If Home Is Where Your Heart Is. . . .

This is what I saw on my front porch early this morning. . .my mannies praying before they went into my house to be with my kids. For some reason is feels like Chicken Soup for this Mother's Soul. . .not the book, just that refreshing!

Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east and gather you from the west.

So, Maggie has been gone since May 30th and we miss her terribly! The little kids actually went through a stage where she went missing from their prayers. . .but now she is back in them because they are all praying to bring Maggie home! She got to go on the best adventure! She's been in Tulsa with her grandparents, in Branson with her girlfriends, in Lampe with her other grandparents, back to Branson with her great grandmother, to Dallas to see more relatives and she will be home in the morning!!! Maggie is such a doll and I am so thankful that she got this trip, but I don't think I ever want her to leave again. I miss my girl! Tomorrow cannot get here soon enough!

I walked in to Andy's office this morning and this is what I saw. Of course, I saw my sweet husband working so hard to make this new business run. I am so proud of all he has done to make Camp Kivu run. . .we have campers here and we have staff here. . .we have insurance and bank accounts and vans and permits. . .he is doing a great job running our business! Then I noticed the five coffee mugs on his desk (this could be a fun "Where's Waldo" type of game for your kids. . .find all of the items I am about to list), three cups, one water bottle, four computers (including his brand new iPad that he got himself for his birthday). . .the list goes on and on. Poor guy needs an assistant to organize his crazy world and to remove the used coffee mugs. . .I tried to be his assistant, but I wasn't very good at it. . .maybe I should try harder. Then I noticed (but not until I looked at the picture I took) a cute picture of the two of us. I love "us." I love my

Happy Father's Day to three amazingly wonderful fathers: Andy, the father of my children who is fun and a great teacher. . .PaPa, the father of my children's father who is wonderfully sweet and gentle and patient and steady. . .and last but very much not least (nice grammar), my father. Daddy, I love you and you mean the world to me. You have helped to make me the woman I am today and I adore you more than you will ever know! I am a better person because of the three of you and I am so thankful that I get the honor of having three amazing dads in my world! Below are some fun pictures from the last several days. We have had fun. The kids have gone to the pool with their sitters. We went to the hot springs yesterday for an early Father's Day treat and it was SO much fun (beautiful weather, too). Last night we went to see Toy Story 3. . .MOTHERS, DO NOT GO SEE THAT MOVIE!!!! Just let the dads take the kids. I bawled my eyes out when Andy actually left for college. . .

One year ago, today. . .here is the news I got: I am excited that you're about to adopt a cute little boy, dark skinned, a little shy but I understand he is very active back in school in Kibungo in the Eastern Province of Rwanda. Cute? Yes. Dark Skinned? Absolutely. A little shy. . .who was this person kidding?!!?!? This was all the information (along with his name and birthday) that I got on Tiki from June until I met him in November. So I prayed fervently for my "shy" little boy to not be timid and scared. . .meanwhile God must have been enjoying my prayers knowing exactly who Tiki actually is! What a crazy day it was one year ago. I was so overwhelmed with emotions. And now I have my boy and I know my boy. Thank you, God, for my cute, dark skinned and very outgoing little Tiki!

I am reposting this blog entry from my friend, Melissa. Her son, Chase, has be fighting a brain tumor for several years and he (and the family) are needing major prayers once again. Chase is one of Hays's dear friends and I cannot imagine, as a mom, being as strong as Melissa is and has been. So, please read below and please pray and please pass it along to all the prayer warriors you know!!! Today Chase had another MRI scan and the results were that the tumor had grown yet again, significantly. Chase is facing yet his 3rd surgery in a couple of weeks after an angiogram is completed to see how the vessels and arteries look in his brain. Once the Professor looks over this test he will determine what type of surgery he will perform. Nevertheles s, there will be a surgery and many, many prayers are needed for Chase! Right now we are looking at the week of June 28th sometime to do the angiogram and then the following day or two, the surgery. Chase is really worried about going t

What in the world!?!? You'll never believe what I got in the mail today!!! I got a note from John Corey and Nelson DeMille (no worries, I totally realize that John Corey is fictional, I haven't totally fallen off of my rocker). If you haven't been reading my blog, John Corey is my all time favorite fictional character (better than Scarlet O'Hara and Huck Finn and everyone) and Nelson DeMille is the author. I emailed Mr. DeMille several several several occasions begging him to bring John Corey back and he did (thanks to reader demand according to the Denver Post. . .reader was singular, too. . .he he he). I have NO IDEA how his office got my address, but today I received a little note from Nelson DeMille (and John Corey). I have no idea why I am so excited, but I am like a giddy little middle school girl. Andy (aka Debbie Downer) reminded me that it was probably just from an assistant that is assigned just to do those kinds of things, but that comment didn't eve

I got to take a group of girls to the Grand Canyon for the past two days and it was so much fun! The trip was one of those random once ever opportunities and we jumped on it! They were so excited (we surprised them). It was perfect!!! The pictures below are of the sunrise yesterday morning, then sun set from the night before. The elk was one of many who were just hanging out in the camp ground. . .so awesome to see. . .the elk and the majestic canyon! (For more pictures, check out KIVU TODAY !) I cannot wait to take my kids sometime. The campsites are wonderful and there are paved biking and hiking trails all through the park. I think I'm putting "going to the Grand Canyon with my kids" on my list of "to dos" this Fall!

So, I have a few things my kids have said recently. Since camp is up and running now and I'm not around much, they are mostly heart-wrenching instead of funny. Oh well. Welcome to my life in the summer! Gabby was praying (with her babysitter) the other night and apparently, her prayer went something like this: Dear Jesus, help me see mommy at lunch tomorrow. Amen. Tiki asked me the other day: Why did you get Gabby before you got me? I knew this question would come someday, but I was not emotionally ready for it. The knife went into my heart and then turned several painful times. It is amazing that he can already put together that he is older but we got Gabby when she was a baby. . .while he was indeed alive and living in the orphanage in Kigali. Dax told me the other day that I needed to take a day off and spend it with him . . .thankfully that was the day we were headed to Telluride, so it seemed like I really heard him and acted on his wish. One point for mommy. Hays as

Today is Maggie's 9th Birthday! What a day it was in 2001! We were starting our camp out here in Colorado for the first time the very next day. I had been having contractions since the middle of the night, but we had so much to figure out that I didn't really mention it. I remember sitting through leadership meeting trying to be tough (and brave) so that we could nail down all of the final details of our big first time ever opening day! Then I was determined to go to breakfast because I remembered being so hungry after fifteen hours bringing Hays into the world and I did not want to have that hungry feeling again. Thank goodness Andy convinced me to go to the hospital after breakfast because Maggie was here by lunch and we were both back at camp in time for the first campers to arrive the next day! Maggie has been a dream come true (once she got past her four months of colic)! She is funny and sweet and kind and thoughtful. She is a good friend and she is one who is loo

So, one of my favorite authors is Nelson DeMille. He is one of my favorites because he has this one character named John Corey who is hysterical. He is sarcastic and dry and DeMille writes like Corey knows the reader is there. Anyway, he is in four of DeMille's novels and I love turning each page to see what he is going to say next. Once I finished those four books several years ago, I just wanted to get my hands on more John Corey. . .so I started emailing Nelson DeMille monthly asking him to bring Corey back. Well. . .HE DID!!! And the best part is that in a Denver Post article, DeMille said that he originally had no intentions of bringing John Corey back, but due to the high reader demand, he did. Yipee! Anyway, I am now reading his newest John Corey book, "The Lion" and Corey is even funnier than before! I love it! So, if you have never read any John Corey books, start with the first one and then read the entire series! He makes me laugh out loud!!!

Well, I have gotten a little behind in my scripture memory, but this seems like a great one to get "restarted" on. For all of you out there who need a word of encouragement, here you go: He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. . . . Great is our Lord and abundant in strength. His understanding is infinite.

Dax learned how to ride his bike and he is SO excited! He is very proud that he can ride it on the pavement, the gravel and the grass!

Well, my wonderful sister-in-law, Jennafer got to audition for Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) yesterday. Jen is beautiful with an amazing smile, stunning blue eyes and long blonde hair. She is so joyful and would be the perfect Princess for Disney. But we are not getting our hope up. . .just praying! However, I wanted to show Jennafer and everyone what great Sleeping Beauties Maggie and I once were. . .eat your heart out Disney!!! I love you, Jen!

For those of you who don't know, I have started a new blog mostly directed towards the parents of Kivu campers. It is kind of a daily play-by-play of what is happening at Camp Kivu (with lots of pictures) and it is from the leadership team's point of view. Any one on the team can post content or pictures to Kivu Today . So, if you are a camp parent or a camper or interested in Kivu or just one of my friends who wants to see what is going on in our little corner of the world head to KIVU TODAY by either clicking on it right there, on the right of this page, or going to www.kivutoday.blogspot.com!!! (That was a serious run-on sentence!)

We went to Telluride yesterday and had a great time! We drove up yesterday and got there early in the afternoon and immediately decided to hike up to Bridal Veil Falls. The falls are amazing and it is a great hike (probably about 4 miles total). The kids did great and the view was very much worth the hike! Then we headed to our camp site to eat dinner and get our tent set up. . .the boys slept in the tent and the girls plus Dax slept in the van. We hung out all evening and played some games and then headed to bed early (we were all VERY tired after the hike). This morning we woke up with the sun and headed back to the little town of Telluride to see the hot air balloon festival. It was so neat. . .there were no "boundaries" at the start, so we all got to be right there on the field touching the balloons as they blew up and started to take off. The morning was perfect. I loved my 2-4 with my kids! They were so much fun and I loved having an adventure with them! I am a

Today was Aloha Christmas and we had a great time!