How much laundry can one family make?

Dear family and friends,

It will be a few days before I can responsibly get to the computer to blog. I'm joyfully exhausted and already feel like going to New Zealand was dream like.

The children were wonderful. I told Ed ten years ago I'd take them anywhere and it's still a very accurate statement. They pushed when needed, laughed often, served one another, had a marvelous time. I love watching these children see the world as they notice so many things I might miss...

Thank you to ANYONE who prayed...God was FAITHFUL...of course, we knew He would be.

Love in Christ,
Dinah for The Troops

Just a couple of pictures to wet your whistle.
Oh and by the way, the answer to my title is a whole bunch.

Could it be any crazier?

Dear family and friends,

The last 24 hours has been quite the ride. By 5:15 am it will be over, or just beginning. The children and I are packed and ready to go. We are hopeful to be getting on a military flight tomorrow morning that is heading to New Zealand! Isn't that CRAZY...

We had friends mention last night that there was a flight coming through that was heading to an air show. We see how God clearly rearranged everything so we could drop/postpone life and catch a hop. After much prayer last night I saw God clearly leading that I needed to try to go even if we weren't able to get on. My sweet Jesus just keeps me guessing!

So off we go, into the wild blue yonder...if we don't get on I'm coming back and sleeping for 6 hours or so.

Love in Christ,
Dinah

Please pray that the children and I will be safe, have smooth travel, trust Jesus when it is not smooth, and have great fellowship with the Lord and one another. Love to all...

What do we "get used to"?

Dear family and friends,

When you are in Hawaii for a long time you can actually "get used to" the beauty. Just as we get numb to things that are evil and demoralizing, we can become desensitized to things that are beautiful and amazing.

These are no lie, pictures from my yard. I love flowers...I love how they beg your eyes to dance amongst their beauty. I love how they pour forth fragrance that we can't even imagine. I love how they make you feel inside when they are given to you. I often plant them no matter where we may live, but keeping them alive is another whole issue. Up until now when I plant yard flowers I have to give them time. I need to remember them, or they will simply die. Not here...well with the exception of one pot in the front of Gerber daisies that were given to me. The flowers in my Hawaiian back yard just exist, flourish and blossom all under the direct care of our heavenly Father.

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I never want to become complacent to the lovely things that God has surrounded me with. Whether bright cherry flowers, mountain tops scenes, or the laugh of our children. I do not want to "get used to" things created by God. I want to enjoy the creation and even more so, the creator. When I am walking with God and faithful in His Word I am so much more apt to relish the things around me...

I'm grateful that I am being cared for directly by the same care taker of the flowers in our little paradise.




Love in Christ,
Dinah for The Troops

Could I have been more pleased?

Wyatt ready to tackle his math test...

My men in "uniform"....

Dear family and friends,

I have so many things to share about what all has been going on in our lives, hence not finding time to blog.

Tonight I could share about London, or Hawaii, or cars, or dogs...as they've all been pretty big issues as of late. Not tonight, tonight I'm going to share with you about one heck of a pirate.

This was one of those moments where you just couldn't be more pleased with your children. I had one of these moments last summer with Melanee Kate. Not just the moments that you love and adore them, or are tickled with them, but the moments where you really see them absorbing the lessons that you don't know if they are learning. It makes me so hopeful they are getting so much more than meets the eye.

Well, now I feel like I have to share the first story.

Last spring when we were living in the TLF while we were waiting for a house I signed the children up for swimming. They've taken lessons before, but this was different, it was a team. Five days a week for an two hours. Living in small quarters with no private yard, scooters, or trampoline, it was a great investment for all six of us.

Wyatt could hardly wait. The boy has so much energy and now I had an outlet for it while living in a very small two bedroom economy apartment. One day he swam and then came home and ran a few miles. If I could sell his energy or just have a little myself, life would be grand.

The girls were less than thrilled. Caroline was still struggling last spring with growing up issues and Melanee Kate does not love any exercise that is not fun. She deems and defines what is "fun" by the way. It was a great opportunity for our girls to do something they didn't want to do and to learn to do it cheerfully. Often they did not take the opportunity.

So here we were in July as I told them we were going to swim through the summer and they had their first meet. The older two did well considering they were new swimmers. Then there was our Melanee Kate. She did NOT want to swim in this meet. She was horrified of failing, coming in last, and embarrassing herself.

Failure is often how it is defined, as though her swimming was not stellar that day compared to everyone elses, I could not have loved her anymore or have been any more pleased with her than if she'd been an Olympian. We'd prayed about the meet, talked about it, and prayed with her some more. We'd talked about her doing her very best, that this was success. That she was only competing against herself and could choose to be pleased with that no matter what her time was.

So here we go, she jumps in and starts slowly swimming her little heart out. Not only did she come in last every single time, but by a long shot. She finished once 40 seconds after the kid who usually comes in last. We were so pleased...she did not cry, she was sweet, and choose not to be embarrassed as much as possible for a little girl who came in 40 seconds behind everyone else.

These are the moments God lets us see the character that He is developing in our children. Letting them take in all the things they've been taught and put them into practice.

They've started tennis this week. Carolines attitude for those first few moments reminded me of last spring heading to swimming for the first time, an unpleasant flashback. She had a moment and then choose to be cheerful, to do her best, and know she would improve. Maturity...I was so pleased...

Now for my pirate.

Tonight Wyatt went to Boy Scouts. He'd joined the night before we found out we were moving and he's so excited to be a part. He's definitely the new kid but military kids are so used to that. He's only been a few times. Tonight was pirate night...last week he had brought home a flyer that tonight there would be a prize for the best pirate costume. They had some sort of treasure hunt and more theme activities.

So for the past few days he's been very concerned about his costume. The boy loves to have any kind of "gear". When he swam it was new goggles and swimming shorts. Lately it's been Boy Scout uniforms. Dressing up falls into this category for our little man. I thought he was doing math yesterday and he came down in his costume to take his test.

He did a great job and certainly pulled the entire family in on it. His Dad found him a stripped shirt and some cutoff pants. He had a thick belt, old looking pistol, a spy glass, a patch, headgear, and a painted on beard.

So on the way there Ed warned him that other kids don't always dress up. I've been in this homeschool world for ten years and kinda forgot about that. In our world if you say dress up, we dress up. We've been to many events over the years where the children dress up in period costume. Ed was thinking in a much more broad sense than Wyatt's mother and they had a good discussion that apparently prepared him for the evening. Isn't God good!

When they got there they decided that Ed would go in and make sure it was really pirate night or had we gotten the wrong date? Not one scout was seen in a costume as of yet. Sure enough, it was pirate night with not one pirate in the room. When Ed went back to tell his son...well, his response amazed me.

What would your response had been in the seventh grade?

Our son excitedly and boldly claimed, "Oh Dad, that means I'll win!"

No embarrassment, remorse, or changing this boys mind. He was heading to the goal and was unstoppable. A great reminder to me...

Love in Christ,
Dinah for The Troops

I almost forgot to tell you, two other boys had some sort of pirateness about them. Everyone agreed that Wyatt should win the prize. He is THRILLED to have a $15 gift card in his pocket. It won't be there long, but that's another story. I wouldn't want it to burn a hole in his pirate pocket. We're working on it...

Done any trash hauling today?

Dear family and friends,

As I was putting more trash in the trash can after lunch I had this thought, "Do I haul as much trash out of my heart as I do this house?". It is a challenging thought...

Love in Christ,
Dinah for The Troops