Park Outing!

We want to share a few pictures that were taken at a park Friday. We hung out with friends from church, Keith and Dana Galloway, and shared supper together. Top on the enjoyment list in Kentucky - great weather and great people to get to know. I had had a long week with the kids, but to get out and see their happy faces playing always goes a long way in refreshing warm mommy feelings. Aren't they cute? :) Happy 4th of July to you all, by the way! We are going to have a kids' parade of sorts and a patriotic musical-type program (led by Tim with my help) and then fireworks, of course. We are also looking forward to a visit with Tim's family in Southern Illinois and our 10th anniversary this July! Oh and that's not all. At the end of July, we'll be taking a trip to Maryland for Tim to attend a Worship Conference and Debra will get to meet relatives she has not met before and see a good friend from college. So the pictures should get more exciting - Lord willing. God bless! Anyone reading this, it is probably appropriate to say WE MISS YOU!

A few pics!

Well, I finally know how to put pictures up here! It is just so hard to choose. Here we have our "knight" Joseph on his rocking horse he named "Speed Bullet." We have a picture from the well-known horse-track, Keenland, where we enjoyed going to the races in April with my (Debra's) parents. Then we have a picture of our budding cellists; Tim is taking lessons with Ruth and they have a very fine teacher they are just starting with. Rachel's "Singing in the Rain" birthday party - 9 years old - is next. The girl in the middle is Lauren, whose dad works with Tim and she and Rachel have become good friends. And last but not least is an early spring photo of Rebekah sitting in a tree/bush in our backyard. What a sweetie! :)

More later!

Sickness!

Well, we just found out Tim has shingles! He has it on his forhead and looks bumpy like a Star Trekky dude or something. And Rachel has had a fairly high fever for three days in a row. It's such a beautiful time of year here, too, that it is sad to be home-bound.

Not much news otherwise. As soon as Tim helps me shrink pictures to fit on here, we'll put some on. Hi from all of us!

Update on Stokes in Kentucky!

Hello everyone! We are long overdue in starting to "blog." We hope to keep in touch better with many of you who live far from us and this is a great way for you to get a glimpse of our lives in Kentucky.

We've lived in Lexington, KY, for 4 months now. These have been months of dramatic changes for us as many of you know. However, we've enjoyed many things here and have been very blessed by the people of Victory Baptist, the church Tim is the Worship Pastor for. For example, last night Tim and I were given a night out and even cash for our date! That's just an example of the love and service we've experienced.

4 months and yes, 4 kids! Rachel is flourishing in her music right now. She's doing well on piano, playing an offertory in church for the first time a couple of weeks ago. She's progressing on violin in leaps and bounds, too. And not only that, she has been given the opportunity to babysit her violin teacher's 3-year old daughter while her teacher teaches other students. This is a very grown-up privilege for her and she is enjoying it!

Ruth, besides getting into poison ivy a few weeks ago - poor girl, has been studying cello with her Daddy and enjoying her summer vacation - swimming, playing with Joe, and of course, lots of Nancy Drew! Both girls enjoyed the 3 months they spent in a private school, Bluegrass Baptist, but are also excited about homeschooling again in the fall.

Joseph continues to amaze us and challenge us in many ways. We were told that in Sunday School when they talked about how God sends the rain, he challenged that sternly by explaining how water evaporates off of lakes and creates clouds, etc... etc... (He gave the scientific explanation in detail, apparently!) They gently reminded him that God still is responsible for the lakes, but we got a kick out of that. He misses his friends in Minnesota as we all do, but has been learning and growing with enthusiasm as usual.

Rebekah is just a wonderful little sweetie, talking more and exerting her ideas and personality more all the time as she approaches her 2nd birthday in August. Her curly blonde pigtails, sweet smile and way about her charm everyone who meets her. I'm still so charmed by her myself it is hard for me to face the facts that she's not a perfect little girl and she does need discipline and training! Though, in regular toddler fasion, "no" and "mine" are two of her favorite words, she often seems to give in to instruction quite easily with a sweet, "otay," something I seldom heard from the others at this age!

Tim is enjoying pouring himself into the musical worship ministry of the church and we are just hoping we can sell our house in Minnesota (or even rent it) so that we can hang in there financially. I (Debra) hope to start teaching piano this fall. As far as recreation, Tim is enjoying beautiful bike rides right next to horses and thier babies - though the hills are tougher than Minnesota. I'm enjoying running and going swimming with the kids in this unusually hot June for us. So far, the warm weather has been enjoyable, though!

We have enjoyed our location in Lexington, but will be relocating soon to a different house and will keep you informed as to our change of address.

God bless!