Shega wanted her hair straight for Kendra’s baby shower. Megan begged for straight hair too. The girls love to dress for a party. (and what a fun party is was!)

We have straightened Shega’s hair in the past, so we knew what to do. I blew it dry and then ran the flat iron through it. It went well and she always loves the results.

Today was the first time I straightened Megan’s hair. Her hair isn’t quite as long and she is much more wiggly. The two heads of hair took most of the afternoon.

Unfortunately, the wet rainy day made quick work of undoing the ‘do.

Here are the after and "after the after" pictures.

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I feel busy this summer. I’m not exactly sure what I’m doing, but I certainly do feel busy.

Yesterday, I left the house at 11 a.m and returned about 9:30 p.m. I brought Thomas’ sleep over friends home first. I stopped in town at my mother-in-law’s house. Megan had a dentist appointment. (I small cavity)  I did some grocery shopping and picked up something at the drug store.

Later I drove to OC to visit with the family of a former colleague who recently passed. From there, I picked up the girls and we headed to Maddie’s play. The play was awesome! Megan wanted to meet the fairy princess so we peeked backstage after the play. We gave Maddie a few hugs and some accolades too! She was a fantastic skin horse!

We got home at 9:30, did quick baths and supper and off to bed at about 10:30 p.m.

Whew! Good thing I don’t work in the summer!

Summer has been busy. We love it. Shega, Thomas and Emma have been playing ball. Shega and Thomas’ season was over this week. I love ball season and always hate to see it end. I wish it would go on for another six weeks.

Shega was eight this week. She loved her little party. She is turning into a beautiful young lady. Here are a few of the kids at her party:

 There was lots of wind and yes we were in the basement.

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A half eaten brownie lay on a plate on the table. I gobbled it up as I cleaned up the kitchen.

This is the conversation that ensued:

Megan: Hey! Somebody ATE my brownie!

Me: Sorry honey. It was me. I ate it when I cleaned up the table.

Megan: Moms don’t eat little girls’ brownies?!?!

I have got to stop eating abandoned food. It isn’t good for my reputation….or the size of my backside. 

I am blessed to have a wonderful Dad. He is now 87 years old and doing great. He has been a registered pharmacist for over 60 years.

He recently decided to allow his pharmacy license to expire. I don’t think it will change his life much. He will still go to the drugstore every day, get the mail, converse with customers and do some bookwork.

He has contributed much to the little town where I grew up and where he still lives. He has been a credit to his family, his community and to his profession.

Megan and I stopped in the drugstore yesterday. She ran the length of the store to the pharmacy in the back shouting, "GRANDPA!"

He turned, grabbed her, gave her a big hug and said, "MEGAN! I LOVE you!"

What a gift!

Happy Father’s Day, Dad. I love you.

Eph. 2:10 "We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do."

Three days of rain has our lawn needing mowing again. We won’t be firing up the mower right now. It is still raining. We would rust the mower blades. Thomas does most of the mowing here. He tells us that the mower mows better if he drives it as fast at the mower goes. His dad doubts that.  I am just glad to avoid the chore entirely. I stopped mowing when our oldest was ten years old and took over the task. He is now 27 and mows his own yard. Since Megan is just four, I figure we will just move to assisted living when she gives up the Heits family mowing job.

The rain has cancelled Emma’s ball tournament for the day. I was looking forward to a relaxing day sitting at ball games. We need a little time to relax around here. We have been busy this week. Shega was the busiest. Most of her days began with ball practice at 8; swimming lessons at 10; summer school at 12:30 and Bible school at 6. Whew! She went to bed tired each night.

Megan went to Bible school too. I had to peel her off of me each night at drop off. She returned to me at the end of the night smiling and singing so I guess I believe it when her teachers tell me she cried just for a minute.

I used to volunteer at Bible school each year. It has been quite some time and is likely my turn again. One year, when we just had one child old enough to attend, I was volunteering and went off to my class early. Steve had to drop Paul off. Little Joe, about 2 was in the car too. He was headed for a babysitter. At that time, Steve still drove a hot, two-door, white Camaro. (What are these young parents thinking!) Paul did not want to go to Bible school, so Steve had to get out of the car, bring Paul to the church door, peel him off of his body and hand him to the teacher. In the meantime, Joe wiggled out of his carseat, stood on the driver’s seat of that nice Camaro and put the car in gear. The car grazed 4 other cars before our friend Em, 8 1/2 months pregnant, ran down the road, opened the door and jumped in to stop the destruction! 

I’m glad they make car seats escape proof these days!

Enjoy your rainy day!

We had a little old boat. We have had it for 4 years. I call it our "gateway drug" for boating. We now have a little bigger boat.

The last boat is 17 feet long.  It was getting a little too small. The new boat is four feet longer and a little more comfortable.

We took it out for a spin on Memorial Day. We had a great time.

If this addictive effect continues, we might own the Mayflower by the time we hit the nursing home.

We are now ready to become dealers too.  Does anyone want to buy a dandy 17 ft boat? It works great, you will enjoy it and a few years down the road, you may want something bigger and better! 

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Ball season has begun!

Emma hit a homerun today. We were down by one in the last inning. The first batter got on base and Emma stepped up to the plate. Her dad was giving her advice from the stands. He said, "Don’t close your shoulder! Open up to the ball!" I’m quite sure she didn’t hear him before she socked it over the fence for a two-run homer! He may need to keep his advice to himself.

Shega ran to find us from her place under the bleachers. I don’t think she saw Emma’s hit, but she said, "I’m really popular! Everyone keeps telling me that Emma hit a homerun!"

Shega will have her own opportunity to hit homeruns at her first game on Saturday. She can’t wait to ride the bus with all of the little girls to their first game of the season.

Thomas had a tournament today. He had to get on the bus at 6:30 a.m. He didn’t have any family fans but seemed ok with the junior high boy bonding.

Summer school starts for Shega and me on Monday. Kendra is one of my teachers this year. I hope we have a fantastic month. I love being called "Teacher, Teacher."

Sometimes I catch teachers replying to the students who call them  "Teacher."  They might say, "What do you need, Student"" or they say, "I have a name, please use it!"

I actually enjoy being called "Teacher" by the little ones during the summer school month of June.

There’s a passage in John 13 that I sometime read to my students who are preparing to become teachers. Here it is from Bible.org

13 You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and do so correctly, for that is what I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you too ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example – you should do just as I have done for you.

The name "Teacher" is such a noble name. It is pretty amazing to be called by one of the names that Jesus called himself. I pray that God will use us as servant teachers this summer.

I hope you all have a Homerun summer!

The kids had a great time hanging out at the Tulip Festival this year. Megan found a beautiful Ethiopian Dutchman to play on the swings with. Shega performed in a play with her drama class. (By the way, we had a total wardrobe war over those flowered shorts. I won the battle, but I’m guessing she will win the war. Does anyone want a cute, barely worn, purple flowered pair of shorts in size 8?)

Drama class has been great for Shega. We would do it again in a heartbeat!

Thomas and his cousins ran around enjoying the sights.

Steve and I just enjoyed hanging out enjoying the beautiful weather and the awesome food.

Here are some pictures of the fun.

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Megan is sick today. She is hardly ever sick. She ran a temp last night and woke up with a temp today. She broke my heart just a bit this morning.

I was holding her. We were watching Diego while I was taking her temperature. I said, "What is Diego doing?"

She answered, "He is helping a sick baby whale find her mama."

She went on to add, "When I was a sick baby in Ethiopia, Diego could have helped me find my mama."

Poor baby. I can’t promise that I will always be here, but I know the one who "Will never leave you or forsake you."

I pray each day for Him to make Himself very real to Megan and all of my kids.

Blogging is getting to be a Saturday morning tradition.

It seems I am blogging less and less. It might be be my facebook farm. Yep! It’s the closest thing I’ll ever get to real farming. This week has been a bit busy and my facebook crops withered twice. I guess I’m not much of a farmer!

Graduation is today. We are sending another great crop of super teachers out into the world. I wish the job market was a little better for them. State budget cuts are causing many teachers to lose their jobs.

I’m not attending graduation today. We are cheering for the Red Raiders baseball team instead. They have made an amazing run through the GPAC conference tournament. They have to win once today to go to the nationals. The same team will have to beat them twice. We were huddled next to our computer until near midnight last night to hear them pull off a bottom of the 9th victory. I hope they win a little more easily today. It’s pretty cold in Mitchell, SD, but we packed blankets and coats. It should be fun.

Some of you know that Steve’s mom, Sharon has been sick. She had a tough winter, but wasn’t diagnosed until a few weeks ago. We now know she is dealing with multiple myeloma. She is doing much better. She has started her chemo and is handling it well.  On this Mothers’ Day weekend as always, we are so grateful to have her in our lives.

Kendra and Joe are living with grandma. Joe is doing some translating at a medical clinic and Kendra is doing some work at Megan’s daycare. They are both sending out resumes and applications. We are praying that the Lord makes their paths straight. Kendra is an elementary and PE teacher and Joe is hoping for something in human resources. They are both hoping that their bi-lingal skills will help them rise above some of the other applicants. If anyone out there has any leads on positions for either of them, just drop us a note!

For now, it is nice to know that someone is with Sharon most of the time. They can help her with some household tasks and just be there if she needs something. She spent a couple of weeks in the hospital and during her last stay had some work done to stabilize her spine. The procedures made a difference. Her pain is much better and she is getting stronger daily.

The baby had a doctors’ appointment this week ,complete with an ultrasound. They were able to see a picture of the baby and she is beautiful. What a fun mothers day this will be for Kendra. Happy Mothers’ Day to both my mother-in-law and my daughter-in-law. Here is a picture of Joe and Kendra’s beautiful baby girl: 

I’m in a bit of a mood.

The girls were up too early. My house is too messy. I have too much grading to do. The cat is missing the cat box. There are too many weeds on the yard…….

Are you ever in a mood?

How do you get out?

I should be enjoying the smell of cinnamon rolls in the kitchen; the sounds of Megan singing "Don’t be wasting your emotion. Lay all your love on me;"  Shega’s anticipation of having a friend over.

Megan is accompanying her "Mamma Mia" songs on the piano, too busy to get dressed for the day.

I think a cinnamon roll and a giant cup of coffee will help.