Hell is a sewer

This morning Vito was talking about the Muslims who have been killed in Mecca, and said he's not sure how many get to go to heaven and Eli wanted to know what heaven and hell look like. Olivia said heaven was golden streets and gates protected by tons of angels and Eli added with flaming swords. So Vito asked what hell looked like. Olivia said: "Hell is a sewer. I just said that cause it stinks and is nasty. "

Passing on the family business

Olivia age 9
Olivia's doodles in church on Sunday 

Eli running the PowerPoint in church on Sunday. He does this every week. Age 7

Olivia at camp

Dropped Olivia off at camp this week. Her first time without one of us. Miss her tons!! She's growing up too fast! 

Passing on the Family Business

Eli (7): "Mom, are we going to watch that movie with Daddy tonight? Cause if not, I want to go help Emily with ESL. I can read the books and teach them the game!" Passing on the family business.

Eli

"Mommy, you're cute."

"Not as cute as you."

"Nah, you just make me look good."

Oh, he knows just what I need!!

Elias -- age 7

Summer of UNO

Lots of UNO happening around here this week! The kids are addicted. 

Laundry

When you live in a single-wide with no laundry room and you gotta do laundry . . .

Eli Quotes

Tucking Eli into bed tonight: "Can you get daddy, stat?" Where this child learns his vocab is beyond me. His mind is amazing! Lol 

Dana Franchetti

Dana Franchetti arrived yesterday. She will be our new children and youth program coordinator. This afternoon the kids, Liz, Dana, and myself took a walk with the dogs. Olivia chatted the entire time. It was almost like she didn't believe Dana was actually staying, and needed to get as much information in her as possible.

As we rounded one quarter, Eli declared, "Have no fear! We mean you no harm! We come in peace!" That kid is always entertaining us! Dana informed me that our children are "quirky." It's true! They come by it naturally. :-)

As we were coming back onto the property, we got to a soft, muddy spot. Olivia jumped the spot, but Dana didn't realize, and stepped right into the mud. Olivia gave Dana a sympathetic look, placed her hand on her shoulder, and said, "Did you not see me jump over that?" We got to introduce Dana to the art of washing muddy feet and shoes on the porch and in the bathtub. Something we've become quite accustomed to.

Eli and the Sticky Mouse Traps

Eli was playing outside this afternoon with Olivia and Carlitos. After playing for probably an hour, he came back inside with very, very sticky hands. I asked what was all over his hands, as it looked somewhat like sap. It was the glue from sticky mouse traps. Apparently he was helping Carlitos get the traps off of his shoes. No one can tell me why they were mouse traps on Carlitos' shoes. 

Pastor Rhonda Swanson preached this morning on seizing the day. I suppose this is truly a "seize the day" situation. 

New blog post

I keep telling myself that I really should blog. Our experiences in Cactus are insane somedays. So, I just installed the blogger app and hope that maybe by having an app, I'll blog more frequently. 

A lot of these posts will be short--quick quotes from the kids or short stories and experiences. It's more of a way for me to keep track of life rather than to update readers. 

Maybe one day I'll write a book. :-)