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This weekend we had a "Hooray for You!" party for the kids in our small group. Our thought in planning the party was... a) let's surround our family with friends who love our kids, pray for our kids, and cheer for our kids; and b) well - who doesn't need a little encouragement? First, we encouraged and celebrated our kids, then we encouraged our adopted Ethiopian kids by painting cards for Beza and Obsa, and finally washed it all down with ice cream sundaes! Here are M, E, and C's "hoorays"!

Baseball with the Royals and cheering with the OTE 4th graders!

Well, our 4 year old started school last week! After LOTS of discussion as to what she would wear (how can you force an outfit on the first day??), we finally settled on a "less than at the top of the list" ensemble. Ha. Anyway, she is loving school, and we're so thankful for her! P.S. Today she said, "Oh no, she di-in't!" (shaking her finger) Get it? Hmm. Sisters or tv?

We celebrated Labor Day with Ben & Elizabeth at her aunt and uncle's house, and loved every minute of it! The paddle boat with a HIT - especially with Hampton and Caroline!

Well, we took a little trip to the upper reaches of Missouri on Saturday night to watch ACU play Northwest Missouri State. Madison, Elizabeth, and Caroline dressed in ACU/Blue Valley North cheerleading uniforms. We didn't have an ACU uniform for Madison and actually stretched the limits of Elizabeth's midriff-bearing uniform by adding a tank top to her ensemble! The stadium was packed with Bearcat fans (what is that anyway), and only one small contingent of ACU fans.

Soon after we arrived, I realized we left the camera in the car so I took the long hike out to the field to retrieve the camera. Since David said the car was parked at the end of the field, I walked hurriedly all the way to the end, feeling anxious because I now realized I REALLY needed to go to the restroom. I looked to the left, no car. Looked to the right, no car. Feeling more and more frustrated, I now realized I would not make it back to the stadium before I had to find (or make) a restroom for myself.

I finally pushed the unlock button on the car and heard the beep across the field at the other end! I rushed to the car and searched frantically for the camera, opening every door and searching every place David might have put it. Soon, I could wait no longer. I gave up on the camera, after calling David and getting no answer. Now the search was for any unwanted audience members for my "restroom break" in the field. After heading back to the stadium and being heckled by a truck full of rednecks who were too cheap to buy tickets to the game, I was proud to have fertilized their "parking lot".

ACU won, and we all had a blast! I hope to download some pictures from my phone later. GO ACU!

We just dropped off our new 4th and 2nd grader to begin another fun school year!! We had all smiles and no tears as we scurried into school with all of the other hundreds of parents and kids. Caroline starts school in September so we just had a trial run with her today. Man, we really LOVE THESE GIRLS!

Okay. Let me see if I can highlight the details of our very fun vacation in California. Day 1: Flight in and first visit to the beach (closest one - not known as "the beach you want to go to")... umm, can you say "which one (or in our case 5) is not like the others?" Not exactly feeling at home at this beach. Elizabeth got tumbled by a wave and quickly decided she was not a beach fan.

Day 2: Needed a break from the beach (1 hour was just too much) - animal park to the rescue! Loads of fun but not much to say about that. We also went to church at Saddleback - awesome.

Day 3: Another effort at a beach - this one was better - had lunch on a cliff where para gliders were jumping off to glide over the ocean below.

Day 4: Sea World! This was amazing and loads of fun! Fed and touched dolphins; watched dolphins and whales in shows; paid what felt like thousands of dollars for tickets and food but totally worth it; felt an earthquake while sitting in grandstands before the Shamu show; learned forest fires were on the edge of Yosemite where we were planning to visit later.

Day 5: Back to the beach, and this time we did it right! Coronado Island was by far our best beach experience! Note to self: don't use wax-based sunscreen stick while visiting a beach. Check out Caroline's face!

Day 6: Traveled about 6 hours to Sequoia National Park - it was so worth the drive! David, Madison, & Caroline hiked to the top of a very scary granite "mountain". Elizabeth and I conquered our fear of cliffs by hiking "as far as the sunshine" (a little break in the rock where the sun was visible). This was a MAJOR accomplishment - I'm sorry to say she apparently has inherited my fear of cliffs. We sat in the sunshine and prayed that my other two kids and husband would come down safely.

Day 7-8: Walked around Sequoia and Yosemite with our jaws to the ground at God's amazing ability to create. How is it possible that I have not seen this until now??? As a side note, at some point during day 7 or 8, we had a reservation (very hard to come by, I might add) to CAMP in something called a tent/cabin (i.e. 3 walls and the floor are cement and one wall and the ceiling are tent. We arrive eager to "make some memories" with the kids! Mind you, we had reservations for 2 nights to camp. On first look, we're a little unsure as to how we'll fit in with this "camping crowd" as we notice they all have tablecloths, candles, carpet for the floor, plastic bins for the food, etc. We, on the other hand, have almost nothing. Everyone checks us out as we pull in at night in the dark to unpack our SUV with three little kids in tow. Of course, we have no lantern so we're struggling to get unpacked with the little light in our tent. We manage but don't get much sleep as I'm awakened in the middle of the night terrified that a bear is outside our tent munching on something only to realize it is Caroline chomping on something in her sleep. The next morning, I get our food out of the bear bin to make some sandwiches after having gone to the bathroom to use toilet paper and water to wipe off our picnic table (a tablecloth would have been nice). While the bread is out, a squirrel grabs it and eats about half of the loaf so I have to throw it away. We have some old, smashed bread so I start to make sandwiches out of that when I realize we don't have a knife. The neighbors get a real kick out of watching the girl next door made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with the cardboard from the granola bar box and some jam taken from the breakfast buffet that morning. I take a nice shower in the community shower house surrounded by long, black (I have to say, disgusting) hair up and down the shower walls. I have the sneaking suspicion my flip flops are just not enough protection. Upon describing the shower to David, he exclaims, "We're out of here!" and we're off. David manages to get a refund for the second night, we throw all of our gear back into the SUV and head for the hills, literally. We planned this great picnic in the wilderness of Yosemite surrounded by God's amazing artwork. After driving about 2 hours (and stopping to get more bread, of course) to get to "the perfect spot", it is now about 2:00, and we are STARVING! We park, get out of the car, and realize we didn't get the food out of the bear box when repacking to leave the campsite so quickly! We have the loaf of bread we purchased to replace the squirrel-loaf so we just start handing out bread for lunch. I'm pretty sure I hammered about 4 slices before we realized there might be a concession stand at the look-out we were walking toward. Yea! There was - so we supplemented the kids' bread lunch with ice cream and beef jerkey! Wish you were there? It was great. By the way, we saw bears twice in the wild and deer constantly (even in our camp)

Day 9-10: spent in San Franscisco doing all of the touristy stuff to do in SanFran. We hope you liked the synopsis. Definitely breaks records for me in terms of journaling!

Somehow, the pictures ended up in reverse order so you'll have to start at the bottom of this entry and work back if you're interested in order. These deer were in our campsite at Yosemite.
Mountain Massage!


These are TREES with the girls and our SUV!


















This is Elizabeth after her tumble in the waves. Check out all of the sand in her hair!

KAMP pick-up was loads of fun. We were able to see so much of the camp itself and just enjoy spending time with Madison and seeing what life was like for her over the last two weeks. She had a pretty serious sunburn (even the scab is part of it - yikes!), but I guess she'll live since we all had at least one sunburn at some point growing up! At least that is what I'm telling myself. I guess she'll learn not to skip her face when applying sunscreen now!

These are her counselors as well as 4 of the 10 girls from Cabin #5!
This is Madison receiving her "Fired Up and Going Nuts Every Minute!" award!

Madison and Emerson are Kiowas, and this is their tribe princess and mini-princess. The Kiowas won the overall tribe competition so they were able to raise their tribe flag at the end of the ceremony! GO KIOWAS!
Madison got to place a brick with her name on it in the K-1 mess hall because she finished a year-long Bible study called "Walk of Champions". It was a great challenge and provided lots of time for us to talk about Jesus together throughout the year. What more can you ask for? Here she is being recognized for her efforts!