Do you know what these are?

I wish I could hear responses. When I told Jeff earlier that I made these today he said, "And you're sending some here?" This is Karin's fav cookie - Monster cookies. They are soo good. One year, I had her make some for my husband for Valentine's day. Yummy. As you can see jack could not wait for them to get out of the oven!

Noah is loving tutoring. When I talked to the lady last week about him coming she said, "I want him to have some summer. I don't want him to be here all the time." I replied, "He is so fun and cute, you are going to want him around."

Enjoy the Monster cookies!

Tomorrow is PINK day! What I would give to see her wearing her pink cargo camos that she loved.

I wish I was a smart enough Blogger to figure out how to put a video in here, but I am not. Quick on the following link to watch a short clip about skin cancer: http://current.com/items/88999331_scared_of_skin_cancer

Happy Father's Day Jeff & George!

Regardless of where Karin is, Jeff is still a great father to Salina and Noah. One time when Morgan and Cole were over at the Carters, Jeff taught them how to slide down the stairs in a sleeping bag! If that isn't a fun Dad I don't know what is! Kinda freaked me out but my kids thought it was great. :)

Jeff is in Redding at a golf tournament that he goes to every year. I am glad he went. He needs time to do nothing. Salina and Noah are split up at the grandparent's houses.

Thursday is PINK day!

The kids are out of school. They have lots of fun things planned for the summer. Noah will be going to tutoring so he does not get "summer brain". Salina is going to Hume Lake, Noah to VBS. They are going on the houseboat, which Karin LOVED! But the best part for me is Noah is coming here. Yippee! And, no, since I know you are wondering, he is not flying alone anywhere. The kids brought home good report cards, especially considering all that they have gone through in the past year.

I know I have posted this verse before but I heard it from the Message version the other day and it spoke to me.

Jeremiah 29:11 (The Message)

I'll show up and take care of you as I promised and bring you back home. I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out -plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.

God always meets us where we are at. I love how is says, "I will show up." We don't have to drive somewhere to see him, say some specific prayer, be with a certain person. He just shows up. We just have to have a willing heart. I know that God did not show up in the way I thought He would. I wanted to be sitting with Karin on her 80th birthday comparing tattoos and sipping Lemon Drops in the Bahamas. But I still have to trust Him that He knows what is best for me and Salina, Noah and Jeff. Continue to just show up, God, we continue to need YOU!

I can't remember if I Blogged this or not. Of the now 35 people that emailed me to tell me that they made dermatology appts, 7 of them had something removed. That is 20%!!! That is a lot. That is so high it scares me. I know I posted about taking Cole in for a suspicious mole on his toe. I know he has had this mole since he was at least 2. It may have been there before but I am not sure. Anyway, it has to be removed. Because of its location on his toe we have to see a Plastic Surgeon. Cole is looking forward to it. Crazy boy. Once they removed it they will send it in for testing. All this will be July 1st. Please just pray that nothing would come of this.

I still have bracelets. If you contacted me, I did not receive your email. Kinda surprised at you guys that no one has emailed me about bracelets. Also, I am going to have to take my email off the previous post as I am getting a ton of emails wanting to know if I want to meet singles, buy Viagra, or go to psychology school. As soon as I fix that I will post about it and then you can resend your emails about the bracelets.

I have received in the mail the Venti Miracle bracelets that were passed out at the Run over a year ago. My daughter said, "Mom! These are collector's items!" ;) No, for all that know me well, I will not be listing them on EBay. ;) But, they are available for cost. Jamie will have some at Celebration and I have some here if you are not local to the Brentwood area. I have larges and mediums. They are $1.50 per bracelet and if you buy one from me you will need to include a self addressed stamped (2 stamps) envelope for me to mail back to you. Again, this just covers the cost of the bracelet and Jeff is not making money on this.

Both Salina and Noah went today to have their moles checked. This was their first time. Salina has a few that just need to be watched. This is kinda a fine line to walk here. While they need to know the seriousness of this situation we don't want them to be frightened either. Just pray for wisdom for Jeff for when these things come up. Pray that these sweet children would not be fearful of going to the doctor.

Tomorrow, I will be taking my son, Cole ( 9 ), to the dermatologist. He has a mole that I believe has recently changed. When I took him to the pediatrician yesterday he believed it would need to be removed. So, pray for peace for me ('cause I am the big worrier) and that it would be nothing. If it does need to be removed, pray for no pain. I will update on that tomorrow. Cole is thinking this is a pretty cool thing to have a part of your toe removed and is hoping for some blue thread for the stitches.

TTFN

No, I have not fallen off the face of the Earth . . . we just returned from a long vacation in Florida. We went to Disney World. There are so many reminders of Karin there. That girl loved Disney Land. In the hall in their loft is a collection of portraits taken at Disneyland. Same scene on every picture but different years. The kids range from toddler with chunky baby fat (Noah ;) ) and Salina's long ringlets to recent. When they went there (in a fog) just days after Karin went to Heaven Jeff had the same picture taken. Ouch. These are my thoughts, and as my daughter would say, "That was random, Mom." But these are my thoughts.

Jeff and the kids are hanging in there. School is winding down. What a long and hard year that we will be glad is over. Summer brings a different "problem" with what to do with the kids all day not to mention, Jeff has a job. Pray that that all works out.

We are up to 30 who have gone to the dermatologist. I know Jeff has one story that he wants to tell me about a friend that had something removed and another friend of mine had something "precancerous" removed. And remember me blogging about my husband having something removed? That is 3 that I know of. That is 10% of the 30 people that went. That is a pretty high percentage of people walking around with something that could be life threatening. If nothing else we are smarter than we were before. Are my kids the only ones that practically fully clothed in UPF clothing when they go to the beach? What we do for our kids right now determines if they will have skin cancer when they are older.

More later.