Tuesday, July 8th

We were of course anxious to see little Joshua this morning, so that was our first stop of the day. He was a little jaundiced so he was under the biliruben light and we didn't get to spend much time with him, but Lydia got to spend some much needed time alone with her mommy and daddy, which I think was really important with all the changes in her life right now. When they did finally bring him in, she got a chance to hold him and then we left to visit Aunt Stacey at her work...Lydia absolutely LOVED that! She was facinated with the babies and loved helping Stacey feed one of the baby boys. Actually, she did really well, so we're hoping that's a sign that she'll adjust well when her brother comes home!




This evening after dinner and a short visit back at the hospital, we all stopped by a park to let Lydia play for a while. I had no idea how much fun everybody else would have playing with Lydia! I caught them all swinging together...even my 87 year old mom!

It's been quite an eventful last couple of days for Lydia, but she's done really well in spite of all the changes. I love putting her to bed at night and reading her bedtime stories. She's very anxious to go home with her parents, but I'm going to miss spending every moment with her!

The Big Day!

When we woke up this morning, our goal was to help Lydia understand all the excitement taking place in her family. We started out the day by letting her pick out a present for her new baby brother before we headed to the hospital to meet him.

Lydia was so excited by the time we got to the room, that she could hardly contain herself...she definately understood that she was meeting Baby Joshua for the first time! That first meeting was everything we could have hoped for...she was in awe! She had the sweetest smile on her face and kept "ooing" and "ahhing" the whole time! It was adorable!
They had plenty of time as a family with all of us there to capture it on film...a memory in the making! I have to admit that I was rather happy myself to meet my new grandson...Joshua James Nordgren Jr. is adorable!

A Day to Remember!

Finally! I arrived in Illinois late last evening and went straight to Shannon and Josh's house to see everyone! Shannon looked great and it was fun to spend time with Lydia, but since it was late, I didn't stay long before heading to my mom's house for the night.

Sunday morning, I felt right at home "visiting" Hope (our old church). While I had lots of friends to see, Lydia was very possessive and didn't want me to leave her side. It really is part of the thrill of being a grandma!

After a lunch at Panera's with Stacey and my mom, we met Shannon for a last minute shopping trip for baby neccesities...diapers, lotions, lots of little items and a diaper bag. It was fun, however halfway through the afternoon, Shannon started experiencing contractions that we thought were false labor. She met Josh to go see a movie and we took Lydia to a toy store that she absolutely loved!

When we finally got back to my mom's house Shannon and Josh were there timing the contractions. Since they seemed to be getting more intense, we decided to let Lydia stay the night with me. Stacey and I ran to the store to get her jammies and all the things she would need for the night...it was so much fun!

It's a good thing we made that decision, because by 11pm, Josh had taken Shannon in to be checked and she was already dialated to 5...so began the anticipation! With all the excitement, Stacey and Shelley decided to spend the night also and so we went to bed with our cell phones by our pillows.

At 1:40pm, we got the call from Josh...a baby boy, only 4lb.12oz. and 16 inches long was here...Shannon and baby were both wonderful...answered prayer!

More Fourth and Fireworks...

After the parade this morning, Larry and I headed down to the Riverwalk to see what goes on over the 4th of July weekend. We found a neat crafts fair and of course lots of tourists enjoying the beautiful weather! Then we headed over to Central Market for a bite to eat. When we left there, the sky was looking a little dark and a few minutes after we got on the road, the skies opened up! Boy did we get wet on the way home.

After spending the afternoon drying out as well as putting the finishing touches on the potato salad and brownies, we went across the street to Randy and Becky's house for a night of celebration with friends from Life Group. It was a wonderful time, as usual, and a little bit bittersweet knowing it'll be six weeks before we're all together again.




Finally, to end the evening, we all gathered on the second story balcony of their beautiful home, to watch all the fireworks displayed throughout the city. We were able to see those from downtown, Fiesta Texas, Sea World as well as all three military bases. It was a great day to celebrate our country and also to celebrate one year of living in San Antonio, since we moved in last year on the fourth.

Fourth of July

Since this is our last day together before I leave on my trip, we got up this morning and rode the bike to Magnolia House for breakfast, where they have the best pancakes in the world (no, I am not exaggerating)! When we got home at 9:30, the parade in our neighblrhood was just beginning. Families had gone all out to decorate bikes and scooters and everyone had on their patriotic shirts. It was really fun for me because I hadn't seen a lot of the kids since the last day of school, and they got really excited to see me at the parade. It made for a good start to Independance Day!

A Visit with the Carlsons

This weekend, Bruce and Kris Carlson were in San Antonio for a convention and we've been blessed to get to spend time with them. It's always good to see friends from up north and this was no exception. Bruce is an administrator at Hononegah High School, so he was busy beginning on Monday at a convention down at the Rivercenter. We did get to go to church with them on Sunday and then spent the day up in Gruene enjoying a great lunch at the Gristmill and then shopping (well, Kris and I shopped while the men talked) for the rest of the afternoon.



Then today, Kris and I went up to San Marcos to enjoy a whole day of shopping in an incredible Outlet mall. While we were there, we were surprised to see the Oscar Meyer "Wienermobile"...I guess the driver must've wanted to do some shopping because it drove in and parked...so we took the opportunity to have our picture taken...such a thrill! (~Small things make us happy~)


After an entire day spent browsing all the stores, we headed home to meet the guys for dinner. Larry barbequed and we ate out on the patio, then headed inside to play Train Dominoes. It was a fun day made even better when Kris and I found out we wear the same size in shoes and found a bargain in the children's section. We even wore our matching shoes this evening and had fun showing off our purchase!

Championship Village!

It has been an awesome week! Championship Village is Oak Hill's version of Vacaton Bible School...they alternate between that and Bibletown Marketplace, which I was a part of last year, only a couple of weeks after we moved to San Antonio.

This year I was in charge of the crafts, however even that was much different than I had seen done in the past. We had a missions theme, and so instead of all the day to day crafts, the kids made things which could be actually used by children in needy countries. The only "souveniers" they got to take home were a frisbee and a megaphone they got to decorate. They all seemed so proud that they could minister to other children by sending gifts, that I believe God used this week to teach all of us about taking our eyes off ourselves and focusing on others!
We had about 300 kids this week, and each group represented a different country. The leaders signed up for countries they had an interest in, so the tents were decorated impressively.














The last night, the teams all marched in holding their country's flag, as the Olympic Theme played. Each child was honored in a ceremony for making God their "Hero", as their leader placed a ribbon and medal around their neck. At the front of the room, all of the school boxes and bags they had made were placed in piles ready to be shipped to other countries. It was a joy to see the looks of pride on each childs face!

Looking Ahead...

We only have a couple more weeks before I'm due to fly to Illinois for most of the summer, so we're trying to pack in all we want to get done before my trip. Last night we had a much needed rain late in the afternoon, but when we arrived at church, we discovered all the electricity was out due to the storm. Instead of the regular service, we ended up having a really special time of worship. Max gave a condensed message along with prayer and communion. Although it was dark and very warm w/o the air conditioning, it was a neat time. Just the night before, Larry and I had attended a "Welcome Home" party for our missionaries from Africa. Archie and Mandy are a young couple who just retunrned from serving five years in a very remote African village. As they talked, I wondered how it would be to worship in an area w/o the luxuries we are used to...I think God gave me a slight glimpse by the lack of power Saturday evening. After church, our good friends Doug and Patty Gilbert came over for the rest of the evening...it was fun playing games and just hanging out...I'm going to miss these friends while I'm gone!

Since Larry and I met while working at a Christian ranch camp, I've been thinking it would be fun to celebrate our 30th anniversary at a dude ranch. So this morning we drove up to Bandera, about an hour north of San Antonio in the hill country, to check out some ranches I had looked at online. We found a really neat place that had horses (a must), golf (Larry was excited), a water park, a ghost town where they hold the evening campfires plus a great lodge with wonderfu meals! We're looking to plan an October getaway this fall.

Father's Day Weekend

Now that Larry has his own motorcyle, I figured for Father's Day I would outfit us with official riding gear. We went to one of the largest bike shops in the area and bought new helmets and jackets. The shop wasn't what I expected...the girl that helped us was really nice (and normal?) and even though Larry was embarrassed when I asked her to take our picture, she just laughed and said this store was more like a toy store for anybody who liked biking. It was fun!

Today we had plans to ride up to a festival in a small town north of us, but we woke up and found water in our garage due to a broken water heater. So after breakfast at the Magnolia Pancake House (mmm...), we went to Lowe's and purchased a new one. So Father's Day was spent installing the new water heater. I'm just thankful Larry has the ability to do that kind of thing himself...certainly saves time and money!

The rest of the day was spent with Larry watching golf and me feeling kind of melancholy knowing our kids were so far away AND due to the fact that this was the weekend for Tim and Caroline's wedding. When it had first been planned, I had said I would help my good friend Brenda with the wedding, but obviously that didn't happen. Caroline and Shelley became friends 14 years ago when we moved to Rockton. When Pastor Bob and his family came to Hope Free, his son Tim was in middle school and I had no idea that someday Shelley would be in their wedding. It's a good thing that God's in control of this roller coaster called life and all we have to do is hang on for the ride!

Since school was out this last week, Larry invited me to come to a retirement party at his plant for one of his engineers on Friday. It was fun...I got to see Larry in his "work mode". I really wasn't expecting much since it was held at the plant (and how do you make a production line look festive?) but I was really impressed...they all had pitched in and helped with the decorating and planning and it turned out great! It was a Cowboy Barbeque theme and everyone seemed to be having a great time. I was really glad I got to be there!

This afternoon, after church, we headed up toward Austin to do some exploring. We found a little lakeside town with actual pine trees and of course a few cactus mixed in. Then we went into Austin to see the capitol. We ended up at the University of Texas, where we enjoyed a great lunch at a restaurant on the lake.

School's Out For the Summer...

Larry took his motorcycle class last weekend so we've been "practicing" by taking rides each evening after work. It's been so much fun heading out on rural roads and seeing country that we haven't seen before. It seems as if you notice more details when you're on a motorcycle...at least I do because I don't have to worry about driving!

Today was my last day of school and it was kind of bittersweet...I'm really going to miss the kids as well as a lot of the friends I've made this year. I ended the year by playing a game I used to play at Rockton Grade School, but I enhanced it a bit. I called it "Brainy Baseball" and made it much more challenging now that I have older students as well as the younger ones I've always had. Everyone had a great time! The picture is of one of my students who gave me the cutest gift...it was a cylander filled with giant gumballs and a note that said "Hope you have a 'ball' this summer!"...we have the most creative moms at Encino Park!

Field Day...

There's less than a week left of school, so today was our Field Day. Being new to Encino Park, I didn't know what to expect, except that it was an all day event, which meant I got to be involved.

It was an Olympic theme, so it began with kids bringing in the torch while music played in the background. Then the classes divided up to compete in the events.

Some of the events were held outside on the playground and others were held in one of the gyms. The weather was warm, in the 90's, although there was a nice breeze blowing so it really wasn't too bad.

Maybe it's my love of horses, but my favorite part were the "Equestrian Events"! It was so cute...the kids had to complete an obstacle course "on horseback" (stick horses)...so funny to watch, especially with the bigger kids.

The thing that really impressed me were the dads that ran all the games. Encino Park has a new program called "Watch Dads"...each day at least two fathers come to spend the day at the school. They have various responsiblities which they seem to enjoy and their kids are so proud to have "Dad" there. They are given a special shirt to wear and then they have their pictures displayed on the wall with their kids. Today, we had almost 50 dads come to participate in Field Day...two news stations came out to film and interview the dads "at play"!