Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. (1 Peter 4:9)

It’s been three months since moving in to the new house, and more days than not, we’ve hosted friends, family, acquaintances and overnight guests. And we love it! Our desire is that God is glorified in this place.

Following are two times I actually remembered to take a picture:

Last week, we hosted the Air Force Academy parents’ club for the Doolie Day Out picnic. The weather was beautiful.

After the last guest left, the skies turned black and storms rolled in. Jim and I sat on the front porch with Molly as she gobbled up hail stones that tumbled onto the porch.

Every Monday we’ve had the offensive line over for Meat Monday. Jim likes having a reason to smoke meat for hungry people.

By wisdom a house is built,
and through understanding it is established;
through knowledge its rooms are filled
with rare and beautiful treasures. (Proverbs 24:3-4)

The WA football team splits into four smaller teams over the summer for some friendly competition. They have all sorts of contests, but the most recent one was definitely the most entertaining…as well as closest to our house. The kids and I took our seats to watch the show.

The guys competed in a softball tournament, but not any ordinary softball tournament. Each team was to come up with a theme, for their theme and costume were judged in addition to their performance on the field. The coach gathered the superheroes, hunters, landscapers, and Polish Christmas guys together to lay out the ground rules.

One of Derek’s teammates is Polish–as in his parents are from Poland–so they decided to build on that theme.

Derek asked if I could put together some lederhosen. Relishing the challenge, I found some suspenders and sewed a chest piece to them, cut some pants short, then scrounged the rest of the items. It was just good enough to be recognizable.

After the games, Derek put on another kid’s costume bear head and walked around with it.

Here he stood before me, sharing the story of how he split his ‘lederhosen’ pants on the game-winning play of his final game.

Peter has had a handful of nicknames since he was born, “eye-poker” being one of them. I’ve been going through some old pictures lately and ran across one that illustrates well where this nickname came from…

A couple weeks ago, while the boys were at a water park with friends, Ruth and I spent the day just the two of us. I had to return some things to the Naperville library and thought it might be fun to try out the paddleboats on the riverwalk.

We had a great time, talking and laughing and observing bugs and animals.

What really got us laughing were the fearless ducks. We first saw them off in the distance, and I suggested to Ruth that we paddle after them. As it turned out, the ducks had the same idea when they saw us, as they paddled themselves over to our boat, I’m sure hoping for some bread crumbs.

Unfortunately, all we could give them was a wave hello.

Nearly every morning, we females (human and canine) hit the prairie path for some exercise.

Pace Leader:

Pace Keeper:

The other day, we were out after a severe storm went through the area and encountered some obstacles in our way.

We were not deterred.

Some went over, while others went under.

Knowing winter will be here eventually, we are seizing every opportunity we can to enjoy the path!

Since moving in April, we have had a steady stream of home improvement projects going on. While some might become overwhelmed by the thought of one project after another, we really do enjoy accomplishing the tasks together.

Jim and I finally bought tiles for the kitchen backsplash. Thankfully, they went up very easily: minimal effort, maximum reward!

Molly, always lending moral support by just “being there”.

Meanwhile, as Jim and I were in the kitchen, the kids were staining the deck outside. I’d say we got the better end of that deal, as the temperature was well into the 90s and humid.

After some finishing touches on both projects, we will be able to cross off two more items from our to-do list.

Last weekend, Jim helped to connect four things dear to his heart: FCA sponsored a football 7 v 7 at Wheaton Academy.

We invited several high schools from Chicago to participate, and it was a great day!

At a typical 7 v 7, high school teams come together to run their plays and see how they measure up against other teams; then they go home. However, at this event, before disbursing, the players and coaches gathered together after their competition and heard the gospel.  Coaches were the target, as they pour so much of their time into the kids–they were encouraged to coach with a deeper purpose than just teaching the sport of football. They were given Coaches’ Bibles.

Then we fed them lunch, provided by the always generous Chick-Fil-A.

As the 200 hungry guys walked toward the tables, we were thankful that my mom and dad just happened to stop by that day. They were put to work, as it was all hands on deck!

After cleaning up the field, we were thankful for such a great opportunity, and pray that God was glorified.

Tuesday was Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-Fil-A, so we put on our cow spots and drove for free chicken sandwiches.

We’ve had cousin Ellie staying with us a few days, so she joined us. It made the day all the more fun!

And what’s a good meal without dessert? Tuesday happened to be July 11, which meant free slurpees at 7-eleven. Off we went.

One of the kids commented that there really is such a thing as a free lunch. Another kid quickly pointed out that technically it wasn’t free. We used up gas in the car to get to our free food destinations.

Technicalities aside, we enjoyed our free lunch!

We enjoyed a lovely two days in Michigan last week, visiting family and spending time on the beach.

When we arrived, we celebrated Jeremy’s birthday with cousins.

After an exciting night of watching Hannah win her softball game, then experiencing a middle-of-the-night severe thunderstorm, we met my Grandpa Barker for breakfast. No pictures taken, but memories made.

We then stopped by my Aunt Ellen’s catering kitchen and cafe. Everyone was impressed and inspired.

The rest of the day was spent playing at the beach. My Aunt Chris opened her home and slice of private community beach to us for the afternoon.

Boy, were we happy to be at the lake!

When the water got too deep, Jake put Ruth on his shoulders.

Peter volunteered to be buried in the sand.

We brought Molly up for the visit, so she had spent the night at my brother’s house. When he arrived at the beach with family in tow, Molly came along.

Although the community beach does not allow dogs, we made a small exception for just a little while. Molly hadn’t swum since frolicking in the pond behind the old house, and when she saw the huge lake, she could hardly contain herself.

I don’t think she’s ever been as happy as she was at that moment–with her people, swimming to her heart’s content in an endless body of water.

Meanwhile, there was some sand castle building going on,

as well as catching up with cousins.

My own cousin Ronnie even joined us on the beach, which was a treat. The kids gathered around him for a pic.

We returned home that night, thankful for a safe and fulfilling trip!

While Molly shed no tears when it was time for Nora to go home, the rest of us were sad to see the playful pup go.

It comes as no surprise, but one Johanik formed an especially tight bond with her.

It’s the pre-rinse cycle…

Molly (under compulsion) has made a new friend this week.

Nora.

We have included Nora in all our family activities, such as a Saturday morning donut run,

cleaning out the garage to make room for both cars (a major frontier post-move),

and family softball.

We are learning that Nora has a two-speed engine: very slow, and brisk-slow. We are enjoying the doggie day-care this week!