Our Vacation

On Wednesday we left for Arkansas. We stayed with some friends in Searcy. It was only a 6 hour drive, and that was nice because we are used to driving to New Mexico all in one day- that's 11 hours.

The next morning we left for Indianapolis. We saw a lot of rivers that were flooded, because of all the rain. We passed through Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana that day.

The next morning we drove to Detroit, Michigan! Once we were in Grosse Pointe Park we went to Auntie Toni's house. We then stopped at the new Trader Joe's in the Village. We kind of got hooked on Trader Joe's when we went with Jared and Esther to the one in Albuquerque. We got our favorite dark chocolate covered pretzels, orange flavored cranberries, Comte cheese, and spinach fettuccine. We also tried out some new things like wisecrakers.

Soon after we went to Trader Joe's we went to the rehearsal of Mary and Matt's wedding. It was at the Iroquois Avenue Christ Lutheran Church, which is a beautiful church! We didn't stay for the whole time though. It had started snowing while we were inside! We hung out a little while at Auntie Toni's with Mema and Auntie Steph.

At 5:30 was the rehearsal dinner at a country club I in Grosse Pointe Farms. The food was really good. Dad and I went out on the docks by Lake St. Claire. The quiet and snow were really neat.

After the dinner we went to Harrison Township, which was about 20 miles away. We were staying in the house of some of Auntie Toni's friends. It would have taken us about 20 minutes without the snow, but it took around 40 minutes.

On Saturday we were able to sleep in, which was really nice. After the oatmeal for breakfast, we went out in the snow. Dad and Melissa shoveled the driveway. We had a fun snowball fight. Around 1:30 we started getting ready for the wedding. Melissa curled my hair with the curling iron, and Amy did her hair with hot curlers. Then we went to the house of Auntie Toni's next door neighbors. Auntie Charlotte, Jotham, Kara, Jared, and Esther were staying there. Clara got her hair curled there, and Melissa finished it in the car, using the curling iron plugged into the power inverter!

After we were all done getting ready, we went to the church for the wedding. The ceremony was beautiful. It ended at 4:20, and we left at maybe 4:30 to go to where the reception was. It started at 6:00. And it was supposed to take a half hour to get there. We got pretty lost, taking a few wrong turns, and then being confused about where the parking was. We ended up taking the entire hour and a half to get to the library where the reception was. Oh well. It was fun. We were taking our cousin Jason with us, and we were playing the Alphabet Game, where we try to find all the letters of the alphabet, in the signs around us. At the reception my sisters and I were at a table with some of our cousins, Jared, Esther, Jason, and Sam. Mom and Dad were at the next table with the Hacklemans and some of the Hackleman's friends. We met the Hacklemans when we came to Ryan and Sarah's wedding in 2004 and we stayed with them. There was a delicious dinner, and music and dancing. I think we all, except for Mom and Dad, danced some.

On Sunday after packing up everything we went to Ryan and Sarah's house and met them and some of our relatives to go to church with them. We went to Hope Community Church. The pastor was the same man who performed the ceremony of Mary and Matt's wedding. He spoke a really neat message about how Jesus defeated Satan's ultimate weapon, death, when He rose from the dead, and since He defeated the ultimate, He can defeat anything else Satan could throw at us. And so we have hope through that.

After church we went to Auntie Toni's house for brunch. There were a bunch of people there. Relatives, friends, and people from the wedding party. It was fun visiting with friends, and eating the good food.

Dad, Melissa, Amy, Jason, Clara, and I went to the Village and got coffee at Starbucks. We also went to Trader Joe's again.

Soon after that we started driving down to Lima, Ohio,which was our next stop. Once we were a few blocks away from Auntie Toni's house, Mom realized she had something to give to Auntie Toni. So we went back. Then once we were a few blocks away again, Amy realized she had left her $40 dancing shoes there. So we went back again. Some of the people were laughing at us, when they saw us leave, and then come back twice. It was really funny.

We got to Lima around 5:30. We talked and visited, and I took a shower, and so did Clara, and we ate dinner. And we talked and visited some more. It was nice.

Around 7:30 on Monday we left for Arkansas. We drove through 5 states: Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, and Arkansas. At 8:00 pm we got to Searcy. We ate dinner with the Donnell's, and a few people took showers. It was fun visiting with them. We had stayed with them before, on our drive up to Michigan.

Around 10:00 am Tues we left for home. It was nice to be able to sleep in. The only other day we had slept in was on Saturday. We stopped at Taco Bell in Texarkana for lunch. At 5:30 pm we got home!!

It was nice to be home. It was pretty amazing- the whole house was clean. I unpacked all the way, and I think everyone else did too. Once everyone put all their dirty clothes in the hamper, it was completely full, and there were clothes piled on the floor around it. So we have been doing a lot of laundry.

None of us were hungry after eating lots of snack food in the car, so we didn't really have a real dinner. I had an apple with peanut butter, and Amy and Clara had bacon and eggs.

Mom and I went to the Tuesday Night Prayer meeting at GFA. It was nice to see everyone, since we had been gone a week.

Today Dad is home, because first we thought we would get home on Wednesday, but then we decided to get home on Tuesday by leaving on Sunday instead of Monday. That's confusing. But I won't try to reword it. Anyway, Dad asked for Wednesday off, so he has it off. He said, though, that he might go in this afternoon.

We saw a lot of flooding along the highway.

We met with some friends in Effingham, Illinois, and ate a late
lunch. There was a big cross church had built.

Dad looks like he is touching the tip of the Cross.


Dad and I went out on the docks by the place
where we had the rehearsal dinner.

We got maybe 3 inches of snow, and Melissa and Dad shoveled the driveway.

We had a snowball fight, and Melissa hit Dad right between

his eyes as he turned around. He dried his glasses on her scarf.

Leaving on our Trip in 2 days!

I almost can't believe that we'll be leaving for Michigan in 2 days. It seemed to come up pretty fast. I guess I should start packing. :)
While we'll be gone, some friends of ours, some single girls, will be staying at our house to keep it up and everything. They'll basically be house sitting. So one of them, Rachel, came over for dinner tonight, and Mom showed her what needed to be done and everything. When Mom was going to take her home, Melissa, Clara and I went with them. We stopped at Payless Shoe Source and also a Korean supermarket called H-Mart. At Payless, Mom, Clara, and I got shoes. Clara got some dress shoes to wear at the wedding. Mom got some dress shoes also, and I got a pair of converse. They are not really converse, but the Airwalk brand. But I like them.
At H-Mart we got lots of produce, and a few other things. Mom and Clara went to Wal-Mart to get a few things also while Rachel, Melissa, and I stayed at H-Mart shopping.
Today Clara and I went skating with some of our friends. It was pretty fun. It is spring break this week for the schools, so that's how they got off school.
Today was St. Patrick's Day. In our family, if you don't wear green today, you get pinched. So we were all sure to wear green today.
Amy was working at her Starbucks today. Melissa's friend Cally got a job their also, but until she can get trained to make the drinks and everything, she will work as a cashier at the Kroger that the Starbucks is in.
On Sunday Melissa had some friends over to watch a movie. They also stayed for dinner.
Clara has had an ear infection, and she went in to the doctor for it once, but it hasn't gone away all the way, so she went in again this morning and got another prescription, and he gave her some things she could do to help.
Oh, on Sunday we went to a different church where we knew some supporters. It was nice seeing people and everything. Afterwards we went to Whole Foods and ate lunch and also went to Bed Bath & Beyond where we got a wedding gift for Mary and Matt.
We're excited about seeing everyone soon. We'll visit the Donnell's and the Gluff's on the way up, and the Flick's and the same Donell's on the way back. And one of Auntie Toni's friends is very kindly letting us stay in their house while we're in Michigan. I'm so glad we can come up and see everyone!

This Weekend

Because of the snow on Thursday, our homeschool co-op the next day was cancelled! It was nice to have a break from the regular routine. Amy and Melissa ate lunch at Arby's with some friends, and Mom, Clara, and I got lunch there and then went to the office and ate lunch with Dad. It was nice to see him in the middle of the day. We decided that we should eat lunch with him more often. After all, his office is only 7 minutes from our house!

On Friday night there was Friday Night Prayer. It goes to 3 or 4 am, but we didn't stay that long. Amy took Melissa and Clara home around 12, after the break. Mom, Dad, and I went home at 1. At the main break there is food to help people stay awake. I made lemon bars and took them, and Mom made muffins. It was really cold outside, so I was happy to get a seat inside. Amy said that she would stay inside even if she had to stand, because it was so cold. I sat at the same table as her and Melissa.

Because we stayed up so late, we slept in late. Mom and Dad went to a Will Seminar that the church was having. Even though they stayed up late too, they left the house at 9 am and stayed at the church till 12:30. But they were able to make a new will. I think they just have to meet with the attorney again and sign it or something.

For breakfast Amy and Melissa made a double batch of scones. They were so good! Actually, they still are good, because we still have a couple left. We also had bacon and eggs.

Melissa is going to go on the choir mission trip this summer, and so she made a huge batch of cookies and two pans of brownies to sell at a bake sale to raise money for the trip. Last year Amy went on a mission trip with our church.

Clara only has two people left to deliver Girl Scout cookies to. She has been busy delivering all the cookies that she sold. Even though she sold 225 and her goal was 400, she was glad that she didn't sell more because it would mean lots of delivering.

Clara sold cookies to a couple on the street over from us. When she delivered them with Mom, somehow they got to talking about photography and how Amy was a senior, and then they offered to do Amy's senior pictures for free! So on Saturday Amy got her senior pictures taken. She had a friend, Jessica come over to help do Amy's hair and make-up. Jessica did a great job, because Amy looked beautiful!

After Amy was back from the picture taking, she, Melissa, and I went to our friend Christina's birthday party. It was really fun. We talked alot, and watched the movie Hairspray.

While we were gone, Mom and Dad and Clara had gone to dinner at Cantina Laredo, and to Goodwill. When we got back, they were watching Star Trek. They had a nice time I am sure, and the leftovers were really good, so I am sure the food then was even better!

Melissa's friend Cally slept over on Saturday night. They had fun talking and taking pictures.

Since Sunday was time change day, we all had to get up an hour earlier than normal. I got up at 7:45, but my body thought it was 6:45. I definitely wasn't happy at having to get up early.

Church was good. Pastor Brent talked about how we need to keep on growing in our spiritual life, not just not read our Bible or pray because he didn't talk about it that week. The passage he shared from was Hebrews 12:1-3. It was a neat message.

For lunch we had leftovers. At 2 Mom and Dad met with Mrs. Nelson. She's a lady from ECC. They went to record the tribute for Amy's slideshow that will play at the graduation. Dad and I were talking, and it is only 5 months till she will go to the Honor Academy! I'm going to miss her so much.

On Sunday evening I went out to dinner with Dad. Usually we go out for a birthday breakfast, but we couldn't find a restaurant we wanted to go to. We went to Goodfella's Pizza. We were going to go to a Pho Tai place by the Korean store, but when we were about to go in Dad saw that it was closed on Sundays. And for dessert we went to Sonic. I guess the manager gives the employees something to ask each time someone is ordering, because the girl who took our order asked if we wanted mozzarella sticks with our order. I don't really think mozzarella sticks go with ice cream, do you? It was really funny. Dad and I had a nice time together.

I don't think that this week we'll have much homework for ECC because the teachers weren't planning to have a break week. We've emailed our teachers though, so we'll find out.

Mom and Clara rode to the Girl Scout Cookie Mom's house to deliver some Girl Scout cookie money this afternoon.

It seems really soon that we'll be driving up to Michigan for Mary and Matt's wedding! We'll be leaving in 9 days. Wow.

Anyway, I know Auntie Steph is reading this, so I'm glad I'll see you soon!

P.S. This is Melissa...shhh...isn't Ellie doing a great job?




Dad and me in the car at Sonic

Link to Snow Pictures...

So if you want to see more snow pictures, click on the link to the pictures that are on my Facebook.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=1121&l=fe2c8&id=1136508219

More Snow Pics

Both Clara and Melissa made snowmen... Clara's is the first picture.

SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was snowing!!!!!!!! It's so amazing!!! The snowflakes were the size of 5o cent pieces!!! We took a bunch of pictures, so here they are.

My Sleepover and this Weekend

Yeah, so this Friday I had a sleepover with some girlfriends for my birthday, which was on February 21. Three people came, Sharlena, Sarrie, and Christina. I invited Breanna and Emily and Jenny, but Breanna got sick on Thursday, and Emily and Jenny were going out of town on Friday. Anyway, it was really fun. We had lasagna for dinner. When we made the spaghetti sauce, we were gone all day, so it was cooking a long time in the crockpot without being stirred, so it got burnt around the edges. I just stirred it in, and it gave it a really interesting flavor. Sharlena's mom, Diane, was really excited about the burnt spaghetti sauce because she said it tasted really good that way. We also made little scrapbooks with pictures of us friends in them. That was fun. We were doing that after dinner, and then dad said "Do you want to have cake and ice cream soon, it's 9 o'clock?" so I realized it was 9 o'clock. So then we had cake and ice cream. It was chocolate cake and Neapolitan ice cream. I got Neapolitan ice cream because I dreamed about eating that kind of ice cream. It looked really good, and there was a whole ton of it, but I never got to eat any. Anyway, after cake and ice cream we were doing the scrap booking more, and we were doing that till 11. It was really fun. So then we all slept on air mattresses in the family room. I dreamed about food. There was this loaf of lemon bar stuff. Like the sweet bread stuff with lemon stuff inside it. It makes me want to make lemon bars. On Saturday morning, today we slept till like 9 and then we had breakfast. I made a fruit salad, and Dad made pancakes.
Today Clara did a booth sale with her girl scout troop. They also did one yesterday outside of ECC. They sold alot. Both she and Mom (Mom went with her) were pretty tired. They were selling from 4 to 6.
Mom will be getting her bandages off on Wednesday! She will have had them on for 2 weeks then, so the graft will have healed up. So you can pray that it would work and she wouldn't have to have them on for longer! She has to just eat smoothies or blended up foods so she has made all kinds of new smoothie recipes.
Amy has been working on the pictures for her senior slide show that they will show at the graduation. It must be really hard to only pick 30 pictures that can accurately portray 18 years of life!
The weather has been beautiful today and yesterday and Thursday. I don't know what temperature it is, probably 80 or so. But it's lovely weather!
Amy's matching funds thing has really had an amazing response from people! She will have half of her support raised once the funds are matched. A big thank you to everyone who helped!
I have been reading a biography about Amy Carmichael. It is really interesting, and it's amazing how she was just serving God with everything she had. And she was trusting in Him so that she and all her children could be provided for. It's an encouraging book to read.
Oh, I guess I should give an update about how our health is doing since I was sick last time I wrote. I am better, but I still have a cough. Melissa got what I had or something similar to it, but she is doing better. She still has a cough too. Clara has an ear infection. She is doing alright though. And Amy's ankle is doing fine. I think it is just sore though.
We're getting new windows on Tuesday! Dad and Mom were looking at different window companies, and the best one they found was Champion Windows. So a guy came and measured the windows, and then they custom-made them, and they're ready, so on Tuesday, they will come and take out the old windows and install the new ones. Dad took the air conditioning unit out of the window in the master bedroom so they wouldn't have to do it. So it's exciting to be getting new windows. They will be so nice!
Well, I have been writing for a long time now, so bye!