May Picture Round-Up

How do you summarize such a full month... I guess by just jumping in and doing it! May was FULL from start to finish with lots of good stuff. Once again this blog will just touch on the highlights without a lot of explanation!

We started out the month with celebrating my parents "50th" wedding anniversary. A super big deal! We celebrated it in style with a catered dinner at the Riverhouse Hotel in Bend. I am going to do a totally separate blog for that event. The night before the big event Rudi and I went to an exclusive dinner event for out of towners at Johnny Carino's Restaurant! I'm not sure how "exclusive" it was, but it sure was fun!

Our table at Johnny's
L. to R. Myself, Rudi, Joy Johnston, Bill Traylor, My bro-David,
and his wife, Jodi!

My parents AND the celebrated couple,
 Burnell and Paula
Does this couple look old enough to have been married fifty years?
Of course, the answer is no!!!!

The day after the event we went to brunch at my brother Chad and his wife, Jenise's new house. It was so much fun to be with family in such a beautiful place! We had about four breakfasts in one. It was a disappointment to get full, because I just wanted to keep eating!

Hostess and Sister in Law, Jenise!

Our children had a blast playing with their cousins! A rare treat!

Fun with cousins
L. to R. Ruth, Clara, Liberty, and Becca

My prego little sister, Naomi and
her adorable children!

More fun with cousins!

After the fun event at Chad and Jenise's, my brother David and his wife, Jodi and his family of eight children all followed us over the mountain to our rental house. On the way we stopped by Sehalie Falls. It was so great to spend time with family that we rarely get to see. I hadn't seen my brother, David for three years...

-The Whole Gang-
David and Jodi and Family
Rudi and Carla and Family

Rudi and the little boys!

Danny and Clancy
"Best Buddies"

The Littles

Next event on the list was our first niece's (on my side's) wedding. Not only is she

the "first born", she is also the first to be married! Once again it was great to be home for this special event!

The Ceremony!
(My only shot before the battery died...again...grr)

Our family at the wedding! Don't we look purty?

Between events I took some photos of just everyday events! Like bath time! David and Adriana were so cute wrapped up in their towels I just had to take a picture.

Clean kiddos after the bath!

Another Saturday was spent celebrating the marriage of a dear friend of ours, Ross Leavitt and his wife, Annie. Ross is such a special guy and we are thrilled that he found the love of his life, even if it took going to Colorado to do it!

The new Ross Leavitt Family with Rudi, Peter, and Me

Paula helping at the coffee shop!

Our rental house has kept up the drama for us. This time the kitchen sink stopped working, along with the downstairs shower. Clancy on dish duty rigged up a creative way to do dishes... with the garden hose!!

My creative boy...

Pretty clever!

May also found us planting lots of pretty flowers from the nursery next door! I got some really cute pictures of the kids!

Another project was trimming out the new windows we put in. Thankfully, Uncle Ben was on hand to help us. It is always good to have an expert around in time of need!

Clancy and Myles getting the job dialed in!

One of the windows before

The "Master" with work in progress.

Clancy getting in on the action.

The main window all trimmed out. "Looks great guys!"
Myles, Clancy, and Uncle Ben 

While we were doing real life, Emily took a trip back to Cochabamba for the wedding of Danyelle and Franco, who you have met on this blog from our Horita Feliz times. We considered cutting our time short in the U.S. so that we could be at this wedding, sending Emily as our ambassador was our second choice! Lauren and Caitlyn went with Emily and they had a grand time!!

Danyelle and Franco
"Till Death Do Us Part"

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Emily, Lauren, and Caitlyn in Cochabamba, Bolivia

And then it was time for fishing. I think in the April blog I told you all about how Myles got the fly fishing bug! He was able to get his own gear and just had to try it out! Clara ended up being the only one that caught a fish.

Clara with her fishy, fishy!

Myles trying out his gear for the first time!

We also were able to make a short visit to Uncle Tim and Aunt Diane's house.

"Smores"

Lunch at Uncle Tim and Aunt Diane's

Ready to pray and eat!

Rudi and Myles with our gracious hosts!

When it was time to pick up Emily from the airport, we decided to go up the night before and get a hotel so the kids could swim. Unfortunately, all of the hotels in Portland with pools were booked for the night... We made a last minute call to our friends Benj and Poughkong to see if they would take us in for the night. Being the super hospitable people that they are they said, yes! We had a lot more fun staying with them in their "castle" then we would have at a hotel! Thanks, Benj and Poughkong and kids!

Benj and Poughkong Mauck with
five of their nine kids!

After picking up Emily we went to the Portland Zoo! It was a zoo full of people as well as animals. Both were rather strange this particular day!!!:) It was fun to be together again as a family!

Ready to take on the Portland Zoo!

Happy Mama with her babies!

Love those elephants!

Me too!

No, the snake is not real! Whew!

And one of the last, but certainly not least events, was Ruth's birthday! We celebrated with a special breakfast at Grandpa and Grandma B's house.

Birthday girl with her birthday breakfast!

It's gift time!

By special request, a life sized doll with hair to comb!
Happy birthday, Ruth!

Our last big event for the month was the Shield of Faith Missionary Conference. This is the mission that we are sent out with to Bolivia. It was a incredibly convicting, encouraging, building up time for our whole family.

Our friend, Steve, plays the trumpet and does an act with his mouse puppet named, Squeaky.  Squeaky learns the lesson that he cannot "play" the trumpet without help and in the same way we can't do anything without Christ's help. It is super fun to watch! I took some pictures of his visit to David and Adriana's class!

David and Adriana's Class with
a visit from Squeaky the Mouse!

Everyone loves Squeaky.

Love David's face in this one!

The highlight of the whole conference and month for me was the baptism of three of my children, Clancy, Clara, and Ruth. While all three of them have professed faith in Jesus for some time now, none of them had been water baptized. It was a very special occasion. My camera as always failed to capture the moments like it should have, but I will post what I do have. 

Clancy first!

All the way under!

 All three of the children shared why they wanted to be baptized. They all said something along the lines of "I believe in Jesus and I want to follow Him". Rudi and I could not ask for anything better for our children! We feel blessed beyond measure.

Clara next!

Coming up out of the water!

Ruth last!

Got 'er done!

Praying for our three newly baptized children!

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"Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do.Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls." Acts 2:37-41

"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.Amen." Matthew 28:19&20