It's that Time of Year

Today is the day - Shaelyn goes back to school and starts 3rd grade! Summer
went so quickly. As we prayed together this morning, we talked about all the
things that were going to happen during the summer - my surgery, Chelsea going
to Guatemala, Katelyn leaving for India, vacations, etc... Now they have all happened
and here we are - August 31 - beginning of a new school year.
She's ready - new haircut, new clothes and new lunch box. She's excited
about the teacher she got for this year - she's the same teacher Chelsea
had and loved her. Thursdays will be a fun day every week. Her room has a loft
in it and that will be the day that she can use it for reading time. The other
reason I love Thursdays is because it's her microwave day. Her teacher has a
microwave in her room and there are designated days for the kids to use it.
This makes it so much easier to pack lunches - soup, spaghettio's, ravioli,
pizza - ahh, the luxury of a microwave. I think this should be a great year
for her with lots of fun times. Ready or not, here we come!

She's Off to See the World

Katelyn left this morning to begin her 4 month internship in India. While it was a sad time for me (and a few others), it is also exciting. I can only imagine the things she will see and do. The Taj Mahal, Indian weddings, riding camels and elephants, working with autistic children in the center.....She sure is doing a lot more than I ever did at this age. She gets to do this with her best friend and roommate from college - Kath. I'm so glad they have each other. Geeta is their supervisor while they are there. She has been so helpful and supportive for all of us. We are praying for safety while traveling and while they are there. We also pray that they will be a Christian witness to those they will be working with. I know it's time to let my child spread her wings and fly (although I wish I had clipped them a bit shorter so she couldn't fly quite so far. :)




Here are the sisters one last time together.









Katelyn and Kath - best friends and traveling buddies.












This is Dr. Roels and his wife. He is the former president of Kuyper College. He has been extremely helpful getting the girls prepared. He came to the airport to pray with us all and help send them off.






Katelyn, Kath and Alex. She was another one of their roommates. She is sad to see her friends go. We are planning on adopting her into our family for these next 4 months to make up for losing a daughter!

Look who got a new haircut!

I decided that it was time Shaelyn got a new hairstyle.Neither she or her Dad wanted this to happen but....I'm the one who has to take care of it and brush it if I want it to look good. So... off to the stylist. It still has some length but I think it will be more manageable. She decided to try to grow her bangs out so I bought some clips to pull the bangs back with. I think she looks older - she's ready for 3rd grade now!