Fourth of July Weekend

Wow did we have a busy fourth of July holiday weekend! We went to Aaron's uncle's cottage for the fourth and had lots of fun with family, food and fire works. They were the best we have ever seen and we only had to walk across the street to the lake, so that was nice too. Natalie said "Grandma" for the first time which tickled Aaron's mom and she loved the golf cart ride around the lake that we went on. Bella continued to be a stick-in-the-mud by not going in the water or in the sprinklers at the sprinkler park there. (sigh) She loved playing with her cousin Ashlynn who is her age though and they had a blast together. She said during the fire works "when the last one goes off - we're out of here". Everyone admired her new earings and she ate that right up. Saturday we had a party at our friend Nikki's house and the kids stayed busy playing with all their friend's from church. Today we went out on our friend Jodi's megga boat. It was huge! We headed out towards Saugatuck and through anchor out and swam in the lake. We actually got Bella out in the water with her buddy Grace who is the same age. Randy and Beth went and they love kids, so they helped watch the girls. We got lots of sun and of course and ate way too much again. All of us girls fell asleep in the car on the way home. Happy fourth everyone - I hope you had a good weekend!

Summer Vacation

We just got back from spending a few days in Grand Haven. My sister rented a cottage on the lake and we stayed with her and had lots of beach time, shopping and good food. The girls wouldn't go in the water and one of the days was really windy, so we got sand blasted. Bella curled herself up in a little ball and wouldn't move. She can be quite a stick in the mudd sometimes:) We visited Saugatuck and shopped and ate some more and went to the mall in Muskegon and Bella got her ears pierced!!!!!! They couldn't do it two at a time, so when they went to do the second ear, she threw a royal fit. She did really well the first time and was kind of excited about her pretty earing, but that loud clicking sound didn't make her happy. I felt horrible holding her down, while they did it again. She looks like a little lady now.

Beautiful Christian Sister by Maya Angelou

When I say... 'I am a Christian' I'm not shouting 'I'm clean livin''
I'm whispering 'I was lost, Now I'm found and forgiven.'

When I say... 'I am a Christian' I don't speak of this with pride
I'm confessing that I stumble and need Christ to be my guide.

When I say... 'I am a Christian' I'm not trying to be strong.
I'm professing that I'm weak and need His strength to carry on.

When I say... 'I am a Christian' I'm not bragging of success.
I'm admitting I have failed and need God to clean my mess.

When I say... 'I am a Christian' I'm not claiming to be perfect,
My flaws are far too visible but, God believes I am worth it.

When I say... 'I am a Christian' I still feel the sting of pain..
I have my share of heartaches, so I call upon His name.

When I say.. 'I am a Christian' I'm not holier than thou,
I'm just a simple sinner who received God's good grace, somehow!

Father's Day 2008

I woke up today and the first thing I thought of was that it would be the first father's day that our friend Kristen's children would be without their dad. He died last week and we are still so very sad to go on without him. Because of this, I am more appreciative of Aaron and thankful to have him in my life. Aaron is passionate and youthful. He always dotes on me and the kids and will run out and get whatever I need or want. Everyday he makes me feel loved, needed and special. Bella adores him and as soon as he walks in the door she grabs his hand and leads him up stairs saying "come on Daddy - Let's play!". Natalie just wants give him kisses and touch foreheads to show her affection. Today I watched as he dressed both girls in their swimming suits and filled the pool with cold water and stood their with teeth chattering, playing in the pool with the kids. Now that's dedication for ya! Every day I am thankful that we are blessed to be parents and able to celebrate holidays like Mother's day and Father's day. We still thank God everyday for our little miracles. God is so good! So, dad if your reading this today Happy Father's day and to Dad Combs, you too. Thank you for being such loving, supportive, adoring dads, that we could grow up and do our best to make you proud. We love you - Lori, Bella, and Natalie Jane!

June 2008

Well, June has started out pretty miserable. Along with the oppressive heat and humidity which leaves us prisoners of our house once again, I have started feeling symptoms of my Mineres disease again. We are just praying that it doesn't turn into an episode. I havn't had one in a few months now - praise the Lord! On a sadder note, we lost a friend from church on Friday morning. His name was Ryan and he was a great guy. He had an awesome sense of humor and was a great testimony in Christ. He leaves behind a young wife and twin two-year olds. It breaks our hearts to see him leave, but we know he is in God's glorious kingdom and he no longer has to deal with sick lungs or cystic fibrosis. If anyone wants to donate money, just walk into any fifth third bank and tell them you want to contribute to the Sweeney trust fund. I don't know how they will make ends meet or how the kids will go to college, but I have faith that the Lord will get them through it all. Please keep them in your prayers. Our camera is still in Joliet with my sister, so we are unable to update pictures at this time. Natalie Jane has learned to blow kisses and throw small temper tantrums and growls when she gets mad. Hmmm....I wonder where she got that growl;) Bella finished gymnastics and loved it and we ended up getting a trampoline to help her learn all kinds of new tricks. Hopefully her fist E.R. visit isn't one of them. I have been busy with scrapbooking and other crafts and Aaron has been out of town a lot lately. Hopefully, things will slow down for us now. Hope all is well in each of your households.

Natalie Jane's First Birthday!

Thank you to all who made Natty's first birthday party a success. I appreciate all your help getting ready and leaving. Thanks also to everyone who made the long trip up as well. She loves her music machine and is a dancing fool. She learned how to shake her head no this last week and fed herself with a spoon. She's loving giving people high-fives and sings to music sometimes in baby language. Bella is my interpreter or so she says anyway. The first thing Natalie does when I get her out of bed in the morning is give me a big kiss. There is no better way to start the day! Bella loves her gymnastics class and is a real natural. She is so strong and can hold herself up on the bar or the rings perfectly straight or in a el position. She did all her jumps on drops on the trampoline perfect, the only problem was, the teacher didn't stay on her enough, and she tended to wander over to other things and distract others. Ok, apparently she is another little Lori. What goes around comes around. Yikes! Anyway, the babes are good and happy and we won our first softball game at church. I scored and ran lots of people in. Not one single strike:) Aaron's gone again for more Army trainning for two weeks and we are holding down the fort. Take care.

Spring Fever

Spring is suppose to be here, but it keeps going from warm to very cold. I have lots of birds now at my bird feeder and I'm so excited! Natalie's birthday party is coming up this weekend and our car is still in the shop, so it's making preparations a little difficult. I hope she's not too over-overwhelmed. She's been pretty emotional lately with her teeth continuing to come in. I can't believe where the year went. She's not my little baby any more. She loves to do the "so big" hands in the air movement and nod her head yes and say "yeah" and wave bye. She gives good kisses too, but they are a little wet. Bella is doing great and learning a lot more letters. This week we learned how to make letters with our bodies. She's really into Littlest Pet Shop animals and I have been collecting with her. It's actually kind of fun. Both girls love to play on their new swing set and Natalie looooovvvvves the baby swing. She giggles so hard it becomes infectious:)