Spring, Summer and vacation 2019~by Beth

There are a lot of good things happening because of our stay-at-home mandate, one of which is getting caught up on things that seemed to be perpetually on the back burner.  Blogging sure seems to be one of those back burner projects.  It's easy to think one will have more time later.  So on to the subjects of my post.
Last Winter Katie had begun looking for a house.  She sensed that she needed to start thinking about a more permanent place to live, stop losing money renting, and have a sense of putting down roots.  God gave her favor with her bosses when she asked for a very significant raise and got it.  She looked at various houses but one came on the market that was sure to be sold in days.  It needed no work, though it was a bit dated, and was underpriced.  There were 12 offers that weekend, Katie's being one of them, at her top price.  She included a letter about why she wanted to be considered for this house and a picture of our family.  God moved the widow to choose her offer.  For an outside payment the widow also left everything in the house minus her clothes and a few personal items.  What a blessing!!  Here she is in May in front of her house and in the back yard.  The little girls came one day to pick up leaves.  The group shot is in her kitchen.  God is good.

Before we left Nathan's family was blessed by the birth of their first son, Josiah Luke on July 3.

Vacation Bible School, where our children have attended for years, took place the week we left.  Stevie is the only one young enough to go so he was able to attend for a couple days before we went out of town.  July 11, slurpee day, we packed up and hit the road.  Our first stop was the Ark Encounter in Williamsburg, KY. 

Johanna and Emma at Creation Musuem

The landscaping at the Ark was beautiful, just like these girls

 After an overnight in a hotel Jon took Emma and Johanna to the airport in Cincinnati to fly up to Chicago.  They were gone for over a week for a retreat called Journey to the Heart.

 The rest of us visited the Creation Museum, (Jon also took the girls the night before their flight to the Creation Museum) then drove up to my mom's house in NE Ohio.

Just had to have ice cream before we left for Grandma's house

The day we arrived my niece gave birth to her second child, a girl named Emma Reese.  Saw her at one day old.

A highlight of a visit to Grandma's is her pool!

We love attending my Mom's church in Cleveland and timed it to be able to worship there two Sundays.  We left from church the second week to go pick up the 2 girls in Chicagoland.  Then we headed to our son and DIL's house in Irving, TX.  Jon and I had the guest suite in the cottage all to ourselves.  Felt like a retreat.  Hannah has a way with decorating.  We got to an estate sale and there are now some pictures hung above the bed.

What is morning without a cuddle from the little people.  I told them they had to wait for the sun to come up and then they could come over to the cottage.  Such fun!

Project at Katie's

Boys night at the game

Girl's night at Katie's

We left Irving to travel to our conference in Big Sandy.

On our way back to Florida we stopped at a Bucees in Alabama.  It was later in the evening and the place was packed!  It is huge, but the best and cleanest bathrooms.

Our last stop is usually IKEA in Tampa.  Love that place.

Those are the highlights of the Summer.  We began school shortly after arriving home.