Sunday walk

We had a full house at church this morning. We thank the Lord for a good service. Today was a beautiful mild summer day. We have gotten much rain in the last days, and coupled with the sun before and during that time, everything is green and growing. Well, almost everything. Those beautiful yellow fields we enjoyed a little over a month ago are now nearing harvest time. The kids learned the names of the various grains as we walked down the path between the fields, and rubbed them to see the seeds inside.

Facets of Daily Life

In spite of drizzle, the girls went out for a walk and some fresh air this morning. Several times throughout the day it rained very hard. Our neighbors got home from a 2-week vacation today, so after supper I went out with a few of our children to chat with them for a little bit. Their son is 1 and 1/2 now. Amber was a huge help to me today once again by helping to diminish my ironing pile. Thank you, Amber! Bradley has been working tirelessly on the song book project. Today was another 15- hour-day behind the computer. Thank the Lord for His grace. Kevin has also kindly helped by taking some of Bradley's other responsibilities, so that Bradley can continue to work at getting this project finished.

And the Work Goes On

Thursday night found 10 McKenzies, 6 Matthias and a King at the old facility. We took out the remaining furniture and boxes and drove them over to the new church. Here Dustin was on one end of a table. Dustin, Doreen and Lynette worked on pulling off old wall paper in the old nursery. Donia was one of 5 "floor scrapers", getting rid of the glue and rubber that stuck to the floor when the old carpet was removed. The men were in the front taking down the lights and curtain rods from 3 m ceilings

Adventure with Miss Amber

Wednesday was the last time for the boys to be at Miss Amber's apartment. (She is flying back to the States on July 4th.) They picked up Edwin on their way. The kids always enjoy coloring. Miss Amber has the art work of the past year displayed on her bedroom wall. It looks like she will need to start decorating a new room! :) After baking and games, the boys had supper with her. This time the picnic had to be moved inside very quickly when a heavy rain storm blew up.

Around the House

Devon enjoying reading after lunch. Miss Amber and Doreen have enjoyed many hours of reading together. What a blessing Amber has been for her and the other kids. The kids could tell you that my body often shuts down and my voice gets slurred when I read to them. :) Here they are in a little closet off of their new room and under the roof. Wednesday it got pretty warm again. Danika found this little Precious Moments coloring page to express her intense desire to get out our inflatable pool that we set on our deck during hot spells. :)

Being Artistic

Danielle, under the supervision of her sister Donia, tried out a new way to play "Alle meine Entchen", the German equivalent to America's "Mary had a little lamb". On Tuesday afternoons Miss Amber has art class with the kids. Here Donovan is presenting the colorful turtle he made this week.

Red Raspberry Harvest

For the last week or so, the kids have been bringing in red raspberries to enjoy, but when I looked out the window today, I saw that there were lots of ripe ones. So, we decided to go out and pick this afternoon. Our raspberries are along our fence on the north side of the house. They get lots of good sunshine there. With Amber's great help we picked 2 1/2 kg of fruit (not counting all that was eaten as we worked :)), and promptly made 8 jars of raspberry jam. Danika, Donovan, and Donia (I didn't get a picture of Donia) kept up the stirring! We enjoyed some of the fresh jam on bread and ice-cream for supper! :)

Cherry Picking at Home

Today started out with a nice summer shower, but by the afternoon the sun was shining brightly, and the red fruit drew us outside! Our own cherry tree is relatively easy to climb, and the kids enjoyed getting up pretty high! By next year we will probably need a ladder to harvest.

Family Fun

Donovan and Danika found snails while they were picking fruit. They promptly adopted them, introduced them to us, bathed them in rain water, and built them little sand caves. The kids found a new place to hang the hammock...on the swing set. They have had loads of fun swinging and being swung. Here Devon is hamming it up with Dustin and Danika.. Danielle enjoyed hearing Dalene's voice during a birthday call to Doreen.

June 15th: Doreen turns 10!

Doreen Rynette turned 10 today. We praise the Lord for her precious life. Today I took a picture of her on her bed with all her little stuffed animals which she had carefully placed in the morning. At noon she had a date with her daddy. They enjoyed bowling, hamburgers and finally a trip to pick up a piano part on the east side of Magdeburg. The man and his family live in a village of 13 people, and across the street from a field filled with thoroughbreds. They were a special treat! In the evening we enjoyed a party with Matthias and Amber. Here she is with her sister Danika and her best friend/cousin, Lynette.

A Clean Break

Right before the concert Wednesday evening, Edwin Matthia (8) had an accident on the trampoline. Since his ability to move it was still very restricted on Thursday, Kevin and Carol took him to the hospital, where the x-ray showed a double break close to the left wrist. He was fixed up with this nice blue synthetic "cast". He came to show and tell while we were cherry picking, so we got this nice picture of him next to the fields that are across from the trees. We are so sorry for Eddie to have to go through this, but are thankful that this is the first bad accident on our trampoline in the four years we have had it.

Cherry Picking

We had gone by "our" cherry trees last week and decided to let the sun work on them until after the team was gone again. So after we had said a sad good-bye in the morning, and moved everyone back into their rooms, we headed out to take a look. These trees are along the railroad track that runs by our home. They do not belong to anybody, and so we enjoy some of their fruit every year. This row of trees also includes pears and apples. We got a nice little harvest to enjoy. The Germans call these cherries "Herzkirschen" (lit. heart cherries). I believe we call them bing cherries in English. They were delicious.

Rounding out the Day

Every evening we enjoyed good fellowship and music (we had several pianists staying at our house) before turning in. I should mention that many of these pictures were taken by Donia who carried the camera with her everywhere she went. She was able to capture lots of memories. Good job, Donia.

After the Service

The guests were invited to have a glass of water or juice, and a good number of them stayed. The team and church members were able to get to know them a little bit. Several of the men made balloon animals and flowers (Lea is holding one on the far left.) which was a highlight for the kids. "Dr. Mom" near the CD table

19.30 Uhr in Magdeburg (7:30 p.m.)

We praise the Lord for a full house, 15 visitors, and a wonderful concert of beautiful music and clear, spoken words that we rejoiced for our guests to hear. May the Word of God in song, testimony and preaching not return void.