A Look into the Future!!

On our way home from GP we had just two kids. Amanda was in Portland on an OMSI trip and Jeffrey was left in GP to spend Memorial Day weekend with Papa and Nana.

It is amazing how quiet 2 kids are! Emma and Josh were so quiet we hardly knew they were in the car, except for the play by play Josh was giving Emma of the movie "Bolt".

Then....on Monday, we drove to Chemult to pick Jeff and our family was back to normal. What is normal, you ask? Loud and crazy!!! All four were talking at once, the bickering started again, and I had a headache - this BIG. Oh wait, you can't see my outstretched arms. Michael, told the kids a bazillion times to quiet down, and finally told them that there was to be no more talking, period, until we got home. You know the game, "who can be quiet the longest"! It worked for a little while; long enough for me to think a thought of my own.

This is when I had the thought that someday we would miss the noise. I'm not sure if I really believe it, but I guess when Michael and I are well into our old age and the kids are long gone, we will look at one another in the quiet car and wish we had a car load of talking kids again.

So I broke the silence and commanded the kids that they must come home with their families as much as possible. That every Christmas and Thanksgiving I wanted a full house with lots of grand kids running around.

Mandi piped up and told me that it might be hard to come home if she was in South America as a missionary. I replied that, that would be no problem if she married a man with wealthy parents. I doubt we will strike it rich and be able to visit her much.

Then Emma said that she wouldn't move too far from home and she would come over a lot.

It was Jeff's comment that kind of blessed me a little, and worries a bit. He said that he would just live at home and NEVER move out!

OK????? Maybe I should make myself a little more clear and emphasize that I want them to COME AND VISIT. It's sweet that he loves us so much that he wants to stay at home, but we are NOT going to have a "failure to launch" kid. If you know what I mean.

I better start thinking on how I am going to teach this little bird how to fly, because eventually the nest needs to be empty.

I think I am going to enjoy the noise as long as I have it and pray that my son will find a nice, sweet girl who will take care of him so that he doesn't have to live at home the rest of his life.

Papa Celebrates His Semi- Sesquicentennial Birthday!!!

Friday the 22nd, the family headed down to Grants Pass, our hometown to celebrate Michael's dad's 75th birthday.

It was a short but very sweet 24 hours in G.P. We crammed a lot of fun into the time we were there.

Friday night we enjoyed being with the whole family. We ate lots, laughed, and even cried as Cliff shared his heart and talked about how proud he was of his whole family.

Later that night, we headed down to the Rogue River to watch some spectacular fireworks with the kids. Grants Pass celebrates Memorial Day Weekend in a big way, it's called Boatnik! I grew up attending Boatnik festivities every Memorial Day weekend. It was a lot of fun to take part in some of those events again.

Saturday morning we went to the Boatnik parade and we watched all the locals put on a big show for us. My niece, Kady just made Junior Varsity cheer squad and was walking in the parade with the other Grants Pass High School cheerleaders.

It's hard to believe she is 15! She is growing up so fast. She was just a couple of months old when Michael and I got married.

Later, we went back to Mom and Dad's house to spend a few hours swimming in the pool and relaxing. The kids love it there and wish they lived closer to spend the summer swimming and being spoiled by their Nana and Papa.

We left Jeff down there to have fun at the Boatnik. This is what he has done the last several years as his birthday present from Nana and Papa. He got an armband that will let him go on all the rides he wants. Today he is watching the jet boat races on the river, one of my favorite things to watch when I was his age.

We are getting ready to leave to drive to Chemult to pick him up. I am sure he will have lots to share with us on the drive home.

Happy Birthday Jeff!!

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body
and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.

Psalm 139:13-16



Jeffrey is 11!! My little "Bubba" (the nickname we gave Jeff when he was a baby) is growing up way too fast.

Jeffrey Michael Jr. was born on a beautiful spring day in Medford, OR. He surprised us by coming 3 weeks early. Michael was suppose to be on a musical mission trip in the Philippines but I asked him to stay home because of how close he would be cutting it to the due date. He willingly stayed home and it's a good thing because Jeff came early.

I had nothing ready. I guess I was waiting until the last minute to set everything up.
Infact, while we were at the hospital, my sister in law, Nancy, got all the baby stuff set up for our arrival. I can't explain just how grateful I am to have her. She has been there for me in a number of ways and always seems to know just what I need most!

My water broke at 8:00 a.m. while still in bed. We lived thirty minutes from the hospital and were panicking because Mandi came so fast. We had little time to waste. After taking a quick shower and throwing stuff into a bag, we left for the hospital and arrived just before 11:00. My contractions started around noon that day and I had my sweet, beautiful baby boy at 4:31 in the afternoon.

He weighed in at 7 lbs 1 oz and was 18 1/2 inches long. The first thing I noticed was that he had my dimple in his chin, but he looked a lot like Michael when he was a baby.

We were thrilled to have a son! I was especially happy to have a boy. I would see commercials on TV of mothers and their sons, and the fun loving interaction that they had together; I knew I wanted that!

Jeff is that sweet, loving, fun son that I longed for. He has a wonderful, tender heart that wants to serve others. He is very sensitive to the needs of others and will most times put others before himself.

He loves to talk to me and tell me everything about his day! I love his long drawn out stories (sometimes). My famous words to him when we are in a hurry is, "tell me the facts, Jeff". He loves to fill in all the details and I mean every detail.

Jeff is very giving. Every child gets their favorite cereal on their birthday. This morning Jeff woke up to Captain Crunch and he loving shared his box of cereal with the whole family. With six of us, it pretty well polished off the whole box. Sharing the cereal is not required on birthdays but I sure love to see it happen.

Jeff is creative! He likes to draw pictures of animals, cars, and houses. He loves to build things out of wood, Lego's and anything else he can get his hands on. He loves music and plays his guitar every morning before school and after school. He will just walk around the whole house strumming a little ditty on his guitar.

Jeff also loves the outdoors. He is happiest when he is outside roughing it up. He will spend hours exploring with his backpack filled with all the outdoor essentials. Now he will spend many hours outside with his new golf clubs that he got for his birthday. He is really taking to this sport! Thanks to the grandparents, we were able to get him a nice junior set that will hopefully serve him well until he outgrows them.

There is one more thing that I love about Jeff. Of course these are just a few, I could name so many more- Jeff loves reading his Bible. I have a hard time getting him to read much, but I will usually find him reading God's Word. He has a hunger to know more about God and how to live a life that is pleasing to Him. We laugh because he has more Bibles than all of us put together. He collects them! I use to accuse him of stealing them, but found that they were given to him. He loves to have different versions and compare them. He also gives them away to friends that don't have one.

Just the other day he came to me and told me that he wants to obey his daddy and mommy and respect us more. I was a little taken back and asked him why he thought of this. His reply was that he was reading in the Bible where it said children obey your parents and he felt he wasn't doing that real well. My heart just melted. What a joy to see my little baby boy grow up and desire God's Word and want to follow it. Nothing in life could bring me greater joy than to see my children wanting to follow God and start to develop a relationship with Him.


I thank God for this fun loving, talkative, tender, giving, sensitive, creative, adventuresome, God fearing boy.

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Happy Birthday, Jeff!

Your daddy and mommy love you so much, and you bring great joy to our lives. We pray that you will continue to grow in your relationship with Jesus. That you will know just how much you are loved by your Maker and that you will fall more in in love with him each day. We know that God has great plans for your life. We can't wait to see the young godly man that you will become in the next 11 years. Have a wonderful day!

Much love,

Mommy and Daddy