Tyler riding his bike

Tyler and Grace reading books at the library!

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!TOO MUCH GOING ON!!! I"m in the middle of a post about my birthday weekend and hope to finish it this week sometime... or at least before the baby comes! I had an awesome weekend this week too but even more than that I have prayer updates and requests... Please continue to pray for Sue as she battles leukemia. She will have 2 or 3 more treatments, I can't recall so she still has a long road ahead of her. Deneal (to my knowledge) is back in law school as well so keep her in prayer as she balances school and helping care for her mother. Kelsey is home from the hospital and doing well. Her clot in her brain is getting smaller and she's getting her seizure medication adjusted this week. She still has to have someone with her 24 hours a day and it will be a long time before she's driving again. She too has a long road ahead but I know she's grateful for all the prayers, encouragement and support she's received. There are so many more needs that I can't mention but those of you who read, know I'm praying for you constantly. We want to ask you to pray for us as well. Friday of my birthday weekend when we got home from going out we had a card in the mail from our renters. The good news is that they paid rent, the bad news is they are moving out. They hope to be out by the end of the month. This means we'll have to be heading over there to do some cleaning and painting- well Gary will. I'm too far along to be helping him with that. We pray that we'll be able to get it ready to have a couple open houses before the baby is born and our agreement with our realtor runs out. Selling would be the ultimate answer to prayer. If we can't I think we're going to try to auction it off. We're asking the Lord to lead us and make clear the direction he has for us. It's a scary situation, but we know how blessed we are to not have bigger trials.
Last week was a busy one. The kids at Gary's school started Tuesday and I"m so glad Gary only worked from home Monday because he was at work for very long hours all week. Tuesday as the first day went well. He was encouraged at how patient people seemed to be about things but the patience I guess wore out by Wednesday morning. I took the kids to the library that day and then to the grocery store. The kids were very well behaved as I walked around in a daze filling my cart. Thankfully Aldi is like a second home to us so the kids can help me find stuff. :) By the time we got home and I got the van unloaded I was exhausted. Groceries are heavy!! I almost fell down the driveway as I opened the back hatch and some soup and juice atacked me. I need to pack better and back into the driveway so we're not downhill for the unloading process! :) We had lunch and a regular afternoon. Thursday was my first mops meeting of the year. It's in the evening now and poor Gary got home about 5 minutes before I had to leave. He did a lot of work for me while I was gone for which I'm still very grateful! The meeting was really fun and I'm very glad I went. I even am in a group with a girl he was friends wiht in high school! Friday was a crazy day. I had to process my tomatoes before they all went bad so I did that, which seemed to take forever and so many bowls!! I got the kids in bed only an hour late and that afternoon/evening I also made cookies, no bake bars, and cupcakes for a bake sale. We also made a trip to walmart that evening to get me a couple things I needed. Saturday morning I packed up and we headed out to run errands. We got the car washed (which is a complete waste of money if you ask me), and the oil changed and Gary took me to Lori's for my Girls Weekend!!!

I had such a good time. We went to the mall together and got to go to lots of great stores including Tiffany's which was amazing. The diamonds in there made mine look like a piece of glass. I need to clean it! We got dinner and Panera and then went back to Lori's apartment and watched The Devil Wears Parada and Sex and the City movies. Sunday we slept in and relaxed all morning and then headed to her parents house to play with Penny and have lunch with her family. Her mom got the kids a whole wardrobe each as a gift which was SO sweet. She found clothes on sale really cheap but she still bought a LOT! I'm so thankful and love them!! Lori then took me to meet Gary halfway and we came home and napped. Then it was a normal Sunday evening of doing nothing and pretending Monday wasn't coming. :) It was so much fun to get to have another break and get to spend time with Lori. Thanks for having me Lor!!!!!

Grace painting with water.

Tyler "painting" the fence withwater.

not much to update. :) We are doing well and enjoying our last bits of summer. School started around here for most of the districts, Gary's school starts 9/8. He's been swamped with projects and still being as helpful as he can at home. I can't tell you enough how grateful I am for him.

Sue is back in the hospital for her next round of Chemo. You can once again keep up with her status via our church website. It's on this page at the top right, click on "Meet the Pastor" and then "Family Updates" We have many many more friends going through major, life changing issues at this time and ask if you read this to join with us in prayer. I know I"m sometimes overwhelmed with grief for those we love when I pray and I"m so thankful our God can meet all our needs.

I"m now 31.5 weeks along in my pregnancy. Things are starting to slow me down but I"m healthy and hanging in there. My mood swings are a bit disturbing but other than that, we just plug along day by day. Tyler's doing well with his homeschooling and we are looking at possibly purchasing a curriculum for him to follow rather than me making things up as I go. Either way I"m confident he'll be ready for Kindergarten next year both emotionally and academically. And if not... well, we'll cross that bridge when it comes. He's so smart and we're working on getting him to collect his thoughts and present them in a more organized fashion. He gets a bit carried away sometimes and stutters and gets very loud. It's not a problem, but something to pay attention to. I would like to see him better able to communicate his knowledge to others. One of my favorite things he's started to do more often is "reading" his books. Grace does it more often but i love to hear him sit down with a favorite book and go page by page and retell the story. He often recalls some of the words from hearing them and can recite the stories very well. Sometimes he makes it up as he goes and it's just so fun. I love to see how he gets himself confused and then goes back and changes things to make better sense. It shows me he's learning and some days when I feel i'm wasting my time, it lets me know I am doing right by him.

Grace is also doing very well, soaking up knowledge like a sponge. Age two can be very trying but also SO very rewarding as they change and learn SO much. She's not quite the performer Tyler is so she doesn't share some of her talents with those outside the house. She speaks in full paragraphs now, (often competing with her brother which gets quite loud!) can count to 10 sometimes, knows many colors and shapes, loves letters and STILL has a better pencil grip than her brother. She's newly obsessed with animals and what they look like and sound like and where they live and what they eat. She loves all things "school" and "house". Where Tyler's a tornado, she's content to sit with a coloring book and crayons or "teaching" her babies and "reading" to them.

Sue is home! She came home from the hospital last Saturday and we are so thankful. We got to see her at the Baptism Picnic on Sunday. The kids were so excited to see her. I had to warn them several times not to knock her over. They were so sweet hugging her gently. We still pray for her daily and thank the Lord she can be home. She's home for another week or two before heading back to the Clinic for more treatment. Please don't stop Praying! God IS being glorified in her daily life!

We went on Saturday to the Carnation Days parade which was very fun. It was also very hot and very long though. :) After that we left to go to my mom's house to see great grandma & grandpa Cline, Aunt Toots, Uncle Steward, Lauren and Michaela. It was a fun day, but a long day. I was very happy we decided to come home and I could sleep in my own bed, though I know i'd have slept great in my mom's bed because she's got SUCH a nice one! This week we mostly ended up staying home. We've gone from "freaking hot" to "raining again?" in weather so it's been an inside-the-house kind of week. It's been nice though.

We found out last week about a house for sale in the area for a very reasonable price so we decided to check it out. We liked it but didn't love it and it's going up for auction next week. We felt like to make a quick descision we needed to look at some comparables so we looked at 3 more in addition to that one. Of course we found one we fell in love wiht, of course it's the biggest and the most expensive. We've been doing a lot of number crunching and don't think it's going to work out. The utilities are VERY high which means a new furnace on top of the fact that we don't know if we could even get them to accept an offer in our price range. It's priced above what we can afford. We're SO sad! The first house we're definately not getting because it's just not right for us at this time. It could be but we don't want to make a rush desision and the way this particular acution is set up, it poses too much risk for what we feel comfortable with. We certainly don't NEED a new house! The other two we saw were too small. If we move from here we don't want to pay more for the same space and more work. We'll see what the Lord brings along but for now we're back to practicing joy and contentment with where we are at.

This week I also have been mourning with a friend over the loss of her first baby. I"m just devistated for her and wish so much I could be there to hug her and cry with her. I cry with her here but it's not the same... it just breaks my heart. This is one of those things that shows me again how limited my human mind is. God is so much bigger than we can ever comprehend and his ways are also beyond what we can comprehend. The things I'm watching my friends go through just tear me apart inside but I see them all forge on, grasping onto nothing but blind faith and it reminds me what a mighty God we serve. We don't understand him and even dare question him, but his love and mercy are just as abundant as his justice. I need to learn that of God and work to be more like him in my mothering. Sometimes we get caught up in the "justice" and forget the "mercy" and "patience".

I also have a friend in the hospital right now with a blood clot in her brain. She has 4 kids. Why is trusting God and waiting on him sometimes so hard?

To end with a smile I wanted to share something cute. Tyler's memory verses right now are the fruits of the spirit. I got this idea from my friend Kathie. Each "fruit" is assigned a plastic fruit from our food bin and so when we recite the verse we use the fruits. Grace wants to be a part of everything and since she learned "Ba Ba Black Sheep" in one day when I was doing it with Tyler I decided to try to let her be there for the verse time and see what she could do. She's learning it just as well as him! The problem is though that she gets her words confused in play now. We had a picnic the other day and she gave me the carrot and said "Mommy, here a peace for you!" She's so stinking cute!

Summer finally came!

Sunday night we got the pool out for the kids- for the first time this year! We let them stay in it till bedtime and then gave them quick baths and they went to bed late. The plan worked though, they slept well and so did we! It was a great close to the weekend. Monday was HOT and I had a hard time being out. I was over exhausted I think from the whole summer and the heat and so we didn't play outside as much as I wanted to. I started noticing Grace being out of sorts and flushed too. The kids both napped that day and so I was able to get some things done and relax a bit.

Tuesday was a big day. I had a doctor appointment- baby's heartbeat is strong and my blood pressure is good. :) After that Gary and I decided to meet for lunch since the time is quickly ending when he'll be able to even consider doing such a thing. I took the kids to the mall to go to the library. Of course we all had to potty first so into Penny's we went where I found they were practically giving clothes away. I had about $50 of kids clothes in my arms but couldn't get ahold of Gary for approval so I put it all back and we went to the library where I stocked up on free books instead. :) We then ran to Aldi and I noticed Grace was getting more lethargic and seemed warm... it began to dawn on me that it was not just from being in and out of the very hot van. By the time we got to McDonalds at noon it was obvious she had a fever and she didn't eat, but did drink. I got her home, medicated and to bed and she slept well and the fever broke. Tylenol kept doing it's job through most of the day Wednesday and when she woke up from a 4 hour nap (long for her!) she was back to normal and did not fever again. I was so thankful she kept drinking plenty of fluids and having wet diapers and sleeping, she even ate a good bit considering she clearly didn't feel well. She'd be crabby when she was hot but once the Tylenol kicked in she'd run and play like a normal 2 year old! Tyler napped every day this week too (except today) so i'm guessing they were both fighting something. Tuesday night we all went to Boardman to meet with Lori and I had so much fun! It made it a long day but I got to shop!!!! I got lots of clothes for the kids for next summer at Penny's. I got Grace a shorts outfit, jeans, shorts and two tops, Tyler shorts, swim trunks and two tops and the baby a top all for $44. I also got a HUGE blessing when Lori bought ME a new outfit!! I got maternity shorts and a top she bought and they are very cute. It feels so good to get something new even when you feel gross and frumpy most of the time. :) THANK YOU LORI!!!! Then, you will not believe this, Gary bought.... SHOES!!! TWO PAIRS!!! He's had nothing but broken falling apart shoes for years and I can't tell you the last time he bought shoes. He usually gets them as gifts from my mom or his mom. He actually bought some tennis shoes and a pair of sandals. The ultra white tennis shoes made me notice he could also use some new socks. Another day. :) Poor Lori, i'm sure it was boring for her to walk around with us and the kids and buy shoes, kids clothes and maternity clothes but she didn't seem to mind. She's such a great friend. Even if she is two inches taller than certain people. *wink*

Wednesday we cleaned the church. It took way less time than I thought it would and MAN is the vacuum there heavy!!! I was rewarded for my hard work by Gary getting me a thin mint girl scout cookie blizzard... YUMMY!!!! I could sure go for another...

This week is Carnation week in Alliance and while i'm sure there was a great selection of things i could have taken the kids to, I didn't. We did however go Thursday night to the balloon liftoff which was so cool. Tyler and Grace both really loved it and it was free. Gary posted a pictures (below) of Grace blowing bubbles and Tyler with his popped balloon- more free stuff. :) We also plan to go to the Parade tomorrow before heading out to my mom's to see my uncle and cousins and grandparents! Sunday is church and the church baptism/picnic which we also hope to make it to! Tonight we just ate as a family and went to daddy's work to see what he's been up to. it's all very overwhelming to me and I know he's stressed but he's been so wonderful. He's been so helpful and considerate and taking extra effort to spend time with me and the kids. Being pregnant has it's perks. :)

Sending love and prayers too all our friends and family...

Tyler reacting to his balloon breaking.

Grace bubbles at Silver Park.

The HOT weather has finally arrived!

On the road again!

This weekend was the Kandray family reunion out at Uncle Bob's campground. We love it there and got to stay in a really great cabin with the Bush's. I was not looking forward to the traveling and the being-away-from-home part, but was very excited to see everyone. Getting away is great, but traveling week after week after week with two small children and a pregnant crazy woman (who is myself) is not always restful! All week I could not bring myself to start packing again. Monday I got us unpacked and back into routine including school, , Tuesday started the laundry and the cleaning and continued and as the week went on we got closer to Friday and no feeling of urge to pack came! Friday morning I could put it off no longer so i went crazy making lists and assembling stuff. I tried the pregnancy sit for 15 minutes work for a while, sit again- that is a LIE! It did not help at all!! I was exhausted on Friday as if we'd already left but had to pull things together anyways. We left a bit late and grabbed some fast food on the way. It's almost 3 hours to the campground and I forgot to tell Gary that the one bag was all car activities/toys. About an hour into our trip he pulled over to retrieve it because even me climbing into the back with the kids did not bring me close enough to get it myself. I purchased a dry erase board a few weeks ago to be used for our school sessions- something new for Tyler to practice his writing with other than boring pen and pencil. I'd brought it since he loves his reading lessons which have writing in them (the part he hates and wants to skip). You know, just in case... so I gave him that, well about an hour and a half into the trip I turned around to see Grace coloring her window with her crayon. I also noticed faint blue marks on her face and began freaking out. I then turned to Tyler and he had written on his door, his face, and the headrest of the seat of the car with his dry erase marker. I. was. livid. Gary and I had a miscomunication on how to discipline and when which probably turned otu to be a good thing. My emotional state was very on edge when we arrived to the campground. We got settled in the cabin and went over to where everyone was congregated. After giving a "really good, thanks!" to everyone's "How are you feeling?" was ever so thankful to be able to just sit by the fire. The kids got to play on the new playground with Grandma and Pops. After smores and a few of Tyler's little bursts of "personality" we decided to head back to the cabin. It was a a little after 9 and the first test of my descision to not stress about them not sleeping. I knew they wouldn't. I'd just resigned myself to it and tried to make peace with it before we left. I forgot, however, to make peace with the RESULT of them not sleeping. After jammies and a show we got them into beds, Gary and I relaxed in the hot tub for about 20 minutes (yes! This is camping! TV/DVD player, beds, hot tub!! YES!!!) and visited with the Bush's and went to bed. I was sick that evening and did not get much sleep. I was awake enough to konw Tyler did not fall asleep till after midnight, Grace shortly after 11 and I know they both woke before 7 AM. We had breakfast and got ready amid questions of "WHEN CAN WE GO TO THE PLAYGROUND!?!?!". Gary and Steph went with most of the rest of the family to another reunion down in the Pittsburgh area. We'd already decided not to go and while it would have been nice to meet some extended family of Grandma's, I was very thankful Gary was ok with missing it. We did play on the playground and played basketball and soccer. Gary and I got to have rare converstaions with each other and both of the kids, we enjoyed an easy lunch or sandwiches and then played in the huge yard in front of the cabin. We took them in for naps at the normal time and it took them awhile to calm down but eventually they did go back to sleep. We had grand plans of gettign them up, letting them play more and wearing them out before bed that night too, but rain came. The 25% chance for rain turned into green in the radar from where we were back west through Ohio. It rained starting around 3 until early this morning. For all I know it's still raining there! Gary and I enjoyed a quiet afternoon watching DVD's and reading and resting. I remembered why I so badly want to live in the country someday. We had the windows open and a cool breeze came through, we could hear the rain on the roof, and nothing else. No bass thumping and rattling the windows as cars went by, no fire alarms, no ambulance alarms, no police alarms, no women screaming across the neighborhood at thier kids, no toddlers riding their bikes in front of our house screaming back, no teenagers down the road playing basketball and yelling to each other... just quiet. Nature. Leaves rustling, rain, distant traffic, birds, crickets... quiet. It was wonderful! We got the kids up and dinner assembled shortly before the Buhs' returned. We gathered with the rest of the family at the pavilioin for Pap's Bacon Roast and dinner and a birthday cake for Pap. It was crowded and sad because of the rain but wonderful to just be with family and do what we do best. Talk and eat. I made the kids stay out of the rain much to their dismay but my wonderful husband chose to entertain them most of the evening and so they were content. Not happy mind you- they wanted that playground!! They didn't sleep much again last night but it was fine. Today we were all pretty tired and crabby but we got up, got packed and got on the road. We didn't rush but we did leave an hour earlier than we thought. There was just no sense sticking around with the kids acting the way they were. I was quite embarassed to be honest since the Bush's got to see us in all our sinful glory. The car ride home went better than expected and without major incicdent. We got home and unpacked and all napped and now, it's time to think about dinner. The kids are outside right now playing in the sunshine and Gary is on the porch watching them and reading. We had a great time, but I think our travels are over for the year. We still have plans most every weekend through till the baby comes but i'm going to really try to make them all day trips. We've had another summer of travel but i've reached my limit. So have the kids in many ways. :) We've met most of our obligations, seen a lot of people and had a great summer and I'm ever so thankful for the opportunities. I wish we could do more and be more places but time has run out on us. Pray for Gary as school starts up again here soon in full swing. Classes don't begin until September but he's already got staff and teachers returning wanting a piece of him and his time. He's worked so hard this summer and put in SO many volunteer hours (as has Ben) but a lot of what he does is unseen. He will need some supernatural energy to deal with school getting more crazy, and me getting more crazy as the baby gets closer. :)

Pray also for Sue as she continues her journey with Lukemia. http://gccofalliance.org/index.php?page=family-updates

Continuing to pray for the many other needs of those we love!!

~Enjoy some photo's from July~

Open House to Welcome Alice Ruthanne Stauffer July 2009

Camping (Cmaping) 2009 "The Guys" Mike, Matt, Curt, George, Gary, Josh


Baden, Tyler, Gary, Grace

Grace and Heather


Bush Family


Heather, Grace, Caryn, Tyler, Baden and Connie

Connie, Caryn and Corbin

Tyler by the ginormous tires!

Top of the slide

Monkey see- Monkey do! (daddy's there!)

Friday night Circle time with Mrs. Kellogg in the cabin :)

Friday Night, an attempt to get a pic of "The Guys"

Trip to Papa's Beach (Lake Erie) July 2009 Fishing on the Rocks

Tyler's first Lake Erie Fish!



He swam as much as possible...

Close up of Daddy, Grace, Papa, Tyler- This was as wet as Grace got.

Daddy and Grace playing in the sand

Pretty Girl!





July 09 Bike riding in the parking lot near our house.

Grace playing in the 'wata'.

Grace riding in the inner tube.

Enjoying the sunset on Papa's beach.

Hard to believe July is coming to a close already. We've done a lot already this summer and still have lots more planned. As far as home projects- i've just given up on that. :) We did get a new dresser from the Bush's and so we've re-arranged the furniture in our room and moved an empty dresser into what will be the girls room... for now. The baby will be in both our room and in a crib in the girls room until spring when we'll get Grace moved into a big girl bed and probably move all the bedrooms around. It's nice to be able to say one room is organized and clean. Sadly it's the one that is organized and clean the least- our room.

Yesterday we had a wonderful time at the Haywood's house where the kids got to play with their friend Marta and I got to visit with Kathie for the first time in a very long time. It was also fun to have Steph there visiting with Paula and all us girls catching up while the kids "watched" a movie. It would have been fun to swim but weather kept us indoors which worked out really well too. Marta and Tyler just love each other but Marta is very careful not to leave Grace out which is so sweet to me. I also got to hold Caleb who is 3 weeks old. I was encouraged to find i remembered how to hold a newborn and even was able to get him to sleep once. The sensation of my baby kicking him was a bit funny I will admit!

Gary's mood has improved 100fold this week as two major school projects are now done and finally done right. I've learned he's moody when things don't work out he's responsible for but he's also moody when he's relying on others and they can't seem to get it together. :) Human nature at it's best. :) His moodiness in no way compares to mine. I feel as if I must have a serious personality disorder these days. I know though, that one of the things that tests a marriage more than pregnancy is the newborn stage so i'm really really trying to enjoy my "freedom" and sleep as much as I can... which isn't much since when my body is tired my brain won't stop and when my brain is tired it's daytime. :) heehee!

This weekend we'll be going to my dad's again to try to get in one last visit to the beach before the craziness of school and baby and holidays and winter are upon us. I'm excited but also nervous my heart won't be in it. So many things going on have my heart in prayer constantly for those I can't be with. Even though I know the power of prayer and trust fully in the Lord, it's sometimes a helpless feeling to only be able to pray.

That being said, please continue to read the updates on our church website that Sue is leaving. I beg you to join us in prayer for her and her family and her doctors.

Tyler riding the 4 wheeler.

Grace swinging on our swing set.

Happy Anniversary to Dan and Sue Michaels!

We love you both so much and continue to cover you in prayer.

http://gccofalliance.org/index.php?page=family-updates