Great Start to 2012-2013

The first month of school is over today and I am very pleased with how smoothly everyone (including mom!) transitioned into the routine. Time now for the "first day of school" pictures:

It's hard to believe our oldest is in his last year of middle school already--8th grader now!

Our beautiful daughter is in 7th grade and loving it!

This is our very middlest child and she is in the 5th grade already!

Here's my handsome second son who just started 3rd grade. I guess I forgot to take a picture of the 3-year-old son who is NOT in preschool this year. :)

Mother's Day 2012 (never posted this one!)

A picnic at Columbus Park--that's all I really wanted for Mother's Day this year. Time with my family at our favorite park. God blessed us with a gorgeous day, so we stopped by Little General's for chicken and headed out after church. I took my camera with the intention of repeating something we had done on Mother's Day many years ago in Brazil (with 2 fewer children). I got pictures with each child, just them and mom. I have always treasured those, and decided it was time to do it again. Dad turned photographer and here are the results:

For Better of For Worse

Forty five years is a long time to do anything.

But Joe and Regina Senter committed to God and to each other 45 years ago today to "love, honor, and cherish one another as long as they both shall live." I am happy to announce that they have been faithful to keep that committment! What an example they are setting for me in my marriage and for my other 3 siblings and their marriages. Let me just add that they are not merely surviving but they are THRIVING! They are definitely one of the biggest blessings in my life and I am so thankful for them, especially today. I love you, Mom and Dad!

Sister Time

I am so proud of my sister Courtney.

For one, she is a super hard worker--graduated with honors from her college and then went on to medical school and got a degree to be a Physician's Assistant. She has a good job that she still works part time, even though she now has 2 young children at home. What makes me the most proud, though, really isn't any of this. It's her heart. As busy as life is for her and her husband Brian, and as comfortable as they were in their good life--they have listened to God's call for their family to grow. This time it will involve a LOT of money and time and several trips to Bulgaria where they are planning to adopt a little nephew for me! :)

They have made major cutbacks in their budget so that they can do this adoption without going into debt, which will be a real challenge. It is exciting, although very slow, to watch them make progress. She and her family live closer to my family than any other of our extended family, and although Nashville is 3 hours away, I am grateful for the random times we get to spend together. Yesterday was one of those days.

We decided to meet at McDonald's in Eddyville to swap some things and have a chance to catch up. McD's, you say? Well, with 5 children 9 years old and under, it is the best place to grab some adult conversation since it has an inside playplace. :) We don't get together enough, but I loved every minute we had together yesterday! Even though we do have an age difference of 11 years, we are walking through life together. . .we want to be Godly wives to our husbands, and we swap parenting struggles (and a few triumphs!) pertaining to our extremely active, independent and strong-willed 3-year-old sons! The blue-eyed, smiley face Alanna is as precious as they come and seems to grow and change with each visit!

I love Courtney's family so much and am so grateful for any time that we have to get our two gangs together. Praying for the day we meet the little fellow from Bulgaria!

End of Summer Review

While I will definitely NOT get the award for "Blogger of the year," I might very well be in the running for "Mom with the craziest summer ever!" Jason and I went with the girls (and 23 other children) to CentriKid in June while Taylor went with a group to Kentucky Changers

AND the two youngest boys went to Nashville. Later in June Taylor went with his friend Ty's church youth to Camp Merge in Millington, TN for a week, all the while 4 out of 5 Sipes kids are playing baseball. July 4 found us at the farm with the Senters for a few days and then back at it. VBS, then off to Centrifuge with 26 teenagers, then Jason, Taylor, and Marlena went on a work trip across KY to Clear Creek Bible College--pretty much sums up the month of July! But then came the most amazingly wonderful finish to our crazy summer: we took just the 7 of us on a much-needed vacation to Gulf Shores for a whole week!

It was the perfect ending to a busy summer. Jason planned some exciting things to do besides fry on the beach, so we got to experience things like a Pirate Cruise,

seeing a movie in 3-D with the whole family, lots of eating out including Lambert's, special breakfasts with dad for each of the kids, a date night for mom & dad, school shopping, and even a walk down memory lane back to the college where we first met. :) Then like icing on the cake for a family with no t.v. at home, it was Olympics all week on t.v. so whenever we just wanted to relax, there was wholesome entertainment for the whole family! Now that's a vacation! Thanks to a great provider (Jason) and THE great Provider (our Heavenly Father) for making this week possible.