Becky worked 10 hours yesterday (Saturday). The above was while I wasn't watching. These pics below are just a few moments that I caught while I was watching...
Rob
I shot this video this morning to show the kids what harvest in Nebraska looks like. The Corn was planted in May and has now matured and dried down. It is picked by the Combine and offloaded in motion onto the auger wagon. It is then loaded onto a truck and taken to the grain elevator in Loomis to be stored until sold. It will become Ethanol, Cereal, Corn syrup, animal food, nachos or many other things.
We had a delayed 1st birthday party for Tessa. Her birthday was actually August 22, but Becky was in Guatemala. So, we had some friends over to celebrate a few days ago. Here is a video of her eating her cake and some pictures from the evening...
(by the way, if you haven't seen the latest video of Drew singing, see our post from yesterday on our personal blog here.)
Since Tessa's birth, Drew has sort of gotten the short end of the stick photographically (probably some other ways as well)... So, here are a few pics of Drew that I caught recently...
Rob
I posted a blog entry with a bunch of pics about part of my trip on our personal blog today. Check it out! www.robandbecky.blogspot.com 
Here is a picture of our team. I'll post more pics on our blog this weekend, so watch for it. You can also check out all the pics at www.robandbecky.com/family/pictures.htm
Becky
I am so excited. I have been waiting for this day for a very long time...
Windows Live Writer now supports image upload to blogger! No more ftping images to my own servers.
Now, without a doubt, some of you are like, woohoo, and some of you are like woopdeedoo. Either way, I thought I would let you know in case you were also holding your breath.
Rob
Forgive me for not posting anything sooner. I returned from Guatemala late Saturday night and I have been slow to get back into the swing of things. The good part was that my Mom stayed until Tuesday and I didn't have to work on Monday, so I got to spend a little extra time with her. And I only had to work one day this week. I am out of sorts from being away on such an intense trip for 9 days. So its starting to feel like I'm getting back to the grind of everyday life. I guess next week, with a regular schedule, should help.
For those of you wondering, Guatemala was beautiful! Here is a picture with 2 other team members, Julie and Carrie, overlooking the valley on the way to Chipel, the aldea our sister church was located in. I plan to post a lengthier blog entry with a lot more details/highlights of the trip this weekend, so be on the lookout! I can't wait to tell you all about it!
Tessa woke up this morning with the yuckiest croupy cough (funny how quickly it started, she was fine last night) and she's had a pretty bad diaper rash for a week now (her first!) so we are off to the doctor this afternoon. So its definitely back to the daily grind of life. Believe it or not, I like the regular routine of things. I just have to get myself back into that routine!
Becky
3:30 AM, 8/12/07, 31 Hrs. in transit. Left Athens to Paris, got there and a service car ran into the plane and the flight was cancelled. Now had to wait many hours for flight to NY. Then van ride for 3 Hrs. to Phila. Mom and Dad went to pick up and deliver home or they would have another 5 hour wait for train service. Still turned out to be a 12 hr. delay. They looked tired but happy. Becca got in their house and said at 4:45, "I'm wide awake." Brian goes back to work 8:00 on Monday morning. See what they say then. If you can go throught that and still smile, good start!
So, I go into Drew's room just now. He's been playing quietly while I work on doing some laundry and putting Tessa down for a nap. He's in his bed playing and I ask him what he's doing. He points at a lump wrapped in his sheet and says, "It's a present!"
I say, "Can I come play with you in your bed?"
Drew:" No, it's wet"
Me: "Where is it wet?"
Drew: "On that covers"
Me, after noticing a wet spot: "Why is it wet?"
Drew (with perfect pronunciation): "It's disgusting"
Me (laughing): "Who taught you the word disgusting?"
Drew: "Daddy"
I then proceeded to "unwrap" his "present"-- his box of wipes. Of course he wrapped it after he took all the wipes out of the box and they were all wrapped up too!
Becky
Darlene had her 8th grade dance on June 8th and then graduated on June 10th. We decided to go to the park the day before graduation to take pictures of her in her gown. The school collected the gowns as the kids walked off the field so we would not have an opportunity to get pictures with the grandparents. After graduation we went to a Japanese steak house. The chef did all kinds of fun tricks while cooking the food on a grill in front of us. He threw food at all of us hoping we would catch it in our mouths. Dad and Tom were able to catch the food. The rest of us were not as fortunate. You can see more pictures here.
While in SC over the weekend, I had the opportunity to meet with a friend of RMI. He is an amazing taxidermist. Deer are up there in terms of my loves. God, Family and Deer! What else is there?
This guy, Dave Strafford is an award winning hunting guide, speaker and taxidermist. He had animals (mostly deer) from all over the US. And they were huge!!! He probably had 100 deer mounts. I saw some animals that were way up there in Boone and Crockett points. He had both typical and non-typical.
This guy was truly a deer enthusiast. He currently has 6 deer in a pen behind his house so he can watch them, learn, and grow in his ability to mount them. He used to have more than 20. I had the opportunity watch these deer for awhile. What a great time we had. It was great to meet this guy that is using his passion to serve the Lord. Not only is he amazing at what he does, but he travels around sharing his 2 passions, Christ and deer, at sportsmen's banquets, camps, and seminars. Very cool.
In an earlier post, I mentioned SC is different? Well, we drove 20 miles to Laird's BBQ. the BBQ sauce wasn't BBQ sauce as I knew it. They just didn't have the typical sauce. It was this amazingly good mustard based sauce. yum! The buffet included hash, fried chicken, fried gizzards, fried Liver, fried Okra, hush puppies, and some other stuff I didn't recognize. A truly great, but very different experience. I think I fit right in with the guys wearing their mossy oak camo hats and denim overalls. (I can at least pretend I fit in, right?).
Rob
Our house was built in the 1870's. It was sided (at least some of it) in the 1880's... and we have the newspaper to prove it. In early April, we started to have our house re-sided. As the old cedar and pine clapboard siding was removed, it revealed the original wide plank sheathing... not plywood. And it was all dry. Not only that, but as part of the vapor barrier, our contractor found a piece of newspaper with the date of 1881 on it. Unbelievable, huh? The siding job took forever, but it has now been replaced. It's a little sad to think that we just tore off 130 year old siding to replace it with vinyl, but then I think about the former owner who used to re-paint the house EVERY fall... all of a sudden, I'm not as sad anymore.
The siding job is now complete! Next up... landscaping!
Oddly enough... we bought our house on the day Chase was born, just over 3 years ago. On Zachary's first birthday, our siding project came to a completion. I'm not sure Zach appreciated the new gutters for his birthday, but his parents did!
Tessa stood up, let go and did a free stand that lasted 5 seconds yesterday-- twice! She's growing up too fast.
We then surprised the kids with a free concert at Ocean City Tabernacle. This was the kick-off of their Summer season. The concert featured 4 bands, Nevertheless, Krystal Myers, DecembeRadio, and SuperChic[k]. In case you do not know who these bands are, they all have hits on the top 40 Christian Bill board. DecembeRadio just received a Dove award, Krystal Myers was nominated for Best Female Vocalist, and SuperChic[k] has released several albums dealing with the way Christian girls should live their lives and their self esteem. We were able to be right upfront. Darlene and I were actually in the mosh pit. (I got a compliment when Darlene informed me that I proved I was not as old as she thought.) Darlene even got to sing into the mic during the Superchic[k] set. Both the kids met and got autographs from all band members. What an experience!!!!! I don’t know if I had more fun at the concert enjoying the music or watching Darlene and Christopher and remembering all the concerts and Creation festivals we attended as teenagers.
Nevertheless and Krystal Meyers
DecembeRadio and
SuperChic[k]
These are a couple of pictures of getting autographs with some of the bands.
Memorial Day started with Darlene marching in a parade in Absecon. She has signed up to be in the high school band for next year and was invited to carry the banner for parades for this spring and summer.
as Christopher said “It was worth the work.” Our first grilled dinner of the season was Steak and grilled potatoes.
