Michigan Vacation 2014 in a Glimpse...

Click image below to be taken to full slideshow.



A quick recap of our trip to Michigan and back!

Left on Friday, August 1st, as soon as we could after Michael got off work. Drove FOREVER to get to St. Louis, stayed with Sarah and Benjamin for the night, left early.  Arrived in Michigan by dinner time on Saturday.

Sunday was church, lunch at Pekadill's with Aunt Laura, saw Jason, swam in the COLD water at Duck Lake and Lake Michigan, played at a park.

Monday, rested, played outside and at the park, Jill hosted a book party with friends, guys went for mini-golf.

Tuesday, we hit three lighthouses on the West Michigan lighthouse tour (Silverlake, White River Light Station and Little Sable).

Wednesday was Michael's birthday. We hit the farmer's market, boys went out on the fishing boat, Jill and I went shopping, met up with Laura and Sarah, had tacos and birthday cake.

Thursday we went back out to finish the lighthouse tour with Big Sable Lighthouse, visited Pentwater and Hart for actual "authentic" Mexican food. Amazing!

Friday, blueberry picking, visited Grandma Kathy, Michael and I went to Unity Fest (saw Hawk Nelson, Britt Nicole and Matthew West), the boys spent time with Grandma and Grandpa.

Saturday we had breakfast with Brittany, Michael's neice, had lunch with Grandma Kathy and Aunt Laura, visited some of the old parts of town, including the cemetary. I stayed with the boys to prepare for our departure, while Michael went with his parents to see Phil Keaggy in concert.

Sunday, we left early morning and drove to Regina & Kevin's house, had dinner, met Layne Rogers for ice cream, slept. Got up and returned home on Monday evening!

Whew. I'm tired all over again just recapping that adventure!

First Week of School 2014...

Last week kicked of our first official week back in school.  At least for Preston.  We started My Father's World Creation to the Greeks, aka "4th Grade."  Callen will start doing more preschool type stuff once we get back from vacation in a few weeks.  All in all, the week went pretty smoothly, and Preston seemed to enjoy it.  As did I. 

We were blessed with unseasonably cool weather.  Like, we went outside, in the middle of the day, in July... and didn't die.  It was cuh-razy, but awesome!  We also learned about celebrating the Sabbath and what that entails, and tried our hand at having a special Sabbath dinner together on Friday night.  Because of our crazy busy schedule, it ended up being Hot 'n' Ready pizzas and crazy bread, but... the idea got across just fine.  It was a neat experience.  I hope we are able to do more of these feast celebrations as the year progresses!

Here are a bunch of pictures of the week...

All ready to go the night before!

Preston is a 4th Grader!

Keeping Callen busy!

Art, a lesson in frustration!

Chalking outside in the middle of the day, in July!

A google.

Worn out.

A puppet show at the library on Friday.

Sabbath dinner on Friday evening.

Flowers from my front garden bed for our center piece.

Celebrating 25 Years of UBAM, National Convention 2014...

I spent this past weekend with my Usborne Buddies in Paradise (aka Tulsa, OK) for National Convention.  Usborne Books & More celebrated it's 25th Anniversary this year and they went CRAZY for convention.  It was so much fun.  Despite hotel issues (which were themselves cray-cray), the whole experience was just what I hoped.  I was able to further bond with some of my teammates, including new ones!  We got great training, received a bunch of new titles and just had a pure blast! I am definitely motivated to promote to Team Leader in the VERY near future and am definitely gonna work towards earning a trip to IRELAND!  Oh yes, bring it on!

Roommates!

President/CEO of UBAM, Randall White

5 generations of our team!

About 100 new titles are available today and they are AMAZING.  You definitely want to check them out at www.HeyJadeBooks.com.  Also, they rolled out a new kit special.  You can start your own Usborne Business for only $69 now through July 31st.  What a great offer!  Plus, hosting a party in July gets you Double FREE Books, our best hostess benefit.  JULY is already off to a great start and it's not even here yet!

Stupid Unknown (Medical Issues)...

"He is an excellent hurler." I actually typed those words out earlier in a comment on my Facebook page, in reference to Preston.  Truly, he is.  He gets it from me.  Poor kid.

This morning he woke up at 7am and got all ready and came in to wake me up because he was so excited about going to a church basketball day-camp.  I sent him back to bed because it was TOO EARLY.  Then, when I woke him up at the right time, he said "I have a headache... and a tummy ache" and ran for the bathroom.  Then he sat in the bathroom floor and cried because, "Why did I have to throw up today?!  WHY????"  I felt so bad for him, and I don't have an answer to his question either.

A very similar episode occurred just last week.  And about a month before that he woke up in the middle of the night with this same problem.  I'm glad he's an excellent hurler, but at the same time, I wish I knew why he had so much experience.  This has been going on for years, but never this close together.  I usually attribute it to simply "something he ate."  But I just don't know anymore.

I can't link it to any specific food, activity or situation at this point.  I don't see a pattern.  Which means I don't know what to avoid or how to fix it.  Stupid 'unknown.'

The 'unknown' already causes Michael's chronic migraines and nerve pain in his back/leg. He has had so many tests and they all come back positive or negative just as they should, no indication of what's causing his ailments.  The doctors just prescribe more tests, and at this point, we can't afford it anymore (nor the ones he's already had that have put us into more debt).  So... unknown, it is.

I just keep praying for complete healing.  Or, at least, a solid answer.