Imitation is the best form of flattery...

Averaging once every 5 days...

Here's a start to my "month in pictures" goal. I am not getting one every day at this point, but here's a start:

July 6th ~ Keeton took four days of swim lessons. Started doggy-paddling, ended by catapulting himself off the diving board!

July 11th ~ Sign came down. Rough day.

July 16th ~ Keeton and Rhett loved taking turns pushing each other on the toy car. For as rough and tumble as Keeton is with his sister, he is so sweet to little Rhett.

July 18th ~ How cool is this? Jeff ran in to tell me there was a tornado. Not really, but there was a funnel cloud that sent half our neighbors to the basement and the other half outside to look. Sirens came on, but only after this dissipated.

Up and running on the new MacBook!

While I am still so frustrated with Best Buy's crappola service to repair our less than one-year old laptop, it ended up giving us the opportunity to just do away with it and buy something different. I am DONE with PCs now...two computers in four years. Our nephews are staying with us tonight, and Luke in particular is a Mac pro, so he has been helping us get up and running. Seeing as how I've updated the blog (and even posted), plus downloaded all of our vacations pictures, I'd say he did a great job!

So, enjoy some pictures that I've not posted. Some of these are from Ella's dance recital and some are from Mexico.

Mexico:

Warning...pity party

One month ago I thought I'd come to grips with the idea that we may not be relocating. Our prayers, while I'm sure were answered, were answered "no". Here we still sit in limbo of a decision I just can't bring myself to make. Yet little by little I am having to. Today I finally made myself call the school we planned on sending the kids to this fall...the school we have prepped them for, met the teachers at, etc.,.and told them it didn't look like we should remain on their rosters. I have avoided this step because it means we are giving up. I keep telling our realtor that we will decide by "the end of the week" whether we are done trying to sell, and I've said this now for at least a month. I just can't do it. I've told the builder not to renew our pending lot, but I can't bring myself to pull the stop all together. This week several new houses went up on our neighborhood as it is transfer season around here. We just can't compete with them. We have said we will list fsbo if we take our house off the MLS, but we know that we won't get showings for people transferring here who are with realtors. I think the worst part is how frustrated I've become in prayer. I have personally seen His works in our lives and I have faced hard disappointments before, weathered them and come out on the other side, always able to acknowledge His perfect decision, even if it wasn't what I wanted. I know prayers are always answered but sometimes the answer is no. I just don't get why this seemed so right in the beginning, why we had 3 offers not work, why didn't He just make "no" obvious from the start? We keep praying...for clarification...a sense of peace about quitting, at least. I know the stress of this situation, going on 8 months now, is taking its toll on us all. What we were so sure was best for our family is draining us and apparently is not best right now.

Mexico

We are in Mexico, day 4 of 7 ( since you can't really count the entire 8th day of travel). so far, it has been great. The kids declared it better than Disney, so that deserves a huge hallelujah in my book! So far:
~ Keeton got the first hand screen of the entire day at the Bloomington airport.
~. Ella enjoyed spa day at the kids club...facials, manicures, the whole shebang.
~. We saw dolphins, sting rays, manatees and looked for a bull shark at a dolphinarium just a few blocks outside of the hotel.
~. Jeff played sand soccer and scored 4 goals.
~. Ella has learned how to belly up the pool bar for crushed lemonades.
~. Both kids have played with other kids from all over the world. It amazes me that they don't have to speak the same language to play.
~. The kids have fed fish in a natural lagoon, but want nothing to do with those fish touching them. Did I mention they want to swim with the dolphins!
~. Tonight the kids have a campout (until ten) on the beach with a movie.

I'll be sure to post lots pictures, but for the time being, this is it!

These things to come...

Nothing holds me accountable like putting it "all out there" so after we are back from Mexico, these things are going to happen on this blog with the remaining week I have off.
1. Ella's dance recital was June 12th and she did great...that girl has some moves! So, I would have already posted pictures of that, but because our laptop is STILL out for repair, I can't.
2. The reason I can't post pictures is because the camera software is on the computer, and I don't have another computer to post to. But, when I do get it back, I am going to be trying some new photo editing software called Picnik.
3. In addition, i am going to be rolling out a new "daily picture" blog, which i promise to take a picture every day, but I do not promise to get them posted every day!
4. I am going to then switch out our almost three year old blog photos...yikes...with a bit more updated ones. The kids look the same for the most part, anyway.
5.I am bored with my theme, so I will be checking out some new ideas there too.

Okay, that's enough on promises for a while!

Good samaritan...

Last week I received an email from someone who said they had found Keetons's iTouch...in Hilton Head...on the highway! I have to say that I was skeptical and wondered if someone was trying to scam us somehow. After reluctantly calling the person's phone, we were shocked to learn that it was completely true. This gentleman, thinking he'd inadvertently set his iPhone on the top of his car and then drove away, went searching for his missing phone on the highway that runs through Hilton Head. Rather than finding his phone, he spotted an iTouch lying on the side of the road, remarkably in unbroken condition. He took it home to see if he could locate its owner (his phone turned out to be in his car). When he and his 11 year old son saw goofy kid self photos and Kids Bop types of music, they were even more determined to get it back to the little kid who lost it. I am sure they had no idea that the kid lived 1000 miles away! So, our iTunes username led them to my email address and 4 days later we had his iTouch back. I am so thankful to Dan, not only for returning my son's very expensive toy, but mostly for confirming that there are still really good people out there and for teaching my kids a lesson in honesty that speaks volumes. They can be sure that we will be seeking ways to pay it forward!