Three Rivers Fest Fireworks

We continued our annual tradition Sunday night by making a trip to downtown Fort Wayne for the Three Rivers Festival Fireworks. We set up our chairs and blankets where we always do, right across the parking lot from Powers Hamburgers. We all enjoyed at least a couple of the greasy cheesy oniony burgers, also known as sliders (for reasons that I will not explain here but that you can probably guess for yourselves).

After we ate we enjoyed each other's company for an hour until it was dark enough for the fireworks to begin. They were awesome! What a great tradition. See pictures below.

Lesson for Life

About a month and a half ago a bird made a nest in our fern plant hanging out in front of our house. We noticed that the bird never left the nest, as far as we could tell. We assumed there were some little birdie eggs that the mother bird was keeping safe beneath her. Our suspicions were confirmed this week as we saw two little baby birds snuggled up to their mother (only one of them can be seen in the picture). Watching this bird barely move for 6 weeks or so was a real reminder for us of the importance of patience and perseverance in life. Sometimes the most beautiful things can only be experienced by waiting patiently and being faithful with what we need to do while we wait.

Quick Update (Sorry No Pictures)

Here's a quick update regarding life for the Wards lately...

Last week we spent the 4th up at the lake (great as usual)!
Friday night we went to see "Live Free or Die Hard" with Aaron and Jenny (what an awesome man movie, we enjoyed the non-stop action! - NOTE: not a family show)
Saturday was a work day at home - yard work and cleaning (we bought a new mower and hedge trimmer - fun fun)
Sunday we went to church, ate lunch with the Troyers and dinner with the Bakers. We also enjoyed an intense game of 21 at the Baker basketball court. Most impressive was the perfomance by Greg "Fierce" Baker who won both games - what an animal!

Thanks to everyone who contributed to these good times.

One final note...Tyler started his Masters program today (Tuesday). He headed off to IWU early this morning and got started with an orientation to the program.

4th of July Festivities

This past weekend we celebrated the 4th of July early at Big Long Lake. We went up Friday night and enjoyed food, cards, and other games with family. See pictures below.

Then on Saturday, Natalie and I invited some friends up for a day at the lake that finished off with fireworks Saturday night. See pictures below.