Our camping trip from last summer...

Sheesh. It has taken me a long time to get these on here. Between camera and computer problems, I just couldn't keep up. So beware... there are a lot of pics coming! These were taken on our camping trip up to Silver Lake, Michigan in August. We love it up there! We participated in some of the Family Olympic games being held at the campground (Jellystone rocks!!!)... and we actually got bronze! Even Bekah, who was our cheerleader from the wagon most of the time. :)

Hannah cannot be without her goggles in water- she's like a fish!

Bekah spent most of the time like this- usually Lake Michigan is so cold that the little ones dont' want to stay in. The water was the warmest Nate or I ever remember- and we both grew up on Lake Michigan, so we would know! :)

We love climbing the dunes around the lighthouse (and everywhere else, for that matter!)

Snuggly in the camper

The lady in the black t-shirt was cutthroat. It was the most bizarre thing- she kept giving her kids whispered instructions and was yelling angrily at them when they weren't following her instructions. Seriously sad and irritating. They won the gold though...

Beautiful sky as storms moved in while we did the obstacle course

I just want to hug them they're so cute!!!

Guess who loved this?

And we got to ride it every afternoon with Yogi!

This is Stephen's face as he looked up at Yogi sitting by us for the whole ride!

Love those baby blues!

This is how Nate spent 3 out of 5 days camping- he became sick the day after we arrived. Thank you Lord that I could walk everywhere with the children and there were so many activities to do- we missed him but still had a lot of fun.

He recovered in time for the last day of the Olympics, where he won Balloon Warfare (he even beat crazy Twilight shirt lady!)... it was awesome. I think I have the footage on here... look for another post after this!

The girls made new friends at Jellystone, too.

Picnic on the dunes

The hike down from the Silver Lake dunes (thank you Lord for our van!).

The Bronze Winners!!!

There is a pair of swans that come to Silver Lake every year to mate... the male came over by us when we got to the beach! It's the first time we've ever seen him up close (usually they're out on the water when we come).

We even got to see a bald eagle land in a tree just above us... it's on the second branch up from the bottom. Awesome!

We headed up to Traverse City then for a visit with family- this is at Grandma Mary's house.

Grandma Mary

Good times at Uncle Craig and Aunt Dagmar's famous summer party

I think they're discussing politics... or maybe what the weird floaties are in the water.

Grandma Virginia and Deb with Bekah Boo

You can take the boy out of Indiana, but you can't take the Indiana out of the boy!

The Harlan men

Comments, anyone?

I opened up my comments to everyone- before it was only allowing registered users, and so many of you were just e-mailing me about my posts that I figured I needed to see if I could turn it off... and I can! So, now the pressure is on me to write some amazing posts worth commenting on, right? ;)

New Nickname

Stephen has decided to give Bekah a new nickname... "Boo-Bah."  When I asked him why he is calling her Boo-Bah now, he answered very seriously...  "Because she is my little Boo-Bah."  Of course.  :)

Where have you been all of my life?

I just found this blog today. I have no idea how I've been missing it... it appears that even Caryn knew about it and never told me (What were you thinking????). Ha! Anyway, it's pretty much amazing and you don't have to have a big family to appreciate it. You just have to have a desire to make yummy healthy food that's easy to prepare and doesn't require a ton of exotic ingredients. Check out her recipes and menus!!!

I had to share this...

I just found this wonderful quote by a man who knew what it was to live a life in submission to our Lord...

"Wherever you are, be all there. Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God." - Jim Elliot

Back to square one... or, onward and upward!

Well, we have had a tumultuous past 6 weeks. A couple that really want to buy our house came and saw it twice and finally made an offer yesterday. It was really low. We expected that, because her dad is helping them out monetarily and he seems to be the kind of guy who wants foreclosure type prices. So, we countered with the lowest we could go. And they had to turn it down. They can't do the payments (which, I might add, are $200+ less/ month than you would pay for rent on a house here)... we've had this happen with several other people over the past 2 years, so we weren't shocked. Disappointed, yes. But not shocked. So, if you could continue to pray for the right buyers to come along, we'd really appreciate it. In the meantime, we are just thankful to be living in a cozy warm house that we love! We're hopeful to be able to sell this spring, as home sales really pick up in April around here. For right now, we'll enjoy the quarter sized (!)snowflakes that are falling and the 2 zebra finches that Nate got for his birthday. I really need to post pics, but they are not on this computer, so more to come later...