Last Day of School

Mikaelyn's 2 best friends, Eric and Christina

Mikaelyn's teacher, Mrs. Haeck

Her other teacher Miss Leslie

Mikaelyn's "Prince" Eric

My graduated little girl!

June 19, 2009 was Mikaelyn's last day of Preschool! I can hardly believe that the year is over! She attended Juanita Bay Montessori which is an absolutely fabulous school! Her teachers are loving and kind and they adore my little girl. We felt so blessed being able to even get her in this Montessori school and even more so watching how she thrived during the school year. Mikaelyn is going to miss her friends, but Lord willing, we will be back in the fall for Kindergarten! Montessori is not cheap, and I know it's only Kindergarten, but the teachers are so wonderful and the curriculum is designed for each individual child, we are doing everything we can to hopefully allow Mikaelyn one more year there!

She had a fun filled day with cookie decorating, a popcorn party and then outdoor games. We hadn't had rain for nearly 30 days until that day, so it was a bit rainy, but the kids didn't seem to mind! It was fun to watch them all work together and play together and we definitely miss going to school already! Now, time to figure out fun stuff to do this summer to keep my little girl busy and not bored! :o)

Happy Father's Day Anthony!!

Our Little Family! :o)

Mikaelyn and her Daddy...she's SO lucky!

It was free hat day at the track! We sported them for a few minutes

Mikaelyn posing with the horses in the background

Anthony & I on Father's Day

For Father's day, I surprised Mikaelyn and Anthony and took them to Emerald Downs (horse racing track). None of us had ever been there and I had heard great things about it, so I figured it would be something fun and different for us to do. I reserved a box for us that was undercover which ended up being PERFECT! We were right in front of the finish line and ended up being in the "VIP" section with a local News anchor just in front of us as well as a few retired jockey's that now own some of the horses as well as a trainer for some other horses.

We decided when we got there that we would bet on a few of the horses...just small $5 bets here and there...and we actually did really well...until the 6th race! :o) Oh well it was fun and each of us got to pick "our horse" for each race, which made it all VERY exciting! I ended up picking the best horses over all, which made me very proud! Ha!

But there was a sad note...at the end of the 3rd race, as we were all discussing which of our horses won or not, Horse #2 (Mikaelyn's pick) had a heart attack just past the finish line and ended up dying on the track. We saw that the horse was down and because they don't want o bring a lot of attention to it, they didn't announce anything or let us know what was going on. There was a man sitting next to us that not only was very knowledgeable, but also had binoculars kind of kept us in the loop. Watching the jockey jump away from the horse and frantically work to get the saddle off was terribly sad...within seconds really, they took the bridle off, meaning the horse was gone. Once the poor thing was on the ground, it did not move, so I suppose a good thing is that it didn't suffer. This was it's first race ever and apparently, at times these horses just get so amped up, they just have a heart attack or possibly an aneurysm and that's it.

As I stated, it was the horse that Mikaelyn had chosen to win, so she was VERY upset that it was sick. She cried and we tried to console her, but it was very difficult for her. What I am very proud of though is that the first thing that came out of her mouth after she realized that the horse was very sick was, "I'm going to pray for it and ask Jesus to take care of it". She still prays for that horse every day, but feels happy that it is with Jesus now and it doesn't have to be sick anymore. It's amazing how a 4 3/4 year old little girl can teach me so much about things like this. It's so simple and yet so true. Jesus will take care of that horse in heaven, as well as us on earth. He is all powerful and I'm just thankful that I have been saved and know the truth!!

All in all, the day was wonderful and after a wonderful dinner at our favorite place, Cafe Veloce, we were all ready for bed and thankful for a wonderful day together!!

Mikaelyn and I are SO thankful for Anthony and the way he cares for us and takes care of us. Happy Father's Day to him!!!

Watoto Children's Choir

Mikaelyn and I had the privilege of helping to serve dinner to the Watoto Children's Choir when they came to Westminster Chapel to perform on Saturday evening. The Uganda team put together a spaghetti dinner with garlic bread and lemonade as well as strawberry shortcake for dessert. Let me re-phrase that...Gretchen, one of my teammates, put together all the details and went shopping and cooked for the kids...I was mearly a by-stander that came to help serve the kids and help out where I could. We couldn't have pulled this off without Gretchen, she has a true servants heart!!

Anyway, Mikaelyn LOVED these children and felt so good about being part of the group (Thank you Gretchen for including her) by serving the children their dinner as well as dessert and then watching them sing and dance. She memorized a few of their songs within seconds and danced like she was having such a great time! The children were polite, sweet and beautiful and I loved every minute that we were able to spend with them. It made me miss being in Uganda SO much, but opened my eyes to another organization there that I would love to get involved with in time. The kids are going to be in town for the next few weeks and Mikaelyn and I hope to go see another concert before they head home the beginning of July.

Mikaelyn & I getting ready for the concert!

Watoto Children's Choir - Tour 35

Mikaelyn and Priscilla (8 years old)

David and Mikaelyn...he's only 1/2 Mzungu too! (Mzungu = white person)

For more information on this incredible organization go to http://www.watoto.com/

Thank You Letter

So, 2 months+ since I've been home and I'm FINALLY sending out my thank you letters to all of the people that supported my financially, emotionally and spiritually for my Mission Trip to Uganda. I think I've been still wishing so badly that I were back in Uganda, that I haven't wanted to re-live all of my experiences and even put them in writing...that would be the finality to the trip. I know it sounds weird but there's times I don't even want to talk about my experience because that means it's in the past and I'm not there anymore and don't know when I'll be able to go back. I dealt with so much anger when I came home because I was not ready to leave, I didn't want to leave and felt like that was where I should be. After dealing with the anger, I KNOW that I'll be back, I just don't know when. It truly can't come soon enough.

I'm also dealing with the "reprucussions" of being gone for so long, financially. I put our family in quite a difficult position not working for alost 4 weeks and unfortunately during that time, things were slow for Anthony as well. I am doing everything I can to get back on track, but it is extremely frustrating after working so hard last year to save and get myself prepared for this trip...I feel like although I had an incredible experience, I'm paying for it now. For me, it's WORTH every penny that I DON'T have...for Anthony, he didn't get the experience that I did, therefore, he doesn't really see my side. I understand that and all I can do is just keep on working as much as possible (which is only part time). The Lord knows our needs and I believe He will provide for us 100%...I just pray it's sooner than later! :o)


Below is my 2 page letter that I sent out to my supporters. Putting my experience down on only 2 pages was BRUTAL! I could write tons of pages for each day that I was there, but this will have to do. Thank you for those of you who prayed for me, I am so grateful and definitely felt the prayers while I was there! Please continue to pray that the Lord will give me peace and patience through these next few months!

Self-Portraits

These are just a few of the MANY self-portraits that Mikaelyn has taken with the camera. Usually I go to take pictures, then press review and I'll have like 50 pictures of her doing self-portraits, pictures of the kitties, pictures of her dolls sitting on the couch, or even of shows on the TV...at least I know what is going on when I'm not around right?! She's just so silly!!

Alki Beach

Mikaelyn and I on Alki

Being her silly self!

Hangin' out on Daddy's shoulders

She is SUCH a little HAM!

This is just ONE of the reasons that I love her SO much!!

Anthony, Mikaelyn and I headed to Alki last night just to get out of the house and enjoy the mild weather we were having. It was a busy week for all of us and it was nice to have some downtime this weekend. But, Mikaelyn gets super antsy if she stays in the house too long, so since she was SUCH a good girl yesterday...including eating 7 pieces of broccoli (that means she ASKED for more than what I originally gave her on her plate), we took her out to Alki beach to go for a walk. We did some dreaming while looking at all of the beautiful condo's available on Alki beach and got some YUMMY ice cream after walking on the logs on the beach. It was a beautiful night and we had a good time being in the fresh air and just being together!

Mikaelyn, as always hammed it up for the camer a bit and I think I got some totally CLASSIC shots of her! I just adore her! ;o)

Memorial Day Weekend

Showing off all the shells she found

Loving spending time with Daddy

Our little photog Mikaelyn took this for us

Pink sandals (what else would you expect) with all her pretty shells!

Daddy swinging on the rope swing...

And pushing Mikaelyn on the swing...this FREAKED me out, but I kept my cool!

My sweets...they're too cute!

Silly girl with her Daddy

We're too cool!

I was NOT happy about this...but it's still cute!

A little family photo! :o)

We had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping (FAR too early) and we got to spend some good family time together! Mikaelyn LOVES when the 3 of us are able to get out of the house together (not to mention that I love it as well) and this was no exception. We went to Golden Gardens in Seattle and walked along the water, picked up lots of shells and cool rocks and Anthony attempted to play on a rope swing we found at the end of the beach. Of course Mikaelyn wanted to get in on it as well which freaked me out a bit, but it all turned out well and it was a great time!

After the beach, we went to our favorite dining spot, Cafe Veloce for some dinner and a little wine. All in all, it was a great day and it's that kind of day that reminds me just how blessed I am to be where I am, even if everything isn't always perfect, God has blessed me immensely!