Pictures and Updates!

I have a few new updates for our situation (and prayer requests!) but first a few pictures of our summer fun:)

A few weeks ago, we went to the zoo with the boys' cousins. It was our first trip to the Columbus Zoo; hot but fun! They had so much fun together!

The boys had their last soccer practice of the summer last week! It was a beautiful night, too. We had a lot of fun watching them all summer, except for the week we sat in the chilly rain to cheer them on;)

After the last practice, Ben's mom (Grandma!) treated us all to ice cream at the local Dairy Queen wanna-be. It was a great night for ice cream!

Zakkai, if you can't tell, had a very blue raspberry slushy! Either that or he's really cold;)

Ah! He was very proud of that blue tongue!

Copying her brother:) She looks like a little orphan Annie with the dirt all over her face. She face-planted into the dirty mulch on the little playground while Samuel and Zakkai were playing soccer.

And a few days ago, we met some friends at a cute park to play.

It was really hot out in the sun so we were practically melting by the time we left!

Two of my cuties:)

And this past weekend, the kids and I drove to Dayton to meet with some of our old house group cronies! And by old, I mean long-time, not old! We went to the Cox Arboretum and had a lot of fun checking out their different gardens, the Butterfly house and even a maze! This was a really cool tree house tower that we climbed. Samuel is at the WAY top:)

Here is Zakkai in the maze.

Eliana and her friend A. were having fun running around until Eliana fell into a bush. Then all her tiredness came to the fore and she hung out in the stroller for awhile.

We went into the Butterfly House, which was sadly lacking butterflies but had lots of caterpillars! I pulled out my fun camera and snapped a couple of cool (I thought!) pictures. This was a really pretty green and black striped caterpillar. No idea what kind but pretty still!

And this big guy was hanging on having a little lunch:) Such cool little creatures!
```````````````````````````

And for a few little updates on our situation for those who are interested:)

1. Ben now has 3 (count 'em THREE) part-time jobs! He works about 60 hours a week. One of them should become full-time soon and while the most least-likely job for my Dr. guy, has been an absolute blessing in the 8 days he has worked there so far. He gets rave-reviews from all of his co-workers and even led someone to the Lord yesterday! Wow. It is a really cool story! We don't see him very much since he is working like a dog, which is really hard but we are so proud of him. His third part-time job (painting) will end in the next week or two and will ease his schedule and that will help.

2. We found a house that we, okay I, (because Ben couldn't come see it) fell in love with and put in an application to rent it today. We should hear back probably tomorrow sometime if they will choose us or not. We SO need a place to live a soon as possible with school starting in the next 2 weeks. The house was falling apart from neglect when the owner of a local company bought it and completely gutted it and is re-doing it. Literally a brand-new house from the inside out! New dry wall, new roof, siding, floors, kitchen, etc. My mom and Samuel and I went to see it yesterday and it was so beautiful! Please, please pray that this works out and if not, for God to provide something else soon.

3. I got to talk to the principal of the local school yesterday (just in case we get to rent the house!) and she was absolutely wonderful to talk to. She was busy with meetings but took a good 45 minutes in between to call me and answer all of my questions. I felt a lot of peace, should our boys go there this year. But #2 has to happen before we can register them!

We feel like things are on the verge of coming together. It has been a struggle this summer and we have had some ups and downs but the past couple of weeks, have really felt God speaking to us about trusting in Him and waiting on His provision for us. He has given us a lot of peace right now, even in the midst of the unknowns and we are incredibly thankful!

Hopefully I will have more good news soon!

Goofballs

 We had a really long afternoon, trapped at "home" with no car while Daddy went to a meeting and his new part-time job. (It's a start!) We have been out and about getting sun and swimming lately so some of us have been a wee bit crankier than usual, despite a nap....

We needed to do something quick to cajole this 3 year old out of her monster mood! Enter....the handy camera phone:)

Wait...is that a smile peeking through?

Oh, we're all so sad.

No, wait! We are mad now!

So excited! (We aren't quite sure about what yet but it's good to practice just in case!)

Surprised!

Monster faces! (I just love Zakkai's faces!)

Another try..that's the spirit!

Silly smiles:)

We're sticking out our tongues at you! (sorry, I know that is bad manners!)

Fish faces!

And some winking....

 

We are SO cool, aren't we?! But you know, it broke the bad mood vibes and we had a nice little bonding moment:) Plus, free entertainment for you!

 

Happy Friday! 

Happy Easter!

 He is Risen! We had a beautiful service at church today. So very thankful! And then 10 seconds after we came home, I forced our spiffy crew to step outside for pictures! Good thing I did, too, because they changed clothes faster than you can say, "I told you so!"

Aren't they cute?!

Zakkai thought he was being funny to stick out his tongue. Stinker.

Mr. Z-man! A handsome 7 year old, if I ever saw one!

He has grown up so much this year. Sometimes we still have to remind ourselves that he's not 5 anymore...

And the little darling! My mom sent her this Easter hat in the mail and she thinks it's pretty fun to wear! My mom also supervised me making this dress for E! Eliana was excited to wear it!

Little Lady:)

Pretty girl.

Boy, this kiddos is 8 going on 14! He is so big and just maturing so much. Hard to believe he was once our little "Das B!" (his nickname as a baby)

So handsome! He's getting some wiggly front teeth. I admit I am hoping he'll lose them a little closer to Christmas so we can sing, "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth!"

I love these three!

Happy Easter from the Thomas Family!

p.s. as an interesting side, our church was chosen by NBC for the national Easter service aired on television today. The times they aired the show (all NBC affiliates around the country had the option of airing a religious service today and if they wanted to, this was their option!) It was on very early in a lot of states but just in case you are interested to hear: https://www.cc-ob.org/nbceaster. It was pre-taped a few weeks ago so it wasn't today's service but still pretty cool!

Face-painting and Pictures!

 We had a busy weekend! On Saturday, we ran a couple errands and then we went to a first birthday party for one of our neighbors. It was at a nearby park district and it was a very cute safari theme! They even hired some face painters and our kiddos were brave enough to get some face painting done; the first time for S and E!

And look who was brave enough to go first?! Eliana decided she wanted a little kitty on her cheek, so she got a white one with a sparkly pink bow! She loved it and happily posed for pictures:)

Samuel went next and continued with his magic theme by getting a rabbit pulled out of a magic hat! The ladies were very talented and did a great job! Samuel loved it so much that he didn't want to wash it off:)

Zakkai took the longest to convince but once he was ready, he went all the way with a full Spiderman mask! It was very cool and he loved it. It scared more than a few of us over the evening when he would come around the corner or out of the bathroom! It lasted til morning, when I started finding face paint smeared everywhere and then I forced him to wash it off:)

Yesterday our friends invited us to go to a nearby conservatory! We had never been before, even though it's fairly close by and free to boot! A gem in the city:) Eliana had a blast exploring! There was a children's garden with a place to dig in dirt and "plant" flowers. She would've stayed all day if we'd let her!

My favorite things to see were the banana trees, pineapples and lime tree! Not something you see everyday in the Midwest....

Samuel got to do a little creating at a kid's station with some sticks and clay. Like Eliana, he would've stayed there all day!

One of the main reasons we went was so that I could try out my new camera and practice. Practice makes perfect, they say! Imagine how silly I felt, then, when I got my camera out, turned on and tried to take pictures...only to find my battery was dead! Our friends, thankfully, have almost the same camera and let me use their battery for a little bit! (All the previous pictures were cell phone pics)

 Eliana refused to pose with her brothers and ran away!

Love these boys!

We finally snatched her up and I was able to get one shot of the three of them before she ran off again:)

Now come all the "boring" nature shots! Although, I think I got some very pretty ones!

Here is one of my favorites! I love the detail and it's nice to see some color now that all the trees are bare and it's looking very "wintery" outside...

This flower almost looks like an ostrich!

Daddy and his girl:)

 Ben wanted me to practice on the water fall so our friend, also a Ben, helped me figure out some fancy things and made the water look different. Very cool!

See the difference?

Pretty greenery!

Baby C was busy checking out things, too, and wishing he could've gotten his hands on a few things!

Such a happy little guy!

The crew:)

I love how Eliana turned around to grin at me! It's nice to catch her in a "real" smile these days:)

This is how Baby C likes to greet the boys each morning! The face grabbing is accompanied by a lot of drooling and pterodactyl-like screeching:) They love it!

Some more beautiful flowers!

One of my favorite things to do is to focus on one object and blur the background a bit. Taking pictures is fun!

Next time I will remember to charge my battery.....:)

*If you ever want to see the pictures magnified, just click on one and you can do a slide show of the whole blog post!