Last week was a busy week

I am afraid this is more of a journal writing than anything else. But here goes.

Last Monday, we decided to head off to St. Louis to be with our kids for a few days - Jim, Kari, Olivia and Ava. The purpose was to be one of Olivia's VIPs at her preschool. It was an evening preschool instead of her usual morning time. She was allowed to bring 2 VIPS with her to see what she did in a day at preschool. Olivia chose her Daddy and her Papa. It was fun to go with her, and an honor. Here is a picture of her interacting with her Daddy.

Well, on Monday we quickly transplanted 3 crepe myrtle bushes and another shrub (part of the landscaping scheme of our back yard), then packed up and took off for Missouri about 3:30 pm. We got to Springfield just in time to have dinner with Judy's parents who had been working on a rent house. Then went on to Lebanon with them to spend the night. We have such wonderful parents, and it is always a treasure to be with them.

While in St. Louis, the girls were able to bring their new puppy home. He is a delightful 8-week old miniature American Eskimo. He is all-white and has a wonderful sedate personality. That is good with a 3- and 4-year old around. His name is Shelby (or Tubby - Ava's attempt). The vet checked him out on Friday before we headed for home. I went with Kari to the visit, and the vet was very impressed with him. (He is chewing a bone in this picture.) On Thursday we took him to preschool for Olivia's class to see. Imagine all these little kids gathering around. He was very relaxed and allowed them to pet (translate: poke, pull, etc.) him. We fell in love with the little guy.

Here are our beautiful girls. Olivia has her special VIP-night dress on sitting in my lap. Ava is such a happy child. She has an unbelievable cherubic face that lights up any room.


Our little Dylan (who is really in heaven, not our backyard) enjoys flowers as much as we do. Here I caught him smelling one of the flowers that lives just in front of him in our back garden. (Click any picture for a larger view.)

These next two pictures are of a house on our walk up to Honor Heights Park. It is a lovely old house, well-taken care of. It really gets us in the mood to see the flowers, shrubs and trees that are fully blazing in color at the Park.


It is interesting to look out any of our picture windows across the front of the house and see people driving slowly by to enjoy Judy's and God's handiwork in our front yard. They even make a u-turn at the intersection and drive back by. If we are outside, we always wave. It is a beautiful house, not the most beautiful in the neighborhood; but I really believe they are drawn to the peace that is here. We pray daily for the peace of our house inside and outside, that people would come here and find the peace and joy of the Lord that He so freely offers us.