Lots of Pictures

This was the sunset the other night at Corporation Beach...I wish we had a better zoom on the camera. The picture really doesn't do it justice. Praise the Lord for His creation!

Gracie and Rocky playing on our bed this morning

I went in to get Gracie the other morning and found this. I don't know how she twisted her shirt to look like this (it's actually just a regular T-shirt).

The next morning when I went in, she figured out how to get her shirt off altogether!

Lou and Gracie at the beach

Rocky catching up on some reading

Gracie, Rocky, and Mommy

We took the kids to the beach the other day. Gracie was playing with her pail and shovel on the beach towel. Then, before we could stop her, she used the shovel like a spoon and ate a mouthful of sand! I think she actually swallowed it, although Lou tried to get it out of her mouth.

Lou and Rocky being silly

Rocky playing on the floor with the frog. He loves this frog; thanks, Diane!

Only on Cape Cod...yes, this is a real sign in someone's yard. We HAD to take a picture. I love that they actually show the cat with a horn!

It's been another busy week for us with something going on almost every night. Seminary really was good preparation for how time-consuming and busy ministry is! Lou's been out the last few Tuesday nights at the local cable studio taping preaching videos. They air twice a week on the local mid-Cape cable station. We've been doing it for a little while now, but it's pretty time consuming. There's a group from church who help run the cameras, equipment, etc., but Lou has to do all the editing and burning to a DVD. The cable channel is a community channel, so the it's open to the public for a small fee, but we have to do all the taping, editing, and so on ourselves. We hope that God will use this to help us reach the community.
The kids are growing so fast! Rocky is 6 months old now. He just had a check up on Monday, and he weighs 20 lbs.! He and Gracie are only 5 lbs. apart now! He's tall for his age, too, so he's really not a chubby baby, just big. Gracie's on the small side, but we praise the Lord that she's healthy. She's talking more and more. She can say "Cape Cod", "Get down please", and her latest is "morning" for "Good Morning". She's figured out how to climb on the couch without help, so she's busy putting her doll up there and then climbing up with a book to read to her doll. She still loves Rocky. She's always hugging and kissing him and bringing him toys. I hope they grow up having a close relationship.

Visiting Grandma & Grandpa

Playing at Grandma's house (a little ray of sunlight fell on Rocky's mouth; it looks like he's eating a french fry...)

Playing on the little bridge

Getting ready for the 4th of July!

Rocky making funny faces

On Thursdays, we usually visit Grandma and Grandpa (Amy's parents). Gracie loves to play outside; they have a little wooden bridge that she likes to walk on. Praise the Lord, my dad is done with chemo and radiation now, and the tumor has shrunk quite a bit. He also had a clean catscan (the cancer hasn't spread), and if all continues to go well, he will have surgery on July 7th. Please keep him in prayer as this is major surgery (it's supposed to take 8 hours!!!). God has taught us all a lot through this. We have continually been reminded that God is sovereign, and He is trustworthy. He has been (and continues to be) so faithful through all of this. How wonderful it is that God can and does use every circumstance for His glory!

Outdoor Fun

Gracie with a flower and a pine cone. It's amazing how much she enjoys simple things. I should be more grateful...

Gracie in front of our house

Rocky sporting his Indiana Jones look...

Gracie showing me her hand (it looks like she's doing a cheer)

Gracie with lilacs and a big rhododendron; I love the smell of lilacs! That and the scent of beach roses make me think of summer on the Cape!

It's finally starting to feel like summer around here with some temperatures in the 80s. Gracie and Rocky really love being outside. Gracie and I will walk down our street with Rocky in the stroller, and she will stop and pick up every pine cone and leaf that she can. She loves flowers, too, as you can see from the pictures. My mom and dad got a little inflatable pool for her, too; I'm looking forward to seeing what she thinks of it!
This has been a busy week; it seems like we've had dinner with someone different every night! Our friends James and Courtney Dolezal are here on vacation, so we have enjoyed some time with them. Gracie has enjoyed playing with their son Judah. Lou is getting ready do a wedding vow renewal ceremony on Saturday. One of the deacons, Paul, and his wife Sally are celebrating their 50th anniversary and asked Lou to renew their vows. My aunt and uncle, three cousins, and my cousin's fiance are all flying in on Saturday from Utah to visit. We're looking forward to seeing them. I haven't seen most of them since we got married, and that was over 7 years ago now.
Praise the Lord! We've had some good news with my dad. He did have to have surgery to put a feeding tube in yesterday since he's had so much trouble getting food down (he's lost about 50 lbs. in the last two months). But, when they were doing the surgery, the radiation doctor checked the tumor, and it looks like it's shrunk about 70%! My dad will finish chemo/radiation at the end of next week, and they'll do another catscan to make sure the cancer hasn't spread. If all looks good, he'll have a five week break and then surgery to remove the rest of the tumor. We are so grateful that the Lord has allowed such a good prognosis. With this type of cancer, there is not usually such a good outcome. When I was reading info at the American Cancer Society online, it said that most people with this type of cancer would be doing well to live for 5 years. Thankfully, in my dad's case, they think they will be able to completely eradicate it. God is so gracious!
Rocky and Gracie are both doing well. Gracie is starting to recognize and name some numbers and letters. She knows "H" really well. She's getting more resourceful, too, dragging the footstool over to the couch so she can climb up on it and look out the window. Rocky has learned how to blow raspberries (why do they call them that???), and it's really funny...except when he does it while I'm trying to feed him his cereal. What a mess that is!! He has started to have some veggies, too. As unappetizing as baby food veggies look, I couldn't help but think as I fed him how good God is to give us so many types of food. How bland life would be if all we ever ate was milk and rice cereal!
Lou is still very busy, no surprise there, but he's great about making sure he has time with us. Mondays are his day off, and we usually try to do something together as a family. Last Monday, we went to Chatham, a little Cape town about 15 minutes from us. It has a really quaint Main St. with lots of little shops. We walked around with the kids and enjoyed being outside. It felt like we were on vacation, and we were only a few minutes from home! I guess that's one of the blessings of being on Cape Cod!