Our new friend

The first ten years of our marriage Kevin and I had two cats and two dogs. I love cats. I grew up with them on our farm, I used to dress up the kittens in baby-doll clothes, in fact at one point we had about 14 on the farm. These were all outdoor cats. They were allowed in the house only for visits.

Before Kevin and I got married my friends Jeff and Tina gave me an adorable fuzzy orange kitty. I named him Boris. Boris was with us for over 10 years. But alas, Kevin is allergic to cats. So as our cats moved on to kitty heaven, we didn't get more.

About a month a go a black cat showed up at our house. We started talking to it and of course the kids named it. "Mickey" is a very sweet cat. He loves the kids and is an excellent hunter. So far, we've received gifts of multiple mice, a squirrel, a bluejay, and various others that we haven't been able to identify. So yes, Mickey is a keeper! Excellent for country living.

Surprisingly, Mickey doesn't mind Joshua's misguided attempts at petting him. Josh has picked him up, sat on him and pulled his tale, all without a scratch or meow. He just waits until Josh is done or until Kev or I can rescue him.

All three kids love him. Here's our new little friend with Tori.

Jerusalem Marketplace

This year for VBS our church did something a little different. Children were 'transported' back to Bible times and walked where Jesus walked. They made bread, weaved baskets, formed pottery and experienced the artisanship on the streets of Jerusalem’s Market place, all while being garbed in the clothing of the times. It was incredible!

On the last night, the rabbi that negotiated with Judas to turn Jesus over to the Romans met Jesus face-to-face. Check out their conversation here.

VBS is very labor intensive (we had over 100 volunteers!), but it is so worth it! Watching the children interact with Jesus and get excited about an offering (girls won, second year in a row!) is amazing. We plan on doing the Jerusalem series every three years. It was an amazing experience for the children and the volunteers!

The rabbi experiences forgiveness.

Loving Jesus

Listening to Jesus

Face-to-face

The skit in the marketplace

Several days we had a 'blind' man in the marketplace.
Once the kids learned of his plight, they started 'caring' for him. They brought him food and water. And were amazed on the day he was miraculously healed.

The basket weaver.My Tori on the left.Lizzie and her buddy Jackie.

Happy Father's Day!

What a day we had yesterday! Our church schedule was a little different. Instead of normal service times, we had a picnic/car/motorcycle show. The picnic started later than usual, so we were able to take Kev out to breakfast prior to. He spent a little time in the morning getting his bike ready for the show, so it looked great!

Kev is such a phenomenal dad! His role as a daddy is a much different than most of our friends...he is the main caregiver for the kids. So he makes breakfast, gets kids ready for naps, makes lunch, plays, more nap time, takes kids to appointments and plans dinner. All the while keeping up with homework and working on our remodel. (sound familiar my mommy friends?)

He finished his first seminary class for MFT (marriage and family therapist) master's program last weekend. The instructor was very impressed with his grasp of the material and told Kev that "you (Kev) get it." Considering the class was for second year students in the program, we were very excited. (He received 95% in the class.)

We love you Kevin!

Last Day of School

Last Friday was Lizzie's last day of school. Yay! She had a great year this year. Her class visited the Monterey Bay Aquarium, The Discovery Center, Hilmar Cheese Factory, went roller skating, participated in the open house with a rendition from High School Musical, endured their first year of state testing, and experienced a long-term sub when their teacher went out on maternity leave. It was a fun, very active year!

We looking forward to a great summer, with lots of activities planned. This picture is from the end-of-the-year awards ceremony.

Fun with Micah

We had the privilege of taking dinner to some friends last week, who had recently had a baby. Jill (the new mommy) was Lizzie's kindergarten teacher, and has been a good friend for a long time. The girls each had a good time holding Micah. Josh, on the other hand didn't even notice him until I sat next to Adam, while Adam was holding Micah. At that point Josh want to 'bang' on Micah like a drum. Thankfully, I thought Josh might think of doing that and was prepared to catch the little arms flying through the air.


Welcome Micah Gavin, we are thrilled to have a new playmate!