Elena's Birthday Party

Above is a slideshow from her birthday.  Notice that even though she is turning 5, we had a junior moment and put only 4 candles on her cake the first time she blew them out.  Then we put five on and had her do it again.  :)

Hope you enjoy the slideshow.  You can comment on our blog more easily now if you would like to.  At the beginning we had a lot of trouble with having to confirm comments and having to sign in to leave comments, but I think we have that resolved so that you can just leave your comment easily with or without logging in. :)

Today we celebrated Elena's Birthday today.  You may ask why we would celebrate her birthday when today is not her birthday.  It is actually on January 24th.

Since las birthday she has been talking about the cake that Jenny showed here - a candy land board on a cake as well as the friends she plans to invite.  Well, our class has been here at the training center for a year and a half and will all be going their separate ways on December 19th and following.  We will return here for Jenny to receive some additional training in linguistics.  So...if we waited until the actual day the pain of having friends move away would have been magnified by not being able to share her special day with her as she has been planning all year.  We had 19 children under the age of not very old so it was quite the site.  I videod a little bit and maybe I will post some of that.

They were all upstairs and I had the video camera ready when we called them down for Cake.  :)  Hope you enjoy the picture slideshow and can share a little bit in our lives through the photos.

Encouragement and Body Life

Wow! What a priviledge it is to be part of the body of Christ.  Life can get discouraging, it is so easy to get down and discouraged.  Then, out of nowhere someone in the body who may not even be around you to see that you are down or discouraged ENCOURAGES YOU.  What a blessling from the Lord to have the Body there to help us in in our time of need.

I reached out to a friend to let him know that I was having a rough go of it, and his response from the Word and what he shared was such an encouragement to me.

Today we got then nicest package in the mail, what an encouragement to be prayed for and to be encouraged in this way.

Thank you Lord for your provision and for knowing exactly where I am at and meeting me there through the Body.

Brrrrh! What cold and wintery weather

The few days of weather have been crazy.  On Sunday it was up around 60 degrees a nice day requiring no coats.  Then...came monday morning.  Sleet and ice fell in the evening, and by the next morning we had ice all over campus and it was REALLY cold.

Today we had more freezing rain/sleet and it was REALLY cold again.

There is something nice about it being cold outside as Christmas approaches though, makes it feel like Christmas is actually coming. :)

We are excited to be able to spend our Christmas in North Carolina with our friends at Victory Baptist and to be able to spend time with Jenny's parents.

Please pray for us as we prepare to travel on Sunday after church.  We will spend the night along the way and then continue on to North Carolina on Monday.  The kids are in a Christmas play at church, so we are staying so they can take part in the play.  Emmanuel is a Sheperd and Elena is an Angel.  Should be a great time.

Graduation is upon us

It is hard to believe that graduation is upon us.  December 19th we graduate from the training program here in Missouri.  Our family is staying on here at the training center for Jenny to complete some additional training in Linguistics.   I will be helping out with the IT Group and be taking care of the kids, since I will not be in classes in the spring.

This morning we took our class picture and earlier this week we had our family graduation picture taken.

Decorating for Christmas 2008

Check out the slideshow of our family decorating for Christmas.

Practical Skills Class

Hey - we posted a news article along with a picture slideshow on our website about our practical skills class we recently completed!  Check out the news article on our website.

Practical Skills

Early Thanksgiving with Family

We had a huge spread this Saturday with family!  It has been so GREAT to have our family in town.  Misty and Andy drove down from Wisconsin, and Grady, Sarah and John came up from Springfield.  So great to hang out together and catch up!

This afternoon everyone headed over to the rope swing on campus and had a GREAT time.

E's 6th Birthday Party

Slideshow of Birthday Party

We had a great time celebrating E's birthday party.  It was so awesome and yet almost hard to believe he is already 6 hears old.  He has been making great use of his presents and really enjoying them a lot!

He is doing great in school and really seems to enjoy it.  Hope you enjoy the slideshow!

Fishing, Biking and just hanging out

This is a photo from right before summer...it is the same place we went fishing this morning though.

Today has been a great day as a family. We have changed our schedule a little bit for when we go grocery shopping. We used to grocery shop after church on Sundays, so you can imagine how fun that was. I am in the car with the kids trying to keep them entertained and try not to go crazy; minutes seems like hours.
Meanwhile in the store Jenny has a meticulous list of things she needs for the week. She is racing around the store trying to be certain she doesn't miss any items that she needs. Inside the store she is rushing everywhere knowing the rest of the family hasn't eaten yet and that we are waiting and doing our best to be patient in the car. :)
This semester we decided to switch it up. In the morning on Saturdays Jenny arranges with a group of ladies to go do shopping for the week. They go out and have a great time together getting provisions for the week.
Meanwhile I am at home having a ball with the kids and hanging out with the other dad's and their kids. Somehow it is better together. Last week we went down to the park and had the kids play, and hung out with a friend and his kids. This week another dad and I took the kids fishing at the lake. It was a bit crazy trying to keep 4 kids of mine plus 3 of his either fishing and or out of the lake. It was a great time though and I think the kids enjoyed spending time with dad.
James caught a nice size catfish at the ripe old age of 2. So that was awesome. It was probably 7 inches or so. Jada caught a large mouth bass...it wasn't very large though it was only about 3 inches. Elena enjoyed playing with the worms most of all I think. She did some fishing, but neither she nor Emmanuel caught anything this time. I am horribly ashamed to admit that I did not have my camera to get a picture of James with his fish. I will include an old photo...from last summer of the kids down fishing.

Fun Times in the Lake

It is just crazy when you watch the kids jumping off the dock.  Especially our 2 year old.  Crazy.  They have been enjoying the lake.  The level of the lake may have dropped some since they have been swimming in it, they seem to drink quite a bit of the lake each time we go down.

Fun Video - back in Missouri

We are glad to be back in Missouri now. We have been here for a little over a week. We have really been getting settled back in and reconnecting with the returning students.

I thought this video was so cute and wanted to share it with you. I saw our daughter doing this and had the rare opportunity to get her to continue after I got the video camera out. :) Hope you enjoy.

Hanging out with friends and playing games

It is awesome to hang out with friends, play games and just be together. Loving being home!!!!!

Fort Popham & the Extended Roundy Tribe

We still have several more days to enjoy here with the Maine Roundys. We enjoyed touring Fort Popham right next to the beach.

(Photo courtesy of Emmanuel Roundy Age 5)

Here we are: 12 Roundys all together! 

The Maine Roundys

Anaya and Renee

The Traveling Roundys

Pine Trees at the Beach

In Maine the typical beach is not your typical palm-tree-white-sand beach. But, as you can see, it’s simply beautiful anyway.

James & Jada had their debut with the ocean here at Popham Beach. They LOVED it! They were quite fascinated with the waves even though it was just one small little lapping wave at a time. 

While James & Jada were introduced to the ocean for the first time, Emmanuel & Elena were introduced to the Atlantic. (Their first encounter with the ocean was last year--the South China Sea.)

Look Mom, sand hands!

I wanna be like my big brother!

The Scenic Route

We drove up Route 2 through Massachusetts and soaked in the majestic scenery. The mountains were quite misty and mystical at the same time as it was a drizzly day. It took us WAAAAY longer to arrive in Maine than expected, but the drive was breathtaking. See for yourself!

Rainy Days & One Perfectly Sunny Day in NY

Our time in NY with the Cochran clan was most relaxing. The days were cool and rainy and the kids enjoyed catching rain drops and adding to their caterpillar collection.

The whole clan gathered together for a picnic Saturday afternoon and it was the most gloriously sunny day you could ask for. With good food, endless games of horseshoes and great friends to catch up with (aka hunting stories retold), we were all grateful for the warm sunshine and the rain that held off till nearly dark!

Time with Gram

We had an eventful visit with Gram and family in Pennsylvania: Lots of good food, a Skip-Bo game, visiting aunts & uncles, splashing in the creek, and enjoying some special moments with Gram! Please be in prayer for Gram! She just fell on Thursday and yesterday had a successful surgery to repair her broken hip. Pray for healing and encouragement. We love you, Gram!

Great Times as a Family in North Carolina

We were blessed to have Grady, John and Sarah with us during part of our time in North Carolina along with Misty.  It is the first time in quite a while that we had the whole family together.  The kids loved going on four-wheeler rides with Uncle Grady.

As you can see Jada is petrified of dogs. :)  She really enjoyed being out in the mountains, romping around in the dirt, and taking a moment to relax with Corky.

We enjoyed a time to celebrate Jenny's birthday while the whole family was there as well.

We went for a swim and enjoyed learning how to paddle around in kayak.  

Eating lunch can be just a little too exhausting at times.  I think he really had a good nap that day. :)
Jenny had learned from a magazine or friend how to make ice cream using two ziploc bags, some ice and a few other ingredients.  I don't know if the kids actually got to eat theirs  I think they had a little too much fun mashing the bags. :)  It does work though and tastes quite good.  You can get in touch with us if you are interested in the recipe.

Getaway Together in Tennessee

While we were in North Carolina, Jenny surprised me with two nights away in Gatlinburg.  When we were married almost 9 years ago we spent the first part of our honeymoon in a cabin in Gatlinburg.

On our way over the mountain we drove up to Clingman's Dome.  It is the highest point in the smokey mountains.  You can drive most of the way up, but then we had to walk up just about 1/2 of a mile to finish of the trip to the top.  We have driven BY Clingman's dome many times, but it is usually at the beginning or end of a 14 to 16 hour drive to Wisconsin or Missouri.  It was a real treat to hike up there.  We were high enough that clouds were blowing across the path up the mountain.  It was awesome.

We were going out to do some shopping for clothes as Jenny's birthday present.  The kids stayed with Grandma.  We went to lunch together while we were out, and that is when Jenny decided to share the surprise that we were not going back home that day.  We had a great time relaxing and hanging out together.  The second day we rode the cable car to Ober Gatlinburg.

On our trip back to North Carolina we drove through Cades Cove and enjoyed some awesome displays of God's Creation.  It struck me that all of the beautiful places that I have seen in my life and all of the ones I have yet to see were created in 6 days by God.  How awesome is that.  It is one thing to say that God is all-powerful, but sometimes for my little mind to really understand I need a simple example of his power to help me begin to understand.  On our way back to North Carolina we drove on a one-way four-wheel drive rode.  It was beautiful!

Picking Peas and Spending Time at the Pool

The morning after we arrived in Maryland we went and picked strawberries and english peas.  It was a great time to get out as a family and we really enjoyed eating the peas and strawberries later. :)

While we were in Maryland Jenny's Aunt took us to the community pool on Father's day.  We really had an awesome time as a family and the kids enjoyed swimming with Aunt Jean.  She was able to teach emmanuel how to do a proper swimming stroke with his head under the water.  They had several pools and some awesome slides.  After a great time at the pool we had an awesome dinner that included T-Bone steaks.  MMMmmmMMMmmMMMhhmmMM!

Whitewater Rafting with Family

Rafting Fun

On our way to North Carolina we caravanned  with Jenny's brother Grady, Sarah and John (Jenny's nephew).  We moved the car seats around and the kids enjoyed spending time together on the road.  All of the kids traveled really well.  We picked up Jenny's sister at the airport in Knoxville. The first week that we spent in North Carolina Jenny's whole family was together for the first time in quite a while. One of her uncles and her cousin came up to the mountains for a few days and we were able to go rafting down the Nantahala. It was a great time. The water was 48 degrees...brrrr.