Spending Time

Some friends of mine and I adopted a refugee family from Somalia a year and a half ago. It is a mother and her 3 daughters and 1 son with the oldest being 21 and the youngest 11. Amina, the mom, has two more older sons but they are still in Kenya trying come here. Pray for that. It has been so wonderful to watch them settle in here in the U.S., learn English (still learning), go to school and share their wonderful hospitality with us. We went to visit with them last night and here are some pictures we took. The kids love to play with the camera when we get it out!

Such a beautiful girl....she has lots of spunk too!

The baby of the family!

The guys getting into a good conversation. They like to talk about Jesus.

How they serve us drinks!

The oldest son who is in high school. He stepped up to be the "man of the house" and watches out for his mom and sisters. He is a good kid.

Summers End!

Today marks the last day of summer vacation for me. I go back to work tomorrow and I am actually excited to start a new school year. For 6 years I taught 3rd grade and loved it. Last year I had the opportunity to teach ESL (English as a second language) to 1-3 grade children and loved that too. I enjoy being around internationals and knew this would be right up my alley. Well, I got bumped from that position and was offered the reading specialist position at my school. So, this year I will work with students who need extra support in reading. I look forward to this new challenge as I say goodbye to my summer break. The summer has been full of fun and activity for me. Between traveling, teaching summer school and taking summer school myself, there was no time for boredom. Here are some highlights!

In June, my mom, Halle (my niece) and I headed for the beach and Sea World in San Diego!

We saw some penguins....I just love these little guys!!!

and of course......

we saw Sahmu! Wouldn't it be fun to swim with him and ride on his fins?!

just because I love flowers!

I am a beach girl so we had to stop by the beach one afternoon. What a cool sand castle this girl made!

we had fun touring some old ships in the SD Bay and found this old sailor!!


Then...it was on to Michigan for a week.



I was able to visit with my Aunt Joan and Aunt Karen and their families! We had fun and went into Detroit to see the river, Motown Museum (where Motown all started...pretty cool) and beautiful old homes and neighborhoods.

I also got to visit with my friend Kim and her family for a few days!




We had fun shopping, talking, cooking, and staying up late to play Farkle (a dice game)!

Carter, Kim and I



I was also able to reconnect with my brother Josh and sister Lindsey who live in MI. It was wonderful to catch up with them. I am so proud of them and love them lots!



Then of course, I spent time with my nephew Brody...what a cute little guy....

and my niece Halle...she is a little princess!

What did you do this summer?

Welcome!

Welcome to linger With Me! This is a place where I want you to come and just linger. I don't know about you but I often race through my days and weeks and have discovered that I take little time to take in and enjoy all that is around me....God's goodness, His amazing creative creation, people, family, friends, children, good conversations...you know stopping to smell the roses. I have been learning how to do this...the art of lingering...and I am finding it to be refreshing in my life. It is giving me a new found joy and energy which brings a smile to my face and skip in my step. Stop by when you can and "linger with me"!