service team

ed & i are very aware of the fact that we have really good kids. seriously, as a step-mom, i'm particularly aware of what great boys ours are. but i do love to hear about other people discovering this about them too. in the past year, we heard quite a bit about drew & taylor being such great babysitters - both with little "fan clubs" of small children who adore them. most recently, i heard from at least a half dozen people about what great workers the boys are. a week ago, drew, taylor and noah (and ed) went to help with a "mini-mission team" to aliquippa (a town about 20 minutes away that was recently flooded during a rain storm). the team went to help clean out the mess left by the flood (quite a bit of damage in the basements of stores along the main street - apparently a very dirty and smelly job!) anyway, for the past week, every person i ran into who had been in aliquippa mentioned what hard workers our boys were - and great attitudes too!! (to be honest, this was surprising to me because they did not all leave with great attitudes that morning...) as you can see, they were a mess when they got back!!

anyway, i'm really proud of them. not just for being such good kids that other people compliment us on them (which is certainly great!), but also because they are willing to lend a hand to people who need help. this is exactly what we want to teach them and i'm glad to see them respond the way they do. (by the way, evan was too young to go on the trip, so he and i spent the day together and that was fun for us.)

The Arrival of Kara Grace Maslow!!

one more quick note must be added today - my sister, susie, gave birth yesterday to kara grace!! i'm so excited and can't wait to meet her! i don't know all the details, but will update this when i get them. and pictures too.
yeah!!! (and i was so certain she was going to be a boy!)

minnesota trip

so much for my bright idea about starting a blog. it seems these are only a good thing when they are actually updated... hmmm...
okay, so much has happened since i last wrote that i can't possibly update everything. so, here's a quick summary of our trip to minnesota for the 4th - we were away from june 30 - july 9 and we had a fabulous time with everyone, including my sister, kathy, and her family, who we stayed with during our drive there and back! we also celebrated our first anniversary while we were there. ed and i left the kids with his sister and we took off for a fun two-day "tour of the river cities along the st. croix". it was great to get away together and to celebrate. (to be honest, we were sorta celebrating the end of the "first year" because for us, it was pretty rough!)
we had at least a little time with everyone in the family this trip and so that was great. we spent most of our time with lucy & paul and their girls. that was wonderful, as usual. every time we ask the boys about their favorite part of the trip, the answer (for all four) is "being with cousins". i'm so sorry that they only get to see their family twice a year because they just relish every moment of it! and i'm so thankful for the family that ed comes from... what an incredible blessing! in addition to the people (certainly the best part), other highlights included the day at the race tracks (horses), the family reunion on the 4th, shari's play (and carly's on dvd), visiting the pig farm with jess and the day on the pontoon with grandma & grandpa. it was a great trip!!

we did so much on this trip and had so many great experiences, i can't even begin to write about them all right now. for me, this recent time with the abbotts was particularly great due to my interaction with the older nieces and nephews. i've come into the family so late... i've already missed so much of these kids' lives and i don't really know them. and that is so sad to me. on my side, the kids are really young, so ed has been around for most of their lives, but with the abbotts, i'm at a total disadvantage in regard to connecting with these college kids who will soon be out on their own - even with their own families! (i'm closer in age to shari & jess than i am to my husband... not unlike my own aunt janet. i would love to have the chance to be "friends" with my nieces the way janet is with us!) anyway, this last trip gave me special memories of my own with each of the older kids and i loved it!! God is so good to me - even when i don't seem to notice what is going on around me!

more later. :)