The first week of September, all four kids and I drove with Oma and Uncle Tim to Missouri. The kids enjoyed three nights of living on a farm and playing with the animals. Betty had four young kids (the kind that grow up to be milked) and my kids had a blast playing with them. The first thing they wanted to do when the woke up was go outside and lead the goats -- even before breakfast! They also had a hard time coming in at the end of the day. Above you can see Lydia with her first goat -- she soon switched to a different kid as this one was too stubborn to follow her.
Ezekiel's favorite part of the week was playing with Queenie. I have never met a dog who does so well with young kids who doesn't live with young kids. Here you can see Queenie giving Ezekiel kisses.
The kids really enjoyed the afternoon playing in the creek.
Here it almost looks like Kara is leading two goats, but I think she is trying to help her sister to get her goat moving. Kara also enjoyed going in the hen house to collect eggs. Who knows, in a few years we may need to build a small coop and get some laying hens. I certainly have an eager egg collector.
We really had a wonderful time in Missouri. I even had the opportunity to see my cousin Jackie for a few minutes. The kids are already asking about when we get to go back and visit Uncle Ted and Betty again.
Okay, now that it is the end of September, I guess I should update our August Adventures. We began the month of August as we always do -- Enjoying my birthday (the advantage of being born on the first of the month). My birthday present -- saying goodbye to our dog. Don't worry, it's a good thing. Shalom is quite a large and active dog -- too active for my young children, and too big to get a sufficient amount of exercise in our small town. Therefore, my wonderful sister and her husband agreed to take Shalom to go live out in the country with them. And, from what I hear Shalom is absolutely loving her new home. I did enjoy having Elizabeth and Joel up for my birthday, and Elizabeth even made a delicious Oreo cheesecake. It was wonderful. The best thing about my birthday -- being able to sit beside my husband through two entire church services -- I love having missionary speakers in church!!!
Okay, moving on. We also had to say goodbye to some sweet friends. Jon and Deb are now directors for Village Missions, and with their change of position were leaving their current ministry. We went to visit them and say goodbye -- although not for good -- we look forward to their visits with some of our local Village Missionaries.
Jon and Deb Hanson
August is a month of birthdays for our family. Lydia celebrated her birthday by turning five, and she wanted a Princess Birthday cake. Her favorite birthday present -- A Pretty Pretty Princess game from her Aunt Beth.
Ezekiel also enjoyed a birthday celebration. He turned two, and has been joyfully advancing in the area of speech. He is so much fun, and loves trying to keep up with his older siblings.
One of the fun things of summer is the intense heat :) A couple of times this summer we met my parents at a city waterpark. The kids loved meeting up with Oma and Opa, and Ezekiel loved playing in the water -- Kara loved going down a waterslide by herself. Lydia loved playing under the water. Andy enjoyed everything, but Ezekiel's favorite part -- The Lazy River.
One thing that happened this month was Kara -- She discovered a love for reading. I was finally able to get her to start reading some chapter books, and the image below is a scene that I expect to see repeated many times over the next several years.
We also took the kids to a local historic place. We had a picnic at the Home on the Range Cabin. The kids enjoyed the picnic and discovering a tiny bit of local history.
To see more pictures of our August Adventures, click here.
