This Is The Place!

Going through the food line:



What would we do without Rosemary Case?? She's a miracle worker in the kitchen.







Sunday evening worship....







My room/office.....Remember this, Heather Smith, Erin Ward, Wendy and Bischoff grandkids? Same room...


Boxes and boxes and boxes of t-shirts....



I hope I can get around to get pictures of some ministry sites tomorrow, because I will go home Tuesday night and get ready to leave for Denver early Thursday morning.

Those Pesky Racoons

This isn't my first post about racoons. Right after I started blogging, I lost some fish out of my ponds to a racoon. I still have 4 goldfish in one pond and two koi in the other. They haven't been bothered anymore since we put those little solar lights around the area.

But....the backyard is a different story. I had been noticing that one of my birdfeeders had been on the ground every morning last week. All of the bird seed spilled out onto the ground. I was wrongly blaming the squirrels. But I picked it up and put more seed into it and hung it back on the hook.

Here's the culprits:






You can't really tell from the pictures, but it is a family....daddy, momma and three babies. At least, it's two big ones and three little ones. I guess one of the big ones stood up and somehow knocked that feeder off the hook. But, hey, they didn't even run away when I walked out there and took the pictures! They just looked at me! I wonder if they sell racoon repellant anywhere? I do have a pellet gun. That might repel them.

Later....

Dead-eye Donna

Catching Up

Well, here I am in St. Louis for the St. Louis Project '09. We have 15 student ministry groups from Missouri, Florida, Oklahoma, and Texas. All totalled about 220 people here for the week ministring in various churches and parks. We are lodged at FBC, Ferguson, a church with a missions heart. They don't mind being invaded by a couple hundred students who want to share Jesus with their city. It's Sunday afternoon and dinner will be in about 20 minutes, then Bob Caldwell will bring the evening message.

Meanwhile, I thought I would catch up on some pictures that I have not posted. I took these at the Family Fun Night after VBS.

Here's Pappy and Cael:


Gavin's trying to knock his dad into the dunk tank:


Cael is amazed by the fireworks:




Then Sunday night the China team returned. We all went to the airport to welcome them home.

Here comes Momma:












Happy homecoming!! Thank you God for a safe trip and for the wonderful stories we will hear of what You did in China and Uganda and Romania.

Gotta go eat now. I think it's Mexican tonight. Mmmmmmm.

Donna

VBS - GKIDS

What a busy week! But now that it's over I can say what a fun week. I wanted to post some pictures of the kids at Vacation Bible School. The theme this year was Outback Express and used Austrailian props and facts to teach about Peter and his relationship with Jesus. The Fun Night is tonight with inflatables, dunk tank, and fireworks, so I may have to do another post, but for now...because Heather is in China...I wanted to put some up for her.



Haven saw me and wanted to give me a hug.



This time I tried to sneak a pic:



Jadon and Ella:





Tooooo loud, Ms. Linda:



All Abooaaard!! The Outback Express......





Jude was here until 7:30 the first two nights, but I missed getting his picture.
So here's one of all three of them at breakfast one morning:



Cael's first VBS:





Gavin leading the songs at VBS on the stage:





G'day Mates,

Donna

Aaaaawwwww.....

I got home the other day and was going out into the back yard and saw the most horrible sight! A bird was caught in the shepherd's hook that was holding a plant and a bird feeder. Poor thing was flapping and flopping around...for I don't know how long. His little leg was stuck and he couldn't get out. I ran over there and immediately got a hold of his foot with one hand and his body with the other, then gently lifted him out of there. I was so afraid that little leg would just break in half but it stayed together. I put him down, but he just laid there. I knew his wings were okay, but he still wouldn't try to fly.



This is the trap that his little leg fell into:



CLOSE UP WARNING: Please don't let your children look at this picture and if you are the least bit squeamish, you look away as well.



Well, I went inside and called the Conservation Department. She said the bird was probably still in shock and the leg would likely eventually heal. If I could put him up on a branch to protect him from animals, he would be okay. Well, I can't reach any of the branches on our trees, so I just kept an eye on him until Gary got home and told him the story. He went out with me to put birdie up in a tree, but when I picked birdie up, he flew up into a tree! Yeaaahhhh!! We clapped and praised him (actually, I clapped and praised him). What a relief! He had come out of his shocked state. I really believe he will be alright.

Why do the boys come to mema and pappy's house????? To find frogs, of course!

Gavin's frog


Jadon's frog


Jude and Cael at Haven's birthday party


Haven and Cael at Haven's birthday party


Have a lovely week,

Donna, bird rescuer

Here kitty, kitty, kitty

I stopped by my sister's house yesterday and got to see the kittens. I hadn't seen them since they were just a few days old and just barely had their eyes open. Now they are running around, playing, just being so adorable.

Here's Tippy:



Here's Mousey:



Here's Harry:



Here's Georgie:



Here's Mama:












Karla has such a soft spot for cats, especially when they are this age. I think it's because when she was little, a friend of our parents nicknamed her "spittin' kitty". He got a real kick out of her "spitfire" personality.

She fully intended to give all these babies away....until they got so CUTE! Will she? Won't she?....I guess we'll see.

Love 'ya sis,

Donna

Well, new week....new month. June....unbelievable!

Yesterday at church was the Commissioning service for our mission teams that are going out this summer. Romania, China, Uganda, Denver. God, please anoint each of these missionaries with Your love for the people in these places and your power to accomplish things they couldn't do on their own. Let them see You at work, changing hearts and lives.

Today is a beautiful sunny day. I'm sure the temp is in the upper 80's or low 90's. Jadon and Haven brought a new sprinkler that Nana had bought them. It's really cute, it waves around and around...you never know where it's going to spray.





I took a plastic pool outside and filled it and they played and played. But not Jude. He didn't like the sprinkler, he didn't like the pool..no way, no how. So he just played in his own little world...in the car...in the gravel...wherever.



I finally remembered a little blow-up pool I bought at the end of last summer on clearance that I thought Jude would like this year. But noooooo. The others sure did like it, though.







Notice, I didn't get too close when the sprinkler was on. I was pretty content to catch some rays on these chicken-white legs.

Summer's here!!