Thursday Hello

Well, Joseph has been gone all week at teen camp at Camp Chetek, and Esther has been gone
all week at piano camp at Northwestern College (with the camera!). Still very active at home
even with just 5 of us, but obviously a little less activity and more quiet. I am getting used to
people being gone--something that used to be so strange to me. So I decided since the camera
is gone I would share some photos of Esther and Rebecca.

Test Run

Supposedly, I can post to the blog simply by sending my post to an email address that I have set up. Here is the test. That´s really about all I have to say, other than that if you want to hear more about my time in Chile, you should go to my blog to do so. ¡Chao!

More Garden Pictures

I took these pictures yesterday, which turned out to be the first warm day in about a week. It has been raining each day for about 3 days, and with the warmth the plants grew even in that one day, so that today the plants are noticably larger!
Here are the zinnias on the side of the garage.

And here are the tomatoe plants. The day after my first large tomatoe plant got chopped right off from a baseball (!), I bought another plant. Then Sal, who was visiting came home the same day with another plant! I also saved the little stump since it still had some green leaves, and there are some tomatoes on it!

Bee sting and Garden

Today Daniel got stung by a bee while he and Timothy were outside playing by Mr. Flater's sand pile. It hurt very much and swelled up big. But after a baking soda past on it and ice for about an hour, Daniel recovered well.

This is the very first zinnia bloom in the garden. As you can see, there are many, many more to come. Hopefully all bloomed just in time to greet David and Kelsea on their visit!
The zinnias and marigolds were planted from seeds I saved from my last year's plants. Timothy helped me scatter HUNDREDS of zinnia seeds in the back foot of the garden, and then I covered them with just a little dirt. Then I decided to check on-line to make sure I had done it all right. All the information said to plant the seeds 6-8 inches apart! So when they sprouted, there were HUNDREDS
of beautiful, healthy zinnias . But they were about 1-half inch apart. So 2 times I thinned them out and reluctantly pulled healthy little plants out so that the remaining ones would be healthy. It was actually emotionally difficult for me to do. But I went to the trouble to save many of them, and planted them on the side of the garage! (See picture) Hopefully they get enough sun in the afternoon that they bloom well.

You can see all the zinnias in the back of the garden, and it is a good thing that I thinned them!

Saying "Goodbye" to John

After a wonderful and relaxed midnight talk at Perkins with John, Dad and me on Sunday night; packing and shopping for last minute needs on Monday; and a good cry on John's shoulder; the family gathered Monday evening before taking him to the megabus bound for Chicago, to commit John to the Lord in prayer and to sing together. For John we sang "God Be with You Till We Meet Again" and "The Lord Bless You and Keep You". Then John wanted to sing "Mansion Over the Hilltop", which amazingly fit in beautifully in saying goodbye. The 3rd verse begins: "Don't think me poor or deserted or lonely; I'm not discouraged, I'm heaven-bound."


Right now while I write, John should be leaving Miami,
FL, flying to Lima, Peru, and arriving in Santiago, Chile, at around 10 a.m. Wednesday. Just think! He will be with only Spanish speaking people and taking all his courses in Spanish! That is a very daunting thought to me! Please keep him in your prayers.

Esther's concert

Saturday night we all went to the Lake Harriet bandshell in Minneapolis. Esther was invited by her violin-teacher-to-be at the UofM to play along side him for the last two pieces of the orchestra's performance. Other high school players were also involved on various instruments. It was a cool night, but very, very refreshing to sit for about 1.5 hours listening to beautiful and fun music while the swallows swirled around.


Esther is seated in the front row right behind the conductor. There was a huge crowd, but we had good seats.










This photo is an attempt to capture the beautiful sunset over the lake as we were leaving that evening.

John wearing Timo's coat - or more like attempting to do so.

Some more pictures that I didn't post last night, but thought were too good to miss. Enjoy!

Stone Arch Bridge

Tonight we went as a family to the Stone Arch Bridge in commemoration of John's leaving.












Here's us trying to look ghetto in front of the old Mill City Museum.















David and Kelsea, we thought of you when we were on the bridge. Historical moments!
























It was windy and cold. Despite the fact that it's mid-July, we all had to wear hoodies, long sleeved shirts, and jackets on the bridge tonight.

5day clubs

"The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save." Zephaniah 3:17

Joseph and I (Esther) just finished our first week of 5-day clubs today! It was a busy week, but definitely worthwhile.

The kids at our first club were full of energy and always kept Joseph and me on our toes :). They especially loved "Undercover", our puppet, and would literally mob the puppet stage whenever he came out. I think they were almost more heartbroken to see Undercover leave than they were to see us go :)!

Our second club was at the Gall's house. Several of the kids who came did not go to church regularly and did not know much about Jesus or the Bible. I was amazed to see how much they learned as the week progressed. On Monday, most of the kids weren't able to answer any of the questions that Joseph and I would ask, but by Wednesday they were beginning to understand the Gospel message and we could tell that they were really getting what we were teaching them. It was so exciting to see God working in their hearts! During the week, Joseph and I were able to pray with two little girls for salvation. It was a great week, and I want to thank you all for keeping us in your prayers as we teach these clubs! It makes all the difference.

We had a wonderful day of celebrating the 4th of July at the Gilmers with many friends. Rebecca and Esther decorated their toes for the special day!


The annual games of family trivia, water balloon toss, croquet, fishing, boating, frisbee, and the fabulous bar baking contest never get old. Dad is the only family member this year that was a prize winner. He caught the smallest fish! Then we raced to WBL and got there for the fireworks display over the lake. It seemed short, but it was really nice.