a few handfuls off of them:)

David's new veggie this year is beets.

We still have to wait to find what the outcome of these will be.

Basil!

For Mr. Will you please make me some more pesto!

Strawberries all season this year!

Yeah for yogurt and berries for breakfast.

The grapes David planted early last year sadly died.

These are late season plants from last year.

Wow--they taste great and there is quite a few out there:)

Finally!

That is what everyone in the Pacific Northwest is saying about the tomatoes.

After large quantities of rain well into June.

We stayed with somewhat warm days and cool evenings through most of July!

And yes, we, with everyone else are finally picking some juicy red tomatoes.

Next year we are hoping the plum and cherries will produce.

And if we follow through with the chickens in the garden area we may be able to have some squash and let the chickens fatten up on squash beetles!

Runnin' Sophmore

We were all so thankful to get to see Drew this last weekend.

He left for camp then school while I was in Texas, so I never really felt like I got to wish him well on his way.

So I was very excited to go and he was very excited to show us around his school and his first apartment, which sadly I have no pictures of either.

Of course Dad had the camera at the race!

This is Caleb's new thing, crazy camera faces....I am always so glad when they grow out of this faze.

This is Drew's sophomore year running for Washington State University.

What a blessing to see him race again.

Quite a bit of his team is in the picture, and all three Andrew's on the team are in this picture.

Though, I do believe Hannah is the only one that still calls him Andrew exclusively.

Drew has been nursing a sore Achilles for a few weeks, hence the tape on his right ankle.

He also raced is flats to make it easier on his leg than spikes.

Mead High School in Spokane was a beautiful place to hold the race.

And yes, that is almost all WSU in the front of this small race.

It was good to see Drew running strong after his whole spring and early summer battle with mono.

What can I say, but that I was overjoyed to see this face again.

It is good to watch your kids fly from the nest, but never really easy.

You are happy for them, but you are still missing a part of yourself.

It was good to see him doing so well.

And though running is only a part of who he is, it is a big part, and a huge joy for him.

I know that sounds weird to all you non-runners, but it is true, for the totally addicted:)

Hannah was very confused that the backs of their jerseys were gray.

She could never find him once he passed us.

It was quite cute.

This spot is for me to put in the details of the race, when David gets home from work to give them to me.

Here are the only 3 left from the original 7 in the freshman class of 2010.

Richard a Nevada state champ.

Mack a Washington state champ, and Drew's roommate.

And Drew of course a Oregon state champ.

Quite a crew they make.

And so off we go into another year.

We ask you to consider praying with us daily for Drew and any other college students you know.

It is a big change time in life.

And college life is not easy.

Support them with your love, encouragement and prayers whomever your college students and friends college students may be.

What's Up?

Well we headed out for the weekend to visit one of the big kids.

I bet you can guess from these pictures who that may have been...

David and Drew attended this football game with....

Yep, Drew!!

They enjoyed watching a winning game on a very hot day.

Then we took Drew, Courtney and Richard out for dinner.

Pictures of the race and our visit to Portland to come.