Just Back...

From my first trip ever to beautiful Maui! Wade had a business meeting and I tagged along because dear dear Uncle Lenny offered to keep the foursome! (What a blessing he is -- and what fun they had!)

This beautiful rainbow greeted us as we drove to our resort from the airport -- I was immediately dazzled!

Wade had to work so we were only able to squeeze in a couple of excursions -- but he made time to do the two big things on my list: The Road to Hana drive and a drive up the 10,000 feet high Haleakala Volcanic Crater! These Eucalyptus trees were part of our beautiful drive on the Road to Hana. Wade had to pull over and let me hike back for the photos and in doing so I met the lovely man who planted them following World War II. He was happy to give me the history of the trees -- and a bit of his own! One of five sons to fight for America in the second world war, he was the only one to come back alive. He and his wife were born and bred on Maui and own a farm with cattle on the coastline. He was a dear to answer my questions and was a definite highlight of our trip!!
We hiked a bit off the road to see this lovely waterfall -- there are dozens all along the drive and of course, I wanted to stop at them all. Unfortunately, Wade's work beckoned and we had to turn around before actually making it all the way to Hana -- oh well, that will give us something to look forward to next time!! (Hint, hint, my dear!)
This incredible shot is of the volcanic crater on top of Haleakala! We were literally ABOVE the clouds! What a vision the clouds made!

There are many more photos and in the weeks to come, perhaps I'll add some here. I left Maui with such a sense of God's creativity -- his splendor, his majesty! The beach shots are here -- I have them and they too, take my breath away. But it was the unexpected things that made this trip special -- the blessing of a Eucalyptus tree (who even knew that's how they grew?) and a precious gentleman willing to share his story, and of course the best blessing, time with my own hubby!

God is so good!

What a beautiful day we have had! Today, July 20th, Benjamin, Mason and Claire were baptized! It was a wonderful service where Scott Harris, the children's pastor, along with Wade and I were able to baptize them altogether! They made individual decisions to ask Jesus to be their Lord; and individual decisions to be baptized now; but chose to be baptized together. Words don't even do it justice! May God be praised for loving my children and allowing me to be their Mommy!

Lights, Camera, Action...

Benjamin, Mason and Claire were interviewed on Friday for a short clip to be aired at our church in a few weeks. The children's pastor was off-camera interviewing them and they were quite full of themselves as they answered!
Of course, my little hams, loved being in the spotlight. Of course they did. But many of the questions required them to be serious in their replies. And they did a beautiful job -- if I can say so myself -- as the totally unobjectional Mommy!
And then of course, was the fourth ham in the house -- Baby Cate. She figured out that the little camcorder next to us was running (just for extra shots) and decided to "work" it! We'll see if her expertise helped or hindered in a few weeks!
What a blessing to mother these amazing kids -- their hearts are as big as the sky and their love of Jesus shines!!

It's official...

I am a pushover. Let me show you: My mother is arriving this morning (yeah!) so as soon as I woke today, I jumped up and made the bed (My mother's coming, after all!). My sweet Cate woke up shortly after and called for me to come get her. When I did, she said "I want to get in your bed, Mommy." (A summer tradition that we both enjoy!) I told her I had already made the bed but that I would sit and hold her in the rocking chair for a little while. That worked for about 60 seconds and she looked at me and said, "I want to get in your bed." I again pointed out that Mommy's bed was all made up for Grammie's visit. And she looked at me and said, "But, Mommy, I want to get in your bed and cuddle with you."

What could I do? I un-made the bed and cuddled with my two-year-old. I'm no dummy, I know how fast these days fly by. But I am officially....a pushover!

God-sent friends

We had lovely visitors this weekend...Julia Brooks and her daughter, Lisa. Julia was the boys' physical therapist in Texas the year we lived in Dallas. But she was oh-so-much more than that!

Don't you love it when God places people in your lives that He knows you need even before you know it? Julia is one of those people.

I have always been especially close to the therapists who work with the boys. There are many reasons for this -- from my overwhelming gratitude to my need to love them because they are so intimately connected to our family, but probably most of all because God has given us amazing therapists who teach me about what my guys CAN do rather than focus on what they can't. Julia was all that and more!

And then when we found out we were expecting again, (Cate wouldn't stop long enough to have her picture taken with us!) there was so much excitement but the doctors were a bit concerned as well. Tests needed to be done that would mean I couldn't lift the boys for a week. School was out and we had no family in Dallas. Julia came. She stayed with us and took care of the physical demands that my body couldn't. She went way beyond just being our therapist!

Her sweet daughter, Lisa, (who babysat the kids in Dallas!) is in Phoenix working this summer at a home for young moms who need love. I know she is the perfect person to love these girls with the arms of Jesus -- just like her Mom did us! And we were thrilled that when Julia came to visit Lisa this weekend, they took time for the Shrader crew! What a blessing!!

Color Me Happy!

What do we do when the temperatures are hotter than hot, and we are looking for some out-of-water fun (rest assured, we LOVE the in-water-fun...but sometimes!)....well one day last week we decided to go paint some pottery!

We had a blast -- it took us a few hours though, who knew that just selecting a piece was such a gut-wrenching decision?! Lucky for us they had Goofy and Donald Duck (right up the Shrader boys' alley!); Claire chose a horse, of course; and sweet Cate...well, she painted a crown! We laughed and made a mess and took longer than a couple of groups who came and went during the time it took us...but we had fun!



There is really nothing better than a day with my crew -- what a blessing, indeed!

Cate's Diving In!

Wait for it....
Oh yeah!!

Just a little backyard fun from our 4th of July cookout! Windy, stormy weather was brewing and the kids were squeezing in some serious swim time before the storm got too close (the lifeguard in their Mommy is pretty strict about stormy weather and NO swimming!). Nothing like the blessing of flying through the air...and landing smack on your belly in the pool!

More Camp Fun!

Claire on the slip-n-slide! Gotta love landing in the mud!
And what is more fun than water balloons?
I'm pretty sure Mason just threw a water balloon -- what else makes a boy smile so big?!

We are slowly getting our groove back after camp. We have only left the house to go to church over the weekend -- it may take a couple of more days for us to want to get out and about (of course, exhaustion is only part of that...the 110 degree days is the other part...and the sweet Baby Cate that doesn't want to be out of my sight, being the other part!) But we're still counting the blessings of our week...and enjoying our own showers! Cate is consumed with talking about camp now. She keeps asking me if I will go with her...of course, I said I will...but then I did the math. I will be um...um...47 when she is old enough for 3rd grade camp! I'm going to need a serious exercise program to get ready for that!! Ah, the blessings of children...

Happy Campers (and a tired Mommy!)

The kids and I have just returned from a week at camp -- UCYC in Prescott, Arizona. Those of you who know me, know that I LOVE camp....LOVE it...and so I was thrilled for Wade to take time off to keep Cate as I packed my sleeping bag (and three others) and headed to camp with my big kids! I must say that camp at 40 is a bit different that camp at 20...but we had a blast and I have to share:

Almost immediately upon arriving at UCYC, I began to feel overwhelmed that many of the activities would be highly UN-accessible. As a result, I was feeling defeated before we had even begun. And then I remembered to pray. Oh, the power of prayer! The first activity my boys' cabin did was the rock wall. Impossible for them, right? Wrong. Because God had provided an amazing staff that I had not accounted for...Adam strapped himself and Mason in and together they climbed...with Adam walking Mason through and...

As you can see, men from our church, helping at the bottom. It was amazing! And it didn't end there...

They got Benjamin strapped in too! Adam and our men had to work harder...but Benjamin got to experience the rock wall!! And as Adam so adequately made the campers shout while climbing -- they got to experience how "Our God Rocks!"

Claire was a happy camper as well -- she rode the zip-line, took part in a Mud Obstacle Course (yes, that is my girly-girl under all that mud) and loved every minute. But can I tell you how cool God is....this sweet girl of mine has listened to my camp stories all her life. If you know her at all, you know that she loves stories more than anything and so she is always all ears. So, she was set for camp believing that she would ride (like I did at 9 to Camp Garaywa) an old school bus and sing camp songs at the top of her lungs. So you can imagine her disappointment when we arrived at church on Monday only to find CCV had chartered beautiful, comfortable buses to take the 400 campers/counselors to camp. And worst of all...no one sang with my girl all the way there. She was so sad. But rallied and was enjoying camp nonetheless. And then God did the coolest thing. It started to rain and we were in the upper camp with a huge downpour and needed to get to the lower camp for dinner. All of a sudden an old painted school bus was waiting outside of our cabin to save us from the rain. As all these girls gratefully loaded...the bus driver informed them that there was a price to ride....they had to sing and sing loud! Can you believe it? This girl of mine was grinning from ear to ear...and hasn't stopped!! What a great lesson for her to learn that God cares about the little things!!

Our hearts were already full to bursting. The kids were learning that we serve an awesome God. And then the staff asked my permission to do something with my boys....

Because there were some activities that just couldn't be adapted...they wanted to give them a special treat. With my blessing (and a bit of trepidation on my part), they took Benjamin and Mason to the BIG zip line, reserved for junior high and high school campers. This zip line requires a considerable climb up a rock wall. These incredible men strapped my boys into a harness, formed a pulley line and PULLED them to the top of the wall. I could not help but envision the men who took their paralyzed friend through the roof to get to Jesus. It was quite an emotional moment for me as I watched my guys be raised to the platform.

But the story just kept getting better....when their fellow campers (who were in the pool at the time) realized what was happening they all gathered at the pool fence. Now, this was an activity that they were not allowed to do...so by rights, they could have been pretty bummed that Benjamin and Mason got to...but instead they began to chant their names, louder and louder, cheering them on in this huge adventure. It was more than I could take...even now, tears are rolling down my face.

Mason was grinning from ear to ear...Benjamin who (as you can see) did an upside-superman flight had to hang there for a while before the men could grab his rope and get him to the ladder to come down...and when we finally got him there, he was smiling so big and looked at me and said, "I just had some serious prayer time, Mommy!"

What an adventure and what a lesson of love these men taught my boys! It will stay with them for their entire lives!!

Now, we are home....stinky clothes and all. I am ready for a real shower, and my muscles may not recover for some time...but Praise God for being a God who cares, who places JUST the right people in our lives at just the right time, who doesn't just teach us with hard lessons, but more often teaches us in the coolest, most unbelievable ways!