I love to blog.

But only on my own timeframe. When it fits into my schedule. And when I have something to say.

So, I am obviously not even close to a professional blogger.

And I am going to continue to be okay with that. I hope you will, too!

Did I tell you that our house was on the market again? For the third time, by the way. We want to move close to our church family, to be able to minister better to the community around our church building.

I was very nervous to put the house on the market with four little people running around AND homeschooling…but we did, and it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. It turns out that 3/4 of the kids are actually really helpful when it comes down to it!

In fact, after a number of weeks of cleaning for showings, they stopped playing with their toys in the basement. Because they cleaned them up so nicely. And they didn’t want to have to clean them up again.

I don’t feel way ever. (Except every moment of every day.)

So, my brain was a little distracted by a lot of cleaning for showings. But overall, it was pretty peaceful here when the house was spotless. I mean, if the house is completely clean, I can actually relax in the evening instead of picking up other people’s messes! Score!

But then…

After years of trying to sell our home, we got TWO offers on it! And we took the first (better) one! Praise the Lord!!!

That was May 1. All of the days between May 1 and today have been filled with the question, “How are we going to keep from being homeless on July 1?”

[We close on June 6. We have to be out of the house by July 1.]

We have made two offers on two different houses, and neither of them have worked out. We tried to rent a 3-bedroom apartment at a complex we lived at previously, but that also fell through.

I trust God has a plan for our family (Jeremiah 29:11, right?)…but I often wish He’d just go ahead and tell us what it is!

So, that’s where we are. And it’s far more stressful and distracting than having showings. The idea of packing an entire house worth of stuff belonging to six people is very overwhelming. Looking at ALL of the houses that are for sale in Forest Hills (on the Internet) was fun for the first hour. The following 100 hours, not so much.

So…thus my absence from blogland. I’m just trying to keep my head on straight. I hope you understand!

I’m going to give Sarah Rumley the props for having the best guess! She said, “I think he was a grandson of Hezekiah…or a great grandson.”

I’m thoroughly impressed, Sarah!

The correct answer is….

He was his great great grandson.

Just one “great” off, Sarah!

And thanks to everyone else for your guesses, too!

It was our only family vacation ever, until now!

Luke and I got a great deal on the Great Wolf Lodge in Traverse City. So, we decided to make some more memories!

You know, there is something to be said for not overindulging in activities like this. Because vacationing is so rare for us, our kids were BEYOND thrilled with the whole experience. Checking into the hotel room, making ourselves at home, playing in the waterpark, eating out, EVERYTHING was an adventure for them.

They actually got along nearly the entire time. Smiling, playing together.

It was GREAT.

So, let’s get to the pictures!

So happy to be on our way!

They napped on the way there.

We got there, unloaded, and here’s a pic of the kids waiting in the lobby as Luke parked the car.

The lobby has a really warm and welcoming feel. It’s huge, for one thing. But it also smells like a cinnamony potpurri, and there’s a fire in the fireplace.

Oh, and there are taxidermied animals everywhere. That gives me warm fuzzy memories of my childhood, as my deer-hunting dad mounted five deer in our living room.

We splurged and got a KidCabin Suite, which had a little log cabin room with bunk beds for the kiddos to sleep in. They LOVED it!

We spent the entire first afternoon in the waterpark area of the hotel. It was great fun! There is enough in there to keep a family busy, that’s for sure!

The only bummer was that Jaden was not really liking the water. I floated on the lazy river with him for quite a while that afternoon (in lieu of naptime). You can see his grumpiness in this picture…

When dinner time rolled around, we went up to our room, got dried and dressed, and ate at the restaurant in the hotel.

The pizza was fine, but the kids were much more entertained by the decor…Trees with flashing lights, fake bugs, other fake animals, etc, etc…And a faux campfire.

That first night, they slept like ROCKS. They fell asleep quickly, and slept hard all night. That was a blessing! I did hear them a couple of times through the night, but not as much as I thought I might.

The next morning – bagels, bananas, and juice in our room!

And then it was back to the waterpark! Yippee!!!

And the good news was, Jaden loosened up a lot, and really enjoyed his second day in the water!

First, he loved these water guns that he could shoot at Daddy and Caleb.

And then he got used to the little kid slides (going down by himself!)…

And eventually he loved the bigger slides (after I shoved him down them the first time, hehehe)…

(That was Grace on the yellow slide, by the way.)

Ava’s favorite part was the swimming pool. She enjoyed floating around in there, tossing a ball back and forth, and kicking her feet.

Grace and Caleb loved riding the big tube slides with Luke and/or me. I wish we had pictures of those, but we were having too much fun to stop and take pictures.

Oh, the other favorite was the big ol’ bucket at the top of the big play structure. See it there, on top?

It dumps 1,000 gallons of water every 5 minutes.

Caleb loved standing under it. Jaden loved watching it.

None of us loved saying goodbye to the waterpark that night.

"Bye, water park!"

Luke Pricelined a different hotel for that night (hello, $45!). So, we were able to stay at the water park until almost 9pm, and then head over to the other hotel for a good night’s rest.

The next day, we had a yummy breakfast at the hotel, and then drove along the Grand Traverse Bay for a little while, enjoying the sunshine.

We got out to play at a roadside park for a few minutes, but it ended up being MUCH colder than we expected!

As corny as it sounds, our next stop was the mall to let the kiddos ride the carousel. They loved their little ride.

And then we headed home. And for one last hoorah, we stopped for ice cream in Cedar Springs. YUM.

Family vacation was super successful. Thank you, Lord!

It’s not about pretty dresses or hats.

You all know it’s a holiday that revolves around a pretty gruesome murder, a period of intense mourning, and an indescribable celebration of victory!

Truly, I don’t have words for the thankfulness and joy I feel on Easter Sunday. Jesus’ sacrifice for us on the cross is the pinnacle of our faith. And so Easter is a VERY special holiday.

It’s for that reason that I wanted to dress our kiddos up. Not because I think Jesus loves us more if we have pretty clothes. Not because I think you have to dress up to go to church. (Come to think of it, I think it’s a little silly that I’m having to explain myself, but I guess it stems from this post I read.)

So, I decided to make some skirts and hair bows for the girls, and ties for the boys. (Skirt tutorial here. I just added a third tier.)

I asked Luke if he wanted me to make him a matching tie, and he gave me the death glare. So, for the sake of our marriage, I refrained.

Here are some pics of the kiddos on Easter Sunday…Be warned, the first ones were taken before our early Easter breakfast at church, so Ava’s smile hadn’t gotten out of bed yet.

We are cheap. Oh, wait, the word is FRUGAL, right? So, we love it that each April, Luke and I can split his free birthday meal at Red Robin, and the kids can enjoy Caleb’s free kids’ meal. We add in another kids’ meal and some extra fries…And voila! We have a fun, cheap family lunch! The kids always love the birthday sundaes and the balloons, too.

After our yummy (salty, greasy, fattening) lunch, we had some time to kill, because people were looking at our house. (Yep, it’s on the market again. That’s a whole ‘nother story.) So, we spent some time just playing at a playground about 10 minutes from our house.

It was SUCH a beautiful day!

And fun was had by all…

I met her at our church when she was still a missionary in South Africa at Bethesda Outreach.

Luke took a youth ministry class at CU once upon a time, and the prof happened to be her older brother.

She ended up leaving the mission field a while back to come back to the US with her adopted South African daughter. And she chose to attend our church. (YAY!) Since then, she’s adopted another daughter (domestically this time). And she spends her days fostering other children who need love.

Dana is a godly, funny, beautiful friend. She lives a life that exemplifies James 1:27: “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” She is nothing short of amazing, and I cannot understand why she doesn’t have men begging her to marry them on a weekly basis. (She’ll probably kill me for saying that.)

Oh, and I don’t routinely call her “Crazy Dana.” She actually uses that name when she comments on this here blog. I wish she would blog, so we would all know the crazy details of her life, but I looked it up, and “CrazyDana.com” is already taken. Bummer.

ANYWHO…

Dana and her kiddos (2 daughters, a foster daughter, and a foster son) came over for a playdate! And Ava was our photographer…Are you ready for a couple of Ava’s crazy photos? (I sense a theme here.)

That’s Dana on the left, her daughter Lerato in the middle, and me on the right, gesturing with a pizza cutter.

The kids all had fun playing outside. It was a beautiful day!

Next time I’ll try harder to get some pictures of the day. Either way, it’s always fun and uplifting to spend time with friends!

See?

Most of the other pictures didn’t turn out so hot, because our 8 (EIGHT!!!) children don’t tend to sit or stand very still at the zoo. Or anywhere for that matter. So, these were the 2 blog-worthy pictures…And I just love to see the way that our kiddos mesh together as dear friends!

I already mentioned in his birthday letter that most of his gifts were baseball related. And so was his cake! He wanted a “baseball field” cake…and this is what we came up with. If I was braver, I might try fondant someday (since it looks so cool), but alas, I’m not.

I also mentioned in that post that his major gift from us was an opportunity to see a Tigers game. I’m so excited for Caleb and Luke to go this coming Saturday to the Home Plate Event at Comerica Park.

I started a new tradition this year: 20 Questions. I will ask the kiddos the same 20 questions each year on their birthdays, and keep the answers all together just for fun memories.

Here are Caleb’s 20 questions and answers from his sixth birthday…
My favorite food is: what I’m having right now (birthday dinner)
My favorite sport to play is: baseball
The coolest person on Earth is: God
My favorite movie to watch is: Milltown Pride
My favorite thing to learn about in school is: math worksheets
If I could go anywhere in the world, I’d go to: Heaven
My favorite color is: blue
When I grow up, I’m going to: again, be a baseball player
Three words that describe me are: Caleb Aaron Rumley
When I was little, I used to: whine like a baby; ask for treats
My favorite season of the year is: summer, ’cause it’s so warm
The snack I like the best is: [Kraft Handi-snacks] sticks and cheese
My favorite thing about church is: that you learn more and more stuff, and it feels like it gets cooler and cooler
My favorite Scripture verse is: “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved.” Acts 16:31
My favorite song is: Praise Him, Praise Him
One of my best friends is: Karisa
My favorite thing to do outside is: ride my bike down to the rock; pet the doggies
If I had one wish it would be: to have a dog
My best memory is: a long, long time ago, Jaden’s first word was “Bible”
My birthday dinner this year is: sausage pizza, Doritos, yogurt, juice boxes, OJ, blueberry juice, and a baseball cake

I found this granola recipe there, and it turned out great! I’ve been munching on it all week!

The only change I made was using whole flax seed instead of ground flax seed. I didn’t read it closely enough, and that’s what I grabbed at the store. But it still tastes GREAT! I’ve been loving my breakfast parfaits!

So, this is what I made!

Washable rip-stop nylon on the inside. Reusable LOTS of times. Less $$$ spent on Ziplocs.

I love sewing.