Struck

One day last week I was laying on the couch reading.  The little 2 were sleeping and Morgan was playing in the basement with a couple of friends.  It suddenly started to downpour.  The girls came up and asked me if they could go play in the rain.  There had been no thunder and lightening.  Often in those storms I will let them go out.  For whatever reason, mostly b/c I didn't feel like dealing with the madness of 3 wet little girls, I said no.  I went back to reading, them to the basement.  Not even minutes later, I heard this sound so loud...literally like a bomb going off.  I seriously thought there was going to be a huge hole in the side of the house.  I timidly got off the couch and did an inspection, at least expecting the power to be off.  Nothing.  The storm was brief and afterwards I went outside to look.  There are a couple of trees just 10-15 feet from our garage.  Apparently, one of them got struck by lightening.  As you can see in the photo below, it was pretty obvious.  2 of the rungs of the ladder Steve had on the tree so the kids could climb had been blown off.  My heart was certainly in my throat upon seeing that.  Imagine if I had let those girls go outside.  I am grateful for God's protection that afternoon!!

Found out this weekend that during the same storm my neighbor/uncle lost his electric dog fence in the strike.  Powerful stuff.

Halfway

Can't get enough of her

This little girl has just been cracking me up the last few days.  It seems within the last week her vocabulary has exploded and she is now relating fully as a big kid.  Good and bad ways...I'll start with the bad.  Twice today, after me telling her to do something that she did not want to do, her response was, "You're not in charge of me."  Umm...yes I am.  Though it was a a bit unnerving to hear her say that, I have to admit that it was pretty funny coming out of her mouth.  I don't know where she heard it and I'm not sure that she knows what it means.  Ok...actually as I am thinking of it, I think she hears her brother saying that to his sisters.  And yes, he does know what it means!
On to the cute.  She awoke from her nap extra late today and we were all in the kitchen and as she came down the steps and before we could see her she exclaimed, "Hi!!!  It's Gweda!!"  Her new thing is to say "berry" instead of very and she uses it at least 15 times in a sentence.  "Mom, I am berry, berry, berry, berry, berry, berry.... tired."  Today at supper she told Steve, "I want berry much more milk."

Good-bye, Locust

Last weekend our church broke ground for the new building.  It is a very exciting time for us and for the church family.  Our property is amazingly beautiful and one of the favorite spots is the big locust tree that sits on top of the hill, right where the new building will be.  B/c of the building...the tree had to go.  Last Monday, the day after the groundbreaking, was a bittersweet time. We got to watch it being cut down.

One last picture with the tree

Counting the rings

In about 20 years, this picture will be a classic!!

Greta's world

I love the things that come out of my little ones' mouths.  Today Greta and I were outside hanging up the laundry.  She was looking around the grass and came up to me and very excitedly said, "Mom, look!  An umbrella!!" (actually sounding more like umdruda)  She had a tiny little wild mushroom in her hands.

Her clothes were a little slim pickin' today b/c of it being laundry day.  I had her put on a nicer dress.  She kept asking me to take her outside and take her picture.  Why not??

Red, White and Blue

Through Margaret's Eyes

We are very blessed to have some pretty awesome babysitters.  Margaret is one of the favorites around here.  The other night she grabbed my camera and took some shots of the kids.  She brought along her younger brother, Cameron.  To say Aaron adores him would be a bit of an understatement.

I'm  not exactly sure why Aaron saw fit to put on the black socks while playing baseball.