My Faith and Joy… and Boys!

Danny was on a story-telling kick all summer, and his stories usually involve snowmobiles, four-wheelers, and a “ghost.”  Here’s one from earlier this summer:

And here’s a quick video I took recently.  It’s not a story, but I thought it was cute!

My dearest Susie, this past year I’ve been struck with how much your sweet spirit is a blessing to all who know you.  You are growing into such a lovely young lady, with your shining blue eyes and still-blonde hair.  You are a fish in the water and love to swim, jump and play in any pool or lake around.  You excelled in first grade in every way, and I’m so proud of your reading ability and comprehension (you read more books than I thought was humanly possible!).  You are going to have a blast next year in school!  You have exquisite handwriting, create imaginative pictures, and display impressive perseverance at tasks that don’t come easy at first.  You are amazingly resourceful and dedicated, always completing any task you put your mind to.  You are easily inspired and have an infectious enthusiasm that enables you to recruit everyone around you to work harder and dream bigger.  You are unfailingly kind, joyful and generous with your siblings, parents and everyone you meet.  You don’t like conflict, so you are a natural peacemaker.  You have a love for the Bible and you get excited every time we read it or sing hymns – you have quite the animated singing voice!  You and Becky are an amazing team together, you love to teach Danny, and you and Jimmy are like two little firecrackers, feeding off of each other’s goofy energy and sparking more and more giggles.  You have an uncanny ability to focus on one passion at a time – right now it’s wolves, and I grin every time I think of how much joy you get from thinking about, talking about, reading about, drawing, and playing wolves.  You are my little vivacious sweetie, and I can’t begin to tell you how much fun it is to be around you!       

We were blessed with Jim’s cousin Amy and her daughter Megan joining us for a long weekend while our Arizona cousins were here.  We seized on the addition of all the extra helping hands (plus another good friend Allison) and took a day trip into New York City.

We took the train into Grand Central Station  (I felt sorry for the people on the train around us, but we sure enjoyed ourselves!):

And we braved the Subway like pros:

We visited Ground Zero, which was a first for many of us.  We didn’t see the memorial, but we visited the church where the first responders rested and recovered:

The kids (especially Jimmy) were so fascinated by the 9/11 history that we splurged on souvenir handbooks for them all:

Then we headed back to Times Square and finished off our whirlwind trip with a trip to the Toys R Us and the M&M Store:

What a fun, full day we had!

(Inside joke for Bubba, Amy, Alli and Allison – did you know that ever since our NYC trip, Danny has been periodically yelling, “Stop the train!  Stop the train!” )