Grandpa's 74th Birthday!

Ademir

Ted with Ademir

Ademir and puppy puppet.

Crystal and Ben. Engaged!

Shari and Ademir

Sweet little Garrett

Granny, Nathan, Sadie, Papa

Kim with Garrett

Garrett with his Mommy, Nicole.

ClaireAnna holding Lily's new kitten, Kitty.

Cianna.

Sadie

Trinidad Trip

These six young ladies from our church are going to Trinidad on a short term missions trip, leaving Sat., July 11 and returning Sat., July 18th. Please pray for them as they travel and share the love of Christ with others. They are, from left to right, Kate Harmon, Christin Butler, Danielle Horn, Lindsay Howard , and Jancy and Jenna McCarty.

Progress

Ted has been working hard on the yard. Bless his heart, his goal was to get it all done by the time I came home from vacation. While he did not accomplish that, he did get most of the branches cut, hauled and burned and has the trees down to mostly just the trunks.

Many, many piles of brush like this have already been burned. Not sure what we're going to do with that trampoline!

This is the stack of fire wood created by just the branches of the 4 oaks from our yard. The trunks are yet to be cut up.

ClaireAnna and Mom's Big Adventure

Our Big Adventure started on Thursday, June 25th. Claire and I were headed up north so she could attend camp and I could visit with Jes and see old friends. I was also transporting 8 ducks we had raised and sold over the Internet to a man in Bloomington, IL. We left Dover at 8:15 in the morning. What should have been a 12 hour trip, turned into a 17 hour nightmare! Just before Springfield, MO, I had a blowout on my left rear tire. We were stranded in the median in the blazing sun and temps of 97 degrees. Would you believe a friend from Russellville was also traveling to IL that same day at the same time and stopped to help me?! What a "coincidence!" We were able to keep the ducks cool in her car until a tow truck could come and change my tire. ( We were unable to loosen the lug nuts.) I then drove to Springfield and had to buy a new tire. Back on the road and now 3 hours behind schedule, my air conditioning died completely in the middle of a traffic jam in the middle of St. Louis. The temperature is still 97 and I've got ducks overheating in a cardboard box. So once we were through the city, we stopped at a DQ and took the box of ducks inside to cool off. ( I can't believe they didn't notice!) An hour later as the sun started to go down and the temperatures cooled a bit, we headed back out, still very nervous for the duck's well being. We met our duck buyer near Bloomington at 9:30 pm. ( We were scheduled to meet him at 4:30). Once the ducks were handed off, I was relieved but quite exhausted. I realized the best thing to do would be to continue driving since it was night and the heat wasn't so bad. I made it to Jes's apartment at 1:15 am Friday morning.

Friday morning we slept in and then took my car in to get fixed. Happily, it was a minor problem.

Saturday morning we headed to Camp Awana. ClaireAnna had been excited about camp for weeks. Here are some pictures we took upon arrival.

Jes and I helped ClaireAnna set up her bunk and introduced her to her cabin leader. We walked the whole camp grounds and showed her where everything was. Then we hugged and kissed goodbye.

Sunday Jes and I were able to attend my old church and see lots of wonderful old friends. It was a very special morning! Then we had lunch at The Cheesecake factory. Later, Camp called me and said that ClaireAnna was homesick. I talked to her and she was teary but seemed alright.

Monday, when I got ahold of the camp leader, she told me Claire had been crying a lot and probably should go home. I headed back up to camp to pick her up. :( Turns out, ClaireAnna was overwhelmed with the idea that she wasn't going to see me for a whole week. She liked camp, her leader and all her new friends, but could not stop crying whenever there was a break in activities. We decided to go home and relax and come back for a day at camp on Thursday. I was very disappointed since I had put so much effort in to getting Claire to camp, but.... I guess she just wasn't ready.

On Tuesday, Claire and I spent the morning getting new shocks put on my car. Then we went to Judy Love's house and had a wonderful visit which included lunch from China House, one of my favorite placed to eat.

Wednesday the weather was cooler with a bit of rain expected. The PERFECT kind of day to hit Six Flags since the crowds would be smaller. We also found out it was buy one - get one free tickets! So we had a perfect and wonderful day at Great America - Claire's first time at an amusement park. She loved all the mid-sized rides and the Whizzer, but did NOT like the Demon. We stayed off the other big roller coasters. Thursday, we headed back up to camp. My plan was to let Claire spend the day with her cabin mates and leader while I helped out in the hand crafts. That way, she could have a wonderful Camp Awana experience without having to worry about not seeing mom for a week. Unfortunately, it didn't work out that way. For some reason, ClaireAnna was still teary eyed and cried anytime she was not with me. We ended up leaving after lunch. We don't really understand this, since Claire is a very confident and non-clingy child. I plan to try again next year, but I will volunteer at camp and stay the whole week with her. Hopefully, with year of maturing, she'll be ready!

On Friday, ClaireAnna was determined to find a place to swim since the 3 days she was at camp were all too cold. We headed out to Illinois Beach State Park on Lake Michigan. Unfortunately, it was also a pretty cool day and the water was like ICE! We tried, but could NOT get used to it. Then I remembered the cool public pool in Zion and convinced Claire that we would have more fun there. And boy did we! They have 2 water slides and Claire loved them! She also got to use her new mask and snorkel. For dinner, we met my sister Laura, and her kids Rachel and Nathan, at Fazoli's. Then we headed up to my brother's house in Milwaukee for a visit and some Copp's Frozen Custard. Yum!

Saturday was the 4Th and we spent it at the lake front in Kenosha with my family. We cooked out burgers and brats and joined in the fun with half the city I think. The fireworks were AWESOME!

My mom and her "baby", Sonny. My sister, Laura, with her step-grand daughter, Maiella.
ClaireAnna and Maielle.
My niece, Rachel, and her boyfriend, Mike! Baby is due in Sept. It's a boy!

ClaireAnna had fun climbing on the rocks at the marina, just like her brother and sister's did for many years every 4th.

On Sunday, Jes, ClaireAnna and I took the train into the city for a Cub's Game. It was a fantastic time and a great game! Cubbies won 9 to 2 against the Brewers! Sweet!

Read the words as they change on the bottom of the score board! We didn't get home from Chicago till after 8:00 pm. We were all just exhausted and hit the sack early. Monday morning, we said goodbye to Jes when she left for work and then packed up and headed out about 9:00 am. I could have made it home, but fatigue set in and we stopped in Ozark and stayed the night. Of course ClaireAnna wouldn't let me rest! We hit the pool, which we had all to ourselves, and swam till 10:30 pm! Claire just LOVES her new snorkel gear!
We got home today about noon and were SO happy to see Dad and Kate! Well, this year's Big Adventure is over. Hopefully, next year's won't be so Big! I'd like to have time to relax and visit more with friends! But my time with ClaireAnna and Jes was precious and special and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Life's About Changin'

ClaireAnna and I spent the day here yesterday. We had a blast! And yet....my mind was somewhere else....sometime else. I kept seeing a little boy, climbing on the railings with a big grin on his face. I kept hearing his big sister telling him to get down with a light hearted huff. And there was another little girl, blond and sweet, holding my hand. Oh the many wonderful hours we spent together at this place - the four of us. We had season passes and knew the park like the back of our hands. We went to Freight Fest every year. We ate the funnel cakes and stayed till dark, got wet on Roaring Rapids and dizzy on Fiddler's Fling......There they are....running ahead to get in line on the Demon.......I look again.......and they are gone.

They are gone.....on to other things, all grown up. That little boy is working and going to college. He's got a lovely girlfriend and I only see him a couple of times a week. His big sister lives in another state and has a good job and her own apartment. And the one holding my hand, my little blond sweetie, just graduated high school. Today I'm here with ClaireAnna, my youngest. She's eight and has never been here before. I am having a wonderful time with her. I am also singing a Patty Lovelace song, over and over again quietly in my mind...wiping a tear or two now and then....and remembering.

.......(The Lord) whispered softly,

Time will ease your pain.

Life's about changin'

Nothin' ever stays the same.

And He said,

How can I help you, to say goodbye?

It's okay to hurt. And it's okay to cry.

Come let me hold you and I will try

How can I help you, to say goodbye?

Life's about changin'

Nothin' ever stays the same.

New Face, Familiar Face

This is Duke. He is a litter mate to Shani and Bo. He was given to us by the Crenshaws, original breeders of the litter. They have gotten out of livestock and could not keep all the LGDs they had. (LGD = Livestock Guardian Dog) Duke is a very sweet, beautiful dog. Our only problem is that he is not used to as much interaction with people as we provide here. He has never been on a leash and does not like to be in the barn. He is a bit of a loner, but will wag his tail and seem quite happy if you pet him, even running up to us on occasion for attention. We are hoping he adjusts to us and our routine quickly. Right now, he is hiding under a fallen tree limb! Duke is smaller then Bo, but taller and bigger bodied then Shani. So now we have 3 dogs from the same litter, small medium and large. Or should I say, Large, huge and giant! I will update with pictures of all of them as soon as Duke comes out from under the tree!

Don't Tell Daddy!

Like I said in my last post, today's heat index will be 110. When our oaks fell, they took with them all the shade they made over Lucky's dog kennel. She only has a tiny bit of shade now in front of her dog house. In this kind of heat, that is just not enough. So Lucky got a bath this morning and came in the house for the day. Well, Shani decided that wasn't fair and snuck in too! Oops! Don't tell Daddy the dogs are in the house! Shhhhh! I'll scoot Shani back out since she can find shade and water on her own. ( We can't let Lucky run loose, she is a scent hound and follows her nose where ever it leads her. We could never risk loosing her!) All the other dogs have shade and kiddie pools or other water to get in if needed. I worry about all the animals in this heat. We'll go down in early afternoon and freshen up/ cool down everyone's water. ( And probably douse ourselves too!) This is the hottest June I can remember in our 5 years here. Whew......it's hot out there!

Tiny new Doeling

One of our young Kiko does was accidentally bred when Romeo escaped his pen and broke into the doe pen. She had this tiny doeling Friday. ( Normally, our does kid in Feb/ March.) ClaireAnna named her Lyla. Her mom's name is Lola. She sure is a doll, but she is not doing too well in this heat. We find her panting a lot and she is nursing, but not enough. We've given her supplements and are trying to keep her cool, but short of bringing her in the house, there's nothing more we can do. Heat index will be 110 today. :( We sure hope she hangs in there.

Pedastal Rock

Nathan and Jacob Smith and Lisa, Kate and ClaireAnna Harmon, hiking at Pedestal Rock in Pelsor, AR.

Cooling off and eating lunch at Pearl's in Pleasant Grove.