June 2008!

June was a crazy month. It was a month of guests...and its hard to know where to begin with this story... so we will start with the first day of the month!

As we said in our last posting, our month began in Tucson celebrating Rocky's birthday. It was so fun! ..and kinda of like the last day of normal for us, as it turned out. We returned from Tucson and began to prepare the house for a visit from Ross, April, and Dakota. We also continued praying for professional and financial wisdom and direction. The stress was mounting and we both knew that by June 30th we were going to have to start making some tough and life changing decisions unless God helped.

Ross and his family arrived Thursday at Sky Harbor. It was amazing to see them again. My brother Ryan and I hadn't seen our youngest brother for a few years.. since his graduation from Ranger School, so it was a really big deal. They were beautiful and were met by friends, family, and reporters. They were shocked but gracious.

Afterwards, we left to have some private family time at our house. Dad remained at the airport to pick up my Grandfather who then met up with us later in the afternoon. We spent the rest of the night catching up and sharing stories.

We were all amazed at how much our children had grown! Truly, young kids are a testimony for elapsed time. Ross, Mike, and I finally retired around 2 or 3 that night. It is so hard to describe how I felt... my baby brother was so grown up and had experienced so much. I felt like I was getting to know him again.

We all awoke the next morning at 6am not due to our children but my mother! Picking my head up from my comfortable pillow to see my mom's head sticking in the bedroom doorway was a bit of a shock!! But I will give her this, she brought the morning AZ Republic and my favorite cup of coffee from my favorite coffee shop, so it was forgivable. Minutes later my sister-in-law, Mike and I were all sitting on our bed devouring the front page story and sipping joe. It was fun...I wish I had a pix of this to share! We were all laughing at ourselves. (There is a link to Dad's, Ryan's and Ross' story in last month's posting.)

Saturday, Ryan, Tasha, and Rocky joined us from Tucson. The craziness in the house was complete! We ended Saturday with a party for all of their old friends who were happy to see them home! It was another late evening but it was cool to see their old high school buddies all sitting around the island sipping coffee and sharing stories. Sunday we divided up for church and then rendezvoused at Uncle Scott's and Aunt Diana's for a family dinner. We celebrated Nathan's birthday and took family pictures. Guess who was the only one to get dunked? I love having younger brothers. ;)

Monday we met a friend, Sherry, at her stables to ride horses however, Ryan Michael, Rocky, and Dakota were more interested in playing on the tables in the shade. They are so smart!

The next day we all piled into our parent's van and drove to the Hanger Cafe for breakfast. It was perfect. The kids were well entertained and all of us enjoyed some great fellowship on our last day together. We had to say goodbye Wednesday. It was not fun saying good bye, but we all agreed to get together this Christmas... I was so excited to know the next time we can all see each other again. It had been years since we could plan like this! It made it easier to let them go.

Friday we went to the Church for VBS Finale Party! Ryan Michael loved it! The petting zoo with a llama was the hit, as well as slime pools.... no more needs to be said about that...

Sunday was Hutta Family Day at Patti and Glenn's. After two and half years, Ryan Michael is finally getting used to Bindi, their dog! Thank God! Ryan and Cassidy were inseparable. Cassidy exhausted him by chasing him on her skates.

We met Robin and Josie at a splash pad later in the week... were they had tons of fun.

When we got home, Mike met me at the door. He had received a job offer! But it required a move. We were both shocked.. and unsure of how to respond. Two days later, holding the legal contract in our hands we were very sober. We had a personal deadline of June 30th. We knew that we would have to go into debt to continue living as we have by July.. and we knew that was not a good idea, but we had no idea what we could do. This offer gave us a June 30th start date! It was a little over a week away. Neither of us have ever seen the corporate world move so fast. It was our only option and seemed like such an amazing answer to desperate prayer. We signed the papers Monday after seeking counsel. It was all set by the following Thursday and Mike started the next Monday. The week was very surreal. But back to the story...

That weekend we had Mike's Uncle Bob and Aunt Sue over for a visit. It was so perfect to see them again. Bob and Sue were the first of Mike's family I had ever met. They were so wonderful to me and it was an honor to host them for a while. Aunt Sue was met by a Baby T-Rex Rynosaurus... who promptly bit her on the tush! Good grief. He was proud of his great dinosaur impersonation. Thankfully he didn't do it again. Aunt Sue was a trooper, though. :)

The last weekend was spent by sending Mike off to New York for his Memorial Golf Tourney and welcoming Ryan, Tasha, and Rocky back to Phoenix for an impromptu visit. Ryan Michael was a bit upset about my leaving his father on the curb of the airport... so he announced Saturday morning that he needed a cup of kid-coffee to cope. Tasha and I were laughing but agreed it was a great idea. The boys enjoyed their chocolate milk while she and I savored some much needed joe.

We had a wonderful weekend until church on Sunday. All of us felt the pain of a hurt community... but that is a story still unfolding.

The last day of the month was excited as Mike started his first day of work as an employee in a company in almost four years! He was glowing! I am so proud of him and excited for him. This should be an interesting adventure... we will see how it all progresses.

Ryan Michael and I were able to spend some time with our friends Miss Tami and Brooke at their special pool. Both the kids looked great in their goggles..though Brooke hid her face in Ryan's shoulder just as I took this shot!

Love you all and thank you for your encouragement and prayers over this last year!

Kelley

PS

Did I mention that in the midst of all this, Mike and his dad, Don, found time to make a table top for our fireplace, lay 12 tons of rock (with the wonderful help from our friend Jaime), build a canvas gazebo in the back yard, and plant 11 trees? I didnt? What is wrong with me?? They were rockstars!