A cool morning beckoned us to the blueberry patch, so we all piled into the van early on Saturday morning and drove to Caldwell to visit Kingsbury Farms.  It's a smallish farm with about 100 blueberry bushes.  Not very popular with all the rough and tumble, but it had good picking, good prices and short distance all in its favor.  We picked about 20 pounds in about an hour and a half which was just perfect for the kids.  No pictures this time around.  We were a hot, sweaty sticky mess, but we had our treasure trove and were satisfied.

Then we did some much needed summer gear shopping.  Please don't worry, I will not afflict you with a list of all the things we had to get, but for the Grandmas and the Grandpas out there, we did get new life vests for the girls.  Of course the girls had a great time.  It was like they had been transported to Disneyland.  Kate actually stopped in the middle of putting her pink life jacket into the basket and said, "I can't believe you actually said yes!  I feel RICH!"  It was nice to be able to get the girls a few pretty things, especially since they give up their Daddy for a whole week.

Nap time, bath time and then Tanner whisked me away to a dinner and movie date.  I still think it is funny that I just love having dates like this.  I guess it's because I didn't get any of them before I got married, so these types of outings are a lot of fun.  We crack jokes and comment on all the previews just like a couple of high school kids sitting in the back of the theater.  We went for a run.  Yes, we are starting to run.  We'll see how long it lasts.  No promises.

Sunday was not so great.  We had a great start, a delayed breakfast, a delayed oil change, a delayed tire change and then a delayed arrival at home because we got into a car accident.  The classic three car sandwich with our car in the middle.  To top it all off, the car that rear ended us took off!  What is it about us and hit and run drivers?  So, now the air conditioning isn't working in the van, and I'm not sure how to get it fixed since we are both technically down to single car family status with a MUST drive to work.  We will see.  Tanner is thinking of trying to make a miracle happen on Friday.

It's difficult to say if any of us are injured.  I'm keeping a careful eye on the girls, of course, but I've had a hurt back since early December, so I'm not sure if the soreness I'm experiencing is increasing because of the accident or if it is just the normal increase of soreness before my next appointment.  Well, I am confident that God is still taking excellent care of us.  I will not be shaken.  But please, continue to hold us in your prayers.  As we move closer to reaching our goals, we are certain to be tested.

Many of you might not know the chief reason we moved.  Tanner and I were continually frustrated that no matter how hard he worked, we could never get to the point where we could effectively contribute to missions.  We were able to give one time gifts, but were unable to make commitments to help fund people overseas.  We prayed a long time about it and felt God direct us to go to college, to seek a degree that would provide for our needs and to spend a period of time learning to live within those needs and in faith so that we would know the difference between a need and a want.  We believe that through all of this we will be able to have a great impact on missionaries around the world.  Our commitment to this endeavor has not wavered.  Even with Tanner's internship, after a great deal of prayer, we decided to send a small portion of the money that he makes to fund a missionary in Africa.

Believe it or not, we wired funds last night, and this morning the accident happened.  Suddenly, we're struggling with worrying about how much this will cost or that will cost, and I confess, tempted to try to hold on to the "extra" that God gave us in order to make sure that we are comfortable.  I am comforted to know that not once did either of us suggest this.  

And here is the amazing part of our story.  After the accident, the hood couldn't be opened on the van, so it looked like there would be body work to be done.  I had to take Kate to her camp orientation, and then dinner had to be made.  Things didn't settle down till after 5:00, and then we discussed which car Tanner should take.  He then remembered that the license plate had fallen off the van, so he went back to the accident site, which was actually near Kolache Rolfs (aka Kate's favorite breakfast stop in the ENTIRE world).  When he came back with the plate which miraculously was still there, he pushed the bumper, heard something click, and voila! the hood was fixed and it will now open.  Of course there is still some damage, that sort of thing doesn't always get fixed in miracles, but it looks like the van will be okay.  We still have to figure out how to get the A.C. fixed, but that's something that might only take a day rather than a week to repair.  ahWhoop!  (BTW, that's the Aggie yell for Juniors).

So, we count our blessings.  All of you are among them, and we are truly touched and blessed by your prayers.