Hi All!

Saturday we had a blast! We took the kids-yes all 6-to Golden Skate in Vancouver. It was so much fun! I was pretty wobbly at first but I was soon zipping along. The kids-except for Luke-all had to hang onto the wall. They did that for about the first 45 minutes. As they gained confidence they all started going faster and faster while hanging on. By the end they were all off the wall and trying to skate in the general population. Being such a mother hen, that made me quite nervous! Beth's first time off the wall she fell down, but one of the ref's was right there to help her up and off she went, refusing to get back on the wall! It was so good for Madi. She got to be a kid. She is definately the most cautious of the three girls. never having the opportunity to try new things, she was very apprehensive. She loved the music they were playing and sang to it as she held on for dear life and skated around and around. It was nice to see her trying.

I admittedly had several flashbacks LOL! Those Michael Jackson songs really took me back-WAY back! to 4th through 6th grade when we would have the skate parties in the "gym" at the intermediate school in Forks. Those were always so much fun. The kids got to run them and choose the music and decide which direction everyone was going to skate. Do you remember what your skates looked like? I can even remember when I got my first pair of rubber wheels and how much faster I could go! There was this huge hill that went down to an apartment complex by the house I grew up-and one day I decided to rollerskate all the way down! LOL I was successful, but I can remember getting pretty scared because I was going so fast and having to head off to the side of the road and regain my courage. AHHH those were the days!

On a very happy note: Madi is doing very well. She seems to have turned a corner and is coming out of her anger.The social worker and mom had a "team" meeting and let her know that being mean and angry wasn't going to get her sent home. She would be staying with us until her mom gets everything on her very long list accomplished.  Madi also started her cousneling on Thursday. After that appointment, she seemed like a whole new kid. It was like the weight of the world had been lifted from her shoulders. She has a safe place to go and talk about being sad and angry. I assured her that nothing she tells the counselor will even be told to mom. She seemed genuinely relieved. Since that day, there hasn't been a single skirmish between her and Nick and they now seem to be good buddies. Tonight they were writing songs together. It was sooooo cute! She was writing at a feverish rate, and Nicky was playing his guitar so she could sing the songs! They are convinced they will get a record deal-in the same breath she says "whats a record?"! LOL

Prayer Works! We serve a big God and as wonderful as the counseling etc. is, I have to give all the credit to Him. He hears us when we call and cry out to Him. Not only does He hear, but He answers us. We sometimes get so caught up in what we want that we forget that sometimes His answer can be a NO! Oh don't we hate that? Just like the kids we are-we pitch a fit and insist that God doesn't hear me! So in the next few weeks and months as we undergo some major life changes, someone please remind to come and read this post about when God sometimes says NO! LOL

Be blessed and have a wonderful week!

TTFN-

Natalie and co.