Sunny Days

And do I mean SUNNY! What a relief the sun brings to us sometimes. We thank the Lord every morning for blue skies and sunshine when we have it. Last week we had about four HOT days in a row. Hot for England, that is. My sweet friend, Esther, claimed to be wilting during our *heatwave.* Sorry, Esther. If you ever come visit us in America, you had better come in the autumn or winter. Even the spring can be brutal!

So the kids picnicked outside several days in a row. We slathered on the sun cream and spent every extra minute outside. Caitlin and children spent last Saturday with us, and of course, we basked in the sun. Aaaaahhhhh. Really, it's the little things! ;-)I tried to crop in on this photo, so hopefully you can see the beautiful woodpecker who has made a home in the dead willow tree in our garden.

The most fun thing about this woodpecker is not the noise, but the baby woodepeckers that have been squeaking and chirping their little hearts out the past few weeks. They must be getting ready to leave the nest soon. I hope Daisy doesn't notice too much!Check out these lily white English children ...
I love this photo of Gillian with Gabby-Gabby-Woo-Woo - it shows her true personality:
My beautiful sister with her beautiful daughter:My adorable nearly-five-year-old:And my stunning daughter:

My Biggest Boy is 12

I truly cannot believe how quickly the past 12 years have flown by. I understand now what the adults meant when they said that - back in the days when the weeks up to Christmas and my birthday seemed to last forEVER.

But now I understand. It seems like just yesterday I gave birth to an 8 lb. 10 oz. baby boy. Immediately he became the light of my life. I truly never understood unconditional love until the moment I held Joshua in my arms. I felt like I had a taste of the love God has for us.

Fast forward 12 years, and I have a full-fledged pre-teen on my hands. Not just any pre-teen, though. My pre-teen loves the Lord. He seeks God in his life on a daily basis. He treasures his family and friends. And he is growing every day. In more ways than one.

We are so, so, so proud of our son. We are so blessed by Joshua in more ways than we can even say. What joy we have in watching him interact with his siblings and cousins - the way he engages them and teaches them. And how he has matured in how he interacts with adults and in the choices he makes for himself. He is proving to be trustworthy and reliable. I know I can count on him when I ask him for help or to do something for our household or his siblings. What joy, and what pride fills my heart.

On to the birthday ...

Joshua loves all things WWII, in particular D-Day. Last year we bought him a vintage WWII Army helmet. This year we decided to add to his WWII wardrobe and bought him a replica 1943 Airborne Infantry Jump jacket. This was a huge surprise for him as he hadn't even thought of asking for it! I think he liked it, though.

For his birthday "cake" Joshua asked for English Apple Crumble and English Custard (different from American custard). All in all, a great weekend.

Blythe and Aaron Visit

I've said it before that there is nothing like having family visit. And good friends, too, of course. I don't know what it is - it's like bringing your two worlds together. We have loved having the visitors we've had during our three years in England. It has never failed to be anything less than a blessing to us.

Sister Blythe and brother-in-law Aaron (aka Rockstar) visited for a most enjoyable two weeks. I'll let her tell about all her adventures on her blog - that is her tale to tell. Suffice it to say, it was a joy and a blessing to have them visit. They split their time pretty evenly between us and Caitlin's, but I think both Caitlin and I felt it wasn't enough time - for either of us!

We enjoyed day trips to Wales, Avebury, and Stratford. We enjoyed dinners out - and in. And we enjoyed a particularly fun girls' night out at an amazing local Thai restaurant.

We celebrated two family birthdays, shopped, walked, and laughed. We played on the Wii, played outside, drank wine, and laughed some more. I sure miss having all my sisters all together.

Ramblings

I have not updated lately due to our over-due visit from my sister and her husband - all the way from Colorado!

Most of you probably know they were delayed by a full week because of the volcanic ash from that unpronounceable volcano in Iceland. This is also the reason Joshua was delayed by a week from coming home from his one-week visit to America. That about broke my heart. But he is safely home now and it is like he never left!

So, we had a great visit with Blythe and Aaron. I will do more posts on their visit in the next weeks (hopefully).

In the meantime, Aidan had his first sleep-over! Adam's mom and dad went on an overnight trip to celebrate their anniversary, and Adam came and stayed with us for a full 24 hours.

The boys did great. They played almost all day outside on Saturday as it was beautiful weather. They had a tasty dinner, then a scrub-down in the tub, then off to bed. I was skeptical about putting them both on the floor in sleeping bags, but after a few minutes of whispering and giggling, they went to sleep!

In the morning they got up (early) and traipsed downstairs by themselves to get an early morning snack of dry cereal and to watch a show.


All in all a great experience and one which Aidan hopes to have again soon!

We also had a 'girls' trip to London. This was supposed to include Blythe, but because of the volcano, sadly, she couldn't make it. Caitlin, Gillian, and I took the train from Cheltenham into London, met up with our dear friend, Courtney, and we went to a nice dinner at a French restaurant near the theatre. Afterwards, we went and saw 'Wicked' - which has turned into one of my favorite shows of all time. A great time out together, we just missed Blythe.







We also celebrated Patrick's 51st birthday!! He received a day on a Harley (just like last year, I know, but it's the only thing he wanted - aside from actually owning one) with Artur. They both had Heritage Softails - beasts, they were - and enjoyed a chilly ride into South Wales and around Southern England.



We loved having family here to celebrate two birthdays, as we celebrated Joshua's 12th last week, too. More on that, later, too.