Yard Sale

Not for sale....although we did have several people ask!
Our favorite and very proud customer showing off his new treasures.
random customers...yes it was very hot
mom sitting pretty!
Matt is an amazing salesman and worked hard all morning in charge of the money and  making most of the sales! Way to go, Sweetheart! 
Two for one sale
Kaden displaying some of the Christmas items that didn't sell

So I may have been exaggerating a bit when I said that yard sales in Del Rio were an experience like no other...then again we did sell over $100 worth of stuff on Friday while my mom and I were just sitting in the garage pricing things! And we advertised that we would be open at 7 but had at least 8 customers between 6:15 and 7 a.m.!!! People down here love their garage sales! Mom and I are both really happy with how well it went. We just have a few boxes to take to Hospice and one to the consignment shop so not bad considering how much we started with! Our big sale of the day was our antique piano that we bought while we were in North Dakota. We really loved the piano but decided not to put the money into restringing and restoring it. We sold it to a man on the spot and the scrambled to find men to help lift it! (the thing literally weighed like 1,000 lbs.) We got my dad (who has a sore elbow) Matt (who has a torn rotator cuff in his shoulder, my brother J, my neighbor who answered the door in his boxers, and some random man shopping at the yard sale (we gave him a free ladder for helping!) We got it loaded and off it went. 

  Our favorite customer of the day by far was our very own Kaden. Daddy was finally parting with some of his collectibles (x-men figures still in the box! :) and Kaden was keeping a very close eye on them afraid that someone was going to buy them up. We told them that he could not have them and we at least needed to wait until lunch time to see if someone bought them before we would think about letting him have them...this was to long and to uncertain for Kaden so next thing I know the child has gone in the house, found the stool, got up on his dresser, found his money and comes to me with all his dollars so he can buy his x-men! It was the sweetest thing I'd seen in a long time, so we sold him the x-men (for a discount) and the boy has literally been playing with them every chance he gets since! He's a happy customer! In fact, he's playing with them right now! :)

  All in all a very successful day, Praise the Lord...and I'm very glad it's over!

Happy Friday

Just wanted to wish everyone a good weekend. We're going to spend today getting ready for our yard sale tomorrow. I love waking up at 6 a.m. on a Saturday to argue about money with perfect strangers. Fun times! :) Yard sales in Del Rio are unlike yard sales anywhere else...I'll try to take pictures tomorrow if we have time. Literally the people will knock on your door before you start and ask to go through your stuff, it's amazing. Once the yard sale is over we have a party to look forward to so that will pretty much wrap up Saturday. Sunday we'll be helping set up for VBS which starts on Monday...which means I'll be joining the "normal" world again once VBS is over next Friday! :) 

  Oh, and for all of you who are interested or even if you're not. I was able to run today for the first time in over a month. It was awesome...not sure how sore I'll be later, but still it felt so good...even if it was pretty slow! 

  We'll I'm off to price! 

Annual family photo

All mom's children..dad's too :)
Van Hook Family
What? Don't you like my hair?

It's really hard to get them both posing for the camera at the same time! 

View of the spikes
Handsome boy...growing up so fast
Right before we left for the 4th we took our annual family photo in front of mom's tree in the front yard. It may seem like a simple request but in reality it's hard to get the four of us and Chris and Jeremy slightly dressed up and at mom and dad's house at the same time. But mission accomplished and we have more fun family memories...despite some of the grumpiness you can see in the pictures (no names mentioned :) 

  Matt wanted the boys to look cool for their photo op so he had a good time spiking up their hair. Kaden and Caleb also enjoyed looking "cool". I got in big trouble when we got in the car and I turned down the AC. Kaden was afraid his hair would fall if he got to sweaty! :) I think they look pretty cute, maybe we should spike their hair more often!

Long Weekend

The McCarter Family
Half of the Forks Sisters
The McCarter and VanHook boys...that's a whole lot of boys!
Kaden and Caleb asleep on the way home :)

The Van Hook boys and I enjoyed a long weekend away in Oklahoma for the fourth! What's in Oklahoma you say...not much but our dear friends the McCarters...and a Starbucks! :) We left Thursday afternoon and drove late into the night (it didn't help that we got lost twice) but finally arrived around 1 a.m. (It's about a 7 hour drive with stops...6 1/2 of those hours is in Texas, it's a really big state!) We had a fabulous 4th just hanging out, going for walks, eating, and watching the fireworks. Caleb was still really scared of the fireworks, but just cuddled close and eventually fell asleep...in the middle of the firework show. Unfortunatly, I got sick that night and was sick most of the rest of the weekend (don't worry I still went to Strabucks every day), but despite of that we still had a good time. The grownups got to watch movies, talk, and just spend some quality time. Kaden and Caleb were in Heaven as Josh and Conner (who are 12 and almost 10) loved on them and played with them...I didn't think Kaden was ever going to leave. Conner and Josh had Transformer, Star Wars, Nintendo, Superheros, you name it...I barely saw Kaden for 3 days he was having so much fun playing with the boys. We also got a kick out of seeing William who we remembered as a little boy but is now 16...made me feel really old, and getting to spend time with Shirley's mom was an added bonus.  All in all a great time with great friends, and we loved every minute of it...and I'm not just being nice cause Shirley read this page...I loved being with you! (oh and you can blame the lack of pictures on Blogger taking FOREVER to load them up!)

  Hope you all had a good 4th of July as well and remembered to thank God for the freedoms we still have in this country. Jesus loves you!

Swim Lessons

Kaden started swim lessons this week and is doing a fabulous job.  I finally remembered to take the camera today and snap some pictures. Kaden is in phase 1 of the class so basically they are getting used to going under the water, floating, jumping in, blowing bubbles, etc. He's really enjoying it and at the end of 8 classes he should move on to the next phase...where they might actually swim! :) 

  Caleb is pretty good at just hanging out with mommy on the side lines and watching "bruber", especially when Grandma's there to help entertain him. He also love to look out the window and watch the airplanes taking off, definilty a highlight for him. 

  

Helping Big Brother

Kaden and his friend Thad have started typing "emails" back and forth to each other. I'm not sure what they say as they both just randomly hit keys but usually Kaden says they're about transformers. Today while Kaden was writing his letter Caleb came in and of course wanted to type as well. I looked up and he had climbed behind Kaden on the chair and sat down. I thought they looked so cute and that in Caleb's attempt to get close to the keyboard he actually just got stuck behind Kaden!

Renters

Praise the Lord, Matt and I officially sold the house today and became renters...in our own home! :) Kind of a strange way of doing things, but we are just so thankful to see how God has orchestrated every step. The new owners are gracious enough to let us rent until the 15th of August, which means that we don't have to move out early into temporary living, up heaveal the boys, and live without our "stuff" for the next 45 days. So nice.  But still feels kind of weird knowing it's not our house anymore. Please pray for us as the next month and a half is going to be super busy with trips, last time youth group activities, Bible study,  as much time as we can squeeze in with mom and dad, packing, cleaning, Caleb's birthday, dad's birthday, and Jeremy's birthday, VBS, Tai Kwon Do camp, swim lessons....let's see what else am I forgetting..oh yeah, normal life! :) All praise to God who is sufficient for all things and through all things! Hope you all are having a great start to your week. 

Kings and Kung Fu

Yesterday, when the boys and I went out to the base, we got stuck twice inside different buildings due to an exercise on base...basically the cops pretend something bad is happening and they shut everything down to make sure everyone knows what to do in case something ever does happen in Del Rio, Tx...not likely but better safe then sorry. Anyways, we were stuck inside the library for an hour and the BX (like a bad, smaller version of Walmart) for half an hour, so what to do but sit at Burger King and play with the crowns. The boys were still playing with their crowns this morning so I took a couple pictures of them being silly Kings. Kaden always makes sure that I know that he is the big king and Caleb is still the little king. 

  Fun activities today included taking the boys to see Kung Fu Panda. Very cute and funny. And now I have little boys running around doing karate...on everything!  To get the full affect of my awesome Kung Fu warriors you'll have to watch the video! Be prepared to be awed and amazed! 

Last one...

Just wanted to post one more for the baby.  I'm doing a bit better each day...but still just sad. I think I"m just having a hard time mentally adjusting to not being pregnant. Anyways, just wanted to post a picture of some of the beautiful flowers that have been sent (Thank you Forks sisters...I love you all so so much) and the little shoe and sonogram photo that is just a sweet reminder of Lydia. Thank you also to Dad and Shawn for the beautiful basket of flowers, I love all the pink in it. 

Just to say...

Just wanted to let you all know how much I appreciate all the prayers. Last weekend was really rough, yesterday I felt pretty good, and today I'm  just so sad and heavy. Grieving is a very interesting process. Praise God, He is faithful at each step of the way. I want so badly to question why and search for answers, but deep in my spirit I know that my faith and peace will have to be found in God alone because only He knows. I was telling the girls at Bible study it's like when you twist a kaleidoscope and the picture changes in a thousand different ways. When God allows a joy or a tragedy into your life, your life and the lives of everyone around you from family to acquaintances changes in a thousand different ways. God can take one act and affect hundreds of people and teach us each something unique and personal. How amazing. And what a comfort to know that no life, no matter how young is a waste for God uses each of us for His glory. 

Psalm 139:16

Psalm 139:16 

  "You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed."

 

   This verse is for our precious baby that God took home to Heaven on Friday. 

  He gives and takes away, blessed be His name. 

  

    Thanks in advance for the prayers,

       Michelle

Getting Old

Going out Monday night!
How Matt occupied 9 children...not all of them are in this picture! :)
Family Photo!



Well it's official...I'm closer to 30 then 25! :) Matt did an amazing job making my birthday so special this year. On Monday night, he planned a girl's night out for me, my mom, and three of my friends...and he even watched the kids! He watched 9 little ones all by himself and did a FABULOUS job...even had 4 of them in bed before we got home! The highlight of the night though was arriving at the restaurant and noticing a beautifully decorated table. He had picked out decorations and sent them ahead of us so that the table would be beautiful. He picked out white and blue roses, blue ribbons, sea shells, and birthday confetti...but not just any confetti he picked out only the silver,  blue, and green pieces so that they would match the ribbon and roses! He's amazing.

  Last night we just had a family fajita dinner which was just perfect. It was so fun just to be with the family and with our sweet friends from New Jersey. Matt even got me an ice cream cake! My favorite! (notice the blue icing on Kaden's nose! ) He surprised me with beautiful hoop earrings and cash to go shopping with! Sweet man. But more then that I'm just blown away by his outpouring of love. Thank you Lord for such a good sweet man!  The night was bitter sweet though as my mom and I looked at each other both realizing that we'll be moving soon. Here's hoping the summer drags by!

Pool Time

Just wanted to put up some picture evidence of all the fun times in the pool. I am so sorry for all of you who have to work through the summer...that should be outlawed! Everyone needs to spend a little time around an inflatable pool! And what I love most about these pictures is that none of them were staged, the kids struck all their own poses! :) 

  Hope you have a great weekend!

Fun times

Just wanted to let everyone know we are still around! :) We have been busy playing, playing, playing, swimming, playing, going to the park, playing, swimming, and playing for the last four days! Our sweet friends are here and all the kiddos are having so much fun...and yes, I do realize that there are no pictures to document all the playing and swimming...I'll work on that over the next couple of days. Other then that not much news to report... Oh, sweet, Matt is trying to plan a surprise dinner for my birthday but I found out about it so now I have something to look forward to on Monday. Sweet man! 

  H0pe your week is going well. Jesus loves you!

Jeremy's Grad Party

So I've been a bit behind on blogging, but in my defense there hasn't been to much to report this week...that and I left the camera at mom and dad house and just got it back last night! So these pictures are from Jeremy's graduation party last Sunday. It was just the Van Hooks and the Woods but still a good time. 

  Last night we went to the Del Rio High School graduation for Jenny. We were so excited for her and how hard she has worked.

  Let's see...and today we have a goodbye party for Matt's Squadron Commander and a surprise party for one of our friends...lots of parties. Sunday not much is planned except getting ready for one of our good friends to come. She is going to stay for two weeks here with her kiddos so that should be a great time! 

  Well, I'm off to get ready for the parties! 

  

Van Hook #3 update

We had our first OB appointment yesterday and God was so gracious. After the initial paper work, lab work, pee test, weight, etc it was finally time to see the doctor (a nurse practitioner but really the same thing). Matt was in a hurry to get back to work so we asked the nurse if we could do the heart beat  first. She was happy to oblige...for 10 min or so but couldn't fine a heartbeat. I felt peacful but just kept praying that God would have mercy and spare us the loss of our baby.  Matt had to leave but before I left they offered a sonogram at 5:15! I took it and then just prayed until it was time to go back. As soon as they started the sonogram we say a beautiful baby inside! PRAISE THE LORD. The baby's heartbeat was around 173 beats (fast and strong...fast sometimes indicates a girl! :) and the baby was even moving his/her head around. So precious. I'm so grateful that the Lord has allowed this baby to keep growing and the hope we have of meeting this little one in about 7 months!

Gecko

Yesterday, Kaden and Caleb and I had our own little "Steve Irwin" (the Crocodile Hunter) moment when mommy caught a gecko and a spider and a frog all by herself! :) Very exciting...ok we didn't actually catch the spider but we did pick him up on a blade of grass. The frog we caught in a bucket but it was HUGE and made mommy scream every time it jumped so we didn't keep him for long. But the lizard was by far the most fun...until his tail fell off (if you look closely in the last picture he doesn't have it)! Still the boys had such a fun time holding and petting him. I just love their smiles in the pictures. What a great way to experience God's creation!