some loose ends before the weekend

FIRST OF ALL - THANK YOU for all your sweet comments on the room renovations! and thanks for your support of our tshirt sales and my craft shop! it just feels good to be able to DO something while we wait...

overall, i would say our summer is going well.
our time in the mornings at the table with our Bibles and journals out is one of my favorite times of the day.
we've had some great conversations during that time that we never would have had otherwise.
rebekah and joshua are very engaged...bailey not so much...i pray that will change as we continue to spend the time together.

some exercise notes:
i've been swimming more and i really do love it. but i have a weird observation...by the time i'm done swimming (about an hour later) i have to go to the bathroom SO bad...like i literally have to RUN to the bathroom. do i drink a lot of water while i'm swimming? or what??

my sister is letting me borrow her road bike for the triathlon in august. so she let me borrow it this past week to "test it out". i rode a lot. some days i was out riding as the sun was rising and again when it was setting. it was pretty cool. and i love her bike.

i was going to say that my hip is feeling better. it really was. then i went for an hour walk this morning and it's hurting a lot. so, it's not better. and i'm seriously doubting that i'm even going to be able to do the triathlon. which, 3 weeks ago (when this all started) would have sent me into a very ugly, dark place...but today i would say, "that's ok." i would be very disappointed, but it would be ok. still not giving it up, though...not yet. i'm supposed to be able to start running one week from today...we'll see.

we are ALL loving our piano :-)
so far the kids are enjoying their lessons and even practicing each day!

i have put together another site to help raise the final chunk of money we need to travel to Rwanda to bring our boys home (about $17,000). i've posted some of the things i've made as gifts and that people have ordered on the site. and i'd love to do custom orders, too! i would just ask for your patience :-) i don't have a TON of extra time in my days...so i'm not sure how quickly i can get orders completed...but i'll work as hard as i can to bring these sons of mine HOME!

here's the new site: to bring our kids home

rebekah planned and put together a "party" for bailey this morning...complete with flags on the mirror and a crown. isn't that so cute??

signing off for the weekend!!!
we have friends arriving any minute and we're having a little party here tomorrow with some of our favorite people!
then, we are headed to DC with my family and the Panter's for the 4th!!!
i'm going to be too busy having fun and enjoying my friends and family to touch the computer!

see you on monday!