Crawfish Boil for Eastman Newbies

 Paddle boating

 dirt biking...John's dream

 fishing

 tree frog

We got to eat as much crawfish as we could handle...with lots of yummy sausage and more...this is a yearly event for John's company for the young engineers or newbies...which we are the newbies right now! not the young 'uns!

House developments...

 our stove---for the house...we 've ordered it to be delivered to the store in August!!!

 John has dug out an area so I can have a step from the front porch!!!  This red clay is very hard to deal with, but he did it!

 more grading to the pad

 our new "ole" work truck!  Isn't it pretty!!  I love it, and John has wanted a truck for over 10 years...and the price was super duper for us!  It's a 1999 with 123,000, but it's a great work truck!  It's super spacey too...so we call all fit for now.  We will keep all three vehicles b/c they all are being used in one form or another!  Katie will then inherit a "driving" car, if the honda is still running in 4 years, which we expect it will!

The house pad was mostly done by John, but then we hired someone to level it with surveying equipment. John then has been working around the lot to make sure it drains sufficiently. He has also worked on the backyard. We went out to the land yesterday, which as of last week is officially in our name(thank you Mimi and Papaw!). It looks amazing to me, and I am super excited to see so much progress! Since this weekend was tax free for appliances, we went ahead and bought our refrigerator, stove, and missionary washer/dryer unit! Did I say we are excited yet? A few years ago, I would say that the thought of building was really overwhelming. Not that building is easier in East Texas, because it's not, but it has been fun looking at things. John has been drawing up the plans and doing most of the work, so maybe that's why it has been ok. Here in East Texas, there are zero tract homes-that's not to say you don't find similar houses, but each house is different in its own way. You have to build from scratch...unless your builder helps limit the choices! But, when we are the contractors, the limits have to be set by us. Thankfully, John's mom has given us pointers and names of great people to use for different aspects of the process. So, as John finishes up the plans, our next step is to have someone pour the slab. Framing, plumbing, electric work and more wait their turn in line!

The Continuation of a Dream

One thing that John and I have talked about for all of our marriage is the desire to host missionary families in our home. We have been back home from our own missions trip to Russia for almost 2 years. We,as a family of six, were hosted by a Finnish family in a missionary type cottage; so we were able to experience what we dreamed of. We were hosted by this family about 2.5 years ago while we were visiting Finland. All we know is that this dream of ours has never gone away, whether stateside or during our 2 year stay in Russia. So, we believe this is a God directed passion. So, come along as we have just begun the journey of building. Our house plan has changed in the last week and John has begun preparing our house pad. John's parents have had John working on this subdivision for over 3-4 years. We are building on a section of land adjacent to the regular lots. From the response of people, it seems like they are shocked at our speed of building. This is a very unusual situation where we are doing a lot of prep work before even the bank stuff is finalized because John's parents own the land and the equipment John is using. We will be transferring the title in the next week or so.

Mark's week

Since my kids are home schooled, we have some liberties...such as---each one of my kids get to take a week by themselves and go visit my parents.  It's a time that my mom and dad enjoy spoiling just one kid.  They are such great grandparents.  They love their grandkids and love to see them by themselves...their personalities shine through when they are alone, away from brothers or sisters.  My kids look forward to their time with Mimer and Papa.  Mark got to go to NASA during his time---my dad works for a company that contracts for NASA, so there are some perks!!  Mark loved learned about space. 

Katie's Birthday Party

 party favors...most in Texas shape, two in circles.  We made these the day before the party.

 fruit filled waffle cones...fun way to serve fruit and pretty...we dipped the cones in extra frosting!  Yum!

 The ones we made before the party!!

 The ones the girls made plus ours.

 We had the boy cousins drop by and had them stay plus a new friend of Mark and Matthew's and their cupcakes--they did not make birds!! ha!  Boys will be boys!!

We all had a great "bird-day party"!!!  Happy 12th!!!

Matthewism again...

 He fills up a balloon with water(very tiny size) and ties it...he says, "Mom, it's secure now, so if I drop it, it won't leak." *drop*, *water on the kitchen floor*..."Well, that wasn't in my mind!!" A very confused Matthew picks up the balloon disappointingly!! No, I didn't stop him or get upset...it was tiny and very well worth the wasn't in my mind comment!!! Well said!

  another Matthewism...looking up this morning at John, who just came in from basketball, Matthew is doing math multiplication facts(no, I'm not an over acheiver--Katie is teaching him, b/c...wait for it...)"Addition is for chumps!" Matthew . Oh, Matthew...just wait, you were only doing single digit addition. Addition is really for CHAMPS!!

 Let me just say, I am a very blessed woman indeed!!  My hubby and I were rearranging our room furniture and I was telling Matthew how lucky I was to marry a man that likes to rearrange things!  Matthew says in reply, "yes, you are a lucky woman!"  It made John and I both laugh!  Well said Matthew! 

Matthew---"Perfect!  You look like an angel," he said this to me...as I was getting ready for a CASA event.  Yes, it was prompted by me asking, "how does my hair look?"    He is a total smoosher!!!

The infamous cast

 Melissa got her cast off a few weeks ago.  She is a saver...I'm not, so much.  So, I suggest taking a picture and capturing it "forever" so she could through it away.  She actually wanted to wet it.  The doctor had warned her of getting it wet, and I think she wanted to see what happened if it got wet.  As if it would explode or change colors or shape???  Hmmm....nothing happened...she tried it!   The cast has not been thrown away as of yet.  I hope for the best, but the kids still put it on!  Ewww....gross---is that what you are thinking?  Those have been some of my thoughts. 

I've been thinking lately of posting some serious thoughts...on our life.  We have been back in the states for over a year and a half and boy, do some strange feelings/thoughts occur when one comes "home?!"  Do you wonder what I mean?  or Do you have some understanding of this?  It's like this cast---you have the evidence that something broke or changed, but you are expected by most of the people that surround you to not really be any different than before or just return to the swing of things.  Sometimes, this may be the case, but as with brakes, sometimes your bones "feel the weather."  Sometimes, I "feel" the weather of living in a foreign land and being home, feeling a bit "foreign" or changed or just somehow not the same as before.   I think a lot lately about how it seemed so long that we were there in Russia, but when I think of this time here in Longmoo, Tx---it's about the same amount of time(a year and a half or two years is not very long at all)...and yet this time here flew by(with a lots of different sets of highs and lows than Russia highs and lows) and the time there did not fly by.  It did not drudge along, but it was not fast.  Deep thoughts...maybe more will follow.  

Visit with friends!

We had some friends come visit us from John's ole' work in Dallas, back in January.  It was great to see the Rosses!  They have 2 girls whom our kiddos had so much fun playing with.  I forgot to take any pics, so these were my last minute attempt to remember the weekend with them.

Our first family basketball game at A&M!!! Whoop!!

A&M's President on the stairs...

We went to an A&M basketball game with my brother and his family in January.  We had a blast!!!  We all got free t-shirts and banners and Chris Middleton signed some of the shirts!!! Woohoo!
Check out the cousin picture---yes they did the age progression on purpose!!!