Amini Adventures: Wildwood Ranch Edition :)

So, the forgotten blog...the one I never write in. Well, this news needed archiving, and since I do print these out as family memory books, I had to write a blog with our big news!

Our family is about to embark on a new adventure, and we couldn't be more excited! We are moving to Wildwood Ranch! Joe is to be the new Assistant Program Director at Wildwood, a Christian youth camp in Howell. It is part of Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries, and primarily serves kids from the city of Detroit.  Both Joe and I grew up in Detroit, and were campers at Wildwood. We served there as staff, Joe as Wildwood's first intern, and we have a long standing love relationship with the camp. It's unreal still, that we will have the opportunity to be involved in such a special ministry again. Truly one of those times in your life when the Lord is granting the desires of your heart (Psalm 37:4).

 It's a long and short story how this all came to be, but really, we have individually felt the Lord whispering this dream to us for quite some time (about a year and a half or so...) and finally those whispers got loud enough for us to evaluate whether it was God or just us.  We've had the most incredible peace about this decision---amazing, unreal, awesome peace, and we are both certain that it is indeed the Lord calling us to this! There have been so many things in our lives in the last couple of  years that now we can see were God paving the way for this for us, helping us to let go of things we thought we wanted, places we thought we needed to be, and changing our hearts and our vision for our family's future and direction. It's just awesome to actually be able to look back and see how the Lord ordered your steps.

We will be selling our home, leaving our community (including the new church we have just been getting comfortable in), and moving as soon as possible. So, there you have it, our big 2014 adventure. Pray for us, and if you want an amazing place to serve....please come see us.

( Andrew at Wildwood )

 

Oh, and in case you are wondering, our children are absolutely thrilled to be moving to Wildwood, which is their second favorite place on Earth (Disney World being their first...what can I say?) They will miss their sweet friends, but we hope to host many many playdates and sleepovers :)

 

Amini Kids Meet BLBC

This weekend, Joe and I took the kids to Family Camp at Bair Lake Bible Camp.  BLBC has a very special place in my heart, as it was the first camp I ever staffed at, and was important in the forming of who I am.  I've thought about Family Camp since Bella was only a year old.  That seemed crazy, so we waited, and this year we planned to attend with another family for Fourth Of July week.  Then Joe got a new job (awesome answer to prayer!) and we couldn't take a week vacation. So our friends went without us (and had a great time!), and I registered us for Labor Day Weekend Camp.  We had an amazing time.  Our first night there, Andrew had his first successful head-first dive into the pool. (He'd been working on this all summer in swim class....and just five minutes with Coach Daddy and a lower diving board and presto!)  We made Superhero I.D. cards and a family Superhero crest.  WE ate amazing brownie sundaes (calories don't count at camp.) We had a hay ride through the woods at dark, and the kids slept in a camp cabin for the first time ever. Pure bliss.

Saturday, we zip lined, we went tubing, had great times in chapel listening to Jerry Jacoby teach with his puppet chicken, Elmer (who had a crush on yours truly for the weekend, and made my children squeal with delight when he tried to kiss their mommy), we did Superhero training, and we listened to two out of our three munchkins talk about how BLBC was better than Disneyworld. More bliss.

Sunday, we shot BB guns, the boys climbed the Stand (David even turned and jumped for the trapeze at the top!), we built a boat out of cardboard, duct tape, and saran wrap and then sent Andrew out on the lake racing in it!  (Our boat, "Fire Slinger" stayed afloat the longest, but had steering issues as it's captain was nervous :) We played on giant water mats at the lake the boys tried kayaking for the first time then collected oodles of dead cicadas and cicada shells (gross!). We had a family campfire with the last s'mores of summer 2013, and went for a night swim under the stars. Double bliss.

Monday, we said goodbye to BLBC, but not until we played Gaga ball, sang more silly songs with Jerry (who had another puppet, "Popcorn" fall in love with Joe...hilarious!), and of course, made Hobo breakfast (the kids cooked their breakfast on a tin can outside! Everyone was sad to leave. David and Andrew are already planning their stay at BLBC for Juniors week next year, and our hearts are full. Before we went to pack the car, I had to walk the kids down to sit on the double decks by the lake. I told them how that was my favorite spot to meet with Jesus when I staffed at camp.  It seemed surreal sitting there, remembering the sweet lessons my Savior taught me that summer, surrounded by my three little ones. Life moves so fast. I'm so thankful that this weekend, we had a chance to slow down and soak it up, before summer ended. These are a few of my favorite photos :)

first night in the cabin!

Super hero training paintballs and wrist rockets

villains beware!

ready to zip

David zips

Andrew zips

Mommy zips

Daddy coaches Bella, but she opts to try "when she's older"

Daddy zips

tubing!!

David...took a while to warm up to tubing, but loved it by the end

Momma's turn! Whee!!

all smiles!

First tree frog :)

Cicada shells were in abundance in the pine trees. Gross.

first toad

Bella demonstrates a lion voice on stage. Fearless.

A true marksman

another marksman :)

ummm....Bella LOVED this!

The Stand

Andrew climbs on!



Aminis and "Fire Slinger"

Andrew captains "Fire Slinger"

First time kayaking!

Andrew's first kayaking outing!

Hobo breakfast! A new hobo is born at BLBC

Another hobo cook :)

Andrew finally got a turn on stage! Another lion! Last chapel!

Let The Dancing Begin :)

Before I write this, I should say that the title is misleading . Today was Bella's first dance class, but she has been dancing since she could walk.  Seriously. She dances everywhere. Especially at church. In fact, before she understood all of what goes on at church, she would get so excited in the parking lot, and ask (every week),"Can I dance?! " "Is I'm going to dance now?" There's not a lot of dancing at our church and it was weird for me at first, but I've come to get over it. No one minds. She is just a free spirit, and I think it is born in her, so we will embrace it! We decided then that we would sign her up for class when she was three. We knew she would LOVE it!

 

SO...today was the first ballet class! I intended to sign her up at a studio right near our house, which started next week, but after thinking about it lots decided to use a bigger place that would have a recital this year. I'm sure I will think that was  a crazy choice at some point not to far from now...but at least the decision is made :)  The catch is that the class for the studio I chose started TODAY! So Bella and  I spent the day getting ready for ballet, signing up for ballet, and anticipating...ballet.  It was so sweet. I have never ever seen her happier.  When we left the studio (the first time) after registering, she said, "Mommy, did I do everything I was suppposed to now?" (We had already been shopping, etc.) and I replied, "Yes!" and she says, " I am so happy! I am happy a million!"  My heart melted! So we picked up the boys and raced over and she kept saying, "I am so excited!" She could barely wait for class to begin. When it finally did, I think they could've turned off all the lights and her little face would'e lit the whole room :) When class was over she cried. She wanted to stay. And so it begins...life with a little dancer. :)

Back to School!!

Our First and Second Grader!!

The three "little" Aminis, getting far too big too fast!

Andrew, ready to tackle first grade!

David, ready for second grade!

The school-aged Roslyn bunch. We have great neighbors!

All the kiddos, including the preschool-agers :)

Daddy kisses :)

So, by the time we got to school it looked like a parade :)

Andrew sitting at his desk

and this is what Mommy and Bella do---find fun on our own, without our boys.

with one of the Grosse Pointe Perch

And Mommy wears Bella out :)

Bella loves the toddler park

fun fun fun!

 

Well, the summer flew by far too quickly, as all summers do, and the fall is upon us. This year went WAY better than last (I didn't oversleep). The boys were up and excited and we had a wonderful walk to school with Daddy and all our fun neighbors.  It's really like a parade around here. I love living in this community where most people still walk their kids to school! The boys are getting off to a great start and love their teachers, and Bella and I are adjusting (again) to being without our boys all day. We've filled our time with trips to the park, shopping, and Perch pictures around the city :) and Bella will soon start preschool and dance.  Seems like just yesterday I was snuggling a preschooler, toddler and a newborn, and now look how big they are! I'm so thankful for them, so proud of them, and so excited to begin this year and see what adventures it holds!