Family Updates and Happenings~

Since our friends and family are literally scattered all over the United States, I thank God for the internet to post pictures & "Family Updates" now and again to keep everybody up with what has kept Kirk and I (and the kids) busy- here's a post that shares WHAT ELSE is up besides our ongoing "home renovation".

VT-35 Squadron Fun: Kirk is a Flight Instructor with the US Navy. On occasion, we have "get togethers" with other families in our Squadron.

The kids have a fun time seeing the airplane their daddy flies for his "work".

Kirk preparing for a new adventure:

Kirk is nearing the end of his 20 year career with the Navy and he's been spending time on the computer getting himself set up for the next adventure God has for him. Kirk's most recently been applying for civilian flying jobs with a variety of commercial and transport airlines. The application process is all done "on-line" and he is confident he'll get hired to fly civilian (he has over 5,000 hours of flying multi-engine).

I love my family!

More Texas Critters:

From rattle snakes in the summer, to wild javelinas in the winter!!! For a couple months in a row they would come to our front yard to eat acorns and some pear cactus. There is usually about 5-8 of them, but one time we saw a herd of almost 20! We scare them away with making lots of noise and shooting them with a sling shot & acorns. After we put a small fence around the pear cactus, we haven't seen any javelinas in a couple months.

...the pear cactus in our front yard the javelinas love to eat!

Kelsie preparing for college:

Kelsie narrowed her college selection down to Seattle Pacific University in Washington State or Lee University in Tennessee.

After much prayer and direction from God, Kelsie chose Lee University - a Christian college that is offering her a full tuition (4 years) academic scholarship.

...when we visited the school it was neat to see almost every student in the girls dorm had their own eraser board on their door with Scriptures written on them.

Kelsie making the most of her senior year of High School:

...surprising some friends for their birthdays, Kelsie and friend Maddy "kidnapped" Benji and Randi for a special night of Chinese food, a bon fire and hanging out (in our back yard!).

Andrew, our Swimmer:

We are so proud of Andrew and his commitment to swimming. As a freshman in high school, he was the only 9th grade boy to try out for swimming. On top of that, HE MADE THE VARSITY TEAM! He has never swam competitively before this year and did awesome. He made it to District Competition, then to Regionals. He placed in both competitions receiving a couple medals.Andrew's swim regimen dropped about 20 pounds from his 8th grade weight. He morphed from a boy last year to a young man this year.

Girl Scout Cookie Season:

Jessie is a Brownie Girl Scout; I lead the entire multi level troop (of 36 girls) at our school. We had a very busy and successful cookie season January through February.

...in addition to selling cookies, meeting at our troop meetings, crafts, and Girl Scout fun, the troop went to a NHL Hockey game that honored the local Girl Scouts.

Goofing around, hanging out and just being...

Our newest Kitty~

A stray kitty, we have not yet named. We will give her love and hope she "works" as an outside cat to keep mice and snakes away. Bruno, our black kitty is excited to have a new friend.