Summer Highlights 2007

A WALK IN THE GARDEN

There are so many moments in life that deserve my notice. If only I slow down long enough to breath and take a look around. Today my son and I took a walk in the garden together. We not only enjoyed eachothers company, we savored all the small treasures living and growing there . Our time allowed for me to reflect on how quickly my little boy is growing and how I long to joyfully relish in each and every new adventure he discovers and explores. Like the passing of each season, our children move through life with daily growth and new strength to face a new day, that much wiser and more beautiful.

It's been a fun filled, transitional, milestone reaching, sunshine splashing, daddy crashing, momma blasting kind of summer for us. To find out more of the details read on or stay safe and stick with the pictures. Hope you all had a wonderful summer!

Luke turned 2 in May and

we got a new bunny named Snickers!

Daddy had a happy fathers day!

Makayla learned to ride without training wheels!

Meyer Family came to visit!

We visited Grandma and grandpa!

Horsing around on Grandma and pa's farm!

Makayla lost her two front teeth in one day!

Cousins at 4th of July Parade!

Quite Time!
Daddy playing in sand in extreme back pain!

Beach Bums!

Lemonade Stands Rock!

Pool Time!

Girl Friends!

More bike riding!

Fun in the Sun!

Water Park!

Sibling Rivalry!

August 2007/ Summer's last Hurrah!

The month of August started out with VBS. Where 22 kids received Christ and Kim was tremendously blessed to serve along side some wonderful people. Our family feels more connected to our church after sharing in local outreaches. Over 100 kids attended VBS, including Makayla. She really seems happy these days and is so excited to be starting Kindergarten next month. Most of Makayls's days are spent outside playing with neighborhood children and riding her bike (without training wheels). Our new neighborhood has been a tremendous blessing to our family, It's like we have built in friendships from the moment we step out our front door. Scott had back surgery on August 7th. It went well and he spent only one night in the hospital. He is still loaded up on all kinds of med's and has spent most the month asleep more than awake. He is walking better, but is still experiencing pain and numbness in his leg, which we hope will decrease with time. Between taking care of daddy, our family has gone to a old fashion corn feed and a few local parks to play. Its been a month of staying fairly low key, watching allot of movies at home, receiving meals and also getting help with yard work and child care from our new church family. Kim started to feel a little like Cinderella and just in the nick of time had a needed night out with some ladies to eat chocolate. What wonders one evening away can do for a mothers soul. We are in the midst of a chicken pox scare. Kim and the kids are playing hokey from church just in case. Turns out Luke missed his shots for that one and he is at risk, because one of the youth has it and she just happened to have loved on our kids right before she realized she had it. So we shall see! Kindergarten open house is next week , so Makayla and mama had some "mommy / daughter time" to school shop. Kim is thrilled to be attending a photography workshop next month with a wonderful nationally acclaimed photographer Me Ra Koh. Kim's passion for photography grows daily as she plays with new techniques and continues to document the growth of our kids. Scott and Kim will be having their 12 year anniversary next month, so we have planned a little over night get away.

July 2007/ Summer Challenges

July started out with some fun ( that's debatable) adventures. Scott headed to Florida for a CMA Life conference with some youth. Kim loaded up the van and headed to Washington with both kids, two dogs and a bunny. Things looked a little bleak when the van wouldn't start in the driveway. We eventually made our way to the San Juan Islands to share in the forth of July festivities with grandparents. We also were able to visit a bit with friends in the Puget Sound area. Scott's trip took a bad turn when he woke up on the second to the last day in severe back pain and numbness to his right leg. He called from Disney World while trying to maneuver the crowds in a handicap scooter. The rest of his time was spent alone in the hotel room, while the rest of the group played. We finally got Scott back home and then the adventure of doctors appointments began. Finally an MRI revealed a ruptured disk and the need for surgery. Surgery was scheduled for early August, so it became a waiting game and a matter of pain management. The meds made daddy very sleepy (kind of grumpy too). The highlights of July were visits from family and friends. Our nieces, grand-dad and also the Meyer family came for a stay. We also attended the local parade and made a trip to the Ocean to play on the beach and go to Mo's restaurant to celebrate Kim's birthday. The summer is flying by even in the face of physical adversity. We had a successful garage sale and lemonade stand too. The youth group takes a break for July which is God's timing in light of Scott's current condition. We praise God for new health insurance that kicked in 3 days prior to Scott's back problem. I too have been struggling with my own back issues and have been seeing a Chiropractor in the past few months. The kids are doing great. Luke is so much fun. His favorite things to do are to play with his choo-choo trains and cars. He loves the movie, Cars and asks to watch it every day. His personality is full of funny faces and funny noises and words that are all his own. He is getting a little feisty with his sister these days and screams in frustration. Makayla has had an incredible summer of learning. She lost her two front teeth this month , has learned to ride her bike without training wheels and can also do the monkey bars all by herself. She is loving our new church and has had fun being baby sat by some very cool teenage girls whom she adores.

June 2007/ We're Loving it Here!

We've been living in our new neighborhood for a over a month and it's starting to feel like home. We were welcomed the first night by teenagers sneaking into our backyard to try to scare us... what they don't know is we are keen on all that sort of stuff! It was a nice try!!! Our new home is cozy. The Lord helped it feel more like home right away as He allowed for our dear friends, the McKee's to come visit the very first weekend. What a gift! The house has a fully fenced back yard with plenty of space for play. There is a sweet little front porch to watch the kids out front or visit with neighbors. We are finally unpacked and have yet to do a garage sale to weed out the miscellaneous. The kids are happy and transitioned beautifully. We are just now starting to do fun family projects like planting a garden. The weather has been incredible! We spend allot of time going for strolls around the block and walking the dogs to the neighborhood creek for a swim (It's also a great spot to go on a bear hunt). Makayla has spent most of her time playing with new friends in the neighborhood. It is all about lemonade stands, bike riding, scooter rolling and who's backyard they are all going to play in next. Luke is really come into his own since turning two last month. He is talking a ton and very active, climbing, running and riding his trike anywhere and everywhere. Scott has been enjoying his new job. Our head pastor has been out of town so Scott had his second opportunity to preach over the Memorial day weekend. He spoke about the importance of prayer. He did a great job and I could see that Scott is doing exactly what God would have him do. He is a natural behind the pulpit. Speaking of the importance of prayer , we have become firm believers over this past year for sure...I believe the last Totten update we sent was asking for prayer concerning the sale of our home. I specifically asked people to pray that our house sell fast and for full price. Well this is a testimony to the power of prayer...I sent out that prayer request in the morning and by that evening we had a full price offer and one more offer possibly coming in the following day. So thank you for your prayers! The house sold without a hitch and the Lord opened our paths to move forward into His plan for in this next season of life. Scott is enjoying working with youth again. There are many mature Senior High youth and Scott has been encouraged by the large number of very young un-churched Junior High kids that come to youth group week after week. The highlight for the youth this past month besides graduation and prom, has been a garage sale to help raise money to attend ( LIFE ) a CMA youth event in Florida next month and also to participate in a 30 hour famine to raise awareness of hunger both locally and worldwide. The kids and Scott gathered with four other local youth groups to sleep out of doors in cardboard boxes as if homeless and to go without food for 30 hours. The youth also spent time planting a large community garden that will help feed local families in need. We have been tremendously blessed and warmly welcomed by our new church family. On Mothers day our head pastor had our family come forward to recieve welcome and prayer. Before we were allowed to go back to our seets we were surprized when the congragation "Pounded" us. Pounding has been a tradition for Dallas Allience for generations. We stood and watched as people brought forth pounds and pounds, baskets, boxes and bags of food for our patny. It was very overwhelming! This has been a year of plentiful eating... and a true testimony to how God truelly does provide! It feels good to finally be in a position to give back and help others and Lord knows we have more than enough food to share right now! Kimberlyn has been enjoying getting aquainted with the new area we live and has only gotten lost once so far. It has been a fun challenge to find all the local parks and kid friendly activities. Just last week Kimberlyn and the kids did some errands on foot and walked to the local post office, bank and medical clinic. This small town thing beats rush hour anyday! Scott's work is 3 minutes away and Makayla's new school is just a few blocks down. Our family is blessed to spend more time with Kimberlyn's sister, Allison, who lives a mear 12 minutes away. Aunty has horses and the kids think that is pretty cool,( wait till she puts them to work mucking stalls) plus Luke is anamered with Aunty's big truck too! I have been having fun learning how to create this blog and I hope you enjoy it. Please take a peek from time to time for monthly updates. We love you and miss you... thank you all for supporting us over this past year. ..we are eternally grateful for your love and friendship. God is faithful and Oh so Good!

May 2007/ Here's to Blogging!

Here we go... this is our first blog experience. This seems like a fun way to stay connected with friends and family . We look forward to updating our blog from time to time and adding new photo's to keep you informed on the growth of our kids and the goings on in our lives. Most of all it will be a place to share photo's and stay connected. Please leave comments so we can here from you as well. Besides albums of family and friends, which are close to our hearts, Kimberlyn will be posting some of her photography work both past and present. LifeSong Photography by Kimberlyn is a dream in the making. There will be photo's for memories sake and also just plain "just for fun" stuff too. View at your own risk! Please keep us posted on your LifeSong too.