Be "Christ" to Others - Sr. High Mission Trip '09

Well - it's hard to believe but this Summer marks the 5th Mission Trip that our sweet daughter, Ashley, has gone on with our church, and she had an amazing experience this year! The kids went to New Orleans to help the continued cleanup and rebuilding from Hurricane Katrina . . . 4 years ago!!! There were some logistical difficulties and challenges on the trip, but the kids came away very grateful for how blessed their lives are and a new appreciation for the difficult circumstances that many fellow Americans live in! Here are some pictures of Ashley's trip:

Ashley and 3 of her best friends in the whole world: Liza, Becky and Addie

Our silly girl on the 10 hour bus ride!

Enjoying music - thank heavens for her IPOD!

4 year later - so much of New Orleans was still in complete disrepair!!!

This year the kids had to work in some VERY difficult conditions!

Ashley has become an EXPERT "Sheetrocker" - according to many adults on the trip! Her skills honed over the past 5 years have become in high demand!

Look at her focus!!!

Ashley and her "roommates" on "Tye Dye Scrubs" Wednesday!!!

The Work Team at Ashley's worksite!

The kids also got to relax a little after their long days of work!!!

Fun in the "French Quarter"!

Enjoying Beignets at Cafe Dumond!! - YUM!!!

She seems to be having a little too much fun with those Beignets!

Overall, we are so grateful that Ashley had such a great experience! And we are all VERY happy to have her back home with our family!!! Here's what she put as her Facebook Status upon her return to Texas:

"Home from mission trip. It opened my eyes to the way people live, the hardships people face on a daily basis, and how very blessed I am. I have a whole new perspective on life after this trip. It has a permanent place in my heart, and I will never forget everything I have witnessed and everything I have learned. The Lord our God is good!"

That would make any parent proud!!!

. . . just another day in the life . . .

What a PUP!!!!

Oh - how I ADORE our Golden Retriever, Wall-E!!!! We adopted him at the end of February, and in 3 1/2 short months, he has WON OVER OUR HEARTS!!!! This little guy is just the BEST dog for our family and we thoroughly enjoy every day with him! He is happy, calm, patient, loving, loyal - and can even put up with little Ryan (our VERY rambuctious 3 year old!)

Running and playing with Mommy in the back yard!!!

"Exploring" in the grass

What a handsome boy!!!

"Okay, Mom - - - you wore me out tonight!!!"

We feel that God really blessed us by bringing Wall-E into our lives! He was adopted from Dallas-Ft. Worth Metro Golden Retreiver Rescue (http://www.rescuegoldens.org/) and they really got us the perfect fit! He is a TRUE member of our family!!!

.

. . . just another day in the life . . .

Our Backyard - My Little Haven on Earth!!!

Our back porch - one of my favorite places in the world to be!!!

With two little boys in our family, we get the opportunity to spend a LOT of time outside! (I think it's just in the male DNA to want to be in the outdoors!) Lucky for me, I get to spend a great deal of my "outdoor time" in our backyard - which has become a true haven for us and our kids! I've been in fancier back yards, or those with pools and perfectly manicured landscaping, but our back yard is HOME for our family! And our boys play out there for hours on end!!! . . . and I get the privilege of watching them and playing with them - in the sandbox, in the garden, on the swingset, lunching on the back porch, watching and feeding the birds, or racing through the sprinklers! How lucky am I?!?!?

. . . just another day in the life . . .

As The Garden Grows . . .

Well - 5 weeks in, and my 36 Square Foot Kitchen Garden is coming right along! We cut some tree limbs off that were shading the garden area and the extra sun seems to be really helping things along!

The zuchinni on the back row and my various herbs are really doing well!

Ryan says, "Look Mommy - a baby pepper on our jalepeno plant!"

Jack holding our first "respectable" sized pepper!

The boys LOVE to go out to the garden EVERY day to check the progress!

FINALLY . . . it is starting to actually LOOK like a real garden!!!

One of the boys' favorite tasks is to go out and cut the appropriate herbs for whatever we're cooking for dinner at night! They just LOVE that they get to eat food that we grew ourselves!!!

Overall . . . the Garden was a WONDERFUL idea - and worth all the work!!!

. . . just another day in the life . . .

Let The Swimming Lessons Begin!

For the past two Summers, we have taken Jack to a WONDERFUL Swimming Coach - and this year, little brother, Ryan, gets to join in the Summer Fun!!!! Both boys have had a WONDERFUL time swimming - and after their first week, they are making awesome progress!!

The boys with their cool new swim goggles!

Ryan learning the hand and arm position to "streamline"

Ryan learning to do a "dead bug" float on his back

Ryan loves his teachers!

Ryan learning to kick!

Look at all that splashing!

Ryan learning arm movements

Ryan taking time out of the pool to spend time with the Coach's doggie!

He's really working on his arm positioning!

Now it's Jack's turn, and he is the life of the swimming lesson - always has something to say!

Jack jumping in the water on his own!

Jack doing a great job on his "dead bug" float!

Jack is having SO MUCH FUN this year in his lessons - he's come a LONG way!

Jack doing his "streamline" - - - PERFECTLY!

Hooray!!!! Good job, Jack!!!

Working on arm stroke positioning

Jack pays such close attention to his instructors!

Jack swimming out on his own from the stairs to his coaches!

Jack got a little scared because he swam a long way by himself! Poor little guy!

Getting ready to jump into the deep end of the pool off of the diving board!

Great jump - - right into the hula hoop circle! (It's hard to believe Jack will do this - since last year, he was scared to death to jump off the board!)

Jack swimming on his back after the jump into the deep end!

We are SOOO proud of our boys! It's so fun to watch them grow and thrive!

. . . just another day in the life . . .

Two Long Years, Several Thousand Dollars, Sore Mouth . . . A Perfect Smile: Priceless!!!

Does this girl have the most BEAUTIFUL smile - - - or WHAT?!?!? After two years of braces, our sweet daughter, Ashley, got her braces removed today - -- and she has even further evolved into a gorgeous young woman! I was so proud of how well she did everything the Orthodontist told her to do. She was "relgious" in wearing her rubberbands, etc. and everyone agreed: she got AMAZING results! Good girl!!!

Ash and her good friend, Addie, BOTH got their braces off on the SAME DAY (different doctors and totally not planned together!) This is them BEFORE their "removals"!

Ashley and all her girlfriends together - BEFORE the braces came off. All these girls celebrated tonight after the two last girls with braces finally got them removed!

In the car on the way to the Orthodontist

Outside in front of the Orthodontist's office

In the chair getting ready to "get down to business"

The braces are coming off!

Ashley did NOT enjoy have the impressions made for her retainers!

A PERFECT smile!!!

Great work, Dr. Schroeder and Staff!!!! THANKS!

. . . just another day in the life . . .