It's been awhile!

So much to catch up on and so little time…

The birthday craziness was tons of fun. Blake began speech therapy at Western Illinois University two weeks ago. He seems to really enjoy it and is making great progress already. Our school district had a major case of the flu running wild through it the past couple of weeks. Somehow all of us missed the bug this time around. I thought I would just share some pictures that will show you what we have been up to.

October 22nd was Blake’s Harvest Night at his preschool. Madison decided I needed to dress as a hippie to complement her Groovy Girl costume. Brady wanted to be an Illini Super Fan and Blake is the most adorable monkey we have ever seen.


Our niece and nephew – Trevor (Darth Vader) and Alexis (Lil’ Devil) joined us.


Brady has begun swimming on the YMCA Dolphin swim team. He is very excited. It amazes me how much of a workout the kids go through. I am not that excited that there is a meet almost every Saturday for the next couple of months, but we’ll survive. Of course I had never even seen a swim meet in my life so we have a lot to learn!




This past weekend was so exciting for us! Ryan, Sandy, and Bodi True came to visit from Colorado. We met them while we were in Russia in April and really connected with them. It meant the world to us that they would take time to fly to the Midwest just to see us. We are blessed to have them in our lives. Here is Blake and Bodi.


We carved pumpkins on Sunday after church. My sister Glennda joined us along with Alexis and Trevor. Bodi missed the action though cause he was napping. Blake seemed to enjoy it at first and then lost interest part way through. He did get a kick out of seeing them glowing at night though!





Sandy was a big help to Madison, and Madison loved having Sandy’s attention!


Brady chose a very complicated design and welcomed help from Ryan.

Here is Bodi with his look-alike jack-o-latern.


Bodi would have let Madison haul him around on her tractor for hours (never mind that she is still in her dress and tights from church!)


Blake wanted in on the action too so they came up with this arrangement!


We took a walk out by our pond. Here are Bodi and Sandy.



Maddie and her daddy!


Brady really enjoyed taking everyone for a ride on the ‘bumblebee’!


On Monday, Justin took the True’s out on the farm!



What a great way to spend the weekend!


Hopefully it won’t be so long before my next entry. This weekend we will go trick-or-treating. I am sure Blake will love it! We have been praying for Justin and all of the farmers. This harvest continues to be very trying. Patience is wearing thin and spirits are low. We are hoping things begin to look up soon!