Hello everyone! This is Amanda! Thought we better update everyone so I am the one that gets to do that!
Our house is officially off the market. We took it off on Monday. Mom will probably keep looking with at least one eye but the market isn't selling so we are probably here to stay for now.
Well we went on a vacation a couple weeks ago to Branson, MO! It was fun! We did some boating with a "hotdog" as a tube, hiking, swimming at a pool near our condo, mini-golf, and just lounged around in our condo! One of my favorite parts was when we went boating and hotdogging!!! We would rent a pontoon boat and hotdog for 4 hours at a time and then have fun for those 4 hours. We did it 2 different days. On the first day we had to quit an hour early because of a really bad storm that had started. It was funny because before the storm I (Amanda) saw some clouds that looked like some storm clouds. I asked Dad if he thought they were storm clouds. He said that they looked like regular clouds, and then later it stormed. So now everytime he predicts something about the weather we always bring it up and say "Oh ya like the clouds in Branson weren't storm clouds." I don't think we will ever let that go! :)
We've been back from vacation a couple of weeks now. This Tuesday we went to Shreveport, LA to a science place called Sci-Port. It was pretty fun! You got to do everything they have there. We went to see an animal movie in their I-MAX theater. It was soooo cute to see Daniel and Jaiden watching it! They were so focused on it!
We should go get Wendy (our exchange student from China) from Dallas on Friday, August 14. We all are getting ready for her and are excited to finally meet her! We have been emailing her and chatting with her online. Mom has been talking to her about what classes she is taking and getting that all settled. Josh and Dad (with some help from Andrew) have been making a bunkbed for her. We are trying to get everything ready for her dresser and everything else you can imagine that you need for another child. It is finally setting in for at least me that in a little over one week she will be here for a whole year!!!
Josh on Tuesday got himself a riding lawn mower from a man that he mows for that he is trying to fix. Josh is also getting ready to start soccer practice this coming Monday, doing some driving, and even drove to Shreveport, LA on Tuesday.
My friend Courtney and I (Amanda) are doing a project to raise some money for babies around the world who cannot be taken care of by their family. These babies are with the organization Feed The Children. We sent out this email:
"HI!
For those of you that don’t know who I am my name is Amanda Hood (daughter of Mike and Amy Hood), and I am going into the 8th grade. I hope your summer has been going well. Mine has been pretty good.
Well, during the school year my friend Courtney and I really felt that God told us to help feed the hungry in other countries. After a lot of praying and thinking we have decided to raise money to give to infants through Feed the Children organization. One way we are going to do this is by walking, jogging, or running laps on August 3. We would really appreciate if you could help us by sponsoring us for every lap we complete. You can give any dollar amount for every lap and then email me so that I will know how much you are committing to. After we finish I will email you to tell you how many laps I did then you can mail me the money.* If you prefer just donating a set amount then feel free to do so. The money we raise will go to these infants all over the world to provide them with care for a certain amount of months! If we raise $96 it will help a baby for 8 months, $48 will help for 4 months, and $24 will help a child for 2 months. Please pray for us in our hope to help the needy. We will need many prayers.
Thank you for all your prayers and support. It will really help us. I pray that God will use our efforts to further His Kingdom.
If you have any questions please call 903-295-0839 and ask for Amanda. If you would like to learn more about Feed the Children go to www.feedthechildren.org.
If the date changes I will send you another email to let you know!
Thank you,
Amanda Hood
* If you are writing a check please make it out to Feed the Children and they will send you a receipt for your tax deductible donation. When you send money please mail it to Amanda Hood at 305 Monterrey Lane White Oak, TX 75693."
We did the walking thing this Monday and did 10 miles!! It was hard because it was so hot outside, but we did it! In the process we have gotten quite a lot of money which we will send in once we have all of it!
Andrew is being the normal active boy! He goes outside almost everyday in this heat. I don't know how he does it. I go outside for a couple minutes and I start sweating!
Daniel and Jaiden are just normal little kids!! They love to play together!! Sometimes one gets made when the other one doesn't want to play with them! They are so cute.
Sorry about no pictures again!!! We'll try to add pictures soon!
Amanda
