Update Letter

I’m sorry that I have been remiss in sending updates! I looked and it appears I have not written since FEBRUARY! I did not realize it had been that long. A lot has happened in the intervening months. Of course, I turned 40 in February, so that was a pretty big month, but I believe I already mentioned that in the last letter.

In March, Sarah Ruth turned TWO! She is now fully potty-trained and getting quite tall for her age. She is a sweet little girl and we enjoy her so much!

In April, Bobby turned 18! I’m still getting used to having “another adult” in the house! He continues to do odd jobs where he can find them, and has his application in at several local businesses.

In May, Rachel had the opportunity to go to Pensacola Christian College with a lady we know and another friend for a production of the life story of Corrie Ten Boom. It was a formal occasion, and she enjoyed the trip. She was also able to visit the beach, and a friend from camp while she was there.

In June, Rachel, Bobby & I helped to care for a friend’s disabled aunt while he was out of town. It was a neat experience.

Much of the remainder of June is a bit of a blur for me, filled with joy and excitement, uncertainty, and ultimately, sadness as we conceived and then subsequently miscarried.

July 4th was spent with Robby’s parents, including an excellent lunch and fun board games.

This summer, Rachel has been taking art classes, which will culminate in an art show the second week of August. We are very excited about it! I will have pictures in the next update letter.

Timmy has grown another few inches and is now taller than I am! He has discovered reading for pleasure and has been devouring books this summer.

Nathaniel has discovered woodworking, and has carved himself out a wooden short sword and a rough longsword. He is very helpful with taking the dogs out when they need to go, and he enjoys playing with Rachel’s turtle. Yes, you read that right. One day Bobby and Rachel went for a ride on his motorcycle and came back with a box turtle, which Rachel has in her room in a homemade habitat. They take her (Myrtle the Turtle) outside regularly and let her walk around in the grass.

John Luke is getting really good at computer games, and enjoys one that involves making things (Bobby says it’s called a “sandbox game” because it doesn’t have a storyline or pre-set tasks to accomplish).

Rachel & I ate lunch at a local restaurant that has a buffet, and one of their desserts was just wonderful! I got home and decided to try to make it myself. I took an ordinary white cake mix, added about 10 crushed Oreos, and baked as usual. For frosting, I added another 10-11 crushed Oreos to some Cool Whip and spread it on top.
To make it just like the one at the restaurant, one would need to separate the cake into 2-3 layers and put the Cool Whip mixture between layers as well as on top.

Bobby has improved in his Japanese studies to where he can now read Hiragana Japanese and comprehend it. I hope that he will get a chance to visit with someone Japanese at some point so that he will learn to speak it as well as he can read it.

Rachel and I are still working on learning American Sign Language, though we do not practice as often as we should. We would love to become fluent in it. It truly is a whole language of its own, with its own sentence structure and vocabulary.

I almost forgot—we went to Lake Winnepesaukah in April. We found it to be a bit cooler than we were expecting, but we still enjoyed it very much! Sarah was old enough to really enjoy going on the rides this year, and John Luke enjoyed it a lot more this year than last year also.

God bless you & yours!