Today was a great day...Makaela biked all by herself today! She has been practicing all summer, but has been a tad cautious. However, today at the church parking lot she took off on Sofia Van Shaik's bike. It was such a sweet moment. She is so proud of her newfound freedom.

Today was also our last play date with the Van Shaik family. Samantha has claimed Chrsitian as her "best friend" for several years now. She is taking their move fairly hard. We have been praying that God will send another special friend her way. For their farewell concert, she is going to play her violin and read a letter she has written to him about all of the things she will miss doing together.

Yesterday we had a special outing at a local elementary school. A friend of ours teaches first grade and invited the girls to come and see her classroom. Samantha brought her violin and spoke to the class about it and then played a couple of pieces. The kids loved it and had lot of questions for her (many of which Makaela answered as she is also starting violin) . :) The neatest part was when the teacher asked Samantha to play "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star," as she supposed that would be a tune the kids would recognize. Well, Samanatha said she wasn't sure she knew that one well enough by ear, so she asked if she could play "Jesus Loves Me" instead. The teacher agreed, and half of the kids hummed along while she played! :) It was precious. I didn't have my digital camera that day, but I'll post pictures of it when my friend sends them our way. (Her classroom is gorgeous). God bless!