This last week or so has been interesting.... Actually, the whole month has been.

The kids went to the dentist, and no cavities *again* Yay!! We had a hard time with Josiah when he was young, and we've come a long way in this dept.!

This is a picture of us on the 3rd of July, down at the Hasenhorls on the 3rd of July party in Stanwood, Wa.

Rod and I are adjusting to life. Things are going well... as well as can be expected anyhow.



Josiah played in the AllStars tournament at the beginning of the month. I'm not sure I would have him play again. They stayed in for four games. Won-lost-won-lost.

7/13/08: A friend of ours, through Friday School, had a bunch of free tickets for paintball. So they took a group of about 40 people, including a bunch of our friday school teens. I didn't think anything of going, until the day before when I realized what we were going to be doing. Then when we got there *sigh* I was SO chicken!!!

There were quite a few of us who hadn't played before. By the end of the day, I felt like I was one of the boys. Can you see me crawling on the ground with a gun and hiding behind paintball shelters? Funny, huh? I played every game, and had so much fun.

They have a sign up that said "share the welt". Yah, we sure did. I have a couple of big ol’ bruises. We took Josiah with us. He was a real trooper - figured out fast to stay out of others' sights. One of my favorite memories from that day will be seeing him "charge the hill" like he was playing in Star wars Battlefront! Living the Dream - that's what he did! I ended up really enjoying myself. Told Rod that we need to invest in some guns and create a paintball type field out at mom & dads... that would Rock!

Left: Josiah with his paintball gun.

Afterwards we spent the evening out on Samish Island at the beach. Bonfire & BBQ. I love bonfires. (The only thing missing was Jay & his guitar!)

Left: Julia on Princess Amy.

This last week the boys went to horse camp. Josiah full day. Jedediah and Jaden half days.

Monday when went to pick the boys up, Julia was mad as a hornet. She wanted to ride a pony so badly!! There was a big "show" over it. (The boys have been talking about it for two weeks, and she thought she was going too, but she's not even close to being old enough.) So we signed her up for a couple of pony rides. She rode the pony named Princess Amy. That was a befitting ride for my little girl. Josiah rode Digger (horse) this year. Jedediah rode Maple (horse) and Jaden rode Rex (pony).

Below: Jedediah on Maple.

Graduation was last friday.. where we go watched them ride and where we hear our boys get awarded… Josiah “best drill team leader”, Jedediah “speedy cowboy,” and Jaden “energizer cowboy”. I got a kick out of each of their titles… they don’t’ EVER have a boy be the drill team leader on graduation day… so it was a BIG deal for Josiah to be one! And he did an awesome job! Jedediah really found his place in horse riding this year… Jaden I guess had enough energy for the entire group! It was a good week.

Below: Jaden on Rex.

Rod got his first unemployment check this last week. I seriously wonder how anyone is expected to live on that... but it's a good something. His severance check hasn't come. They have 30 days to give it to him. I sure hope they don't wait till midnight on July 28th (last day) to give it to him!

For what he has looked for work, he hasn't found anything. Honestly, i'm enjoying his time off. I just keep thanking the Lord for keeping enough in the bank to pay our bills and put food on the table. I'm really trying not to stress because I really do believe that the Lord will provide for us.

It's Friday School newsletter time again. I haven't had to do it (take a couple of months off in the summer), but it's time to get that started up again. I'd put it so far out of my mind, that I had to try to remember what program we do it in. Polli began using this particular program, and it works fantastic for us, but I only use it for the newsletter.. so I had to laugh at myself about that. So, you can see me.. sitting in front of a large monitor working on it for a few hours trying to fit all the new stuff & changes into it!!!

Hope you're having a great July! Thinking of you all! Looking forward to some sort of get together when the TenBrinks get home :) Zip.