BACK TO SCHOOL!

Today was the first day of school and I think we are all happy to be back in session. We had a great summer with Jessica going to church camp, sleepovers, swimming, a few huge parties at our house, a trip to Marine World, a camping trip and lots of days just hanging around and enjoying the summer. However, as the arguing and knit-picking has increased between the girls, we all agree that school starting is a good thing. I guess even complete freedom losses it's appeal when your sister cannot seem to NOT get on your nerves!

Jessica is now 10 years old and is in the 5th grade. This will be here last year of elementary school at Vacaville Christian Schools, at this school middle school begins in 6th grade. So, this is her last year of uniforms and she and her friends are the "big girls on campus" this year. Jessica plans to continue on with band, playing the clarinet and she will also continue with gymnastics and piano lessons.

Samantha is 8 years old and is in the 3rd grade. As you can see from the pictures, she is now wearing glasses. She is slightly near-sighted and so she is joining her sister in the new world of eye wear. We think she looks very cute! Samantha will be allowed to take band the second semester of this year and she thinks she wants to do it. I am not sure what instrument she wants to play, we are just hoping it is not the drums! Sorry to all my drummer friends, please do not be offended. If anyone knows Samantha, they can understand why we would not want her to play the drums!!! (Smiley face) Samantha began taking piano this summer and will continue that as well as gymnastics. So, her and Jessica basically have the same extra activities.

Both of the girls got the teachers they wanted and I think they will have a great year. Jessica had a rough year last year, but we have been told her teacher this year is strict, but teaches VERY well. So, we are anticipating a successful year in school. We will update you more as new activites and things come along. Thanks for stopping by and checking up on us!

DAWSON UPDATE:

This is very long, but at least there are a few pictures! (Hee Hee). This will be the blog we will update regularly for family news.

Okay, so it has been a while since I updated the blog. I am still trying to figure this thing out completely. I finally figured out how to add posts to an existing blog, so I am on a roll now!

Well, the Dawson family has been on a roller coaster ride over the last 7 months. So much is going on here. The family life has not changed much, but lots of changes at church and with friends here in Vacaville. Let me try to fill you in on a few things without having you read for hours and hours.

In February we went to Disneyland with 5 families from our church. It was crazy, but way fun! The folks we went with are some of our closest friends here in Vacaville and those that we were not as close to before the trip, by the end we had strengthened those friendships. It was an amazing time to just have fun with the people you serve in ministry with. It is a trip I will NEVER forget.

In March, Jessica turned 10 years old! WOW, does time fly or what? We invited 3 of our teenage friends (Kara Lugo, Dominique Brown and Lindsay Dawkins) over to do hair and makeovers on all of Jessica’s friends. They had a blast! How cool is it for 10 year old girls to get made up by cool and pretty teenagers?

Over spring break the girls and I flew to Texas to visit Dad and Diane. It was a GREAT trip! Their house in the hill country of Texas is just awesome, so beautiful. The girls fished off their little pier? Or deck thing? I am not sure what they are technically called, but they have a cool swimming and fishing area where the girls caught fish left and right. They loved it! We cannot wait to go back and bring Steve with us.

In early June we celebrated our anniversary with our best friends, Mark and Susie Helton, who have their anniversary just after ours. They had never been to Humboldt County to see the REAL redwoods, so we decided to take a 4 day journey together. What a great trip! We toured so many places, saw elk, HUGE redwoods, toured Humboldt State (go Lumber Jacks!) and even had a few yummy shakes at Toni’s our old college greasy spoon. There are more pictures from our trip on my other post called “Visit To The Big Boys”. Check it out.

This brings us to the end of school for the girls. Both girls finished the year very well. At the end-of-the-year awards, Jessica received the “Barnabas Award” for showing strong Christian character, a servant heart and encouragement throughout the school year. This award is given to one boy and one girl from each class. So, we are VERY proud of her. I must mention that Samantha received the same award last school year and we are very proud of her as well. Jessica will be in the 5th grade this year and Sam will be in 3rd.

Around mid June, Jessica went to church camp for the first time without mom with her. Our group of kids attend the Southern Baptist camp called “Centri-kid” at Jenness Park in Cold Springs in the Sierra’s. Jessica had a great time and did not seem to miss us at all. Then in July, I went to the same camp as a chaperone for the youth camp called “Centrifuge”. Me, Susie, Joseph and Brian Wyatt all went with a small group of kids and had a great time. One of our girls got saved at camp. Praise God!

At the end of June I went on my first mission trip to Mexico. It was amazing! Our church goes to a Christian orphanage where in exchange for housing and meals for you and 2 orphans during your stay, we help them continue to build and expand their facilities AND minister with them throughout the surrounding area where they have either planted churches or they are trying to plant churches. Our church brought a worship team, children’s ministry and an adult sermon to the churches we went to. It was very cool. The picture at the top of this post has me with my 3 little sweeties (Rosita, Tiffany and Alexis) who attend the daycare program at the orphanage while their parents work.

Once I returned from Mexico, Samantha’s 8th birthday was days away. We had an AWESOME fourth of July BBQ/party at our house to celebrate Sam’s birthday AND enjoy fireworks from the deck with our closest friends. Sam did have a kids birthday party a few days later which was full of swimming fun in the blazing heat!

During the tail end of our heat wave, we were fortunate enough to see my sister Joanne and Kevin and Alyssa for 2 days while they were in the Bay Area for Kevin’s job. It was so great to see them after 2 years, almost to the date! It was a short visit, but we had fun and got to enjoy each others company for at least a bit. We miss the Girkins family so much. It is hard living across the country from each other! We love you guys!

The first half of our summer has been non-stop action. We are losing our beloved worship pastor and his family (Brain, Candace, Maddie, Parker and Noah McDaniel). They move to Hawaii on July 30th to begin a new ministry. Check out the CRASH blog (http://www.crashdialogue.blogspot.com/) to find out more information on this amazing new ministry. Please read about what they are doing and if the Lord moves you to support them in some way, please do not delay! They are an amazing family that loves the Lord with literally EVERYTHING they have. Please pray for their family and this new ministry as they step out on faith. We love them dearly and will miss them more than they could possibly know. The picture of me with the cute blond above, is Maddie McDaniel.

Along with the McDaniel’s, a few other families from our circle of friends will be joining them in Hawaii either later this year or early next year. This has been very hard on all of us here as we send out more of our friends to Hawaii to reach out to the native people there and young adults who do not know Jesus. We will be saying goodbye to our youth pastor, Joseph Lugo and his family (Denise, Kara, Ashley and baby John) in the near future as they join the McDaniel’s in this call to minister in Hawaii. Saying goodbye to the Lugo’s will be extremely hard for me since I have been friends with them since we moved to Vacaville in 1997. I have worked with Joseph in the youth ministry for 9 years and I am extremely tight with their entire family.

There are a few other families that may go to Hawaii as well, so our tight knit group is breaking up a bit. It is hard to say good-bye, but we know our friendships won’t end, they will just be long distance now. As you can tell from the picture of Joseph above posing with the hammer, we will be missing our goofy, fun and crazy friend who is definitely unique to say the very least!

So, this brings us to today! We are looking at less than a month before the 2006/2007 school year kicks off and the beginning of a very different life in Vacaville as our friends pull out and move on to new places. This season of friendship and ministry has been awesome and those who are staying behind in Vacaville will pull together closer as we release our “second family” to the Lord’s work in Hawaii. New times and a new season!

We will miss the good times!