"Money can't buy happiness but it can buy ice cream which is kind of the same thing." WOW! Time has gotten away from me! I had two requests this week to update so, even if for myself and those two, I am. There has been much happening this summer into fall. Grab a cup of tea and look back with me! :) (if you want, you really don't have to- I'm sure you'd much rather do that laundry piled up on your bed right?) July- As you read earlier we celebrated 8 years of marriage this year. Yay and UGH! Marriage can be so hard! Am I right!?! I'm baffled by those who think all it takes is love and think love is a feeling to be sought after. Love is a choice. A choice to be all the things the scriptures tell us love is, the things Christ is.

1 Corinthians 13 Love

1If I speak in the tongues^[a] of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames,^[b] but have not love, I gain nothing.

4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

I discovered a couple new quotes you've probably seen on our facebook page and my myspace page: "A woman's heart needs to be so lost in God that a man needs to seek Him in order to find her." I love that! It goes both ways too. Nothing is more wonderful than a man who walks with the Lord and seeks Him first. Only that kind of man can love a woman the way she was made to be loved. Again, it goes both ways and again, IT"S HARD!! I want to be selfish and point out all I do and expect and try to make Gary fill in the blanks but that's not the way it works. Only as we seek God and allow His love to fill us can we be equipped to pour love out on others. As God fills us our expectations may not change for our spouse, but we're not looking to them to fill us. Sounds good right? Hard to execute. "Faith makes things possible, not easy."

We spent the July 4th weekend at the Cabin with Gary's parents and my mom and made it a day late to Faith Kellogg's first birthday. I had an absolute breakdown in the car when our phone came into service and I got the voice mail from Jackie that we missed the actual party. I was completely devastated. I know she won't remember, but I'll never forget. I've always been a bit of a "messy" and while I have great organizational skills I don't follow through well. I'm the person you hire to clean out and organize your closet but don't' ever even THINK about looking in my closet. It looks wonderful about 4 times a year- each time I clean it out! The next day- mess! I heard it wrong, read it wrong on the invitation, told other people our plans wrong around it, and even wrote it wrong on the calendar. *sigh* We did have a wonderful visit the day we DID make it. :) What a blessing the Kellogg's happened to have an afternoon free for us to fill! Grace began taking steps finally mid-July and we bought Tyler a booster seat so Grace could have his forward facing 5-point harness seat. Two major developmental things that we procrastinated a bit long and made us both proud and sad to pass. We tried to get outside as much as possible enjoying the Neely's baby pool, the local park and our own back yard. We also spent an evening at my brother's house playing Wii Fit and Rock Band (?) which was way too fun. Gary still wants both and I'm still telling him NO! When Tyler is older they can play video games together but right now they both need to be outside running around, not glued to a screen. Grace and I too for that matter! I would enjoy the Wii fit though... End of July brought our annual Camping Trip with our Geneva friends. We camp b/c is cheap and it's tradition. It was a wonderful time of fellowship and Tyler LOVED it. Gary enjoyed getting to be "one of the guys" again and I was glad Grace wasn't quite walking well yet b/c she stayed close and pretty much where I put her on blankets. She ate minimal dirt and grass and only chewed one rock. Haha! Thank heavens we were able to have a cabin- Heather does not sleep well on the ground outside. It was also nice to have 12 hours in the car round trip to just visit with Gary. He taught a college course this summer which on top of work really limited his home time. (He's still doing it and so his home time is even less now with school in session!) August brought the "back to school" craziness for Gary. No matter how well he plans he just can't get everything done. He has his lists of what needs done and then come August second about 40 people come to him and ask him to complete projects that each need an entire month to do. He, thankfully, has been able to hire some part time people to be in elementary buildings to relieve a little of his load. He appreciates them greatly and hopefully the teachers do too. August brought Pap's birthday which was bittersweet. The Forackers were in town that week so an added 3 children (Eve stayed home with her dad b/c of school) to my schedule two half days was SO much fun! Pap's birthday had to be spent without grandma though as she was in the hospital at the time. She had kidney failure and emergency dialisis July 4th weekend and after some time in the hospital was moved to the Alliance hospital to try to help her dementia. After a few weeks there was moved to a nursing home where she is in the Alsheimers unit and just in the past week is starting to do better. She seems to finally have adjusted to her new life and her medications. It's been a very long and tiring road for Grandma, Pap and Stephanie and her siblings. August also brought the Cline's to town for a special visit so up north we trecked. That week Tyler finished his second try at the Pike class at the Y. It'll be awhile before he passes so we've taken a break from that. :) We had friends over one Saturday which also was so much fun. We hope to do it more often! We enjoyed the hot-air balloon lift off at Carnation Days in the Park in Alliance and even celebrated our anniversary with a night away from the kids (thanks mom!) and a Tribe game. Most days I hide in the bathroom, shut my eyes, and imagine that weekend. Other than 2 hours of the fire alarm going off it was very restful. :) The following weekend it was back north a THIRD time for weekend at Papa Tim's and CEDAR POINT with grandma Sandra and Uncle Joshua. That was SO MUCH FUN for all of us. It was a perfect weekend and we even got to enjoy "Papa's beach at Papa's lake". The following weekend took us to the Canfield Fair which Tyler was all over after all the rides the Saturday before. September we had my birthday (29!) and a visit to Grandma Sandra's house. I also took the kids to Amish Country with my friend Connie. It was a nice long "wear the kids out and do what I like" day. :) We also hit a high school football game- my first ever! We joined the Y and started trying to go to family swim on Fridays and go to excersise a couple times a week. Grace has still not adjusted to the childcare room. She also cries every week in nursery but is improving. Grace started learning all sorts of new words and now has a pretty extensive vocabulary. She still has only 2 bottom teeth but has about 6 ready to emerge on her top gum. She has a better crayon grip than her brother and loves to color, well, scribble. She's running like crazy now, still slow and careful- not nearly as dare-devil as her brother but she loves animals and pony rides, hanging upside down and being tossed around. :) She also loves rides on the slide and see-saw in the backyard. She doesn't' go a day without making me some "num-num's" with her dishes and loves books. She's a very very good eater though I still have to fight some things in. Seems once she gets a taste she's fine but it's getting that first bite forced in that's the trouble. She's also starting to feed herself with a fork and spoon. I don't let her try often but she's doing well on days she does try. She knows all her body parts and repeats many of the words I say to her as we label things. I'm homeschooling Tyler and he's learning a lot too. He even sounded out a couple words for me a couple weeks ago. I"m trying to not get too far ahead though and work on sounds and consistancy. I think he's going to be an auditory learner. He hates to draw or color but can answer every question in any book i've thrown at him. He still talks non-stop which is a blessing and a pain in the neck. :) Sometimes a mom just wants some quiet! He still participates in "naptime" but only sleeps probably 4 times a week... if I really wear him out. :) Thankfully he tells himself stories and sings quietly in bed the other 3-4 days a week. I'm enjoying each day's quiet time, no matter how short, as I know soon it'll get shorter and even disappear. Gary's enjoying his job and still enjoys participating in worship team at church. He plays drums twice a month, our young adult small group meets twice a month and now we are involved in weekly worship team practice and Bible study on Thursday nights. He also finds time for grading labs, tests and quizzes for his class, reading a great deal online and watching some tv with me and his beloved sports. I was having a good run on Gridiron challenge Fantasy football until I chose 4 players on the undefeated Giants team playing against the Cleveland Browns. Monday night football proved that with a bit of attention the browns are perfectly capable of playing football, not just pretending, which is exciting as a browns fan but very disheartening when it puts your fantasy team in the toilet! Indoor soccer should be starting up soon and gary's birthday and Tyler's birthday are around the corner. Before you know it Thanksgiving will be over and the time of tree decorating, learning carols and cookie baking will be upon us. Which of course brings the most joyous time of year even though you can't be everywhere at once and please everyone. Yay! Celebrating God's love and family guilt all wrapped up in a neat package called Christmas. :0}- I know Grace will really get into it this year so we are very excited! Our kids are blessed with FOUR grandparents who live to spoil them and we're glad they can because we can't (and don't have to!) We enjoyed the 80 degree weekend we had and I'm NOT looking forward to our first snow! What we are thankful for is that we don't have to plow and we have a hill right here for sledding. We thought we might have an offer on our house in Mansfield by an investment company, but they want to take over the mortgage leaving us on it and liable, but take over the mortgage. It's (at this point) not something we're willing to take on. We want to be free of the mortgage before we pursue another home and this would not allow us to. We're trying to be a blessing to the family who is renting it, helping them out as they really struggle financially and in our current economy (which isn't going to get better if people don't stop taking advantage of the system and do the ethical and responsible thing!!!). They love and care for the house but they don't pay rent on time... we're taking the good with the bad and praying the Lord's glory shines through even as we face the unknown. "Be the kind of woman that when your feet hit the floor each morning the devil says "Oh crap, she's up!" "There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, Thy will be done, and those to whom God says, All right, then, have it your way." -- C. S. Lewis