The women's race...

So, this weekend is the Women's celebration race. I am finally going to run it alone... I have always had a child in tow and it is not very conducive to run with a child... or pushing a stroller. I will run it and I am so excited. If any one else wants to run it let me know and I will run with you...

Piano, projects, party, and a gift from France...

Well, hi everybody!! Here is my weekend in a nut shell....

My two oldest have been taking piano for a while now and #1 son looks so cute playing. I thought I'd give you a glimpse...This picture is him and his buddy playing "chefs". It is so cute to watch them play. They will take my order and write it down and then say,"mom will you make this?" I crack up every time. This is the desk from my post "so much potential" look at the difference a little blue stain and black paint makes... My nephew had a party for his sixteenth birthday!! He was too cool to smile at the camera, but here he is with his new I pod nano. Cute Boy!! Julie and I decided to play model and here is the picture she took of me... here is the picture I took of her... Pretty funny girls on both counts I say... This spider was found on the play tire in the back yard. Everyone was screaming and looking at it and screaming. Little man went up to it and screamed and then squished it with his bare hand and then screamed again. It was so funny!!! Here is my gift from Pierre (It is for the whole family really) It is a beautiful book in french about france. He told me all about the pictures... because I made him, and it is a very interesting and beautiful book.. Thank you Pierre !!

This is the note my life ended on ...before pierre...

This is the group of kids we were babysitting when we got the phone call about Pierre. We had to make a decision amid all the chaos and be prayerful and hopeful in the middle of all this.. Yes, this is the only time all thirteen kids sat still...We had a great time though in spite of the stress.

Then the day Pierre was coming to stay, I had planned to can peaches and I couldn't, not do it. I have a ceramic stove top and the water would not boil at all...Finally Julie, saint that she is, took all the bottles to her house and processed them for me. All 50 Bottles of them!! Thank heavens for sweet Julie. I don't know how to survive without her.
So that is all you missed in my life while I went on about Pierre....

Ok now for the moment you have all been waiting for!!!

This is our exchange student from France!!! His name is Pierre. He is sixteen years old and a BLAST!! Not to mention how handsome he is .... all the girls LOVE him. We love him too, but not quite in the same way as the girls...

He likes to Ski (something I am not good at, but will have to try again) and play tennis (He can play with Shawn) and watch movies and play on the computer. He is a pretty easy person to get along with and he loves to work out- which is good for me because I just bring him to the Gym when I work out or teach and he'll work out for hours. We are so glad to have him here and I think he likes us too!!

Pierre

Pierre is sixteen and very kind for a teenage boy. He is a handsome boy and very helpful and sweet. All the girls at church are going to start stalking him I am sure. I have no idea how to raise a teenager,but I guess I will find out. So far he is really easy to sit and watch movies with, or eat with. He doesn't eat a lot and is very skinny, but likes sports so I am sure he will eat more when he starts playing sports. He has a great sense of humor and likes to laugh at everything funny. I think this will work out quite nicely. He took the kids outside yesterday and jumped on the trampoline with all of them. It was cute to watch and the kids LOVE him.

Surprise!! You have a son...

Well, today I got a phone call from a VERY desperate lady who needed to place an exchange student from France. So, we prayed, said we would give it a go and he comes tomorrow at 1pm. His Name is Pierre and he is 16 years old and a senior in High school.

I am a little ambivalent about this... First off he is a boy, so that is weird all by itself. Next, Shawn is acting nervous about it all, so that makes me more nervous and... I only had 10 minutes to decide if I wanted to do it or not.... I think I made the right choice, but we will find out in a few days I guess..

I miss Stela......