Start Your Engines

When a friend called to let us know he was driving at our local car race track, we thought it might be fun to take the kids to see him. We knew the little boys would love the cars and noise and speed but the teenage girls were just as thrilled. Okay....so was I.
And the best part for a family of 12....their was no admission charge!!
(click on the picture for an up-close look)

Our New Baby Girl

AnnaClaire arrived here almost 4 years ago. Luckily we live far out in the country or she would have run away. She thought we were "strange" and certainly our family was nothing like what she was used to. I overheard her speaking to her mom and saying, "They won't even let me listen to hip-hop music!". But little by little God worked in her heart until the things that she thought were weird became her heart's desire as well.
Anna loves the Lord and that loves spills out to everyone around her. She is kind and thoughtful and always ready to serve others.
And not only has she been adopted into God's family, last week she became our legal daughter as well!

Teach Me!

Is anyone else getting excited about school starting?

I love the summer and wish the lazy days would never end......but then there's the Sonlight Curriculum for this year sitting on the shelf waiting for us and we want it!! Never before have we loved schooling like we have since using Sonlight. The kids look at the books they're going to be reading and imagine the people they will get to know and what their lives are about. And that's what makes Sonlight so awesome. History isn't just facts with this curriculum, it's people and missionaries and their thoughts and struggles. It's a very personal diary of a time in the past.

I found this on the classroom blackboard.
Thanks Sonlight!!

Many Hands

Sometimes the amount of work involved in raising so many kids at once is staggering - but equally as impressive is the volume of labor that a group this size can accomplish. We first noted this on vacation when we unpacked at the beach house. In a matter of minutes the van was empty and the house full.

Yesterday we were happily surprised as well.
The largest of our Bradford Pear trees in the front yard split and fell to the ground. James took advantage of the huge mess and trimmed the trees around it providing a job for every person in the family. Most of us had to haul the branches down to the brush pile where even Grace got in on the action and stacked the limbs and logs we brought her. The kids were awesome and the sheer number of them working accomplished the job in no time.

And what better way to finish work than a cool down in the pool.

Tight Security

The Vacation Bible School that 6 of my kids are attending this week has an elaborate security pick up system. Each child's name is in a log book with a number. Each parent gets a laminated leaf with a corresponding number, color coded to their child and his team color. The log book also requires the team leader to put a check by the child's name when you come and show them your leaf. This is all quite complex and wonderful, but necessary? - I'm not convinced. It's almost the end of July, the kids have been home for almost two months now. I'm pretty sure that nobody in their right mind would be even remotely interested in stealing kids that didn't belong to them. These kids are hot, sweaty, whinny and tired by the time VBS lets out.....but there you are with your numbered leaf and you have to take at least your own home. I'm just not seeing an anti-kidnapping plot needed here.

Working on the Chain Gang

James has thrown out some big jobs for the kids this summer and they come with a big pay-off. He offered $100 to any kids who stick with each job through completion. The rules say that if you work for 99% of it and quit the day before it's done....no money-none-zip-zilch....you have to finish to collect any money.

The first job was moving a very very very large rock pile. 5 kids began the job. 1 kid quit because she had a kidney transplant (tough luck Grace) and 2 kids quit because "AnnaClaire was bossing them." So 2 kids collected $100.

The second job is filling in 5 very very very long ditches in the yard that were made when we put in the Geo-thermal heating system. 4 kids have started the job. So far, they've put up with the bossing, but the gnats are driving them crazy.
Well, driving the girls crazy - the boys are just ignoring them.
Here are the girl's very creative anti-gnat outfits. Scary.

Should You Be Doing That?

We are home from the hospital and Grace's recovery is going fantastic. She has a pile of medicine that she must take for the rest of her life to ensure that her body doesn't wake up and kick her new kidney to the curb. She's moving a little slow...but for Grace that takes on a different meaning than for most transplant patients.
Yesterday, 9 days from surgery, Grace rode a scooter around the driveway and fell out of the hammock in the back yard.
She's on to the next challenge!