Fun Videos...

I have done a terrible job of taking pictures lately, but I do have some great videos to share with you...

I was out of town for a few days this week and while it was hard leading up to my departure (lots of tears from the kids) we all survived and God gave us plenty of "hugs" along the way.  One sweet "hug" came on Wednesday night of my meeting as we were headed to a team dinner.  I was starving, there was a last minute change of venue that led us to a Mexican restaurant (I'm one of the few people on the planet that doesn't particularly like Mexican food), so inside I was feeling bummed because I was eager to feed on yummy food.  Shortly after sitting down and searching the menu for something that looked remotely tasty, my counterpart pointed out that someone was waving at us through a window right next to me...  Wouldn't you know it was a precious little boy with Up's!  I also happened to be wearing my shirt that read "I love homies with extra chromies."  I flew out of my chair with excitement to meet a new friend.  I spent the next 20 minutes chatting with Wyatt, my new 9 year old friend with Up's, and his parents.  As I've mentioned before, there is an unspoken camaraderie among parents with children with Up's (it's like your instant homies because you share a secret... while others may look at us and feel sorry for us, only we know what a crazy awesome roller coaster our lives have become).  I returned to my seat with joy in my heart and I was pleasantly surprised by my reasonably yummy dinner.  I took a picture of Wyatt because I knew it would make David jealous to know that I met a new friend with Up's, but I'm not posting his picture only because I didn't ask his family first, but picture a handsome little boy with freckles and a surfer haircut.  Love him!!!

David did a great job of keeping the big kids busy to minimize the tears of missing mommy.  They went to a fun park, bowling, etc.

The reason that Andrew is holding his hand like that is because he dropped a 12 pound bowling ball on it.  I thought that he would need an X-ray, but praise the Lord he didn't.  Not the kind of text you want to get when you are out of town :-/

David knows how much I love getting pictures of the kids when I'm out of town, so you can imagine how much I loved getting this video of Grace doing her rendition of one of the Family Camp chants...

Grace had her last day of school in the Yellow 2 room on Thursday. I was so sad that I couldn't be there for her last day, but maybe it's for the best because it would have broke my heart to say goodbye to Grace's AMAZING teachers.  I seriously feel like these teachers are part of our family because of the way that they tirelessly serve and bless Grace (and the rest of our family) each and every day.  Grace talks about her teachers all day everyday, so their legacy will live on :-).  I took Grace to get donuts this morning while the big kids were still asleep and she was telling me that Mrs. Carol needs donuts too (Grace will even accidentally call David, myself, or the big kids Mrs. Carol when she's asking for something).  Anytime someone complements her hair she tells them that Ms. Irma did it, and I love hearing her say Ms. Tiffy's name (it's what she calls Ms. Tiffany).  The Rise School is unlike anything we could have ever dreamed up)  We couldn't be more grateful that Grace LOVES, LOVES, LOVES her school and that we get to be a part of the Rise family!

I wish I had a picture of Grace's last day of school with her teachers, but since I was out of town, David dropped off/picked up from school that day, soooo the thought of taking pictures was never in the realm of possibilities.  That's ok, the worlds best daddy can have a get out of jail/doghouse free pass :-).

All three kids had a blast playing together this weekend, when I went to check on them to see what they were up to (besides the disaster that they created in Andrew's room), here is the sweetness that I witnessed...

The Ross Family Worship Band!

Hope that didn't bust your eardrums, but it's the heart behind it that counts, right :-)?

Much love to you, sweet Village!!!

Now off to watch some Special Olympics (insert squeal)!!! 

The Rise School has talent...

Grace's school had the most awesome talent show this week where each class (there are a total of 10) performed as well as some individual acts.  Here is Grace's class...

Grace is the one with the orange shirt and pony tail.  She was thrilled to have her mommy, daddy, bubba, and tither there to watch her.  I'm just grateful that she didn't knock out her little buddy sitting next to her with her instrument :-/.

Since I'm still not allowed to pick up anything more than 15 pounds for 3 more weeks (due to my recent hernia repair), which unfortunately includes Grace :-(, we took the opportunity to take the big kids to the beach while Grace is still in school (that way I wouldn't have to chase her down the beach, lift her up, etc).  We had a blast! 

Lastly, the highlight of our week was when Andrew's Pine Cove counselor "Singa" came to visit us during his less then 24 hours of free time between weeks.  This is one special guy to our family!

Grace sure knows a Pine Cove counselor when she sees one (even if it's out of context and not at camp) because the second she saw "Singa" she gave him a hug and was excited to read a book with him!  Those of you that know Grace well know that she doesn't warm up to men easily, not even her Papa Toot and Uncles!

This was the one time this weekend that Grace would get close to Papa Toot and I'm pretty sure it was because he served her some of her favorite ice cream, she temporarily let her guard down and showed him some love.  

So, Grace (aka- The Boss) is the Family Camp chant police in that every time we say grace before a meal she immediately follows "amen" with "OOOOOOOOO" with her hands above her head...  this is how one of the Family Camp prayer chants begins and she sure does make sure we do it before or even during every meal and if Abigail tries to sit down for the chant, Grace will say "top" (meaning stop) and tell Abigail "up" while pointing to the floor next to her chair.  What she wants is for Abigail to jump up and down for the chant like we do at Family Camp.  There are a number of other chants that she also loves to do, but I won't bore you with those details :-).  

This week, I will be out of town for a few days for work and as I've mentioned before, it's always tough on the kids when one of us (especially their momma) has to be gone, so will you please pray for their little hearts to handle our time apart well?

Sweet snuggles...

Grace does this crazy face when she's trying to make us laugh...

Thank you for being our Village!

Randomness...

Abigail had a nasty virus last week (fever and pink eye for 5 days), so she missed her last swim meet of the season, but we were so proud of her for having a great attitude about it.  On his last meet, Andrew swam his best race so far.  We couldn't have been more proud of his second place finish for freestyle!  We always talk to the kids about our expectation being that they try their very hardest (in God's strength) and have fun.  It always makes my heart smile when I see Andrew sitting on the ready bench with his head bowed and hands folded, praying.  Remember, Andrew is our kid that loves to play, but he isn't the one that wants to push himself too hard, so you can imagine how precious it was when Andrew rushed to find me right after his race to show me just how hard he was breathing from pushing himself so hard.  It's been neat to see him find a sport that is worth exhausting every bit of his effort for :-).

I love these two pictures that the Geysers photographers captured...

I had hernia surgery on Thursday, which went well, I'm just less than thrilled that I can't lift anything greater than 15 pounds for 4 WEEKS!  That is super hard when you have a Gracie Doo that weighs 25 pounds and doesn't understand why her mommy can't pick her up :-(.  I also have a whole new appreciation for the important role that our core/ab muscles play in our everyday life from sneezing to getting out of bed.  This taking-it-easy thing is for the birds!

One more random thing...  David and I love to work on our marriage (hence why we attended a marriage conference a few months after getting married :-).  I have read a number of different books, devotionals, etc about marriage and I have to say that the book I'm currently reading is called "Praying for your Husband from Head to Toe."  This might be my favorite book so far because it gives you the opportunity to cover your husband in prayer literally from head to toe using Scripture as the foundation for each prayer (you can even insert your kiddos names in many of the prayers).  I wish that I could buy each of you this book and send it to you, but since that's not realistic I just want to encourage you to make a $10.00 investment in your marriage.  If you take the challenge will you please let me know how you see God moving in your marriage (specifically your husband)?

Just one more random thought, I promise... check out these awesome shirts that I just purchased for our family! WE SURE DO LOVE HOMIES WITH EXTRA CHROMES!!!

That's all for now... love you, Village!

Family Camp to fever...

I was so exhausted upon our return from vacation last weekend that I didn't go anywhere near the blog, so here is a two week update...

We went to Pine Cove Family Camp for the 4th year in a row and I'm learning that it only gets better as the kids get older because they can not only do more activities, but the way that the counselors are able to pour into/disciple them is pretty incredible!  For those of you who are not familiar with Family Camp, the best way I can sum it up is that it is the only vacation that you can go on where your  children, marriage, and family as a whole will be fed spiritually, while having a ton of fun in the process!  Family Camp acts as a reset for our family each year.  We come back filled up, priorities recalibraded, excited to continue our daily family and individual devotionals, and passionate about what God has in store for the year. Here are some of the highlights from our trip...

EEEEEEEE!  Waiting for the gates to open!!!

GATES ARE OPEN!!!

-Now wouldn't you know, the attacks continued...within our first hour after arriving at Family Camp, we were unloading our suitcases for the week and our sweet mommy in training, Abigail, was trying to keep Grace out of the bathroom and accidentally crushed Grace's pinky finger in the door.  Her response of hysterically crying and screaming as she looked at her hand seriously led me to believe that Grace had lost a finger.  After counting her fingers, I quickly saw the very smashed, deformed looking pinky with skin hanging off of the sides.  My heart broke for Abigail because she felt so bad, but I was also super bummed thinking that it was likely broken.  By God's grace, one of the other families (whom I ADORE) that attend week 4 of Family Camp with us happens to be an ER doctor.  As I'm trying to collect my thoughts to find their phone number, David said that he thought he saw the husband (who is the ER doctor) by the pond fishing with his kiddos.   Wouldn't you know that as I opened our front door, there he was (standing on the edge of the pond right in front of our cabin)!!! I frantically called him over and based on his assessment of her pinky he didn't think that it was broken and told me what to look for.  We were so super grateful that she wasn't going to need to spend all of Family Camp with her hand wrapped up (since it's impossible to keep a splint on a toddler).  The next day Grace and David were on a nature hunt and she fell and banged her chin on some rocks, but no stitches or glue was needed, again much praise and thanks to the Lord!

Praising the Lord that we didn't have to visit the hospital!

-Grace actually slept in a big girl bed for the first time and LOVED it!  It's hard to explain the joy that this little milestone brought me, but it was so hard for me to wrap my mind around her being in the bottom bunk all by her self (with railing of course).  A few mornings she would wiggle down out of the bed and I would wake up to the most precious hands and smiling face peering at me over the side of the bed while standing on her tip toes.

***Disclaimer:  95% of the rest of the pictures were taken by the Pine Cover photographer, not us.  What other vacation can you take were they help you document it with both pictures and a video?!?!

We had family worship... 

...and family devotionals each morning where "Bumpz" became part of our family!

-David and I enjoyed a breakfast trail ride and one of the highlights of our trip the past two years, the CATTLE ROUND UP!  The cattle round up is where a group of us get on horses and go find the 25+ cattle that are roaming around and herd them a good distance, through all kinds of brush and water to a pen on the other side of camp.  David is way more daring than I am, so when the head wrangler said that he needed a couple people to go catch some of the cattle that had gone astray David couldn't get his horse "Cy" turned around fast enough to race to the opportunity.  David was on cloud nine getting to go fast on the horse and do all sorts of maneuvers trying to round up some rouge cattle.  I was amazed when we heard the wranglers I was with say that the other group (that David was in) had found the cattle and were driving them, to where we were waiting on them to join us before moving on, and all of a sudden some very fast moving cattle come running down the fence line with David and two other guys following them closely.  They were men on a mission for sure!

-Each one of the kids' counselors loved on, encouraged, and ministered to them in ways that spoke to their hearts in a very personal way.

"Singa" was Andrew's counselor.  It brought tears to my eyes on many occasions as I would witness "Singa" always looking for ways to bless Andrew with his time and energy.  Anytime there was free time you could find Andrew and "Singa" trying to catch lizards or frogs, wrestling in the pool, racing in an obstacle course, just to name a few.  They had such an amazing bond that exceeded any expectation that we could have hoped for!  Andrew and I have committed to praying for "Singa" everyday until we, Lord willing, see him next year.  We have been praying that he would get accepted to nursing school and we were elated to hear last night that our prayers were answered, "Singa" is headed to nursing school in the fall.  It is so powerful to watch Andrew cover his buddy in prayer and then getting to celebrate when those prayers are answered!  On to the next prayer request :-)

At the end of the week the kids are given CQ's which stand for Character Quality Awards.  Their counselors affirm character qualities that they see in them throughout the week.  Here is Andrew's...

-Abigail's counselor was "Paw me" and in typical Abigail fashion she fell in love with her.  The things that made the biggest impact on Abigail's heart wasn't just the bible study that they did, but the fact that she got to witness "Paw me" show her Jesus' love in tangible ways.  One when she got bit by ants while they were doing a giant slip and slide and "Paw me" took care of her and then led her to safety by walking in front of her (and the other girls) to ensure that each step she (and the other girls) took was ant pile free.  Then Abigail tried the power pole for the first time this year (you climb up a very tall poll to a very small platform at the the top and try to jump off and grab onto a trapeze bar).  Abigail got half way up and became terrified.  David and I tried to talk her into letting go of the pole and allowing herself to swing backwards, but she wasn't having it.  She was literally paralyzed by her fear until she heard "Paw me's" voice off in the distance and then soon "Paw me" was standing at the foot of the pool reassuring her that she was right there with her and not going to leave her side.  "Paw me" proceeded to climb up the pole to touch Abigail's feet and let her know that she was right there with her.  Abigail finally let go and in that moment I realized that for the first time since becoming Abigail's mom, someone else played the role of comforter and encourager in her life.  For a moment I felt sad, until the Lord reminded me of the value and blessing it was for Abigail to have such an incredible godly mentor in her life who met a need in Abigail's life that God created and equipped her for.  We want our kids to see what a young person's life, sold out for Christ, looks like and these Pine Cove counselors are just that in the kids lives (and ours).

Abigail's CQ!

-One of the craziest blessings of all is that Grace LOVED going into her class!  She would tell me "Grace play" and point to the building that her class met in.  They spend 5 to 8 hours a day with their counselors, so the fact that she found so much joy in being with her counselors and two little buddies in her class felt like a modern day miracle.

-We had three theme nights, to include... 

Cowboy glitz

Love the little photo bomber at our feet :-)

Holidayz (we represented Valentine's day of course because Abigail and I love all things hearts, thanks to our Gracie Doo)!

and Sportz night...

Grace and her buddy Ellie!

My USA family...  YES!  I'm totally rockin' the staff polyester onsie!

We even had a date night and adult banquet night!

-We all enjoyed activities like horse back riding, wake boarding/tubing, zip lining, rock wall, pickle ball, dodge ball, water slides, the lagoon, etc!

Pickle ball...

Zip lining...

The critter room...

More pickle ball...

Mad scientist...

Worship at "Club"...

Tubing... Didn't get a pic of David wake boarding :-(

Finger Blaster War...

Hangin by the pool with friends...

Making the trek to the top of the zip line platform...

Trail ride...

Games...

Andrew got do do the trail ride this year too...

Giant slip n slide into the lagoon...

Popsicles...

The beloved, DODGEBALL!

David going down the slide with Grace...

Canoeing...

ICE CREAM FOR ALL!!!

-One night there is a talent show where Abigail's class does a little dance that they learned that day.  This is definitely one of Abigail's favorite activities :-).


To sum up how the kids (and us) feel about Family Camp, when we ask them if they would rather go to Family Camp or Disney World, they continue to choose Family Camp without a second thought.

Each family represented in this picture are truly treasures in our lives!  

This year was extra special because one of our dearest friends trusted us enough to give Family Camp a try and they are hooked!  Grace and Presley both share Designer genes :-)

Second to Jesus...  the heart behind what makes Pine Cove, Pine Cove...

The counselors!!!

The kids had their second to last swim meet on Monday.  Andrew finished 1st in his heat for freestyle and Abigail finished 2nd (less than a second behind 1st place) in her heat.  They certainly aren't the fastest swimmers in their age group, but it's been a blast watching them get faster and love to race.  

My favorite part about the meet is represented in this photo that one of the photographers caught...

We celebrated the 4th of July with a fever and pink eye for Abigail :-(.  However, again the hidden blessing has been watching Andrew care for his big sister by covering her up in blankets, hugging her to keep her warm (no wonder we transmit germs so easy in this house despite my best lysol, hand gel, and oils effort), and trying to find ways to serve her.  

While our 4th of July plans had to be altered, the kids got to have a low key play date with my parents and we were still able to spend time with some dear friends!  I haven't gone to bed until almost 2 am in a long time, but it was worth the exhaustion :-).

Proud to be an American!

Will you PLEASE pray that Grace (and the rest of us) stay healthy, we are so over illnesses?!?!

We can't wait to cheer on Team USA very soon!!!

We love and appreciate you, Village!