Ahh, the lazy, fun days of Summer!

I thought I would take a break from the boot camp pics and catch ya'll up on what we have been doing. We have had a lot of fun times spent with friends and family going to a local 4-H parade, roasting S'mores and just hanging out and being together. Of course, I have a lot of pictures to share!

A quick up-date on Caleb: his lab results came back NORMAL!! Praise the Lord! He is a little anemic and I am giving him iron drops for that. We do have an MRI scheduled for next Wed. and we will see if it turns up any reason why he is smaller than normal. I am working on switching him to whole milk and he seems to be doing okay with it. I am also giving him Carnation Instant Breakfast hoping to fatten him up. ;o) He is learning new things everyday and surprises us when he says a new word or learns a new trick. He gets around fast and is a busy baby boy!

Also, we showed our place last night to a very interested potential buyer. Now, we play the waiting game and see if she calls back and if this is God's timing for us to move. If so, she wants to be living in this area by Aug 13th, when the schools start. If she buys then things will go fast as far as us moving. Will keep you all up-dated.

Roasting S'mores with the Quakenbushes.

A sweet pic of Elli and Abby. They had just had

baths and put their jammies on.

Cory, Skyler,Tanner, Ben and Tasha holding Wes.

and enjoying the fire.

Daddy and Caleb, who was not a happy camper!

This-n-That:

Caleb gets a ride in Abby's baby doll

stroller!

The girls enjoying a beautiful day outside

with their paper dolls...........

While the boys played with their Thomas the

Train set. Caleb was fascinated with the little

trains.

Our four blessings! Caleb did not care for

being held down! lol!

We discovered that Caleb LOVES fresh cherries!

4-H Parade:

Getting ready to watch the 4-H parade.

The girls grin from their spot.

Ben cheese with the little guys. We kept them

happy with LOTS of snacks until the parade started!

Greg& Tasha with very cheesy smiles while

Wes watches the parade from daddy's shoulders.

Caleb:

A very tuckered out baby boy sleeping in his

favorite spot...daddy and mommies bed!

Modeling one of his many ornery grins!

Hanging out with Uncle Mark and Aunt Rachel.

Taking a siesta in the exersaucer!

More Boot Camp Pictures

Team Haiti-North

Here we are sitting together as a team at one

of the many sessions and services. All teams sat

together.

Every morning at 6:30 each team was expected to complete a grueling obstacle course that included stacking blocks with the books of the Bible in order, skis,monkeybars, jumping rope, swinging over a mud puddle, scaling a large wall, running a short distance and carrying heavy suitcases over the finish line. Our team did our best but it was not our strong point! LOL!

Danny giving a pep talk before our team's turn

on the obstacle course.

Danny scaling the highest part of the wall while Kristin
tackles the lower side.

Kristen swings across the muddy puddle.

Rebecca was a HUGE help in knowing the order

of the books of the Bible. The blocks had to be

stacked and then carried across a line on a long

board.

Danny, Casey and I mastering the skis.

Casey, Kristin and Danny getting ready to jump rope.

Caleb was a casual observer from his stroller.

TLC Boot Camp Pics...

For those of you who do not know, our family led a Touching Lives for Christ short-term missions trip to Northern Haiti in June for 2 weeks. Before we went we all attended a boot camp that is designed to help you get to know your team and bond with them before you leave the country. We had a fun, growing time as we met and got to know our 3 team members, Matt Nation,Kristin Fox and Casey Jones. God sent us a good group and and it was a joy to have them on our team! I know that we all made memories that will stay with us for years to come. I am going to start by posting pics of Boot Camp and continue to put pics of our trip as well as I have the time. So enjoy! Feel free to comment!

Abby is standing under our team area at our campsite.

Here is how we decorated our signpost. Our

team recieved 5th place out of 9 teams. Not bad

for our first year! We chose Haiti's colors of red,

white and blue. Christopher Colombus founded

Haiti and that is why we had the handkerchief.

We found out later that it was a different Christopher

Colombus then the one who discovered America....OOPS!

Our home,sweet,home for the week! Or

a more accurate description would be: our hot,

smelly,wet, crowded home! LOL!

This is the team leaders from Haiti-South's

youngest son, Kyle. Him and Ben had a blast together!

Danny helps our two team members, Kristin and

Casey put up their tent.

More to come......

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

God has answered our prayers! Danny started a new job today! He is employed by Edge Manafacturing, a local company. A friend of ours referred him for his welding skills and 9 yrs of experience. Danny went and saw the owner and he hired him on the spot without an application, welding test or references! Is that how our God works or what?! Thank-you to those of you who have been helping us pray! God truly hears the prayers of His people! We still have our place for sale and if God chooses to sell it then we will move. If not, then we will stay here and pay off debt! God's plans are always best and He continues to show us that everyday.

We celebrated Caleb's birthday last Fri. evening at my parents house. We had the signature DQ icecream cake and Caleb had his own personal cake to make a mess as well :o) He recieved a very nice rocking horse from G-pa and G-ma Hirschy and he loves to play "horsey'. Here come the pictures.....

Tasting one of the many balloons.........

Trying out his new horse.....

Posing with the big cake. We had a blue teddy put on it

in honor of his blue lovey named 'Buddy'.

Getting ready to dig into his little cake with big

sissy looking on......

Mmmm good!

Poor demolished cake!

Big brother helps finish off the cake!

Big sister gets a BIG taste..............

And big sister #2 has eyes way bigger than her stomach!

Slightly overwhelmed by siblings! Needless to say

they all had to have baths!

Enjoying his See-N-Say from Uncle Mark and Aunt Rachel...

We enjoyed spending time with Mark and Rachel!

A fun evening spent with family!

Happy First birthday Caleb

It is hard to believe that our youngest is a year old already! We keep singing 'Happy Birthday' to him and he just looks at us like we are crazy! He will walk as long as someone is holding his hands. He loves to stand up and throw videos and dvd's out of totes. Caleb is a little loving baby and gives kisses and hugs everynight to all of us. He can make really ornery faces and is a little stinker! We love him so much and are so thankful that God gave him to our family.

Some of you know how we had some concerns about him possibly having a rare nerve disease called neurofibromitosis. We took him to Riley Children's Hospital and saw a specialist in the neurology field. We were very impressed with Dr. Walsh and he did a great job with Caleb. The Dr. said that in order to make a diagnosis of NF1 that he needed to see 2 signs. Caleb only has the Cafe-au-laut spots that he was born with and has gotten a few since birth. NF1 is a waiting game to see just how bad the disease may go. He may only have the spots the rest of his life and nothing else. Or he may have other problems, time will tell. Right now the main concern is that he has lost weight since going to Haiti. He weighed 16 lbs when we left and now weighs 15 lbs 9 oz. He is very small compared to our other children. Dr. Walsh is concerned that he may have one of two things going on: 1. He may have low thyriod function causing the slow growth. 2. He may have a benign tumor growing on the pituitary gland affecting his hormones. These are both just possibilities at this point and we will be under-going further testing in the next few weeks to narrow down the problem, if there is indeed a problem at all. He has been sick off and on and he is cutting 4 molars at the same time plus fighting a cold since we have returned. So, needless to say, his appettite has not been very good. He has always been small and I teasingly say that he is the 'runt' of our litter! Other than being small, he is as smart as a whip and developing right on schedule. When we first found out about his possible diagnosis of NF1, we had him anointed at our church and I believe that God touched him then and continues to touch him. We dedicated all of our children to the Lord and He knows what is best. In the meantime, we are going to just ENJOY him as we celebrate his first birthday. Happy Birthday Caleb James! We love you!

Enjoying his birthday breakfast of eggs and toast

with plenty of jelly!

Sitting out by the pool while the other kids play.

Trying to climb out of the chair while mommy

trys to get a good picture!

He will have his own little cake tonight at supper and a family party tomorrow night. More pics wil be coming.....;o) Don't say that I did'nt warn you!

Happy 4th of July!

A very happy 4th of July from our family to yours! The kids are posing with a patriotic cheesecake that I made for our families holiday get-together. We feel a new appreciation

for America since being in another country! God bless America!

1st day of travel

Getting ready to leave on our adventure! Miss Jaelyn and the Quakenbushes stopped by to send us off......

Changing Caleb at a rest area and goofing off!

Daddy giving Caleb his first taste of fresh Florida OJ!

Posing with the Welcome sign...