Oh the beauty...

 ...of new life!!

 Danielle and our new grandson

 This was at 7 months

 Now only 17 days till the due date.

 Lord willing, Hannah and I will be leaving as soon as they call and say they are on the way to the hospital.

 They are about 12 hours drive away.

 Ryan is in the police academy and will only be able to take the day of delivery off.

 We will be there as Danielle's second hands, and Hannah will be official 'Puppy Sitter' and 'Nephew Holder'

 We are very excited to be welcoming this new family member....

 ....and I don't mind the grandma thing at all, much to Drew's chagrin.

Lord, we pray your blessing on these last days as we wait for the little one to show up. 

Just in case.....

...you missed the first announcement!

Can you tell we are excited around here?

It's a........

Amazing New to Share!!

Danielle and Ryan are making David and I grandparents!!!!

We are very thrilled!

I think September seems really far off, don't you!!

Catching UP!!!

 David and I were just discussing this week how much has been happening in our lives in the recent past.

I have been neglectful of my blog and many family and friends keep up with the goings on through this, so here goes some major catch up.

ENJOY!

 Danielle and Ryan have been settling into their new house and making it a home.

Lots of remodeling and make overs happening in their little place.

They are trying to stay ahead of Justice tearing it all apart:)

Ryan has just received a promotion at his work also!

Congratulations Ryan!

 Erinn and Michael are FINALLY settling into their new home in Wahiawa, Hawaii (please don't ask me to try to say that)!

They spent one month in Texas with no furniture and 2 months in Hawaii living out of suitcases in a hotel---it was on the beach though.

They are looking forward to settling into one place and being together for more than 3 months without having to move:)

Erinn has just accepted a position with Hawaii Behavioral Health.  She will be working with kids with disabilities helping them to become more independent.

Congratulations Erinn!

 Drew has won his last two college indoor mile races setting a personal best each time!

He is looking forward to racing on a longer track hopefully on the 11th in Seattle, which we are hoping to go see.  For those of you who do not know WSU has a small 200m non-banked indoor track.  Racing 1 mile on that is slower than on longer tracks and harder on the legs.  Still he ran a 4:13 mile!

As you can see from the picture there is more going on in his life!

He is referring for flag football for a couple of months.  It is at the college and they work around his schedule.  It is a perfect opportunity for him to earn a few extra bucks while still keeping up his commitments with running and school, both of which are important and he receives scholarship money for both, so he can't let them slack.

Congrats Drew on all your hard work!

 Caleb and Hannah both learned to cross country ski this last week.  

It was very icy and not such great snow to learn in, but they were both troopers.

As you can see from the difference in their attire, Caleb was a little over dressed for the weather!  I think he sweated through three of his 6 layers-LOL!

Sweet Hannah has finished 1st grade!!!!!!!!!!!

This is a major accomplishment.

Not only that, but she finished it in a calendar year----the first time that has happened with any of her schooling.

The only subject she is still in first grade for is math, a more troublesome concept for many African children!

We are so proud of her effort and the amazing strides she is making.

She also wants to have LOTS of girls over for her birthday party.

This is also big as she is usually fairly afraid of her peers.  We are hoping having them all on her turf will be good for her!

Congratulations Sweet Girl!

David had the sweet privilege of finishing a marathon relay with his friends, Nate and Dustin!

The marathon was split three ways giving them the marathon feel without all the miles, which David's body is having a hard time dealing with.

After the marathon he was out for a few weeks, but I am happy to say he may already be back on the running road.

He is a much happier and content person when he is able to run.

He is also trying a new medicine for his arthritis.  With his first shot this week, he is not ready to say whether it works any better than his old stuff yet, but he is loving that he will only need a shot every two weeks instead of every week!

I love you my man!

This is what I have been spending a lot of time on.

It is Hannah's Birthday quilt.

It is not finished yet, but close.

I am slowly adjusting to having just littles at home and missing my big kids!

This project kept me busy.

We are so thankful for the many blessing and stretching things that fill our lives---

Hopefully you enjoyed the catch up too!

Train trips, paint and puppies!

 Last weekend Hannah and I had the blessing to be able to travel to Santa Barbara by train to help Danielle and Ryan do some work on their first home!

It was an experience for both of us, as I had never been on a train that I can recall either.

We boarded in Klamath Falls, Oregon after a 1 1/2 hour drive over the pass in the first snow of the year, at 10 pm on Wednesday, my birthday!  We arrived the next day for dinner.  20 hours on what would take 12ish to drive.

 Hannah loved the room to play and read and do school.  We even went to the lounge car so she could spread out her dolls on the table.

 What a way to get woke up each morning.  No matter how we tried to let Hannah sleep in a little after our long days, Justice knew she was up there and was bound and determined to find a way over the gate---as you can see he usually did.

 Ryan and I sporting our painting duds.  We painted the entire downstairs and all the kitchen cabinets in two and 1/2 days.  Pretty good if I do say so myself.

 Danielle and Ryan loving that the cabinets are almost done.  I should have gotten pictures of Danielle toward the end, as every time she second guessed something, he would paint her!  Anyone who knows Danielle, knows that it was a lot of paint!

 Before we left Hannah was telling everyone she was going down to 'puppy-sit'!  Well she was not far off.  If she had not been there to entertain Justice and take him for multiple 'walks' every day, we would never have accomplished what we did.

Though as you can see, he did get away from her once or twice.

 Sorry for the x-rated puppy picture, but we did catch this one before he came inside.

Another time we were not so lucky and got white puppy paws all over the brown couch.

Another time it was puppy tail brush marks all over the floor!

 So we caged them in the not currently being painted areas.

Here they are locked in by couches and the entertainment center.

Yes, Hannah thought he was more like her doll and covered him up and they went to sleep just like this!

 Justice likes sleeping on things, and anything will do when your stuff is constantly being moved around.

Hence the computer case, dog bed!

 Hannah took about 50 pictures one day with my camera---dirty laundry, floors, cabinets, shoes, and this cute one with her reflection in the new washing machine door.  You can even see the washing machine in the mirror in the reflection.  It is actually a very interesting picture.

 Ever get enough pictures of puppies and babies.  Due to the lack of babies, you get puppies!

 So nice on our last night there in clean clothes watching "Blind Side".

 Some 'done for now' pictures.  Painted cabinets with no doors yet.  New to them stove with all the proper fittings and properly functioning.

 Painted front room with all the paint off the floor and furniture replaced.

And sadly saying goodbye a the station. We left at noon on my anniversary, to arrive home the next day, totally missing my anniversary and then seeing David for about 20 minutes before he left for meetings in Salem overnight!

We were joking that it won't be long before the 'little' sister, becomes the 'big' sister!

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:)

Family Updates

Since life has been continuing to move at record speeds around here....

I thought it would be a good time to do and entire family update!

So we will start with the littlest treasure.

Hannah has been growing like a weed and we have enjoyed watching her find her voice in groups of adults and show off some of her famous humor!

She is loving dancing to her new videos and reading short readers on her own.

We are experiencing some interesting reactions to the loss of all the older siblings and me being gone for 2 weeks. Praying she will soon feel some stability again.

Caleb our charmer.

And as we are finding out our man of the arts---drawing, dancing, drumming, drama---notice all the "d" words.

David and I will have to try to find a way to help him stretch himself in these areas---God only knows we are very lacking in these areas--LOL

Caleb is enjoying his 3rd year of football as a defensive back.

He is looking forward to trying school in a different way this year--by video.

This picture of Drew was taken while he was counselor at the Steens Mountain Camp. He loved it.

We totally enjoyed having him home this summer, though we saw little of him between work, sleeping, friends and running.

Drew came home with Mono---hence the many hours of sleeping trying to give his body a chance to heal. Think he may have finally kicked it after 4 months.

He is back at school and in his own appartment.

Pray for him and the many other students you may know away at school. Pray they may stay strong in their faith, that they may shine brightly for their Lord.

We were sad to say good-bye to Erinn back in July as she and I drove 3 days to get her and all her stuff there!

But we are thrilled to announce the homecoming of our son, Michael, home from his tour of duty!

Just yesterday!

They are beyond excited to begin thier new life together.

A few months in Texas then on to their posting in Hawaii.

Pray for them and their adjustments in the coming months.

Danielle and Ryan are doing better than ever in Santa Barbara.

Ryan is loving his new job and the opportunities he has there.

Danielle continues at the Reagan Ranch, learning and growing.

They serve together in youth ministry at their church and are very involved there.

They were recently blessed with a trip to Washington DC for a friend's wedding and ran a 1/2 marathon for their 1 year anniversary.

They may be looking at their own deployment in the coming year.

Pray for them to continue to grow and trust in the Lord.

This wonderful man the Lord blessed me with---I wonder sometimes how I was so blessed.

David did a great job watching the kids while I was away. He shuffled and juggled when situations at work left him unable to take time off.

Work has really kept him on his toes lately and we are praying for some smooth waters.

Also his arthritis is in a major flare right now and he is moving in a lot of pain. But moving he needs to do to keep his body from locking up. Hence you see the problem.

The lack of major exercise also causes him to be somewhat down, so we are praying for some insight into what can be done to help.

Because he is on a first generation drug, they do not know what the long term affects will be, kinda feels like a guinea pig.

He will be having a full body bone scan soon to determine how bad this flare is and what if anything might be done.

All when school what done and we thought life would calm down for him!

Me----well I am learning thankfulness in a whole new light.

I am learning to trust in the providence and sovereignty of God at a whole new level.

I am learning to be a willing piece of clay molded into the likeness of our Saviour.

One very small step at a time

Trusting that He knows what is best and being thankful for even the ugly because it is all from His loving hand.

This has been a journey that many days I would have liked to miss, but knowing the end destination is worth the climb.

So there is the quick update on the clan.

Though we may be spread far and wide, we are still family, and where there is family there will be love and prayer and support.

God Bless you and your family too!

A Special Day

Danielle sent us a photo from her weekend!

Yes, that is Sarah Palin with Danielle and Ryan in front of Ronald Reagan's Jeep Scrambler at the Reagan Ranch Center.

Veterans Day

So what did our Veterans Day look like?

We prayed for Sgt. Michael Graber with the US Army in Ir*q.

We waved flags!

We prayed for Specialist Ryan Fowler of the US National Guard.

We went to the Veterans Day Parade.

We prayed for my cousin Chandler Wolph serving with the US Army in Korea.

We talked of what freedom means and the safety our soldiers bring us.

We prayed for my brother-in-law, David Ness, formerly of the US Navy, now serving as a consultant in Afgani*tan.

And we united as a group to show our support of their bravery.

I cannot get these to line up, but hopefully you understand:)