September - Our Month for Surgery

Don't be alarmed because it's not as bad as it sounds, but Bob and Emily both need to have small procedures done within the next few weeks. Emily has had a string of bad ear infections over the last 6 months. She failed her hearing test several times in her right ear. I had never noticed a lack of hearing, but on the day she failed her first test, she called Bob at work to tell him about it. She was holding the phone to her right ear and all I heard her say was, "What? What did you say? What?" It was really quite comical!! So, she is going to have tubes put into her ears on the 5th of September. It is about a 10 minute procedure, but she will have to go under anesthesia. We are praying that this will clear up her hearing problems and alleviate further ear infections.

Bob is having surgery on September 24th. He needs to have a cyst removed from his wrist. It is a harmless cyst, but has grown to bother him enough to get it cut out. As a kid, he broke his wrist pretty bad...pins sticking out and everything...and the doctor said that it is common for cysts to grow where an injury like that occurred. So he will have that taken care of and hopefully be able to return to doing surgery a few days later.

In spite of these minor procedures, we do thank God for the great health He has blessed us with. Throughout the course of Bob's training we have seen and heard of people who deal with injury and disease on a daily basis. Good health is something we take for granted.

Geronimo!!

Here are just a few more pictures from our trip to the Poconos thanks to Tim Einolf!

Bob, Jer, and Titus all jumped from this high cliff into the water below. Titus even did a back flip into the water!! At this point in time I was up at the house while the kids were napping, so I didn't get to see it. It was probably better that I missed the event. I tend to get a little worried when they do crazy stunts.

The Poconos

Last weekend we took a trip up to the Poconos. Some friends from Pittsburgh rented a big old house up there for their vacation and invited the rest of our old Bible Study Buddies up to enjoy it with them! We had so much fun! Here are a few pictures:

The house sits along the Lehigh River.

Jack with his buddy Brayden. Jer is trying to get into the picture in the back ground!

Madison loved the water! She's just adorable!

Amy took the kids out on canoe rides.

Luke and Sam tubing down the river. The water was at a perfect height for the kids to be able to enjoy without being too dangerous.

Samuel spent the majority of his time standing by the side throwing hundreds of rocks into the water and filling that little boat with water then dumping it out.

Uncle Titus joined us for the weekend! Here he is trying to raft upstream.

Emily and Tyler closer to the top of the falls

After the kids went off to bed, the fun really began with plenty of chocolate cake, a little wine, Cranium, and of course Settlers! I think I lost every single game I played, but who keeps track anyway?

Knock Knock

The kids have been teaching Samuel some Knock Knock jokes, so this is the best he's got!

Okay, so he might not be musically inclined, but we love him anyway:)

One of Our Favorite Things of Summer

Uncle Tim and Aunt Anna

Tim and Anna came to visit a few weekends ago. Since Tim grew up in this area, he knows all of the neat places to go. So he took us to a place in Mt. Gretna called Dinosaur Rock.

Samuel's hiding place

Aunt Anna and Jack made some delicious double decker brownies (thanks to Grandma for the recipe)

And of course Jack wouldn't let them go without a few good games of Dutch Blitz!