Completely and totally exhausted.

Welcome to yet another "thank you for your patience post" (if you've been around a while, you've seen quite a few of these!). One of these days there will be an inundation of updates as I finish all the posts that I've started over the summer. Since I don't know how soon that day will happen, I thought I should offer some sort of update now.

Suffice it to say that the past few months have been a "whirlwind of crazy" for us. We are on the tail end of moving out of our house in Castle Rock and into a house in Larkspur (which if you aren't a local - is only about 15 minutes away). The house is smaller than our other one and doesn't have a garage (or a washer/dryer or working phone/internet service yet) . . . so moving has proven to be a bit of a challenge. 

It does, however, give us a 100 acre backyard that we don't have to mow! (we are living and working at a Jellystone Park Campground). There is an abundance of wildlife right outside our door. Black bears, deer, rabbits, coyotes, squirrels, snakes, hummingbirds, lizards and chipmunks (along with the goats and our sweet little dog!) are an everyday sight.

Our weekends (especially) have been completely consumed with planning and running activities at the campground and we are still trying to sort out how to manage family life, homeschool, church, extended family and other relationships, sanity and sleep with any semblance of order or intentionality . . . thus far, we haven't managed well =(

We are convinced, however, in the midst of the chaos, that God has provided for us (and will continue to ~ as the days unfold here). We are exhausted, but excited!

Emily's week at Camp Id-ra-ha-Je!

One of Emily's big Christmas gifts this past year was to go to camp Id-ra-ha-Je this summer.  Id-ra-ha-Je is a Christian camp in the mountains of Colorado that is tons of fun.  It is expensive, so Emily actually worked hard to raise her part of the money needed to go.  She LOVED it!  It was an action packed, spiritually enriching, fun-filled, friendship rich week that she has been savoring ever since.

We sent little fun surprises along for her to open each day, but weren't really able to contact her.  It was strange to be "un-plugged" from our girl for a whole week (and definitely not the same at the campground without her), but we knew she was having a great time!  Everyone was thrilled to see her again on Saturday (and didn't even mind being drug out of bed super early in order to get to the mountains in time for breakfast with her!) The kids all had fun eating snow cones and playing on the playground together before we started the trek back home.

Dance camp / family holiday

The end of June is traditionally very busy in our family.  The last week of June is one of Emily's most anticipated weeks of the year!  It is the week when she gets to indulge herself in LOTS of worship dance - at CMA's annual dance camp.  The week culminates with an outreach to a nursing home and a dance performance on Friday night.  Emily was able to choreograph a dance with her dear friend Abby this year and they did a great job on it!

Right on the heels of dance camp is our family holiday "St Ogden Valsinkidane Day" . . . one of those goofy creations of yours truly that commemorates the moment (6:42 pm) when Kevin and Lisa first met.  This particular year was the 20th anniversary of that occasion.  We normally try to do something fun as a family.  This year, we were working at the campground in the evening, so we commemorated "the exact moment" on a Yogi hay ride! . . . and enjoyed our family outing earlier in the day.

Thank you for your patience . . . again!!

Thanks for your patience while I finish the many posts that have been started over the past few months and post them (chronologically) So, if you see a post that says that we celebrated Levi's birthday recently, you haven't lost your mind - it WAS in March (not "recently") =( It's so much easier to not get behind on these things!

Anna is a 6 year old!

We can't believe our baby girl is already a big 6 year old. We celebrated the occasion about a week early. Anna is completely smitten with horses of late and got a dream come true party which involved sharing horse rides with a bunch of her friends. She was also delighted to discover that one of her gifts was a living, squeaking, super cute creature! Our dear friends Madison and Sydney presented Anna with a guinea pig of her very own!

Anna had the distinction of being the first in our family to celebrate her actual birthday while living in our travel trailer for the summer. We enjoyed our traditional birthday morning donuts and then headed off to the pool (which happened to open for the season on her birthday!)

We continue to be amazed with what a wonderful young lady our sweet Anna is becoming!

Grandpa Sid

We returned home a few days ago from a bittersweet but treasured visit with lots of extended family. The occasion was the funeral service for our beloved "Grandpa Sid".

Re-wind to 1967 when Kevin lost his father (to leukemia) at the age of six. Kevin's mom wisely sought out a "big brother" for him (through the "Big Brothers" program) ~ this is when Sid Smock entered Kevin's life. Sid (and his wonderful wife Ann), however, went above and beyond the typical big brother role, requesting that they be placed with both Kevin and his older brother, KC. Sid and Ann had 2 daughters (Kevin's age and a little younger). Long story short, the following decades found Kevin and KC enveloped in the love of a family; sharing laughter, making memories, enjoying long days by the lake, fishing trips, motorcycle rides, great conversations, trips to the mountains, holiday celebrations ~ life ~ together. Return to present day, where 45 years later, Kevin and his brother are still welcomed, esteemed and included as family by the Smocks.

All of us enjoyed the chance for re-connection and the kids, especially, enjoyed getting to know their cousins better. Kevin spoke at the service and did an excellent job. He and the others who shared were each able to represent the many facets of an incredible man in a way that (I believe) brought him much honor.

Goats!

Easter, and the weeks immediately following it, were eventful at our house this year. We had the great joy of serving as foster parents to a few baby (Nubian) goats. Our first pair (Ginger and Pappy - both girls) were 2 weeks old and only at our house for a few days. Since one of those days happened to be Easter, they had an Easter basket of their very own!

The girls were immediately followed by a sweet set of brothers (Copper and Liefie) who were born on Easter and came to our house when they were just 2 days old. Liefie had been the runt of the litter and had a rough start. He was born folded up and not breathing right away - he was tiny and a little wobbly, but made up for lost time quickly! We all took turns helping to bottle feed them and clean up after them. We kept them primarily in our basement bathroom, but they enjoyed lots of snuggles as well as frolicking and roaming about in the backyard.

AWANAs wraps up for another year . . .

The kids have just wrapped up another AWANAs season. Since September, they've indulged themselves in great teaching, games, fellowship and fun on a weekly basis. They showed an awesome level of commitment in their memory work, too.

In the fall, we enjoyed participating in the AWANA fun fair. In Feb, Levi and Daniel paired up as a team in the Bible Quiz competition - and got 2nd place!. In March, all of the kids enjoyed designing their pinewood derby cars and competing in the "AWANA Grand Prix" . . . several new trophies entered our house that day! Just a few weeks ago, Emily had the unique opportunity to prepare and teach the weekly lesson for her class. She did an excellent job!

Anna was sick the night of the awards banquet, so she didn't make it into any of the pictures - but she zoomed through her book(s) and received several awards as well. We are thankful for the blessing that AWANAs continues to be to all of our kids.

Allow me to brag on Emily (even more!) for a moment and share this excerpt from the e-mail that her leader sent me just after she taught the lesson:

"I wanted to let you know that Emily did a phenomenal job of teaching the AWANA Trek lesson tonight. Due to the fact that she completed the requirements for the year well ahead of schedule, her demonstrated grasp of Scripture, and clear enthusiasm for the topic (spiritual gifts and service in the Church), I challenged her a couple of weeks ago to prepare a lesson for tonight. Last week, we reviewed her plan for the lesson to verify that she was on target, and tonight she delivered a practical, challenging lesson that was very well-rooted in Scripture with an exercise that encouraged the entire class to look at their own strengths from the perspective of how they could be used to further the Kingdom. I was impressed with the depth of understanding and level of preparation that Emily demonstrated, along with her willingness to stretch herself beyond what she would usually be comfortable with.
I am not aware of another instance of a Trek student leading an entire lesson, let alone doing so with the aplomb that Emily did tonight"

(kudos to our Emily girl!)

Maggie!

One of Anna's best friends lives right across the street from us. Maggie and her little sister, Rebecca, play at our house regularly . . . they play dress up, watch movies, play with Lincoln Logs, jump on the trampoline, swing on the swings, build things in the sand, eat fruit roll-ups, play in the sprinkler and sometimes even get permission to play in their favorite spot of all - on top of our minivan! Anna and Maggie were both thrilled to have their first sleepover together this spring. What a blessing neighbors can be!

Daniel's half birthday

Daniel, in keeping with tradition, made sure that Arby's curly fries were part of his half birthday celebration this year . . . that boy LOVES those things! He has also had a great desire to go bowling lately, so we were sure to knock some pins down with him too. We had a good time (even if mom did win every game!!). We also had to sneak in a free Krispy Kreme donut (or two) and a quick trip to Chuck-E-Cheese to use up a few tokens (and thanks to a few mishaps with the games and generous employees, Daniel landed a lot of tickets!). Super, fun boy, growing up before our eyes ~ we enjoyed our special time with him.