Hannah Can Read Again!!

A few weeks ago Hannah began to complain about headaches whenever she tried to read. I got her to the eye doctor last week, and sure enough, she needed reading glasses! I am very thankful that she needs them for reading and not for far distances as I do - I have waited to see if any of the kids would inherit my "legally blind without my glasses" vision, but so far none have, and Hannah was actually a bit fearful that she would need glasses for all distance seeing as well. It was an opportunity once again to pray and trust the Lord that whatever He has planned is part of His perfect, pre-destined will and would be for her good and His glory. We came out of the eye doctor rejoicing again at His answer to our prayers! We went this afternoon to pick up her stylish, new glasses!



Doesn't she look sweet and studious?? I have to admit that Hannah and the optometrist picked these out for her - and she did a wonderful job!

It was no easy task with all the choices they had!

This was her today getting her fitting and receiving the instructions on how to care for her new glasses.

Happy reading Hannah dear!! Now you can get back to your Bible reading and also "Miracles on Maple Hill!! haha

Too much nature

This has been an unbelievable couple of days - days this mom would rather forget... It started yesterday with the discovery of two baby mice trapped in the window well of the basement. One died, and the children ran upstairs screaming as they witnessed the live one eating the dead one! (sorry for those who are squeamish like me - I ended up telling the kids to please refrain from sharing detailed blow-by-blow accounts with me). I was completely disgusted. Since then, we have had hourly updates on the live mouse, fed him cheese through the grate, and wondered if we should just put him out of his misery. To add to the horror of all this is that we have six pastors staying in the basement for the week and this is their view out the window!


This morning, Ryan ran into my room screaming that he discovered a wild bunny outside, and as he chased it, he found a baby turtle in the woods, which has now become our latest, temporary "pet" on the back porch. The turtle is an upgrade from the mouse, in my book. He just sits there and looks cute. We haven't yet, however, captured bugs for him to eat!! Yuck!

Speaking of bugs, we also had our first experience with a deer tick. Hannah found one on her leg and we pulled it out, put it on a napkin, proceeded to drop the napkin, so as I am freaking out that now someone else is going to get Lymes Disease, I grab the vacuum cleaner and tried to quickly suck up the miniscule critter. We put a permanent mark around the spot on Hannah's leg and now we wait to see if she gets a rash, or fever, or any of the other indicator of Lymes. Let's pray she doesn't!

I feel that I cannot neglect to mention also that we have regularly had birds hit our windows (did they think they were going to fly in and say hello??) but until this week, they have all survived the crash. The other day, we had our first casualties, so there have been two dead birds for Danny to dispose of right outside the window of our family room.

Lastly, (and I refuse to post a picture of this one) my sweet little Ryan went out in the woods, holding his umbrella, searching for more baby turtles. While there, he stepped on a snake, and came running in the house looking pale and breathing funny. When it hit him what had just happened, he really broke down and just clung to me. It was so sad, I just prayed for him and assured him that God was sovereign and that God had been with him all along, protecting and caring for him. It is all he has talked about since...

Okay, I do love my new house, and I love the wooded lot, but I did not sign up for so much "WILDLIFE"!!!

Not one, but two fire pits

We had a lot of brick leftover from building the house, so the boys decided to use some of it to build a fire pit. Well, Jacob built one, and at the same time, Ryan decided that he wanted to build one too (partly stemming from the fact they had different ideas as to how they should be designed). So, we now have two fire pits to choose from! It is actually pretty cool, if you have a lot of people over, there is room for everyone to roast their marshmallows!

The boys spent long hours on two different days hauling bricks in the wagon or by hand, and worked really hard to finish the project. I was so proud of them. They had a lot of help from Hannah, who joyfully took a "behind-the-scenes" role and simply helped them haul brick after brick after brick, and getting no glory in the end. When it was all said and done, Danny surveyed their work and declared that he would definitely never have built something so nice had it been up to him! Great job boys!!

Ryan enjoying his very own fire pit.


Jacob watches the fire at his pit.

The ultimate prize at the end - smores!!!

Hannah enjoying one of the many fires we have had since the building of the pits. We have built many fires and just sat out there around the fire. What a great memory maker indeed.

Can you see Danny up there, looking out from the deck to "supervise" the building of the fires? (which, by the way, the kids have mastered doing on their own! We simply send them out and wait a few minutes and then there is a roaring, beautiful bonfire!)

My "Baby Boy" Turns Eight!!!

Today we celebrate the eighth birthday of our youngest "baby" Ryan!!! Happy Birthday sweet boy!!Ryan as a baby

Ryan as a toddler

Ryan with Ginger at three

Ryan's fourth birthday (how little he was!!)

Ryan celebrated his 5th at Magic Kingdom!!

Ryan turns six with a Curious George party!

Ryan's 7th birthday (a very "magical" time)

and finally, Ryan turns eight!! Here he is receiving a hug from his biggest brother Matt.

Ryan's cousin Zack flew out from Minnesota to help celebrate his special day. What fun it was - we went to Dave and Busters, had campfires in the back yard, and had cake and ice cream. The Vigil's (Mrs. Vigil and Cassidy and Abigail) showed up this morning with donuts to help bless Ryan on his special day. Tonight we are going to Ryan's favorite restaurant for dinner and them coming home for some special family time.

Ryan has been a very wonderful addition to our family from the start. He is full of life, love and humor. He fills our family with lots of joy and laughter. We cannot thank the Lord enough for bringing him into our life. Ryan is always the first to tell a joke or play a trick, but he is also quick to be encouraging and loving and sensitive. He has a deep sense of compassion and caring for those whom he loves. His favorite things at eight are whatever Jacob is doing - and doing it with him, like airsoft guns or legos. He loves to collect coins and he loves to play with spy gear, walkie talkies, anything that has some kind of "secret" component to it. He loves to surprise and bless everyone, and is an extremely generous young man. We are so proud of our cute little "dude", or as I have called him since he was little, our "teeny little super guy!!"

Thank you Ryan, for always being so loving to me and Dad. We LOVE to read to you at night and snuggle with you in your bed. I love to scratch your back and make you giggle. I love to spend time doing school with you, listening to you read, and working on your lapbooks. You are a joy to teach. I love the way you protect me and encourage me. I love the affection you shower on me, especially at bedtime. That is my favorite time of the day with you! I hope you had a wonderful birthday, my sweet little man. I love you.

Happy 70th Birthday Mom!

We finally celebrated the long-awaited birthday of our dear mother, grandmother, wife, and mother-in-law!! We had a wonderful, three day celebration full of honoring, laughter and just plain old fun! We started off with an overnite to Gettysburg - mom's favorite place to visit. We played miniature golf, ate dinner at Mom's favorite restaurant (the Dobbin House) and went to see a movie. The next day we toured Gettysburg a little and came home. Monday we had a special tea where we presented her with tickets to tour the White House and then a dinner in her honor, where I read a note or letter from every single member of our family honoring her (that took a while - there was 27 notes to read!!) Mom was very touched, and she deserved every word. She is the world's greatest mother and grandmother and wife!! This is a picture of "Grandma Potter" (as in Beatrix) trying to do some writing but getting interrupted by sweet little bunny lips trying to steal the paper! Luckily, mom loves bunnies and loved every moment of the distraction...

The bunny gave up and decided to just give her a kiss instead!!

As we were packing to go to Gettysburg, Mom literally crawled into the closet to get her suitcase, fell in, and then couldn't get out without laughing and needing a helping hand from Dad!!


The first thing we did when we arrived in Gettysburg was check into the hotel, and then head out for a game of miniature golf! It was a beautiful spring day with lots of blossoms and the smell of spring in the air. Mom had a blast - as did we all! Something about golfing makes you feel like you are on vacation...

This is a shot of an old alley in old-town Gettysburg. Very neat perspective.

We met up with Abe Lincoln while we were there!!

For those of us who know mom, this will come as no surprise. Mom loves to meet people wherever she goes, and can strike up a conversation with literally anyone! We have met many interesting people through the years, gotten tours of ships, had travelling woodcarvers over for dinner, I could go on and on, all due to Mom's outgoing nature. She met these soldiers who appeared to have travelled in time, and after disposing of their modern day pizza, they posed for a picture with her.

We got home on Sunday night and had a quiet evening. Monday was her actual birthday, and Dad took her out to breakfast. That afternoon, we had a "high tea" set out for her on our table. The teapot and warmer were actually part of her birthday presents. She was very surprised and blessed as Hannah led her out blindfolded to see the table set with candles burning and soft music playing. We also gave her tickets to tour the White House which she was sooooo excited about that she didn't believe it at first! The tickets usually take months in advance to get, but somehow my sister knew someone who knew someone who knew someone type of thing, and due to an unusual cancellation, we have tickets to see the White House!

Then we had lined up a special dinner to cap off the day. Of course, at the last minute, Danny realized we had no gas for our grill, and I couldn't get a hold of friends to allow us to run over and use theirs. (We were serving filet mignon, so you HAVE to have a grill, right?!?) So, Danny ran out to the backyard and made a makeshift grill out of leftover brick and used charcoal. It was some of the best steak we ever served!! After dinner we did our time of honoring, and there was so much to say, we ended the evening with no time to even eat birthday cake. (We had that the next day)

Mom, thank you for being such a wonderful Mom. It was an honor to celebrate your birthday with you here.

Oh, and I wanted to mention how "young" of a 70 my mom is. She just embraces life with a zeal that I envy. She makes everything fun, and just does NOT act like a 70 year old woman. As a matter of fact, as I am typing this, my parents had friends over (another older couple) and as I sat here, I heard a very strange sound coming from the basement - the four of them are down there playing pool and want me to bring down some refreshments! haha I hope and pray that I will be just like her when I am that age.

My "Baby" is Growing Up!!

I had a "where did the time go" moment - I looked out the window and Jacob was driving the tractor!! We all ran to the window and waved - what a moment! Of course Danny's emotions were FAR different from mine - I saw my "baby" driving a dangerous, huge, sharp-bladed machine, and he saw another son who can cut the grass for him!! haha

Don't let his cute face "fool" ya!!

I know it is past April fools day, but this year was unforgettable, and actually Ryan just finished his last "prank" last night, so I wanted to post it so we would never forget it.

April fools day is quite a day for the Dustins - for those of you who know Ryan - this is his favorite day of the year! He was born with mischief in his soul! He just loves to get people, make them "lose" their keys so they cannot leave, put plastic bugs in your bed, etc. you get the point. Anyway, this year was no exception. It was the same day my parents arrived, and after my Dad convinced Hannah that he had cut his foot with an axe and was bleeding (BBQ sauce) and that he was having chest pains, Ryan REALLY got in the spirit. He wanted me to call Danny and tell him that our friend who was over hanging some window treatments, had actually dropped the wrought-iron rod and it had busted out the window. I just couldn't do it. It is Danny's favorite, HUGE picture window that had already been cracked once...

So, Ryan set his sites on the rest of the family. That night everyone went to brush their teeth and found we couldn't get our toothpaste out as everyone had toothpicks shoved into their tube of toothpaste. Danny was the victim of the old shaving cream and feather trick. Somehow Matt escaped all of this - Ryan had actually forgotten to go in his room and "get" him. Hannah convinced my Dad that she needed surgery on her arm and elicited much sympathy from him, thus his revenge with the old bloody axe routine.

That night, Jacob went to crawl into his bed and found it was full of airsoft pellets that he had to spend time tediously picking out - yep, Ryan struck again.

Jacob sent Hannah out to get the mail and she got soaked with a squirt gun - this time Jacob - and in that mail was a fake package - it was actually an empty lego box wrapped up...Jacob had set his sights on Hannah this year.

Well, that is all I can remember (now that it is six days later!) but I wanted to print it so we would never forget April Fools Day 2008!