April 2009 Update - finally!

Thank you to all who have viewed our family blog and given a note saying I need to update it. Yes, it has been quite a long time since I have uploaded any new photos, but we have been very busy - to say the least - as I know many of you are. Since December and our trip home to Pa we have put our house on the market in hopes of selling it before the end of summer. Summertime is hard for me in TX because of the heat; the kids pretty much stay inside the entire time except for swimming in the pool or playing with the hose outside. So we have decided to build a bigger home in Sherman and hopefully we will be able to be in it by the end of August and before the start of the new school year. This will be such a relief to me to have more room for the kids to play and for us to spread out as a family. God has been so good to us and has blessed us over the last 10 years with a home that has met our needs every step of the way. I rest with assurance that God will bless us again with this new home - in His perfect timing - for the hot and humid summer that approaches. To God be the glory great things He has done.

In the meantime we have been going to Jordan's Upward basketball games on Saturdays to watch him play. We are very proud of him for playing great defensive and for scoring his first basket of the season. It is now over and we are enjoying the short time of rest in not running to a game every weekend.

In February we had Abby's sixth birthday party at her favorite place: Jump-n-Land at the mall. It was a time for Abby to invite her friends from school to help her celebrate this special occasion. She enjoyed this very much and we all had a great time! At home we had another birthday party for her and this time we invited the neighbors, who are like family to us, to come and share Abby's special day. Even the neighbor boys hit the Hannah Montana pinata and gathered up the "girly" prizes that were in it. They were such good sports to sit down at the table and drink juice out the Hannah Montana cups and eat a Hannah Montana cake. I give them props for being good friends to her!

At the beginning of March, my dad came to visit us for a couple of days from Russia and we had a nice time with him. He has visited us before, and each time we have enjoyed his company. The kids love to have him here and it is good for him to be a part of their lives. This time we went to the aquarium in Dallas and had a great time. After that we took him to the "hot spot" for young people in downtown Dallas, the West End, and enjoyed a mexican meal. All of us are enjoying getting to know my dad all over again for who he is and for the love he has for us. What blessings I would of missed if it hadn't been for a God who redeems and restores broken and discarded relationships. Thank you Lord!

Also in March, Karl was off for three weeks from work at Texas Instruments because of the economy; the company was trying to move inventory out of the supply chain to match current production rates with incoming demand. It worked out perfectly as we had to meet with the sales person for our new home and this took many meetings which we now had time for. The kids loved having dad at home and I was actually spoiled for a while. I definitely missed Karl being at home this week taking kids to school , helping me make dinner, and just keeping me company. Karl said that he had to go back to work to get some rest!

Our family also switched churches from Joshua's Crossing, which we helped start, to our new church home in Sherman Bible. This transition has been good for us as a family and as individuals. The kids have many opportunities to get involved in different programs than at JC. This has opened new doors for them and I believe it has been for their good. I was also given the opportunity to read scripture and say a short pray at the end of worship with Sherman Bible's worship team. I love helping to lead worship by playing the part that I believe God has given me and this was an awesome opportunity to bless Him through blessing others. Karl and I have been trying to get more involved by recently attending a meet-and-greet with the pastor and staff of Sherman Bible. We are also looking to get involved in their community groups and met with several community group leaders last Sunday afternoon.

Recently, the weather has been so nice - just right for playing outside and enjoying the sunshine. The kids have been riding their bikes, playing in the sandbox and making pictures in the driveway with chalk.

Thank you all for being interested in our lives and reading our blog - I hope you have enjoyed it.

New to the blog scene.

There is so much to share with all of you since this is our first blog. We are looking forward to being back in PA over Christmas break and will have several days of visiting family and seeing our friends. Abby is spilling over with excitement and Karl is looking forward to hanging out with everyone he hasn't seen in years. The whole family is looking forward to colder weather in PA though it has been chilly here in Texas over the last week: to sled riding, snow angels and ice skating!

Other events in our lives have been Abby's soccer games on Saturday mornings. We enjoyed seeing her play soccer for the first time and it reminds us of when Jordan first played. He has now moved on to other things like Karate and looking forward to joining the basketball team in November. Maddie even took the soccer ball and was kicking it around-she just might be the only one that will stay with the game when she plays in a couple of years.

Abby is enjoying being a student in Sory Elementary School here in Sherman. She loves school, her teacher and being in kindergarten. She looks forward to homework and loves to read but most of all she is an artist. You hardly ever see her without pencils, crayons, markers, glitter and glue. She absolutely loves to create art and dress up like Hannah Montana. Jordan also is in Sory Elementary School in the third grade and has one more year as an elementary student before he goes on to middle school. We just cannot believe he is almost a double digit ten! For his nineth birthday we purchased an electic guitar for him and he is looking forward to taking up guitar lessons sometime in the upcoming year.

Karl has a new position at Texas Instruments-as an Engineering Manager. He took over his boss's position in October, and has been busy in his new role at work. He continues to play softball on Monday nights and is apart of the leadership at our church Joshua's Crossing. I am enjoying staying home with Madison and watching her grow up right before my eyes into a toddler. I can't believe that my time as a stay at home mom is coming to an end. Soon Maddie will be in school and I will have to think of something to do with my time outside of the home.

All in all life is good and is busy. We are enjoying the fall weather now that it is a little cooler here and are looking forward to bundling up in our winter clothes and enjoying the cold weather that we hope comes are way.