Life with Reya…

Just thought I would post a few pictures of Reya with Lauren.  So here you go…

I think Reya had just jumped up and gave Lauren a kiss on the cheek.  Lauren has this “Oh” face that she makes and I caught the picture in the middle of her making that face.

This time I told Lauren to give Reya a kiss and this is what happened!

Lauren is learning how to share her toys…

Had to stop playing with the toys and pet the puppy.  Lauren has been very gentle with her.

Now we better make sure Reya’s teeth are clean

Reya was just so sleepy that she laid by Lauren for quite awhile while Lauren played.

Lauren decided that Reya was getting cold while she was sleeping so she covered her up with some diapers.

And last picture is our other dog Asher with Reya.  He is slowly but surely accepting her into the family.  Soon they will be sleeping in the same chair...well, at least before Reya grows to be 80 pounds! 

We sure our enjoying this new little puppy.  How amazing that God would create an animal like her for our enjoyment.  She has a very sweet personality and will grow up to be a good friend.

The Luau!

As is tradition, last night we opened our home for the Annual Summer Staff Luau!  We were concerned that it was going to get rained out due to the chance of severe thunderstorms moving through northern Wisconsin.  Around 1:00 we had a storm come through that dumped a lot of rain and hail in a very short time.  But after it passed, the rest of the evening proved to be absolutely beautiful.

The Staff Counselors showed up a little after six and began to set up the decorations and games, including volleyball, croquet, bocce ball, and cornhole.  I had just the right amount of lumber in the sheds to construct a cornhole set during the morning. 

Summer Staff began arriving around 7:00.  I couldn’t believe how many people came!  They just kept coming and coming!  Soon after people began showing up, the staff counselors and the Windles fired up the blenders and started churning out the fruit smoothies.  I had part of one… I handed it to April so I could run and get something and by the time I got back, it was gone!

We ended the evening with a campfire.

What a week

I can’t even describe to you the kind of week we have had.  It sure has come with many challenges and struggles. 

Monday started off fine with no real bumps in the road until it camp time for Jesse to come home from camp.  So he hopped on his scooter to ride home like normal and when he got to the top of camps drive the scooter piddled out on him.  So he grabbed his bike (which happened to be at camp) and biked the 5 miles home.  Well on Tuesday evening as Jesse was riding home again on the bike the bike got a flat tire in the middle of the trip and Jesse had to walk the rest of the 3 miles back home.  So Wednesday I tried to mow the lawn and the lawn mower would not start for anything.  Thursday when picking up the scooter from getting fixed and dropping the lawn mower off to get worked on, we got a call from the boat place where they were working on our old boat motor saying that the motor was dead.  So Friday came and seemed to be going well when sure enough another flat tire entered our lives.  But this time it was on the van as we were driving.

God sure is good in all of this.  As we were driving yesterday we were headed to go pick up a chocolate lab puppy.  What a sweet ending to a difficult week.  Her name is Reya which is the Hebrew word in the Bible for friend.  And friend she will be.  We are very excited to have her join our family.  Asher is not so sure but then again he is not so sure about most dogs at first but when he comes around they will have great fun together.  Here are a few pictures of Reya…