Playing on the Lake

Before the weekend festivities took place our crew got in a few hours of fun playing on the lake and by the lake. Maggie became an expert dock jumper...
And, Henry discovered some new ways to enjoy a hammock.

We LOVE Grandma!

This weekend we celebrated one very special lady, my Mama Z. She had a birthday and so we treated her like the special lady that she is with a girl's day at the spa followed by a surprise birthday party that evening. She means so much to us and to be able to celebrate her was such a privilege and delight. I wish we could do more, but I'm pretty sure even if we could it wouldn't ever be enough to convey how much we love and appreciate our Grandma.
Some fellow party goers.
Muggins in her party dress.
The boys share some memories from their repertoire of fun times with Grandma. This is about it with the picture portion of the party. We didn't take too many photos because we were so wrapped up in the fun. I wish I had a picture of the food which by the way was amazing and oh so tasty. Not to mention at least a few pics of the 27 guests in attendance to party with us. But, alas I will have to rely on memory for all of that, and you reader will have to take my word for it. Finally, Grandma if you are reading this know that we love you so so so much and are so thankful for of all the years of your life and especially the ones that we've been able to share with you. You are awesome!!!

monkey see monkey do

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery then Tyler and I are completely flattered almost daily by our two little monkeys. Dress up is a big deal for our kiddos, well mostly Maggie, but from time to time Henry will also dress up. Lately he has been wanting to dress up like his Daddy, so when his Daddy brought him home a matching t-shirt from a conference in Virginia he was ready and willing to flaunt his new look.
The two handsome fellas.
And of course Maggie loves playing "pregnant" like her mama. We took a matching belly shot and she was quite thrilled with her look.
One more cute shot of my boys doing their thing.

Back to the Beach

The week of Memorial Day we Dirks headed yet again to the beach, this time Isle of Palms in SC. This is an annual beach trip we take with my side of the family, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins too. We missed last Summer due to our being in Germany, but nothing could keep us away this year. Above is a picture of the grandparents that made it all happen and also kept the ice cream coming! Thanks for a fun week Grandma and Poppa.

We took an afternoon to visit the playground under the cooper river bridge and walk the pier.
A little self timer action on the pier.
Some playground playing.
And back at the beach house the kids enjoyed playing in the dirt under the house. Our nephew Trooper was really into it and every time he played in it he ended up looking like a chimney sweep, but a tough one.
We had a couple of yummy meals out, but they didn't come close to our own chefs culinary creations (mainly Christine, John and Peter and Megan).
Uncle Tyler made some very unique "cars-kids" sand sculptures. Maggie was Sally, Brody Lightning and Henry was Mater from the Cars movie (a big big like in this family). Henry usually asks me to play Cars with him in the morning every night before bed. It goes something like this "Mommy I want to tell you something...in the morning we play cars."
Evan enjoys a little beach snack.
The kids were fearless in the ocean, made me a little nervous, but they had a blast.

When Henry wasn't frolicking in the ocean, this was his second favorite activity. He pushed this truck all over the place.
And here is the whole kid gang in their red, white and blue!

Wish you were here!

We just got back from RUF summer conference in Panama City Florida. And, it was fabulous! We spent a week in the sunshine with some wonderful students and enjoyed great fellowship and beautiful weather.

The kids enjoyed spending their time in between the pools, beach and sand.
Out to eat at the Back Porch.
Week 3 RUF Summer Session.
Beach babes!

End of the year cookout...

The school year has come to a close for Johnson and Wales University, and oh what a year! God has been at work on this campus and it is so exciting for us to be involved in what He is doing there. We have grown personally and as a ministry throughout the year. We've experienced joy and sorrow and experienced relationships in new ways. Our continual prayer is that we would love better and choose to glorify our God more than ourselves in ministry. It is an easy temptation to make ministry all about us sometimes and that is very far from where we should be. But, thank the Lord we are constantly growing, learning, being refined and that is something we are very thankful for. We still haven't perfected "our" ministry yet and that is because it will never be "ours" alone, it has always been, and will forever remain His. We are pleased to be a part of this ministry and have been blessed through the students, our intern and various others involved in RUF. Still to come graduation and our end of the year summer conference to Florida! I'll keep you posted...

Mini RUF retreat

Last weekend we packed up and headed to Virginia and stayed in a cute little house right off the Blue Ridge Parkway for a mini retreat with RUF. There were cows across the street and plenty of trees for our kiddos to climb and play in. We love our students and we were so glad that our whole family was able to come along and spend some quality time with them. Here are a few pics from our weekend complete with a hike.
Little Monkeys
Life on the farm is kind of laid back.
Some would say it's hard to pull off a tough look in osh kosh overalls but I think he's nailed it.
Maggie saw this stump and took the opportunity to play "statue."
A trip down to the "crick."
Is that a bear?
Some kickball...
A couple of Eno's were brought along to relax in but Maggie and Henry enjoyed playing "cocoon"
The whole gang minus our weekend devotional leader Forde.
Our hyper experienced trail guide.

The top of the mountain!