Seriously?....

Has it been since June 3rd since I wrote? Maybe because there isn't much going on here. The weather has finally gotten nice which means as much time as possible outside! My work is getting busier here, we're working on a big project, so I don't get as much time as I would like to scoot about the Internet!

Let's see that was about two weeks ago. I can't even remember what I wrote about last. This past weekend was Father's Day... We were the only ones in town and that was really nice. We got the garage cleaned out and projects done around the house - in honor of Dad! Gave my dad a call and visited with him a bit. I can't wait to see him in a week and a half. Mom and Dad will be flying out on June 30th and staying for a little over a week. I'm so excited to see them!!!

Oh, I just remembered what was going on last week - VBS!!! Ha, How could I forget!?! Sam taught the large group Bible time and I was a Crew Leader, a.k.a. Small group leader. I got there on Sunday night and pulled out a list of my kids and thought to myself - "What did I do to deserve this?!!!!" HA! Luckily, I recruited one of our 11th graders to help me and believe you me, I needed her! I only had 5 kids, but probably the most active of all the kids at church! Super cute and super smart... 2 4th graders, 3rd grader and 2 1st graders - I never had more than 4 kids on a given night - thankfully! It was fun, but a long week.

In the meantime, two friends came - Brian and Tabita Drinkall. They came from Chicago and are on their way to school in Canada. It was nice to have them for a couple days during the week. Unfortunately, it was raining the Wednesday they were here for the whole day. But they helped Sam with his Bible lesson that night at VBS and did a great job!

Well, our yard is coming right along. We're so happy with it. Yesterday Sam was building more fence line for our yard and I was a painting machine! Doing really well until our neighbor kids came over to help "paint"! For the rest of the day, I had white paint all over me! We took them roller blading/bike riding and then down to the River. It was a nice afternoon. Then, last night was the first of three Garden Tours and let me tell you what, we had some whoppers yesterday - beautiful gardens! I'm so proud of the work Sam has done with our yard, I want to put it in the Garden show, but Sam won't let me. He tells me there is lots more to do. And I agree to a point, but our yard is beautiful. I'll get some pictures on here, I promise! Things are going to start blooming pretty soon and then you'll hopefully see so many pictures, you'll get tired of it! The weather has been so cold up to this point, I'm praying the blooming will hold off a little longer so Mom and Dad get to see it at it's peak!

So that's about all that's been going on with me. This weekend, Saturday, we have our annual Fishing Tournament. I'm looking forward to that - always a good time! I went fishing with Sam a couple weeks ago on Saturday morning - it was so beautiful! Caught some nice size fish. Then Sam went again this past Saturday - he caught a big one. So the fishin' has been good! On Sunday, we head out to Park Rapids, MN for a girls weekend celebrating Katie's wedding. So we're looking forward to that. Sam is going to hang with his bro-in-law Nathan and help get the dock in the water and get boats up and running, cook and help take care of baby Ethan! So it should be a good time! That'll go through Tuesday and then on Wednesday and Thursday, we were going to do our annual Medora camping trip, but I think that's going to get cancelled. Then Mom and Dad head here the next Monday and will be here till Katie's wedding on Saturday and then head out on Tuesday after that. Other than that, things are plugging along!

Oh - I almost forgot! Guess what?! I got called up for Jury Duty!?!?! WHAT?! I've talked to people who have lived here for like a million years and they've never gotten called up for Jury Duty! So I have to show up bright and early on Friday morning to appear for my Call of Duty! #1 - I kind of don't want to be picked. #2 - I'm suppose to go out of town the following Monday and Tuesday, what about that? #3 - What the heck?!

So goes my life. Tomorrow, we have the Leadership Team coming to our house for a cookout. So everyday there is something - it's just one adventure after another!!!

But Sam and I are doing great! Tonto is doing great and we're having a terrific summer so far, even though it hasn't even felt like spring yet! Just now... Oh well.... My sympathies to my East Coast friends and family - and the heat you've had! It's 64 degrees right now and suppose to get all the way up to 75 today, maybe! ;)

Happy reading - Lori, hope this was a long enough update for you!

PS. Happy 30th to my good bud Bethers! She spent her b-day in California and I hope she had the best time ever - was thinking about you and praying for you!

Back into the swing of things....

Of course I don't have any pictures right now, but just wanted to give you a little update on our life as of the last two weeks. As you saw my earlier blog, my father in law, John Coleman passed away on May 16th. It was so amazing. We knew he was waiting for Katie's wedding, then after the wedding, he was heading downhill a little, then he found out that his brothers and sister was coming for a visit. That perked him back up a bit because he wanted to share the Lord with them one last time... They came on Mother's Day and he got to spend 20min or half an hour with them alone and shared with them about the Lord. And seriously, after they headed out, we figured he wouldn't make it through the night, but he did. But starting on Monday, he was heading downhill quickly. By Wednesday, he'd just about stopped walking on his own. Thursday, Hospice came and it was a big day - he was exhausted. Once they got the bed set up - he took a nap and started to become unresponsive, he wasn't talking anymore. He was unresponsive all day on Friday and passed away on Friday night around 9pm. He'd been praying that the Lord would take him home in his sleep and that's what we'd all been praying. It was an emotionally exhausting time - but we are so happy that he is healed forever with no more pain because without a doubt, he is running and jumping and fishing in Heaven!!! We sure do miss him though. The funeral was on Tuesday May 20th. And there was so much to prepare to get that done, but what an amazing testimony of God's goodness in his life - there were about 490 people at his funeral and we are still getting tons and tons of stories of how he impacted people! God is good and may I learn from his example. Well, family all left on Tuesday and we were down to the immediate family - we celebrated Judah's 17th birthday on Thursday night. We went to see Indiana Jones - a slight disappointment. But it was fun. Then over the weekend, Katie and Mike headed down to the Cities, Sadie and Nate headed back to Fargo for a graduation, Ruth, Judah and Charlie headed off to the East for a week, Johnny started a new job here in town and Sam and I took 12 4th-6th graders north to Lake Metigoshe for a camping trip! So we all had a great opportunity to get away a little. So while John is sorely missed, he will forever be in our hearts - life continues to stay busy and passes by!

So our camping trip went really well, except for the fact that it got down to 28 degrees the first night. And with my long johns, sweatpants, long sleeve shirt, sweatshirt and wool socks that I wore to bed - I wasn't quite warm enough! So the next night, I wore long johns, sweatpants, hiking pants, tee-shirt, TWO hooded sweatshirts and a stocking cap, oh and wool socks, I was as snug as a bug in a rug! The days were beautiful though, no rain, no wind - just beautiful sunshine! Between the 16 of us that went, we caught about 75 Northern Pike - it was a ton of fun. Then one day, we portaged our canoes up to Canada and had a great little picnic lunch! We got back on Thursday and it was a great time. Then on Friday, we ran down to Rapid City, SD to visit with Wes and Cindy. They had been vacationing there for the week, so we went down and took them camping on their last night out. It was beautiful... We got to see tons of animals and spend some good quality time with them. Sam got lots of good photos and he's already started more paintings! Anyway, I'd better post this before I loose it due to the Internet shutting down on me. I will post some pictures, it's been great! Then we started on some house projects last night - Sam is always trying to get our yard just perfect, but the rain has started, so now we're inside working on some much needed projects - maybe I can rustle up some "before" and "after" pictures - we'll see! Have a great day! Thanks for the all the prayers and condolences - they are much needed!