~2013 School days!!~

~Well, we did it!   The Dickinson Home school is officially in session for the 2013-2014 school year! =D
Elijah wasn't quite ready to start school, but old enough that I KNEW he would NOT be happy with a normal coloring book and crayons in the corner.   So, I bought a BIG Preschool book at Sams and he's beyond THRILLED to have his own school work to do!!  As usual, he's making a funny face.~

~Noah beginning 4th grade!~

~Our breakfast table.~

~Mary...my "very ABLE assistant" sitting in Sarah's desk.  =) ~

~And this is what she looked like at the end of the day.  I think it wore us both out.  =) ~

~Sarah studiously studying in a corner of the living room. She's in 7th grade now!~

~Kimberly is beginning 10th grade!  She is still HOMESCHOOLING....but she did get the privilege to join just high school CHOIR at God's Bible School. 
She's happy 'cause she's learning fun music, she gets to sing with her cousin Brittany and her friends from church, and she gets to sing in the GBS Christmas program!  =)~

~In the midst of homeschooling, and normal household chores, we have been cleaning out, unpacking, and organizing our house!  
Last Saturday we TACKLED and organized our 3rd floor...which was FULL of suitcases of our things from Colombia...that we had sent back with others, toys, and about 30 boxes of Phillip's books that have been packed up since 2004!! 
So, Phillip took some boards and some bricks and made 2 LONG bookshelves and we helped him unpack his books!  He's THRILLED to have a little office on the 3rd floor!  We also have a bed in there for it will double as a guest bedroom too!! 
The boxes you see behind Mary were only a SMALL part of all the boxes we unpacked!!~

~Before we left on Deputation back in March or April, Phillip and Sarah (who LOVE to garden) planted some Strawberry plants and tomato plants.  I have a beautiful pic of the yummy tomatoes we've eaten, but that must be on Phillip's phone which I can't get right now.  =(
But Sarah did get to enjoy THIS beautiful strawberry.  (I think the ants and a rabbit have enjoyed some too. =( ~

~Sarah brought the BELOVED strawberry inside and with her camera took some of these CUTE pics!~

~Then she put "Miss Strawberry" inside of her dollhouse for some pics!~

~This pic was our favorite!  She had some Pretty original ideas for taking pictures of a strawberry.  I bet that strawberry went where NO OTHER strawberry has ever gone for pictures. We love our fun Sarah.  =) ~

~Mommy helping Elijah with his schoolwork.~

So, as you can imagine with 3 children in school, 1 in Preschool, and a very busy little Mary...life is NEVER dull in our house! 
I appreciate your prayers for us and for my DEAR Moma!  I talked to her today and she is still needing to REST lots!  
We decorated for FALL today!!!!  =) 
The last of the deputation pics and THEN our Fall decor coming soon.

~My Phillip turns the big "40!!"~

So, where has time gone? It's hard to believe that Phillip is now 40! But, he's not old...just in the "prime of life"....trying to give God ALL He can!! =)
~For his birthday we went to "the park under the bridge" or better known as Sawyer's point and ate pizza, veggies, and drinks, and played volleyball and let the kids play in the sand and on the HUGE playground there.

~We had a fun time at the park.~

~The kids loved the sand!!~

~Sarah's fort she built.~

~Sitting and chatting!~

~My sweet sister and her nice man.  We LOVE being their neighbors...and look for any chance to get to be together!! =)  (We're making up for the times when we are on the mission field and CAN'T be together!!) ~

~My wonderful birthday man playing volleyball with the kids.  I joined him after I took pictures. = )

~Then we came back to our house and had an ice cream party! I used a white chalkboard and Phillip's baby pic for our centerpiece.~

~I'm enjoying using my crystal cake plates that I bought years ago.  They are 2 different sizes, so it's fun to stack them!~

~The kids table in the kitchen.  The box to the right is my dishwasher waiting to be installed. =) ~

~My friend Janet gave me this fun old typewriter!!  I threw it on the table just for fun.
I found pieces of broken off slate that had fallen off our neighbor's roof...and washed them up and used them as "name cards" at each plate.  ~

~Our fun toppings for our ice cream.~

~Then we had fun trying to type on the typewriter.  Nearly everyone took a turn typing a little message.  Phillip later commented that we "text-ed each other" on the typewriter.  =D ~

~We had just a delightful evening together!!!~

~Brittany being crazy like she's typing with one finger.   Phillip had a very fun birthday.  Our family is LOVING being in our own home and having company over!!!
We're still trying to get the 3rd floor organized...and can't wait till all the organizing is pretty much done, but we're really enjoying each other and our home! 
Your prayers for us are greatly appreciated.  I'm still so TIRED I can hardly get up in the mornings.  But, I'm constantly asking Jesus to help me and He's helping me as I home school, keep up with the normal chores, and try to finish organizing at the same time.
I want to get all the organizing of closets, the 3rd floor, etc. done before we decorate for FALL!!!  =)~

~Labor Day Fun!~

Our Labor Day WEEKEND was GREAT!!  I hope y'all had a great time too!
We are HOME from our 6 month deputation and THRILLED to get to sit on our OWN couch and drink a cup of hot tea and spend time with King Jesus in the mornings!!!  =)
Be it ever so Humble...there's NO PLACE LIKE HOME!  =)
As you may remember before March we only got to live in our fixer-upper house for ONLY 19 days back in 2011!
So, We had planned to do some EXTENSIVE work on our house (like move things...EVERYTHING...off of our 2nd floor and work there, but I'm TOO TIRED for words...and so we've decided to not do all we were going to do this time around. PRAISE THE LORD!!!
Phillip still plans to do some work on our house but his work won't involve my energy!  =D
So, I'm very EXCITED about just being a wife and Mommy/home school Mom and getting to enjoy our home for a few weeks!
We are in the middle of organizing our things in our home.  (Mysterious bags of clothing (ours and clothing given to us during our last 2 years while we were in Colombia) was setting ALL over our 3rd floor...waiting for me to attack them!!  Thankfully most of those have been sorted through and put away, and the extras given to Goodwill! =)
Phillip and I realized the other day that it's basically been since 2004 since he and I have had a DRESSER to put our things in.  It's been so FUN organizing our things into our very own dressers!!!  Out with the suitcases, bags, boxes, etc....in with the organized dresser drawers!!! =)
Please pray for our Dear friend Donald Shirk....he needs lots of prayer physically right now!!  Thanks!
~On Friday morning...Labor day weekend...my sweetheart brought the below upstairs...to our girls and I!!!...My china platter, tea pot with hot water, cups, and saucers, and my cute little wooden tea box, along with sweetner and creamer for us to enjoy a yummy cup of hot tea right after we woke up!!!  He's the BEST!!~

~I'm having SO MUCH FUN organizing and PLAYING HOUSE in OUR HOUSE!!  =)  I hung this adorable little dress that we bought for Mary in Argentina in her nursery window.~

~Then our church had a camp-out and picnic Friday and Saturday.  We had a BLAST!!!
We did LOTS of this....(eating!) ~

~And lots of games of volleyball and other games were played.~

~Dear Bro. Wegener brought out very FUN Gigantic sparklers...and a fun floating lantern. =D ~

~I wonder if Elijah or Mary didn't take this picture of U. Daryl and Brittany?~

~Sitting around enjoying the fire in the morning after we had all prepared our own breakfast.  It was fun to chat with the other ladies.  The Bible says that "Iron sharpeneth Iron!!"  And that is exactly what happened around the campfire!~

 ~Mary and her friend Ella.~

 ~Elijah and Isaac.~

 ~The Hausmans borrowed a tent from Pastor and Grammy.  When they pulled up...their tent had this sign that said, "Hausman Tajmahal" on it.  =) ~

 ~The girls tent.
I woke up at 3:45 during the night FRIDAY NIGHT and saw lightning!!!  =(  So I began to bombard the throne asking Jesus to PLEASE not let it rain on us.  I know I wasn't the only one praying that prayer and Jesus was very GRACIOUS and He held off the rain until ALL THE WAY until after our last game (which was softball) on SATURDAY night around 6:00 or so!~

 ~Phillip playing cornhole with Pastor, Bro. Becker, and Wayne.~

 ~Mommy's little Mary.~

 ~Sharon doing Mary's hair.~

 ~My sweetheart and I.~

 ~Sharon did a great job on Mary's hair. ~

 ~Wayne and Mary.~

 ~For the picnic on Saturday I cheated and bought these patriotic cupcakes from Sams.  (I was SORTING out my house last week and had NO SPARE MINUTE to make goodies! =) ~

 ~Mary and the first of the line at the picnic on Saturday.~

 ~Camping ended Saturday night and we came home and put all of the camping supplies away.  We just had a very simple Sunday dinner at our house...just us...but I had fun making a pretty "Labor Day" table anyhow.  =) ~

 ~And I added fruit to some of the left-over cupcakes for our centerpiece/dessert.~

 ~Mary...carrying her new LOVE!!!  Her New Testament that her GG had purchased for her when she was TINY...but which she had never seen until Sunday.  She carries it EVERY!WHERE! SHE! GOES! NOW!!!  =D  (Thank you, GG!!!)
Mary is getting to be quite the grown up girl now.  She goes to Sunday school and Jr. church now!  Phillip and I ALMOST feel Lost on Sunday mornings during S.S. not having ANY children sitting with us.  =) ~

 ~I snapped this picture of some of our young people on Sunday night...

 and then Grammy and Bro. P joined them. ~

 ~God's presence was so SWEET in both of our services on Sunday.  Thank you, Jesus, for being willing to meet with little ol' us!!
Sunday night our dear friends the Kennedys invited us and Laura and family over.
Here's U. Daryl reading stories to the kids!! CUTE!~

 ~We had a fun yummy time!  ~

On Labor day we had a GREAT time too.  Pics coming soon!!

We started school today...so we are busy still trying to sort out things and organize in our house...and do school work, practice musical instruments, etc.  

Phillip is working on a newsletter and stays in constant contact with our Colombian pastors.
Phillip also plans to take some mission trips in October (to Peru and Colombia), Lord willing.  Your prayers for that trip would be greatly appreciated!  =)