Wow, I have lots of catching up to do. I've actually tried blogging a few times but our computer had issues. It still takes a while to upload pictures...but I think they're all here now.

We said goodbye to Anna 1-1/2 weeks ago. I thought my heart would break. I still look for her to share something with her and then remember she's gone...even though I am praying for her constantly. We are supposed to get email updates every Friday...but the team leader misspelled our email address, so we missed out for 4 days. Finally the mission board called us and got the correct address. The team is doing well...but only getting 5 hours of sleep each night. That saddens me to think that they are in a third world country and not using the one easy defense to protect their immune systems. Another thing to pray for...!

I've got lots of pictures, so I'll start with these. The folks at church will appreciate these two pictures. These 4 boys are close friends, and the 3 white belt brothers just started Tang Soo Do class this Tuesday. (Allen is the green belt.)

It's a pretty good size class now. Exciting!Since all of our cars had major troubles this spring, we made the smart decision to rent a car to take Anna to the Atlanta airport where we dropped her off for her missions trip. With Mike's military id, the price is very low. Both Mike and I had to have major work done on our cars; then Maggie's car that we use often had the electrical system fail; and of course, we totaled Anna's truck when we hit the deer. But now my car is up and running smoothly...even though it just turned 200k miles.

Packed to the gills. Mike, Anna, Lizzie, and Ruthie drove Anna down. They stayed with our good friends Ellen and Chris. Anna said she received some great tips from Ellen...since they are frequent world travellers. Thank you, E&C...the girls enjoyed their time with you, as always.

Have kleenex, will travel.

Here's a few pictures from the twins' birthday dinner. I got a picture of Grandad's hand, too.

I can't remember what we had for dinner but I'm sure it was good.

The cake, however, was a flop. Usually I love Maggie's flops (which are rare) but I couldn't eat the cake. Everyone else loved it. Oh well.

Anna's birthday cake was not only delicious, it was beautiful!

This slide is part of a surprise for Anna. We got the slide from freecycle.org. A local church was giving away the steps...but not the slide. That's okay for us...we are going to sink it in the ground a few feet...and lean it against the doorway of Anna's treehouse. No more balancing acts on the skinny ramp! My Dad and his friend Harry were in town with Dad's truck and trailer, so they drove by the church and picked up the steps and brought them home. Thanks so much, Dad. I can't wait for Anna to see it!

I gave Lizzie this LP record for her birthday. Randy and Roberta play the parts of Randy and Betsy on The Virginian...a favorite series of ours. We've been enjoying listening to this while working in the sewing room. Yesterday we got Season 4 in the mail...and we watched the episode where Betsy gets married and leaves...leaving behind a sad Randy. It nearly broke our hearts! Betsy also left the series. We will miss her.

Here's Anna's cake. We have lots of peppermint and violets growing in our yard. Maggie crystallized them. Yummy!! Yesterday Maggie pureed some watermelon in a blender, then added peppermint leaves and club soda. It was soooo good! Truly refreshing.

Lizzie was pleased to find a green snake. She loves these snakes and finds one each spring/summer.

This has been a busy spring. I guess we're all busy...my favorite 3 blogs to read have also been absent from blogging.

I am doing a first this weekend...chinchilla babysitting! A friend from church needs me to feed the chinchillas and fish, and water her garden. We are still in a rain deficit, so everything needs watering.

Hope you are having a good spring as well. There are many world happenings that make us wonder if the end of the world is near. Tornados, tsunamis, earthquakes, flooding. It is hard to see such suffering, even though these are opportunities for witness.

While we are having 90 temps, my friend in OR is having snowstorm after snowstorm. I'd rather have our heat.

Many blessings ~ Kathie