Summer Reminisce

Today is the first day of school for Emily and Andy. I thought it is time to summarize our summer activities during the last several months. After school finished, we started the swimming lessons for Emily and Andy. Emily had an amazing progress this year. She learned to swim on her own! We are so proud of her. Andy really enjoyed his swimming lessons because all he wanted to do was to sit in the shallow part and play with his instructor :-)

Then we made our Father's Day trip to Tulsa and spent the weekend with Grandpa and Grandma. 

Emily having tea party with Grandpa

The following week, we accepted our friend Darren's invitation to join his families to camp in the mountains in Colorado. It was the best camping trip we've had although there were no drinking water or electricity over there. We stopped half way at Canyon TX and visited the 2nd largest canyon in America - the Palo Duro Canyon and watched the outdoor musical Texas show.

 Then we headed to the tourist town Manitou Springs and visited the cliff dwelling structure. We also stopped to play at a park and lost Emily's coat and Andy's jacket there. So these pictures are the clothes last seen.

 It was fascinating to learn about how ancient people live and the culture aspect.

 (oven)

 Mineral rich spring water was everywhere

 There are Garden of Gods, Santa's workshop, trains to the peak, and many other things but we didn't get chance to see or do. Emily and Andy really enjoyed playing games there and we all liked the middle-east food.

The next day, we met up Darren and settled at our breathtaking camping ground in Twin Lake.

 Darren also took us to Aspen. On the way over there, we drove over a snow topped mountain. We all got to play with the snow in summer!

We took a train ride to another mountain top and saw some wild deers on the way. We also spotted the source of the Arkansas river that ran all the way through Tulsa.

 The kids had so much fun at the camping site each day.

 Darren's sisters took care of all the food except one breakfast. We were spoiled!

 This was the only meal/breakfast we prepared for ourselves:

Emily and Andy loved the scavenger hunt

We had bedtime stories each night

We had morning singing and prayers/blessings on Sunday morning.

 Then Darren and Karye took us to the aspen grove where they got married. We were glad to be able to visit the place that mean so much to our friends.

 On the way home, we drove over 12 hours straight. The kids cleaned up the car whenever we stopped at a gas station. It was the first time for Emily and Andy to sleep in the tent and camp out in the mountain. They did amazingly well! We are so thankful to have the chance to do this with our friends and have a wonderful memory.

 Oh no! Wrong lane ...  ;; It's a towing truck

 When we got home, we found out a new bird built a second story nest on the top of an old one in our front yard. Here is the top view of the old nest that had an egg:

 This is the side view of the new nest.

Our kids had two VBSs this year: one at Cottoncreek and another at our church. Cottoncreek had the Everest - God's Mighty Power VBS. Lots of other churches had it this year. We took our FriendSpeak reader Haixia's son to Prestoncrest. He had the same VBS there.

Since school was out, we had more kids in our mom's group Bible study at our house. I solicited Gayla and Mary Ellen to help with the kids while the moms could do the Bible study. We had some special time!

Andy and Emily helped to make the homemade chocolate. It was soooo good!!

For July 4th, we had a FriendSpeak party at our house with 50 people. We ate and played games and then went to watch the McKinney fireworks. We had a terror snare before the fireworks: Andy was missing! He was playing baseball with some FriendSpeak readers and other boys. David was watching them. Then David got Amy's call and left with Emily to meet Amy. Andy played for a while. He decided to go find David. When our FriendSpeak readers realized they lost Andy, they trembled and cried ... I had just told Emily and Andy being careful not get lost in such a big crowd! Four FriendSpeak readers and Cindy and us went all directions to look for Andy. 190 policemen and safety guards were scanning for him too. Each of us prayed for God to keep Andy safe. Finally a little boy who played baseball with Andy told us he saw Andy somewhere in the carnival area. We thanked God for keeping him safe! Of course, he learned a big lesson too. It was not a fun experience.

Todd invited us to his house for a July 4th party. We had some history lessons, burnt the old flags and installed the new ones. The kids also played firecrackers and lit the fireworks. It was a great party.

Andy drew to be the first to light the fireworks. Here is his:

We had a groupon to the arboretum. So we took a half day trip there. The most memorable things are trying to catch the Minos and playing in the splash pads there.

Our FriendSpeak reader Haixia and her son stayed with us for a week before they left for China. We had some opportunity to do Bible study. Before they left, Haixia decided to be baptized into Christ! It was a spiritual journey for me while I studied with her and I wrote it down in a 3-page document. After Haixia went back to China, we introduced her to the local church in Beijing where the Jacksons used to attend. I pray that she will continue to develop her faith and be a bright light to her family.

We spent some time with our friends and family during the summer. We caught up with Dawn and her boys.

Grandpa and Grandma came to visit before they left on an international trip.

We had game night with Amy's family and grandparents.

We said hi to the horses multiple times at our backyard.

Our friends Darren and Karye moved back to Dallas right after the camping trip. We had a nice visit with them.

Brian came to visit Darren and us one weekend. It was great to catch up with him.

The produce in the garden is dying off. The biggest tomatoes we had so far weigh over 1.2 lb.

The smallest were the sweetest though. I made eight jars of salsa with these tomatoes and gave many away.

Okras and peppers were not disappointing either. This purple okra was the best: tender and tasty.

I used the leftover pork shoulders to made the dry rubbed pork shoulder. It was delicious!

Emily and Andy grew more during the summer. Emily grew into an enthusiastic helper. She loves helping me with cooking, cleaning and laundry. Here is a note she wrote to me after she helped with the laundry - so sweet!

Andy developed zeal for math. He loved counting money, adding and subtracting numbers, and all kinds of games.

They continue growing their love for each other ...

School just started this week! Emily and Andy has been bubbling with excitement every day! We are impressed by their teachers too. Andy's teacher sent a video of herself to greet everybody and sent another video of her reading "The Night Before The Kindergarten" before the school started. We happen to have that book. So Andy got to turn the page with her and listen to her reading. We had a prayer walk around their school the week before school started. In addition to Luke 2:52, 2 Timothy 1:7, Exodus 31:3, Philippians 4:13, Psalm 91 and Daniel 1:4, we also prayed this from Joyce Meyer:

Dear God, Thank you for the gift of children. Please watch over Emily and Andy as they go back to school this year. Keep them safe every day. Help them to remember that you are right there with them in the halls and classrooms. Help them soak up good knowledge and to dismiss any negative or worldly messages they may hear. Help them treat others with kindness and respect, and to guard their hearts with the armor of Your Word. Give them joy and peace as they put their trust in you. In Jesus's name we ask, Amen!

 

Emily had three friends from her old class. As soon as she walked into her new classroom. Her friends ran over and gave her a big group bear hug! What a way to start the school!