July 3. Wow.

Kennedy and I are up very early. We're both listening to music in the office.

Kyle leaves today. God bless him and keep him safe on his trip. I ask that you cover him in your wisdom and protection. May he be a sponge while he is there in soaking up the language and the love of the people in Anapra. May he set a good example for those coming there to build houses for people in Anapra. May his love for Anapra help others to feel comfortable there themselves. And Lord please watch over the kids and I while we are here in St. Louis. Thank you for all of the company that we have coming. Maybe we have a lovely time. And I pray that the time would pass swiftly. I don't want the children to 'notice' Kyle isn't here so much that they are sad. Bless this day as we send Daddy off on his way.

Here's a note I have to add for Kadi ....

Every night before Kadi goes to sleep ... she asks for a 'piece' of water. :) That makes me laugh!

Kennedy is really into wearing earphones and carrying around her own walkman. So I've ordered her some Christian Pop CDs comparable to today's music of the world. It's not that I don't want her to listen to the radio or anything, I just want to balance it all.

Koel is very good at expressing "no" now. We went to eat dinner at O'Charly's last night (2 kids per adult eat free ... ALL the time!), and Kyle and I kept trying to get a kiss from Koel. He kept saying "No". So funny. Uh-oh ... the baby is up now. It's only 6:40 ... not good. Some morning he'll sleep until almost 9:00.

Okay, so the last two days ... I've gotten to do my FAVORITE thing. Thrift store shop at a SALE!! The thrift store at the end of Wismer on Rock Road is moving, and EVERYTHING is on sale. All adult clothes are $1.00 each. All kids clothes are $.50 each. All books are 10 for a $1.00. All 'bric-a-brac' is $.50. That's all kitchen stuff, miscellaneous. All shoes are $1.00. It's hilarious! We came home from the sale twice ... with jeans for all six of us. Plus jeans for Mason Lankford ... like five pair ... jeans for Marty. Jeans for Felicia. Jeans for Kelsey. Jeans for my mom! Shirts for some of us. LOTS of books. I think I must have bought like sixty kids books. My kids are thrilled! I am too. That was only $6.00. Very fun!

Keenan has his daddy to himself right now. Kyle went downstairs and curled up with Keenan. I thought he was packing although it is early, so I went to chat with him ... nope, curled up asleep with Keenan. That man can drop sleep ANYWHERE! I'm glad for Keenan ... when he wakes up, he'll be so happy. That makes me happy.

Our new Firebellied Toad is Melissa. We decided KeeWee needed a friend. So, .... Melissa has entered our lives. She is a fun Toad. She 'talks' constantly and is very social. She watches us. It really is very funny. I think today we will get them a bigger cage. And we've decided to feed them roly polies. That disturbs me since I love the little bugs, but ... you gotta do what you gotta do when something is free!
So now we have KeeWee and Melissa ... sitting in a tree .. k i s s i n g ... literally. They're quite fond of each other. They do a lot of Hugging shall we say. Funny stuff.

On to start the day ....................