Happy 13th Birthday to Sweet Samantha

Sunday was Samantha's 13th birthday. After church, the H family and Omi and Colette came to help us celebrate the birth of this sweet girl. We had lasagne (the most popular birthday dish around here), garlic bread, salad, and Buster Bar Ice Cream Cake--yum! Samantha was blessed with some nice presents (and some money too). Oh, and since it's her 13th birthday, she got a $1000 cd from Grandma and Grandpa, who do that for every grandchild's 13th birthday (and they have alot of grandkids!) She will be able to use that for whatever she needs around her 18th birthday. (Danny used his towards his car, and Cara is using hers towards college.)(Sorry, too lazy to go into the program to turn those pictures the right way...)

Our (Ralph's and mine) gift to Samantha was getting her ears pierced and a lunch and shopping trip out with Mom (which is kinda nice since I got the lunch and shopping trip too). Samantha bought herself 2 outfits with some of her birthday money, and I bought her a shirt at the Christian store, which is what she really wanted, and then we went and looked at the animals in the pet store (not my idea, but it was her day, and she is an animal lover). :-)
After that, it was time to head to her restaurant of choice, Dennys....You can sorta see one earring in this one if you squint:
She was so cute; she ordered a double cheeseburger, and then it was so big and so high, that she was too embarrassed to pick it up and try to get it in her mouth, so she ate it with a fork.
On the way home, we split a chocolate shake, which we didn't really need, but it was good....

Samantha is my quiet, shy, sweet girl. She loves her Jackson-boy with all her heart and he loves her. God was so good to give us our Samantha.

Happy Graduation!!

Well, we have another graduate in the house. Last Friday evening, Cara graduated from our home school high school. Scott and Lynn (brother and sis-in-love) drove my parents up, and that was a real blessing to have them here, know all they have been through recently. Cara sang one of her own songs beautifully....Here we are giving her her diploma--the hardest part for Ralph and I was getting up on that stage and saying a few words!! After the ceremony, we were able to eat goodies and visit with the many friends and family members who came (although there were so many of them, it wasn't possible to spend enough time with anybody!). I am just so proud of the young lady that Cara has grown up to be. She loves Jesus, and strives to follow and please Him. I am just honored that God has allowed me to be her mother. There is so much more to say, but life is calling. So.....I will just say.......
Happy Graduation, Cara!!

Cara hates this picture, but I really like it, and it's my blog, and I'm her mom, so I get to post it. :-)
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Life has been busy in the Houseful of Blessings. We have been doing choir practice for graduation, I have been taking Cara all over to work for people, doing schoolwork, the kids had Awana Awards night (and they all finished their books, as usual), karate as usual (oh, and Joey had a belt test on Tuesday and got his green belt Thursday evening), doing stuff for college (both Danny and Cara....Danny is pretty sure he will be finishing out his degree at UOP, cause he's sick of the state college system and not getting the classes he needs, etc),...... oh, lots of things! This afternoon Cara works in Jackson, and we will meet the H Family in the park to visit while we wait for her. We also have food to plan for Cara's graduation party, a cake to order, and stuff like that to do in the next 2 weeks. Maybe after that, we can all breath???? Wishful thinking never hurts.....

I am so blessed with this Houseful of Blessings. They are all so different, yet so neat to talk to and share life with. I love how my olders have their own walk now with the Lord, and I love watching the youngers unfold into who they will become. Life is good, and now I must get going. Another busy afternoon awaits....

First camping trip of the year

This past weekend, we went to Lake Minden, a place we used to go with my parents before we even had kids and when our big kids were little kids.

(Danny caught his first fish at Lake Minden.)
The weather was beautiful and it was just what we needed--a time to be a family, and not have anything pressing we just had to do--just be together and take a break from the "real" world for a while. Unfortunately, Danny couldn't go; he spent the weekend working and studying like crazy for finals. Although we missed him, it was a good thing for all of us, because he appreciated the quiet house to study in, and we appreciated that he was at home taking care of things (most especially the dog, who is a PAIN to take camping). God provided us with perfect weather and a really nice campsite. Here is the view from the back of our campsite:We swam

attempted to fish (but caught nothing....)hung out,

and swam some more.

There were also r/c boat races all weekend, and we, especially Ralph and Nick, watched those quite a bit.
Oh, and we ate a lot.
Just another memory to file in the family memory banks...

Yesterday Cara and I shot, oh about 100 or so pictures, to get that one perfect picture for her senior picture--the one that will hang on my wall for, like, forever.... The trouble is, we haven't been able to narrow down that one picture, cause we like lots of them. Here are just a few of my favorites.
Decisions, decisions..........