Day #5- Church and Dinner with Family

On Sunday, we had a very inspirational and worshipful morning at Jason and Erica's church. It is such a blessing to be able to worship together with your whole family, and it was nice to sit with Mark in a church service- which is a rare but special opportunity. Jason's church is very welcoming and inviting and the Spirit of God was ever present! After church we got to participate in a Thanksgiving potluck and boy was it good! I do miss Nazarene potlucks, all of my favourite foods were there.

That Sunday evening, our family went in to meet Mark's aunt Hazel-Ruth and her family. Mark's cousins, Paulette and Laurette, were there and Paulette's girls, Lauren and Elly, came out to have dinner with us. It was a nice time visiting with each other and catching up on what has seemed like forever! After dinner, we drove into Spring Hill where we first met and drove by the old homes where Mark lived and our first apartment together:-)

It seems as though time has flown by, but it was a nice trip down memory lane and seeing where it all first began.

Mark, Hazel-Ruth and Kaley

Paulette and Kaley

Laurette and Kaley

Laurette and Me

The Second Cousins

Day #4 - Weekend Fun

On Saturday, we all took it a bit easy and had a nice relaxing Saturday morning. Jason and dad went to the church to work on the Live Nativity sets for the afternoon. After Kaley's nap, dad and I went to pick up Mark from the airport. Mark went down to visit a friend from Seminary for a couple of days and really enjoyed his time there. In the evening we all played Sorry Charlie which is similar to Farkle. The girls had a lot of fun playing together and it was good to have everyone together again!

Easton (3 months) - Such a happy boy!

Grandma and Easton enjoying their time together

Day #3 of Vacation - Day with Grandpa and Grandma

Dad and mom decided to take the girls out for a fun time together Friday morning. They went to a place called Paradise Park that is much like a children's museum/play place in Kansas City. They played non-stop for 3 hours going from the ball pit to the water play to the play store and the tumbling area. Then after a fun morning together they went for lunch at McDonald's. They had so much fun together that they all had a nap that afternoon!

Day #2 of Vacation with the Matters

We are down in Missouri with Jason, Erica, Olivia, Easton, dad and mom for American Thanksgiving for a week and a half and having a really good time. You can just imagine what it is like with 6 adults and three kids under 5....a ton of fun!!!

Grandpa and Kaley playing in the yard

Olivia has forever loved to tease dad and he in turn enjoys playing with her and making her laugh. Kaley has since then picked up on the teasing of grandpa and is just as ruthless as Olivia is. There is a running joke between Olivia and dad that has lasted 2 years now with these mice that she teases him with and now it has expanded to a rubber centipede-another creature that dad hates. Now dad has two granddaughters that wake up in the morning and can't wait to wake grandma and grandpa up to start the teasing!

Kaley with the centipede ready for fire!

A Great Start to Monday Morning

I saw this video on Erica's facebook the other day and finally got around to looking at it today. Not only do I love this song, but it brought a smile to my face on this beautiful Monday morning. Take a watch and hopefully it will do the same for you!

Home Improvements

Earlier this week, I pull up into our driveway after coming home from work and Mark is in the garage with all of his wood working things out. I get out and come to see what he is working on and he tells me, "You may not want to look in the kitchen quite yet, there is a bit of a mess." So, I walk into the kitchen and there is this hole in the bottom cupboard to the right of the stove. The first thing I thought of was that something broke somewhere and the only way to fix it was to cut a hole in the cupboards! Nope, not even close. He comes in and tells me that he had bought a cutting board earlier that day but then found out that there wasn't a place to store it......so he created one!!!! What once was some unused space, now has become a place for the cutting boards:-) Why not? Luckily, he is so skilled at what he does and is quite talented, that it looks great, and something else in our house now has a home of its own. Yeah!

Clergy Appreciation

This past Sunday was clergy appreciation at our church. Our church is always so very thoughtful and generous! This year was so different. We received a beautiful card, these amazing flowers and a gift for a great family outing for the three of us. We are regularly reminded of how truly blessed we are to have a loving, supportive and caring church family. Thank you to each of you who mean so much!