Today it is sweltering! I think it must be our hottest day this year. So, you can imagine that my girls were jumping up and down with excitement when I suggested that we should go get a new pool. Just the little kiddie pool with the built in slide but it was enough to get them super happy on this miserably hot day. I even took a little break and put my feet in the water at one point...Ahhh

Wow I just realized that it was 2 years ago today that God blessed us with our girls. Time really flies. They have grown so much. God is so good. I have so much to be thankful for!

We all have fears. Some are worse than others. One of my worst fears has always been city driving. I grew up in the Portland OR metro area and truly some of my worst nightmares are of driving through that crazy place with all of its tunnels and bridges. You see Portland has 2 large rivers flowing through it and many large hills so there are 3 level bridges and several tunnels. It makes you feel a little claustrophobic with all that concrete everywhere. Fast forward several years and now I am in the Denver area. I have really tried to work on my driving fears and can manage to drive through the city if I stay on major highways. Today I met up with some friends and went to the zoo. I picked up one of my friends on the way, in downtown, and then headed on to the zoo. I mapquested the exact directions for both legs of the trip and just figured that I would follow the directions backwards to get back home. No problems, right? Well, first of all, the time at the zoo went by all to quickly and soon I found myself on the far side of the zoo at 4:30 pm...Traffic time. Yikes! It took almost 30 minutes to get the kids back to the van and head out. Then, it seemed to have slipped my mind that downtown is full of one way streets and strange diagonal roads. It wasn't as simple as I had hoped, to follow the reverse directions, especially at 5:15 downtown. After a quick call to my honey he sent me down the right path to I-25, the parking lot of highways here in Denver. Amazingly, traffic wasn't backed up tonight, FRIDAY NIGHT, at 5:30 pm. It just moved right along and I was home by 6:00. Boy, do I feel good! I faced those fears and it all turned out good. Now, time to give credit where credit is due, Thank you Lord!

Wow it has been a while since my last post. So many changes have occurred in my life. Major life changes. God is good and He is in control. He has a plan that is beyond our understanding. That doesn't mean that we don't feel pain and sorrow when trials come, but we have comfort that He knows and gives us the strength to go on.

We have been looking into doing foster care for over a year now, and on Tuesday we finally got our first children. They are 2 sisters, Samantha and Krystyna. They are 1 and 2 (almost 2 and 3) They are adorable and I have thoroughly enjoyed them, even though I am tired and exhausted. Tomorrow is supposed to be 50's and rainy. Yuck. No going to garage sales:(

I am excited to share our experience with you.

We just got home from camping this Memorial Day weekend. We camped with Bro Mike and Sis Nicole. It was great. We went on walks, had a dog bite incident, enjoyed the hospitality of strangers at the camp next door, endured the major drama of another neighbor, made smore's (of course), had great visits including after church on Sunday whe we got visitors, and had a great time watching the guys try to start a fire without a match. They tried rubbing sticks together, they made a bow contraption that did a lot of smoking, and they even found some foil to attach to batteries; but after hours and hours and hours... they finally gave up to do more investigating before the next camping trip/fire convention. The park ranger also offered advice on the subject, but to no avail.

We had a great time! I was happy with how my meal planning turned out. I cooked breakfast and dinner. I used a new griddle that went across both burners of my camp stove and made cooking soooo much easier. Pancakes were at one end and bacon at the other. It also came in handy for the peppers and onions on our fajitas, our hamburgers, and even the impromptu trout cooking when Isaiah brought in a fish.

So now back to the real world...Hmmm I wonder what I should fix for dinner...

Home made pizza was for dinner tonight. It was very yummy. I was creative and put on such toppings as zucchini, cilantro, spinach, sour kraut, and then all the normal ones like pepperoni, mushrooms, and black olives too. I made several pizzas so we have plenty of leftovers for the weekend. My mom and dad will be in next week for Andy's graduation and I am trying to figure out what I'm going to fix while they are here. So far, I am thinking pork chops, fish and chips, Pizza Hut, and we'll see what else...

Life has done a lot of changing around here the last few months. Andy has moved out, and then 4 months later moved back in. Kali stayed for an extended visit of almost 2 months. Now, Isaiah is here for a time. We have also had record amounts of company and many goings on. In all these things I have had countless ideas for blogs, but let time slip me by or wasn't ready emotionally to share. In an effort to get back to blogging, I have decided to get back to the basics of my blog, which I do from time to time.

I have recently started menu planning again and thought I would share with you the meals we will be having. This will make blogging a little simpler for me and hopefully give some ideas to some of you.

Tonight is sour cream enchiladas and the guys are waiting......

Kali

Kali, Dale's niece is here visiting for an extended amount of time. I have really enjoyed her, of coarse I must say this as she is reading over my shoulder presently. Hehe. But really, it has been a lot of fun. We go to the gym and do water aerobics, walking, and pilates. We are working on a quilting project that Kali started with the sisters in Olympia. We have also been grocery shopping, (always a highlight of my day!) had a teenage girl sleep over night on Saturday, went to see Dear John, the movie, done some cleaning jobs for pay, hung out, and had an all around good time while she has been here.

Happy now Bethany?! ;-)

Change is in the air

We've had a lot of change around here the last month or so. Andy stayed in Oklahoma after Christmas and has no intention of moving back home. We'll see how that goes he is working and staying with family right now trying to save up enough to go out on his own. He seems to be loving it out there.

We have been taking classes for foster care and if all goes well should be done with licensing in 2-4 weeks. I thought I would be bored and have a lot more time on my hands after Andy left, but that hasn't exactly been the case. I have had more time to get the extra things done that you always want to do but don't have time for.

I have started going to the gym. Another sister and I walk together several times a week there. We also do water aerobics, and I even tried some of the workout machines the other day.

Sorry for slacking off the last few months, but I am going to try much harder to keep you POSTed from now on :)