So many blessings...so little time to blog about them!!

Well it is hard to believe that I haven't blogged since February but life has just gotten me the last couple of months and blogging has been at the bottom of the list. So here is an update on what we have been up to.

• Starting at the end of March we began our birthday circuit. First the boys had a party to attend one weekend then the girls had a tea party birthday to attend the following weekend.
• Next we celebrated my grandmother's 90th birthday early. Her dearest friend was leaving town last month so we planned the party so that she could attend. We managed to keep the event a secret and she was so thrilled. We had relatives from around the country join us and it was a blessing for all of us in our very small family to spend some time with folks we rarely get to see. Nanny was blessed and that was the most important thing!
• The following weekend we celebrated Emma's 11th birthday with a couple of her church friends coming up to join us. We had lunch and painted pottery and overall had a grand time. What a blessing to have sweet friends that were willing to make the trek north to bless her. They each painted a fun piece to remember the occasion and Emma got a fun plate that she eats on each night that we all signed. Fun memories!!
• We had one weekend off the end of April but it was busy none the less. We spent time working to clean up our yard and get rid of trash and a lot of water meters. The older kids have been doing a job for Robert's company tearing apart old water meters which has been a great learning experience for them but has left our yard looking less than what I like. This weekend we made a lot of progress and it looks much nicer which I'm very happy about.
• The first weekend in May was spent in the valley. First we finally had our appointment with the geneticist to find out about Daniel's MRI results. He has given him an official diagnosis of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome which while it is not the best news it was such a relief to finally know for sure that that is what we are dealing with. We both felt such a lift knowing that we have not been crazy and also that we can finally stop pursuing and just give him the best care we know how to and deal with each new day as it comes. Next we headed to the east valley to hang out with our sweet friends from church at their house for the weekend. They were on an adventure to Africa to pick up their newly adopted son and we had the privilege of caring for their two daughters for the weekend. We had grand fun on Saturday helping to put on our church's first Mother/Daughter Tea. It went very well, we had awesome food and wonderful entertainment as well as sweet fellowship with ladies young and old. One of the things that I love about our church is the multigenerational fellowship. What a blessing it was.
• Next came our first weekend to help out some other friends butcher their first batch of chickens of the year. We all headed to Paulden early Friday morning me with a little trepidation but the kiddos oh so very excited. James, Peter, Robert and I all helped in one way or another. The other three just had a blast playing on the farm. It was exciting last night to cook a chicken that I helped to process quite a feeling of accomplishment for me who wasn't quite sure I could do it or not!! Now mind you I was at the quality control end of things but still I feel like I conquered something and I'm looking forward to doing it again several more times this summer.
• Now we are preparing to leave for our long awaited vacation back east. We are going to get to spend a whole week with our dear friends in Virginia and then head south to spend some time in North Carolina. There is a family integrated church that we have been wanting to visit for some time now and we are finally going to get to go. We are all excited to see what the Lord reveals to us in our time away and we are all so very excited for a break and time to just be together. I am pleased to be able to say that we finished our Core for school and our major subjects and so we can go and relax knowing that we don't have a bunch of school waiting for us when we return.

It has been a blessed and busy spring for our family and we pray that the Lord will continue to bless us as we head into summer. Hopefully I won't wait till the end of the summer to blog again :)!!