Landis went for his Kindergarten testing yesterday morning. He did very well, as I expected. :) However, he didn't know where his "heel" was, nor did he recognize the numbers 9 and 19, for whatever reason. He knew how to spell his first name (Bobby) and was able to tell the teacher his address, phone number and birthday. He was so excited about being tested he asked if he could stay and continue with more. "Sorry," I said, "there are others coming to be tested and we have to get out of their way."

Bobby left yesterday morning for work and said he'd spend the night out where they are working (around the Dale Hollow area) and wouldn't come home until Wednesday night after church. However, he called this evening and said he was on his way home because they had been called to work around Paducah...northwest of Nashville instead of east. He was also called to a meeting at the church this morning with Pastor Sarah and so he needed to be home for that.
A couple of weeks ago, Pastor Davis preached about going through different seasons in our lives. One of the things he said was that we need to embrace the season we are in. It made me think about Grace and the "season" of Cerebral Palsy. I wondered, "how do I embrace the season of CP without accepting it as if it were God's will for her life?"

Yesterday morning in Sunday School in the Beth Moore video we were watching, she said something about seasons and then the word servant was mentioned. That's all I remember and then right after that the thought came to me, "You embrace the season of Cerebral Palsy by serving your daughter."

Link to the photo album of the vacation in Michigan:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&conn_speed=1&Uc=2snii9ox.bhr7o0k9&Uy=-otbd8x&Ux=0

We had a great time in Michigan in July. Our week-long stay was so pleasant at my cousin, Roxanne's house. It was so big and spacious (and air conditioned) that you hardly noticed there were 11 children in the house. The Stevens family pictured from left to right are: Isaiah, David, Esther, Jeff, Jeffrey, Roxanne, Ashley, Autumn and Andrew. We are very grateful for such a comfortable place to lay our heads and for the good fellowship and food.

It was so good to see Timothy and Kristy and the boys again. It had been 6 months since we last saw them here in Nashville. You can keep up with all they are doing in Slovenia by going to Kristy's blog. We plan to see them again next summer.

We ended the week with a nice evening at the Elks Lodge in Sturgis celebrating Dad's retirement.

Hi-lights of our vacation were: Reubmommy (my Grandma Troyer) sending a couple of more quilts she had made home with us, getting to see and visit with so many relatives that we rarely see, swimming in the river on a hot afternoon, discovering the coffee shop in Sturgis that Kris and Mary told us about, Grace taking showers in Jeffrey's big walk-in shower and bath seat, eating over-sized ice cream cones on the deck by the lake, and fresh blueberries and a free quart of honey - "thanks Roxie!"

Link to a photo album in next entry.