JM's Ministry Trip

This year JM went on a ministry trip to Tamarack Valley.

JM Monday morning before he left for the trip.  

Our church gives opportunity for both our middle school youth group and high school youth group to go on a ministry trip.  The middle school does work service trips IN Michigan.  

Tamarack Valley is a Christian Center with programming in Science and Nature Study, Times Past, Living Michigan History and camping for individuals, families and groups.

The group goes and freely gives their time for 5 days to do work projects.  They chinked a log building, built a small building from beginning to end and cleaned up brush.  They also went to a nursing home to spend time and sing to the patients.  

This is a great opportunity for JM and the other students to spend time ministering to others!  He had a great time working and serving others WITH his friends.

They returned on Friday afternoon.  On Sunday evening they present what they did during the week to the church family.

 JM right before we left for church.

The full group singing for our church family.

INTRODUCING........................

The newest member of our family :)

Ms. HM

Our family decided to host an exchange student for the 2014/2015 school year.

She arrives in August and departs in June.

Our family has been approached many times to do this and we could not make it work UNTIL this year.

I looked at many applications, narrowed it down to a few, showed the kids and they put them in order and I asked the placement coordinator about them.

Ms. HM from South Korea seems to be a perfect fit for our family.

AND

ALL of us are so excited.

The girlies taking pictures and sending them to her while texting.

We text with her every day.

We will Skype this weekend -- it will be her first time meeting Matt and JM.

***She is fun, talented and adventurous.

***She loves to bake, travel, play piano and be with friends.

***She speaks 3 languages:  Korean, Chinese and English!

***She attends church and plays piano for the worship team!

Ms. HM and her younger brother recently at The Great Wall of China on vacation.

Our conversations have been great!!!

***She wanted to know if she could ride a cow!!!!

***She asks about the farm.

***We are learning about her school life in Korea --  a long day 8:30 am to 5:40 pm.  

***The girls LOVE texting with her -- well, so do MD and I.

***She told me she prayed for a teach USA mom.  AND she was thrilled to get an English teacher USA mom!!

***She has NEVER been swimming -- and she is totally looking forward to going to the beach.

Again, with her brother.  She seems to have lots of fun!

We have a few things to get ready before she arrives.  JM is getting the new room and we are changing his old room into something a tad more girly!

We are excited to add another spunky and beautiful girl to our family!

FUN!!!

We have the NEW legs!

Today is the day!

The girls get their NEW legs!!!

Yes, we are all so excited!

Unfortunately, the weather was NOT great -- lots of storms.  Matt actually had to move a tree so we could get the van and leave!

Thankfully, we still arrived ON TIME!

Elizabeth had received her leg last week BUT there were still a few issues with it -- the foot was turned out AND they laminated it with the fabric going the wrong direction.  So, the peacocks were all sideways!

I don't know if you can tell -- the peacocks are sideways on this leg.

SO

I was suppose to bring MORE material -- which I purchased YESTERDAY 

WELL, I forgot it -- So, My Darling and I RAN to Hobby Lobby to find some more!!

While Mr. Mark fixed her leg all up!!

Walking so Mr. Mark can figure out the changes to make.

AND

NOW It is perfect!

LOVING this leg!

BaJabs had her last fitting --

This leg is very different than the legs she had in the past.  She is now using a peg system leg.  She has an unusual shape to her stub and the last leg we did not really like.  SO -- we are trying something new!

 A new kind of liner -- she is getting it ready to put on.

Measuring it!

The leg seemed good -- so now it has to be laminated.

WHICH means we have 3 1/2 hours to go around Grand Rapids waiting.

Flower shopping, nice lunch at Panera's, browsing at Hobby Lobby --

Lunch at Panera's with nanny!

FINALLY,

We arrived back at Mr. Marks office and her leg is completed!

It is beautiful -- and sooooo very comfortable!

 Listening to the NEW way to keep her leg and liner clean.

Beautiful -- YES, I let the girls pick ANY fabric they want for their legs.

Thankfully, we were able to get out of GR right before rush hour.  

We had a nice ride until North Muskegon, when a transmission line in my van blew!

Having a little fun witing for our Daddy HERO to arrive!

Amazingly, we were able to get off the highway quickly and pull into Taco Bell under a shade tree.  Matt was able to come quickly and our mechanic actually was 2 miles down the road!

Thank-you Lord for looking out for us.

SO -- yes, it was a long day -- with, bad weather, forgetfulness, waiting, eating, shopping, new legs, a migraine and car issues BUT God was with us the whole time and kept us safe!

AND

of course, the girls have beautiful new legs!!! 

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day!

This picture just makes me laugh -- we were at Meijer trying on glasses for MD -- I would take the picture and send it to MD to see if he liked them.  Matt was such a good sport :)

Matt is the MOST amazing father!!!

I LOVE that he LOVES being a dad :)

When we started having children he wanted 10 kids!!  YES, 10 kids!

AND I thought he was CRAZY!!!

I think he is now happy with 5 ;)

He is patient and kind.  He takes time to talk to them about God.  He takes them to work and shows them HOW to farm yet allows them to just tag along as well.  He reminds them often of his love and most importantly God's love!  He prays with them and plays with them.  

We enjoyed a nice dinner at my parents house!  Unfortunately, asparagus season is in FULL SWING and so he was only able to take a little amount of time to eat and socialize.  THEN it was back to the field with the boys!

The girls were so excited to show him the BIG poster they made for him.  We also got him a few things he could use -- like a swim suit and a cool Detroit Tigers shirt.  

The boys were there, too -- some how they avoided all of the pictures.

Mud Games

Our youth group is AWESOME!!!

This is one of the fun events that MD got to do this spring!

MUD GAMES!!!

They go to a local farmers field and play games in the mud!

It looks like so much fun --- right????

Yes, it is raining!  They are playing 'touch' football.

 Volleyball -- MD is in the grey shorts and red shirt.

Being weird!

Mudding the girls :)

 MD's team!

Of course, a good event also has FOOD!!!  Nice rain protector Mr. M :)

Church Awards

Each spring our church does an award/graduation night.

The girls go to Awana and this program has a HUGE Bible memory push.

WHICH

We feel is very important for our children to begin to hide God's word deeply in their souls!

My Darling does this easily ON HER OWN!  Plus it helped her earn money to go to camp this summer!

 My Darling receiving her awards.

The kids in her group that completed the book and recieved the Alpha award.

BaJabs still need a little help to do her verses but she completed her book this year!

 BaJab's receiving her award.

NOW --

Elizabeth -- well, she makes me just tear up thinking about this ---

She FINISHED her book --- it took TWO years and LOTS a family effort -- to memorize and learn what the verses actually meant! 

BUT SHE DID IT!!!

JM and MD have a memory program they do as well to help earn money for their ministry trips.

They both learned all the verses -- around 100 or so and all of the challenges.

Way to go!

This is the group of High Schoolers that completed the program! 

Spear It 5K race

My Darling decided she want to try running in a 5K race.

3 of her cousins and 2 aunts run in the annual Spear It 5K race during the National Asparagus Festival.

So, she decided to give it a try.

Before the race.

There were MANY runners --

AND

It was a VERY hot morning on a hilly course --

BUT 

 Finishing the race strong with her cousin, aunt and Mr. V.

She passed her aunt right at the end.

She did it!!!

32 minutes -- a few minutes longer than her last race but this was a much more challenging course.  

Right at the end -- she looks the same as the beginning!  

She was thrilled that received a metal -- 3rd place in her age division.

She really liked doing this -- We might just have a runner in the Woller family!

Baking!

I LOVE that the girls LOVE to bake!!!

Saturday afternoon baking ---

Yes, I have them run the Kitchen Aide Mixer and everything!

They are GREAT!

My Darling is helping Elizabeth -- My Darling has helped mommy lots and she is now teaching Elizabeth -- LOVE this!!!

Gluten-free chocolate chip cookies --

The best ever!!!

My Darling and Elizabeth did it with only 1 little prompt from mom --

Oh, and mom putting in and taking out of oven.

Thank-you girls for providing the family with one of the yummy treats for the week!