Thanks so much for all who have been praying for our beloved Pastor Dean!
He is feeling so much better!
He sent an update to the SVCC email prayer chain on Monday saying,
"Linda and
I went to Olympia this morning for my appointment with an endocrinologist, and
I have very good news to report. He said
that I'd had a form of thyroiditis, and that the condition is going away on its
own. No treatment needed. PTL!
Thanks so
much for your prayers. Linda and I are very thankful for the love,
prayers and concern of our Shoestring family. We're also thankful for the
caring compassionate doctors we've encountered. And we're thankful for
God's gracious healing."
We were also excited to have niece/cousin Cassidy join our little worship team on Sunday!
She really helped out with the percussion for the new song
"Who Am I? (That You Would Die for Me)" by Todd Vaters
with the egg shaker! Yay! Thanks so much, Cassidy!
Thanks also to amazing Jake's drums, and awesome Gabe's voice for lending us help on this song!
With all this help, we were very excited to be able to play this song
fairly close to its original sound for Pastor Dean's return!
(Below is just a very tiny clip of the girls' part of the song so you can hear and see Cassidy's debut!
Our family is soooo very thankful for the blessing of special new friends we first met last September at the Christian Heritage Homeschool picnic.
We have really enjoyed these new friendships and get-togethers on several occasions since then.
Most recently, we were blessed to be invited
to a Memorial Day BBQ at one of the family's homes,
and a homeschool graduation ceremony and dance.
These particular families all live about 2 hours south of us,
but our fun times of fellowship are surely worth the drives!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
On Memorial Day morning, it was a bit rainy here,
and we wondered if the festivities would be cancelled.
But by the time we arrived around 1pm,
and for the rest of the day, it couldn't have been more beautiful weather!
We kicked off the fun with some volleyball.
Our family is still learning how to play this game,
so it probably wasn't too much fun for anyone else! ;-)
But they were all so patient with us!
Can you spot the volleyball in the photo below??
It took me a while to figure out where it was!
Go Timmy!!!
Good effort, Caroline!
Way to go, Timmy!
We also played LOTS of Ultimate Frisbee!
(Kyle is the tall guy caught in a funny pose on the far right!)
"Throw it to me, Timmy! I'm open!" said Victoria!
That's Valerie in the middle, with the noodle legs! ;-)
The V. family's yard is amazing!
They can have lots of things going on simultaneously . . .
volleyball in the background, socializing to the left,
Ultimate Frisbee to the right,
and lots of fun things for the younger kids to do, too . . . .
like playing in the creek that runs through their property!
Daddy even got into the Ultimate Frisbee game!
Victoria ready to catch the Frisbee . . .
Looks more like "monkey in the middle!" ;-)
Oh, wait . . . Daddy HAS the frisbee!
Excellent effort, Caroline!
Thanks V. family for your wonderful hospitality!!!
We are so grateful for the invite and all you did to make such a fun time possible!
That was such a big group of awesome people to feed,
and you make it look easy! ;-)
We are sooooo grateful for the awesome meal and this time spent together!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Now for the homeschool graduation and dance.
Unfortunately, our family had to divide up with another baseball tournament going on the same day. So Daddy took Timmy, Joe and Ben to that,
and Mommy, Brielle and quads went to the graduation and dance.
The graduation ceremony was for 5 graduates.
It was an awesome time with three of them giving great speeches;
a slide show of each of them growing up;
the parents of each of them giving a summary of their school years, and a "charge" for their future;
a special message by the pastor;
and some awesome music and songs by the students.
Then, the celebration by dancing commenced!
The next few photos are of the "Postie's Jig" warm-ups!
Below are just a couple videos of the Postie's Jig and Marie's Wedding Dance.
This first one has been making us laugh over and over as we watch Caroline scramble to catch-up in one spot! Pretty funny!
This last tiny video clip we included because we love watching the footwork of Jordan and Bethany!
(On a side note, Joe, the dance caller, did such an awesome job teaching and calling the dances!!
We are so grateful for his skill and willingness to call the dances!
On this little clip, there was just a tiny false start and so the dance was restarted! :-)
Congratulations to the graduates! And thank you so much for the invite to rejoice with you in this new chapter of your lives! God bless you as you continue to seek, serve and follow Him!
