Ok...I'm back!

It has been a full summer!

We started out with a 2 week trip to Europe with the kids (2 at that time) and visited Denmark, Germany and France (Paris and Strasbourg only) with quick stops across the border at Luxembourg and Austria (we think) and a night in Sweden.  More pictures and stories about the trip will follow soon.

Two weeks after returning home, we had a foster child for a respite weekend and the next weekend we had two girls come for respite.  We were informed that the two girls would need a permanency home (a home willing to adopt them) soon and would we consider this.   We talked and prayed and finally decided yes we would take them.  So in July they came for two more transitional visits and then on August 1st they joined our family.  Their names are Angel (9) and Cailey(8).  Unfortunately you won't be able to see pictures of them on the internet until after the adoption is finalized, and that could be a year or more.

Also this summer, immediately after the July 4th weekend, I started scraping, washing, priming and painting the exterior of our house.  To make this less scary I broke it into sections and did one side or section at a time, leaving the front high part (over the garage) for last.  Then last week I rented a scaffold and began the hardest part.  I am now on the last scaffold section and have to scrape, wash, prime and paint today.  The scaffold goes back tomorrow, so I am trying to hurry!

Also, we bought an old boat this summer which Bret has been working on, and I have been cleaning.  We took our first ride on Sunday afternoon, but there was another discovery of a problem, so Bret will be working more this week on it, in hopes it will work for the weekend.

Also, last night my hubby went to a meeting and came home with a stray kitten which had been left in the building where his meeting was.  So we washed it and treated it for fleas last night and fed it and made a cozy bed for it.  After the kids saw it I realized there is no going back and we may simply have to keep the kitten. It's only about 8 weeks old.

So perhaps you can see why we have been delayed in sending pics from our trip.  Please hang on and I will soon have details of the trip and pics as well as other events in our lives...
...for now I have to go paint!