The Joy in Loving

Conflicted

2011-09-11T21:39:00.004-05:00

Today has been an emotional day for our country. We've been approaching this milestone and trying to anticipate all of the feelings that go along with remembering such a day. The innocent people who were taken, the families of those people who had to move on without them. All of the first responders who rushed in to do way more than their job called for. While we were all instantly defensive against any outside threat, we also instantly came together as a nation willing to protect our own and have each others' backs. It's difficult to summarize the day or its impact.

I think that our nationwide observance of those awful terrorist attacks is absolutely merited. Necessary, even, for our abilty to remember those who we lost. That day changed our country and changed the world. I am thankful for the soldiers who have defended our nation and allowed us to continue living in freedom. I will never forget.

I'm frustrated though, as I try to reconcile all of the feelings that I experience when I think about evil in the world. As much as I hate to admit it, growing up in the world has given my heart a worldly slant that seems easy to justify. I don't think I'm the only one, though. I've read so many facebook status posts; things like "I hope those terrorists burn in hell."... I admit, those thoughts have't escaped me, but that's where I find my conflict.

As humans we tend to want justice. We also, for some reason, tend to think that we always know the appropriate means to achieve that justice. In this case, it seems that because they did something terrible to us that we should, in turn, respond with something worse and wish for them the very worst thing that we can imagine.

Really, though? Not everyone I know claims to be a follower of Jesus, but many do. I, too, strive on a daily basis to have actions, words and thoughts that glorify Jesus because I want to be more like him. I fail daily, and miserably, but that doesn't mean I'm not trying.

A couple things have come to mind this week, and I can't help but read them in light of the attacks we endured. We are told that we will all stand in judgment one day and give an account for everything that we have done. That's a sobering thought because without the blood of Jesus to cover my sins, I'm in the same boat as any other sinner. I absolutely can't imagine wishing that anyone would burn in hell--be lost for eternity. Because if God should choose repay that sinner with eternal torment, then what could He choose to repay me with?

Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. I Peter 3:9

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son the the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. John 3:16-17

So, when I read these verses, I'm conflicted. God created each one of us, and He doesn't want anyone of us to perish. Imagine the pain he feels when one his own rejects him. So as his child, does it please him for me to react with retaliation and anger and hatred or with genuine sorrow? Sorrowful for the loss our country has exprienced, but also for the loss of a soul.

It's tough, but I'm trying hard to let my heart for Jesus speak louder in my mind that the lessons the world would have me learn.

Has anyone else struggled with any of these thoughts or is it just me? Am I headed the right direction, or am I way off base?

Who's Who?

2011-08-05T10:15:00.003-05:00

So I totally have a thousand other things I need to be doing, but last night I was looking at my kids' baby pictures and couldn't believe some of the similarities!! Since Tobin was born, everyone keeps asking me who he looks like and I keep saying, "My other kids!" Seeing these pics, I see why! There are definitely some differences, but, WOW!

Take a look...I've matched up some of Tobin's pics with his siblings' similar pics at similar ages. Go through and take a little test...they're grouped under their names in the last one.

Am I crazy? Or do they all favor? Let me know what you think!! And how you did! :)
Just the boys:
Wellll......??????

Amazing Interns

2011-07-29T21:20:00.010-05:00

Our church's Children's Ministry hires interns to help out with the plethora of activities that go on throughout every summer. It's a help to the staff, but it is also great fun for the kids. My kids, for the last two years, have LOVED the interns that have been a part of Mayfair's summers. This year was especially fun because most of the interns have been around for at least one previous summer so the kids already knew them.

About 2 weeks before Lawson and Jordan were supposed to leave to spend a couple weeks in Oklahoma, I overheard them inviting each of the interns to an event at our house. I had not ever heard about this event--they made it up and took it upon themselves to plan all the details and invite the guests--the interns.

They caught each intern as they walked through the auditorium, and each time they explained the event it grew even bigger! So here's the rundown:

It was going to be a party

and they were going to watch

ALL FIVE

of the Land Before Time movies

and have dinner together.

And it wasn't going to be

just a party...

but rather a sleepover.

The boys could sleep on Lawson's bunk beds

and the girls could sleep in Jordan's room.

And if we needed more room

they could sleep on the couch and the ottoman.

THEN, in the morning,

they would get to eat breakfast

in the Living Room.

My kids were for real about this, and came home asking about when they could have it and we needed to make invitations and cards and draw maps so they could find our house. It was going to be a big to-do!

Too bad they were already scheduled to go to OK, so I had to tell them we wouldn't have time to have this party and they would have to tell the interns goodbye b/c they might not still be here when they got home... It was pretty sad. :(

Allllllll that to say that one day while they were gone, Jon and I went up to the church building to get some stuff done and a couple of the interns came up to me and asked if the kids could come up to the church one day for lunch after they came home--the interns wanted to throw them a surprise party since my kids didn't get to have the party they had planned!! Pretty sweet, huh!?

I ended up bringing them this past Wednesday to a party from the interns! They knew they were having a surprise but they had NO IDEA what it was. We showed up to a "Welcome to the PARTY!!" sign hanging in the doorway and a red and white checkered tablecloth spread in the floor. On said tablecloth, they had set out a full Chick-fil-A lunch. From there, I left my kids who were already involved in full conversation with six college kids! When I came back to retrieve my kids, they were playing video games, watching each other sing-a-long and raiding the prize bucket.

They had a great time and felt so special that the interns had planned a special party just for them. I'm sure it's a day that won't be forgotten in the forseeable future. As a Mommy, it made my heart so happy to see these cool college kids go to such lengths to make my kiddos feel special. I'm so thankful for the relationship that the interns form with all of the kids at church, but I'm also grateful to be able to witness they way they have connected with Lawson and Jordan!

Together

2011-07-20T16:07:00.002-05:00

I’ve had a weird few days. A few weeks ago Jon’s mom called and asked if my big kids could come over to Oklahoma for a couple weeks. They’ve never been away from us for that long. In fact, I’ve never really been home for more than a couple days without them here because the other times they’ve gone to OK without us was when Jon and I were on Honduras trips. At first I didn’t think I could handle them being gone two weeks, but the more I thought about it I realized that it would probably be very good for them and for me.

During the end of my pregnancy and since Tobin was born, I’ve really struggled with my inability to do as much with the big kids. They’ve done GREAT, actually, by playing together. They’ve spent a lot of time playing outside, jumping on the trampoline, swinging and riding bikes. They’ve played inside in each other’s rooms with their toys, drawing pictures and doing crafts. I’m pretty sure they’re not going to be damaged because I’ve had a lot going on, but I have been struggling with some guilt about how much they’ve had to play ‘on their own’. I figured spending time with Papa, Nana and their cousins would be different and fun for them. It has been—when I talk to them they tell me about how much fun they’ve been having and I’m glad for them.

Here in Huntsville, I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how much quieter my days are with just a baby around the house. He’s still on a 3-hour schedule, so I’m definitely not just sitting round doing nothing, but it’s just been so much calmer. A newborn is just so flexible. They’re easy to tote around, pretty much anywhere.
Since the kids have been gone, Jon and I have had so much fun together. Even with Tobin around, it still seems like it’s “the old ‘us’”, the college kids who got married almost 10 years ago. In my mind, we’re still that young, but one look at reality screams that things have changed. Sometimes in the hustle and bustle of daily life, it’s hard to stop and remember how much fun those college kids had. Between work schedules, grocery shopping, laundry, cleaning, and everything else that goes into keeping a family running, sometimes it’s hard to find time to just be together and have fun.

We’ve seen a couple movies at the dollar theater and gone out to eat. We’ve gone shopping, rented a movie and ordered carry-out. We test drove a car that we’re probably going to buy. We’ve talked about the plans for the not-so-far-away future. We’ve cleaned out our closets and we’ve packed lots of boxes. Our friends even kept the baby one night and we went out ALL alone! And I have enjoyed every second of it!

I always hear older, wiser people say that one danger of raising kids is to become so wrapped up in the kids that you grow apart as a couple. Then one day, when the kids are gone, two strangers are left behind. I don’t feel like that’s happening, but it’s always something that sticks in the back of my mind as we sometimes trudge along day-to-day. That’s why this past week has been so great for me. It’s refreshing to be assured of how much I not only love my sweet husband, but I really, really like him and I love hanging out with him. He’s so much fun and we laugh so much together.

Times like this, when we get to just be together, are fun because it’s like the old days for us. Except it’s better because we’ve come this far…together. Our history makes us stronger. And I can’t wait for our future!

Our last weekend with "Just the Big Kids"

2011-05-15T22:32:00.003-05:00

It hit me last week that this was going to be our last weekend with just big kids. Tuesday, our world will change. It will be new. It will be different. It will be good. Everything will be okay, I just have to realize that it's our new normal.

I really wanted to spend some time doing fun stuff with the kids Saturday to celebrate just how big they've become. They are able to do so many things and I have really been enjoying the stages that they are at right now. They've gone from 'little-kids-that-I-have-to-take-everywhere-with-me' to 'big-kids-who-come-places-with-us'. They require so much less hands-on maintenance now, but much more conversation and social interaction. More than ever, their personalities are coming out in the way they act and play and talk to others on a daily basis. They really are neat little kids!

We woke up late yesterday morning, so we went for late breakfast/lunch at IHOP. We chowed down on some pancakes and eggs, then decided to go putt-putting. We took them last summer, and they remembered it when we pulled up. We had so much fun as a family! They still had a few pretty terrible shots, but several of their turns were actually really good!!! It was amazing the amount of control and concentration they've gained in less than a year! I didn't take a ton of pics, but here are a few...

I absolutely love the times that I just focus on enjoying and loving my kids! They are such special gifts from God! Saturday night a friend watched Lawson and Jordan so Jon and I could go out on a date. We stopped in a book store for a while and as I was flipping through a book I found this quote that I love:

The Psalms call children a "reward." Not a curse, not a tragedy, not an accident--they are the expressions of God's favor. It is a thrilling right to see your children through the lens of Scriptures as His trophies.
--Howard Hendricks

I think this is so true! Some days I can get so caught up in frustration, exhaustion and focus on some of the negative things in my life, but when I can keep myself focused on the abundance of blessing that has been poured into my life it changes how I see everything! My kids definitely are a blessing in my life--if they are indeed expressions of God's favor, then I am humbled at how much favor he saw fit to give me!

We are now only a day away from our "Baby Day" and we are all SO excited to meet our sweet new baby...but I am grateful for this time we spent together as a family-of-four this weekend!

Self-Entertaining

2011-05-14T22:23:00.000-05:00

These last couple weeks, I have just had a declining amount of energy (wonder why??!!)! Luckily when I need to rest in the afternoons, my kids have been able to entertain themselves and play together to pass the time. They have been coming up with all sorts of things to do, and I've been entertained by watching them play together so well!

From swinging to playing pirates on the swingset, from jumping on the trampoline to coloring the driveway with chalk. The other day was a rainy day and I was trying to get laundry and dishes done--they had been quiet for a while which sometimes causes me a little bit of alarm! They had been playing in their rooms for a while, but when I peeked in, I saw them sitting on Jordan's bed and Lawson was reading her a book. I think they were looking at the pictures more than reading the story, but it was sweet. Not too much later, I heard giggling and then they came out to the kitchen. Lawson held his hands out like he was making a grand presentation, and Jordan walked in like she was the hottest model on the runway! He had put her play make-up all over her eyebrows and lips, and she had put on a ton of jewelry and 'fixed' her hair! They were SO proud of themselves! I had to take a picture of the, ahem, artwork!

First Tee-Ball Game 2011

2011-05-12T22:16:00.000-05:00

When I told Jordan that she had a tee-ball game to play, she threw a fit not wanting to play. We have gone around and around--she wanted to play when it was time to sign up, but now she doesn't. We're making her play. We told her she doesn't have to sign up for anything, but if she signs up, she will play. Turns out that once we got her out there and started, she did great and had a lot of fun! She was a little grumpy for a while, but I was able to get some cute pictures by telling her that she was so grumpy that I wanted to take a picture of her grumpy face...so what did she do? Start smiling. She thought she was tricking me, but who got the cute pictures? ;)

Little Slugger

In the dugout

Hopefully the rest of the season will go smoothly!

Falls Mill

2011-05-08T22:06:00.001-05:00

The kids and I were able to participate in a field trip about an hour away in Tennessee with our home school group. It was a really neat field trip and a great way to get back into a routine after all the craziness of the storms that passed through April 27th. We enjoyed learning about the old machines and the history behind this very old mill that is still completely water-powered. We heard explanations and saw demonstrations of the mill grinding oats and grits, how thread is spun, how material is woven, and how the mill can operate so many machines. It was a beautiful day and we learned a lot!

How did we go from this...

2011-04-26T11:42:00.000-05:00

to this...
It seems impossible that those little kids in the first picture have gotten so big, and even more unbelievable that in 3 weeks from today we will be headed to the hospital to meet our precious 'surprise' baby!!!

Last week, on a beautiful, sunny, breezy day the kids and I walked to a duck pond that is pretty close to our house. Well, scratch that. It looks pretty close to our house when we drive by it in the car! When we walk, with two kids, and I'm all-the-way-pregnant, and we didn't bring any drinks, it's actually quite a hike!!! It was a fun day, though, and the kids had a blast. As I sat (resting, trying to summon up enough energy to make it home whenever they decided they were done!) on a nearby bench, I just found myself remembering the days of going to feed ducks pushing a loaded down stroller and being terrified the whole time that one of my small children were going to topple over into the nasty water! This particular day, though, they just looked so big. It was one of those moments where a little bit of sadness hits you even though your heart is smiling. A little bittersweet.

On a day to day basis I strive to enjoy the gift that I have in my children, and I long to bask in the joy they bring to our family each day. The loving way they play together, the fascinating way they learn, the way they sing and pray to God... There are so many lessons for us as adults as we guide and witness our children growing and developing. It's a scary job, but we trust that God will guide us along the way and that he will be able to fertilize our feeble efforts and mold our kids' hearts into strong Christian servants.

We're so close to this new chapter in our lives--I'm days away from being back in that spot where I'm packing a diaper bag every time I need to leave the house for even only 15 minutes, and pushing a loaded down stroller everywhere I go. A little bit scary, I must admit. It's been almost 5 years since I had a baby. Even more than that little bit of fear, though, is growing excitement. We're ready to move forward and see what lies ahead.

Blessed. That's what we are! :)

Welcome back, T-ball!

2011-04-25T10:00:00.002-05:00

Well, due to lots of rain Jordan finally had her first t-ball practice Saturday morning! She wanted to play this year, and Lawson didn't, so this will likely be our only athletic activity this year due to our year being heavy with 'other activity' later this fall! ;)

It was a beautiful morning and even though she started out shy and didn't really want to play she warmed up pretty quickly and had fun during practice!
Run like the wind, girl!!!
Safe on first, and cute as a bug! :)

Easter 2011

2011-04-24T20:04:00.004-05:00

I can't believe that we actually got up early enough to get ready, get our stuff together and take pictures without being rushed this morning!! I am thankful--we actually got some good pictures this year! Last week when Jon went to preach he wore a suit, so this week Lawson told me he wanted a "preaching coat." We've never done a suit or jacket for him, so I was hoping I could fulfill his request--and I found one on sale!! He was so excited!! He was even more excited when Jon said he would wear his jacket to match him. He put it on this morning and sighed and said, "It looks just how I pictured it!" When I showed him the pictures on the computer he said, "Oh!! I didn't know I looked that handsome!!" We're thankful for our church family and the uplifting day we spent reflecting on the Empty Tomb that gives us hope for a future and eternal life. Then we were blessed to share a delicious meal and fellowship with several friends. It was a wonderful day of family, friends and worship!!

There are a lot of pics--I just didn't want to leave any good ones out! :)
Happy Easter from us to you!

A Day of Play

2011-04-07T22:46:00.004-05:00

Spring has been a little tricky this year--just when we think it's here, it goes away again!!! Who knows what it's going to be like in a couple days!! This morning we did our school work, but as soon as Lawson was done they were outside playing, eating lunch, then playing again! I went outside to try to get some pictures of them playing...

This picture makes me laugh because Lawson and Jordan had found a place where the training wheels were on the ground but the big wheel wasn't. They were pretending it was an exercise bike and spinning that back wheel as fast as they could but not going anywhere! They took turns and did this forever!
There are several of Jordan--she was in a posing mood tonight, I guess!! Also, my kids are going through this phase where they can just look at each other and start giggling--before I know it they are in full-out belly-laughs!! They think it's just hilarious. Sometimes I agree, but sometimes it drives me batty!!

Anyways, I am thankful for this day that they were able to spend playing together, and I'm thankful that they have so much fun together! These are definitely good times!

Baby #3's Baby Shower #1

2011-04-04T23:14:00.002-05:00

Our friends at church had a Diaper Bag Shower for us yesterday!! We were so excited, and we shared the shower with two other families who are expecting babies soon. Our table is the one on the far right...
We had a delicious lunch, then got to come home and let the kids help us open all of the diapers and supplies our friends hooked us up with!! What a blessing!

The Jordan Show

2011-04-01T13:39:00.000-05:00

Here are a couple of Jordan...The first one is her singing Have Thine Own Way, which is one of their favorite bedtime songs. She doesn't sing all the words just right, but that's part of what makes it cute! That and her crazy low, monotone voice--especially when she's being shy or a little bit embarrassed!

You can especially hear this low voice in the second video. At first, she's being very bossy to Lawson and it cracks me up, but then she decides she wants to sing a song that she made up (I'm assuming at that very second). I know that when she's all grown up, nights like these will be some of the memories that I cherish most!

Sing. Sing a song. Sing out loud. Sing out long.

2011-03-31T12:18:00.000-05:00

For Christmas Jon and I struggled with what sort of gifts we wanted to get for the kids. In particular I was struggling with not wanting anymore big plastic toys to clutter up the floor, especially since we are preparing to move and will soon be trying to get rid of some of our excess stuff. I didn't want them to have "No Christmas" just couldn't justify buying a bunch of junk so they'd have stuff to open!

On Black Friday I struggled with what I was going to be shopping for...but finally decided that I would just buy them some games for their Leapsters then keep my eyes open for something else that would be suitable. While my friend Jamey and I were at Toys R Us, I saw something that I thought would be just perfect--not just for the kids, but for our whole family! It was a karaoke machine!!

How much fun could we have with this??? My kids LOVE to sing, and having a microphone to sing into only makes it more fun, right?? Plus, I thought it would be fun for Jon and I to play with, or to use when we have friends over... I snagged one on a great sale and crossed my fingers!

Well, the kids opened our gifts before our trip to Oklahoma and then we left the next day. They took their Leapster games with them, but we didn't really get to use the karaoke machine. Then we came back and had a thousand errands and field trips and other things to take care of. Then we went to Honduras for a month. I thought we were never going to get to use the darn thing!

Well, the other night Jon was working late so I decided to hook it up and let the kids play with it for a while. They had so much fun singing and being silly. We don't even have any karaoke CDs, they were just using the microphone to sing and talk. I took lots of videos, but here are just a couple of them.

The first one is of Lawson singing a Spanish song he learned while we were in Honduras. He doesn't quite have all the words right, but for memorizing a whole song in a language he doesn't know I think it's great! The second one is of Jordan singing Blue Skies and Rainbows.

Enjoy the videos....I may post more later!

Cousins in Green

2011-03-21T23:21:00.000-05:00

Jon's parents came over and brought Maddison to visit during her Spring Break this past week. The kids had so much fun playing together, and we also got to go to the St. Patrick's Day Parade together! Huntsville puts on a great SPD Parade and the kids LOVED it! It was a beautiful day and I had some fun taking pictures of these kiddos in their green shirts!

Waiting patiently...

Still waiting...
The parade pics look like, well, parade pics. Fire trucks, police cars, dogs, marching bands, bicycles, dancers, etc...So I'll just wrap up with this one of my sweet girl:

They're lucky I didn't leave them there!!

2011-03-19T00:09:00.003-05:00

Where??? At the zoo!! Some days these little monkeys drive me nuts, but I love them to pieces! We had a great day at the Nashville Zoo yesterday with our home school group and some of our good friends. It was a beautiful (and kind of HOT) day, and we enjoyed ourselves so much! At the end of the day the kids and I were all exhausted, but it was SO worth it!
The other kids we walked around with--my friend Amy and her 4 boys, along with Amy's sister-in-law and her 3 girls. The adults were definitely out-numbered this day!
I LOVE the flamingos!
My kiddos in front of the giraffes (wayyy back there!)

Jordan chose the carousel animal with two baby gorillas, and she was the middle baby gorilla!! Lawson had been saying all day that he wanted the giraffe, but in the end he chose the flamingo.

I was excited when a passer-by asked if we wanted a picture with the three of us in front of the sign! What a great way to end the day!

Retreatin'

2011-03-08T10:37:00.000-06:00

Over the past several years, Jon and I have gone on many trips and retreats with the youth group at church, and we have always arranged for someone to come stay with our kids or for our kids to go to someone's house. We just want to make sure that we are going to spend time with the teens, not use up all of our time taking care of babies/kids.

The weekend after we returned from Honduras, however, was the last big retreat that we will get to do with the youth group and we had just spent a solid month with the kids. We didn't want to ask family to come watch them, and we didn't want to just leave them, so we decided they were big enough to take.

They did GREAT!!! They sat quietly during the quiet times, and they played like big kids during the playing times. They slept great in the bunk rooms, and they had a ton of fun! We got several compliments on how well-behaved they were, especially how they sat quietly during the worship times. I was SO proud of them! One thing's for sure, though, this is a definite sign that they're growing up!!

On the bus ride there...they had talking to the teens and playing their Leapsters...
During one of the class times for the teenagers I took the kids out by the campground's lake. They had fun walking around on the dock and then playing on this huge muddy hill. I cringed at first, but hey, they're just kids, right?! And clothes will wash. Mostly clean.

We were supposed to be playing "Mud Football." The kids were super excited about this and we brought special clothes just for them to get muddy and gross. When we got to the field, though, it turned out that it was just going to be "Wet and Cold Football." They were a little bummed, but they still had fun squirting each other with the hose and getting wet on this wonderful 50 degree day!

Jump Zone

2011-02-08T10:03:00.000-06:00

We went to Jump Zone with our home school group, and the kids always have fun at any place where they can run, jump and get sweaty!! I had fun because I got a chance to use my new camera!

This was a busy day! We had our field trip, then I had to get ready to go to a fun girls-get-away weekend with some of my closest friends, then Sunday night when I got back it was time to do some hard-core packing to get ready for our month-long family trip to Honduras! Busy, busy!

New Camera!!

2011-02-03T10:30:00.000-06:00

While we were at Fall Creek Falls, our camera died on us. Even with a freshly charged battery, the shutter wouldn't come out and we couldn't see or take any pictures. I was so sad that our camera had broken, but I was also super nervous--Our big trip to Honduras was only one week away!! How could we go spend a month in another country with the kids and not have a camera to document it all?

I had finally decided that I was just going to ask a friend if we could borrow their camera for the month, and I was okay with that. I just really wanted to come back with some pictures! I was shocked when some amazing friends who knew about our broken camera surprised us with a brand new camera that they had bought for us!!! It totally caught me off-guard and I couldn't believe that they would be so generous and thoughtful to recognize what a blessing that would be to us! Thank you, special friends, and thank you God for giving us such special friends!

This is one of the first pictures we took after we got the new camera--we were just messing around at home but this one came out pretty cute!

Fall Creek Falls

2011-02-02T10:53:00.000-06:00

We were so excited when we asked our friends Sunny and Jason if they wanted to go on our church's Family Get-Away at the end of January! I had always wanted to go, but our kids have always seemed so small that the whole trip would just end up being a hassle. With us moving later this year, and the kids getting so much bigger, I thought it would be the perfect year to experience this trip, and it was GREAT!!! The weather was BEAUTIFUL and we all had so much fun together--kids and adults!

We drove up to Fall Creek Falls on a Friday afternoon/evening. We spent some time playing some board games while everyone else was arriving, then we went back to our cabins to get settled down for the night.
Abby Kate and Jordan were super excited to be having a slumber party in the floor! We did have some excitement in the room as there were hundreds of ladybugs fluttering around, as well as one pesky wasp that we finally murdered!!
The next morning we got up to eat breakfast then tried to plan out our day. We decided to spend some time at the park in the morning, then we had to go back and make lunch for everyone. We decided to hike the trails in the afternoon.

Me and Lawson at the playground.
Jordan showing Jackson on the map where she thought we were going. So cute--they always end up paired together.All 5 kids in front of the Fall Creek Falls sign...
Lawson and Joshua. They're best buds...
Love this little guy...
My boys...
Sunny took these pics for us at the smaller waterfall...Love them

The four big kids...can you tell they're used to their mommas making them pause to pose?? :)
We went on "The hike that never ends." It seriously took FOREVER and it was pitch black when we came out of those woods!! When we got to the parking lot, ours was the only car left! I'm glad we took flashlights, and I'm glad we didn't die on the Indiana Jones bridge!! We had some groaning, some crying, some laughing along the way...it really was quite an experience!!

Here's the big kids taking a rest...
Taking another rest with the hiking sticks they'd gathered.
We had such a great weekend with some of our very best friends...I'm so thankful we had the chance to make these memories together!

Greatly Commissioned

2011-01-18T15:03:00.014-06:00

Well, Here goes nothing...

Most of you who read my blog are close friends of mine, and there are several of you who read my posts when they feed onto Facebook. Some of you may have heard about our story, and our plan to move into full-time missions this year, but some of you may not know anything about it.

From the planting of a seed that brought a desire to work in the mission field to a crazy turn of events that led us to what seems like the very place we were looking for, The ways we have seen God grow our little ideas into a big step of faith for us to take just baffle us!

There are several stages of the story that leads to our 'here and now', and about 8 1/2 months ago I started a blog that I used to journal some of my thoughts and emotions along the way. So many things have 'worked out' as our ideas and plans have come to fruition, and we believe wholeheartedly that it's because God is blessing our efforts. While we can't document everything, I've tried to write down how everything started and the highlights along the way.

Up until now that blog has been a private one that only Jon and I knew about. We've been talking about it, and we think the time has come to invite our friends to read the story and follow along on the journey if they choose. Feel free to back up to the beginning and 'catch up', or jump right in wherever you land...the choice is yours. (For those of you who already read this blog, the two most recent posts on the new blog may be familiar...I felt that they equally impacted our personal life as well as our mission journey, so I posted them in both places.)

We would love to have you join us and if you're interested in keeping up with us bookmark the site or put us on your blog roll.

Greatly Commissioned
Our journey to one little part of
'all the world'

If you keep up with us and this crazy adventure our family is going on, please do us a favor and keep us in your prayers too. We believe that God hears prayers and that His power can do mighty, mighty things.
And for a teaser...Lord willing, it won't be long before we have a family picture from Honduras...stay tuned! :)

Other stuff to do when it's cold...

2011-01-13T00:00:00.002-06:00

So we've been inside for a couple days now (with only sporadic outside playing) so here's some ways we made these snow days special fun for the fam... (I wish I was ambitious enough to say that all the laundry was done and the school work was done and the house was clean, but we've just had lazy old snow days around here!)

They love to watch movies in their tents...
Jordan made a train...Lawson put on his conductor's hat and watched a movie. (We've had an overdose on movies these past couple days!!)

Lawson worked on his Legos that he got for his birthday. We haven't really delved into the Lego world yet, but Lawson really enjoyed following the directions and building this house. I imagine that we'll be headed into the endless abyss of Legos in the next few years for sure! :)

In the midst of our move, this old Nickel Hockey game that I made in 9th grade Woodshop unsurfaced...Well, the kids LOVE playing this with whomever will play it with them--they even play it with each other! Jordan just randomly flicks it wherever, but Lawson is pretty good at getting goals!
It's been fun to let ourselves get caught up in the the feeling of having a few days off of everything. We've all enjoyed it!

Now...I have to go do some laundry... ;)

Southern Style Sledding

2011-01-12T10:06:00.007-06:00

Monday morning when we woke up to almost a foot of snow, it wasn't long before our friend Ryan texted Jon with the question, "When we goin' sleddin'?" Well, Jon and I started trying to think about what we could even use as sleds. Ryan said he had a kiddie pool. We had a small plastic storage tote. Those things might be worth a try, but we needed something better. Growing up, we had a full supply of sledding discs, toboggans, and other sorts of items perfect for going down a hill...but here, we had to resort to finding any sort of flat smooth slippery item that might go down a hill. Jon called a tire store to see about getting an innertube, but the manager said they were closed. We went out to play with the kids (see previous post for those pictures) and Jon told me that the manager called him back and said the store would be open in the afternoon if he wanted to come in!! He went up there and bought a semi-truck innertube and blew it up and 'Voila!' a sledding tube!

We went over to Madison Square Mall and sledded on the big hill between the upper level and lower level parking lots on the front side (by the old Belk store). The mall was closed except for Buffalo Wild Wings, and in the whole time we were there we only saw about 6 or 8 cars drive through. We had a lot of fun...the guys and Lawson sledded, Jordan played in the snow, and the girls took pictures...

Trying to get the thick snow packed down into a slippery sledding path...Playing in the snow...
Lawson went down in the pool first. It wasn't quite slippery enough at first, and flipped several times!
Next he tried the storage bin. Still not quite there...
Next, he went in the tube!
Wheeeeee!!!!
The guys had turns too! Here's Jon in the tube:
In the meantime Jordan built herself a little snowman...she was pretty proud!
How many guys does it take to make a jumping hill for the sledding path???
My sweet girl!
Some of the servers from Buffalo Wild Wings came over with a couple serving trays to sled on. They went down our path, then when they got cold (because they had regular clothes on) they left a tray for us to use. (The tray was pretty good because it was very slippery, but it was kinda small for the big guys to sit on!) Ryan trying out the tray...
Then they got innovative. They were tired of their bottoms dragging on the snow, so they turned the pool upside-down over the tube and went down sitting...then Jon went down laying. I love that he is laughing in this picture!
Lawson going down on the tray...
Whoaaa!! He got some air!!
Jordan only tried to go down once. Maybe this is why: :)
But everyone had a turn when it came to flipping...here's Ryan wiping out!
There came a point where all the guys were standing at the top of the hill talking, and Jon let Lawson go down on the tube 2 or 3 times in a row...I hollered up, "Why is he going over and over? Give someone else a turn!" And all the men said, "We're good!" And Jon revealed the secret: "We're tired!!!" That's the problem with sledding...it's fun to go down, but then you have to hike back up the hill!

Here's Lawson near the end of the sledding adventure. Getting that tube back up the hill is tough, especially for a 6 year old after over an hour of going up and down over and over!
Jordan busying herself by trying to fill up the kiddie pool...
Lawson pegging Jordan with a snowball...
Since we were actually with other people, we actually got a picture of our whole family! We hardly ever get a picture of our whole family!
The snow is fun for a while, but anyone ready for grass and flowers and sunshine yet???? :)

Snow Day!

2011-01-11T09:25:00.000-06:00

We had so much fun getting out and playing in our BIG snow Monday (1/10/11) morning! I think the kids were as excited about going to bed Sunday night waiting to see the snow Monday morning as they were on Christmas Eve!!! As soon as they woke up they scurried over to the door to peek out and see if it really snowed, and boy did it! :) Various area of our yard had between 7-9" of deep, powdery, fluffy snow! They have seen snow before, several times, but it's still so exciting for them to go outside and do things that you can't just do all the time!
I had so many pictures that I put them into collages...if you click them they should show up a little bigger...

Our snowman wasn't meant to be! Jon and the kids started one, but the snow was so powdery we had a hard time getting a ball to form. They successfully got a big 'mound' for the bottom ball, but we couldn't get any balls for the belly and head. It just turned into a little mountain for them to jump off of!! The top right one below here is Lawson who exclaimed "Mommy! I'm swimming in the snow!" I love that he made a trail! The bottom left one cracks me up because I had told them in a jokingly stern voice, "Now, that's it. Don't make ANY MORE tracks in my snow! No More Tracks." So of course they took great delight in running all over the yard as quick as they could smiling and giggling all the way!! Silly kids!
That afternoon we went hillbilly sledding with some friends, so there will be more pictures to come!

Lawson and Jordan--2010 In Pictures

2011-01-09T19:18:00.002-06:00

Today I went out for a quick errand, and this song came on the radio (it's one of my favorites anyways). It caused my crazy pregnant hormones to spin out of control and before I had gone 2 miles, I had tears dripping off my cheeks and had become a weepy mess. It got me thinking about how much I love the day-to-day joy that my kids provide us and I wanted to do something to document it. I thought about going all the way back, but that would have been too many pictures. That's another project for another day!

But for today, here is a quick review of my kids over this past year...it's not everything we did, but it's enough to make me smile. And tear up. Every time I watch it.

(And if you're not a grandparent of these kids, you may not even care. Sorry!) :)

Best Dad Ever

2011-01-04T00:00:00.000-06:00

This is definitely not the ONLY evidence I have--there are SO many things that make Jon a great daddy, but when I snapped these pictures on New Years Eve while we waited for midnight to come around, I couldn't help but think, "This man of mine is the best daddy ever!"
Games, puzzles, trains and Barbies all in one night...he may be big and strong, but that's not where his true strength lies, that's for sure. There are so many reasons I love this man, and the way he loves these kids is definitely near the top of the list!

Bowling in the New Year

2011-01-02T20:00:00.003-06:00

All dressed in our new OU gear, we decided to spend some of our Christmas gift money going bowling with some coupons we had received in the mail. We had such a fun afternoon trying to knock down those crazy pins!

Love this pic of Lawson...he kept getting so excited after he rolled a good ball...this was after he knocked down 9 pins...
They both would sit and look at the little monitor as if it had the world's most important information stored on it. In this one, Jordan is 'typing' on the little counter area in front of the monitor...
Here's another fun victory shot...right after a spare!
Daddy and Son
Jon and Jordan
Jon and Lawson
Me and my sweetie
We had a fun afternoon and then we came home to watch Oklahoma win their bowl game! What a great way to start 2011!

155 Updates

2011-01-01T11:19:00.001-06:00

I was looking back over my status updates from Facebook last year, and realized how they mark so many of the highs and lows of the year--from big news to birthdays to anniversaries to trips to funny kid stuff to sad days. I decided to copy and paste them (as they were on FB--don't mind the typos and poor spelling!) into a document so that I'd have them all in a list to look back on.

I pray that 2011 is full of growth, love, health and adventure--for our family and for yours! Happy New Year!

· Dec 31 2009 SOOO excited some of our friends in ALABAMA know how to play EUCHRE! Fun stuff! Happy New Year!

· Jan 2 Hey-any of you girls out there available to babysit my kids tomorrow (sunday) from 5-9ish?

· Jan 3 Trying one more time-any of you girls out there available to babysit 5-9ish tonite?

· Jan 8 Ladies, Please reconsider the "Cancer Awareness" posts. I'd guess all of us have been hurt by cancer somehow-We are aware. Posting the color of your bra will not cause more awareness. Help protect the purity of our guys' minds by not tempting them to picture you in your bra. It may seem funny and not a big deal, but I... promise you--men who struggle with this struggle when they see your 'color' and know what it means!

· Jan 12 Common sense is not as common as we think it is.

· Jan 13 got on my phone to set my alarm but 25 minutes have passed and I'm now caught up on fb statuses. Seriously, I need to have an alert system installed on me to warn me when I am getting sidetracked...

· Jan 15 Not sure if I'm normal or not...just painted some big boards with a paint roller and I have sore spots/blisters on my hands!!! Does this happen to you? My hands are killing me and I don't have TIME for an injury!!!!!

· Jan 15 Lawson: "Mommy, are we eating fish sticks, or just plain fish?" Me: "Fish sticks." Lawson: "Whew! I'm glad it's fish sticks, because I don't like just plain fish."

· Jan 25 What a great weekend to celebrate a birthday!!! I had so much fun at the Retreat, then a wonderful birthday yesterday with so many calls, texts, messages and FB posts!!! I am blessed to have such a great family, great friends and a wonderful church family! I love you all!! Here's hoping for a blessed, God-led 31st year!

· Jan 26 On the way home from a bill-paying excursion, we passed by a place called Liberty Tax Service. They had two people dressed up on the street as a gimmick, and as a result, my 3 year-old wants her very own "Statue of Wiverty" costume to dress up in!!!

· Jan 26 So getting lunch ready I ask L if he wants PB&J or turkey. He starts whining and fussing that he doesnt want PB&J...so I say, "hey now no reason to throw a fit", to which he widened his eyes and responded, "Mommy. I am NOT throwing a fit. Do you see any tears coming out of my eyes???"

· Jan 28 Found a BINGO game at a yard sale for a dollar-now L and I are having fun hoping for luck... And SHHH, dont tell him he's learning his numbers at the same time!

· Jan 28 Just wondering why when I have no desire to stitch one thing there are Hancock's coupons coming out my ears, but when I am in the mood to make something I can't find a stinkin' Hancock's coupon to save my life???? Does this happen to anyone else??? Not complaining--life's too good for that...just venting. There. I'm done. :)

· Feb 5 Dare I complain that my stomach grumbles, my filled pantry taunts me. Dare I complain about the rain I remember there are those who haven't a roof. Dare I complain about the things I may not have, I am missing that moment as a chance to be thankful for the bounty I have been blessed with.

· Feb 5 Pray for the children and adults at Discovery Middle School. How unbelievably scary.

· Feb 6 So I don't think Jon appreciated it when, a few days ago, Lawson asked me where Daddy was and I hollered, "Jon? Are you going potty?" I heard him grimace, then say in a silly voice, "Ye-e-e-essss, I'm going potty!" :) Haha...I guess I'm 'fully immersed' in the language. Of my kids. :)

· Feb 9 Lawson, coming down the stairs- 'There's something cooking and it smells GOOD!'

· Feb 13 is sad when I get on FB and half of the updates are COMPLAINTS. Even if it's frustrating, it's pointless to complain about whether or not we like the new FB (which matters not in LIFE), the weather (which we can do nothing about) and other people (which is not how Jesus treated other people). Let's use our voice to glorify our God, not grumble and complain. I will try to stay complaint-free in my status~will you?? :)

· Feb 15 So the 1/2 inch of snow last night gave us a blessing today--Jon's work opened a couple hours late and we got to eat a pancake breakfast TOGETHER!! So Great! :) As Jon was kissing the kids goodbye, Lawson said to him, "DON'T go with the Devil!" And Jordan chimed in, "GO with JE-E-E-ESUS!! He will keep you safe!!" So. Darn. Cute. :)

· Feb 15 I ask you, my friends, to PRAY for a sweet girl named Macy who is about to go into surgery any minute now. She is 16 years old, started having seizures in the fall, just found out in December that she has a brain tumor and is undergoing a serious brain surgery today. Macy is the daughter of two people who were such important mentors to me during my college years. She and her sisters were flowergirls in our wedding--she was eight. You can become her fan and follow her story at Macy's Fan Page! on FB.

· Feb 15 So maybe my kids are a little spoiled by having a DVR. Tonight I was reading books to the kids and Jon came in from work. Lawson hopped up to run and talk to him, stopped and turned back to me and said, "Mommy, can you pause that for a second while I run and tell Daddy something?" Sure, son. I'll PAUSE that! :) LOL!

· Feb 20 God does not put us through anything, but He can bring us through everything.

· Feb 22 Happy Birthday Jon Stacy!!! I love you! :)

· Feb 26 I love Funyons. I just can't help it. I can't be ashamed--I have to own up. Even if they do leave my fingers smelling peculiar. I still love 'em. :)

· Feb 27 Pretty sure I am the worst ironer ever. If you hear of any 'Worst Ironer' contests out there, please enter my name and let me know where I need to be to receive my prize!

· Feb 28 FRIENDS!!! IF you are on my 'real-life' email list and received any messages from me with weird links last night, please don't open them. My account got hacked, and won't let me send any messages for 24 hours. If you can advise me on any measures I need to take to get rid of this virus or whatever it is, please mess...age me or comment. Thanks. I hope you all have a great day! :)

· Mar 2 I think it's pretty safe to say that when you only have one day of the week that doesn't have something written on it on the calendar that that particular day will be quite busy also. I've said it before and I'll say it again...Oh, for a magic wand! "Dishes....Be Done! Laundry...Be Done!" Then I would be able to sit and read my book, which I would much rather be doing! :)

· Mar 2 ‎"One of the truest tests of integrity is its blunt refusal to be compromised."

· Mar 3 This is what the LORD says: "Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight," declares the LORD. --Jeremiah 9:23-24

· Mar 11 laying on the couch exhausted. Was trying to decide if I should just go to bed early. Then I remembered that I bought Nutty Bars at Walmart last night and suddenly everything is better!!

· Mar 12 I don't remember this happening to me before, but 3:45ish there was a thunder so loud that I sat straight up in bed and contemplated if a bomb had just gone off and if we should gather our children together with us....then I heard the rain and my heart calmed down and I laid back down and konked back out. And there's your storytime for the day. :)

· Mar 13 Chick-Fil-A at Wynn/Univ is giving away a free bfast item per person each sat in march! Today is Ckn Minis! Yum!

· Mar 21 So...I've never seen Star Wars. I don't care to. But, I have a problem--Lawson got a Darth Vader toy at McD's yesterday then asked me if he was a good guy or a bad guy. I have NO idea, and Jon's out of the country. Anyone want to tell me so I can tell my son? Thx. :)

· Mar 22 Jon just called-they just made it across the border! Just talked for a minute but he said they've had a great trip. I am so thankful he's almost back home-please pray for an uneventful day in the air as he is headed back to us in Alabama.

· Mar 22 I am thankful that I am privileged enough to live in this great country. Even when things don't go the way that I think they should, I still realize how blessed I am. I know that it is not this country or its leaders who meet my needs, but rather it is God, my Father who provides what I need on a daily basis. My faith and trust are in Him, and that means that what happens around me cannot defeat my hope.

· Mar 25 Hey everyone! 2 Dr Peppers are keeping me awake too late! I know your kids or alarms are gonna wake you up before mine do, so I'm taking this opportunity to wish you all a happy Thursday and remind those of you who live near me not to forget to take your trash out!

· Mar 25 Yay-Thursday storytime. Only, why is that boy hopping around like a frog during the book? His dad thought it was 'drop-your-kid-off-so-you-can-go-outside-and-play-on-your-computer' storytime. Sorry, sir. That must be Friday storytime.

· Mar 28 I was just about to go upstairs and tell the kids to be quiet and go to sleep because I kept hearing this noise. Then I realized that it was the OWL that keeps hooting outside in our neighborhood!! Glad I didn't rat them out for nothing...plus, they'll be excited our owl is back!! He doesn't live here all the time, just seasonally. Our neighborhood must be like his lake house, or the beach or something! :)

· Mar 30 I thought we were doing a good job with the brushing and flossing, but apparently not. At our regular cleaning, our dentist discovered Lawson's first cavity. Stinker. Guess we'll just have to do better. On a happy note, it's a beautiful day! :)

· Mar 30 I was just watching a show where a guy put a whole, in-the-shell, egg in his mouth. That is SO gross. Eggs come OUT OF, oh, well, never mind.

· April 2 I feel the need to make a public announcement. I am packing up our winter coats today. For the third time this year. If we get a freak snowstorm this week, feel free to pound my Facebook with hate mail, because it is probably my fault. :)

· April 2 flip-flops allow enough dirt into my kids toes and toenails that if i am not diligent with the bathing of the children their feet might be able to support a flower bed! Yuck! O-well...at least it's playing-outside weather, at long last!!!

· April 4 Early, beautiful Lord's day...an uplifting and inspiring worship service...stuffed from yummy homemade lunch...now, nap! Later? Not sure. Any Mayfair friends-do we have church tonite or is it canceled?

· April 6 At the park. Kids riding bikes and picking dandelions. Mommy walking. And hopefully the sun is simultaneously making me a pretty color as well!

· April 9 Even for the city, I love the amount of wildlife in our yard!! We hear owls hooting. We have woodpeckers pecking. We have tons of squirrels, including a white/albino one. A chipmunk lives in our yard. We have tons of birds--bluejays, robins, sparrows, doves, and cardinals. Which leads me to today. I am so glad our mommy cardinal is laying her eggs again in the same nest as last spring!! I can see it from my window!!

· April 19 I went to our youth group's overnight Girls' Retreat this weekend. I came home to find all of my dishes washed and put away AND ALL of the laundry washed and put away. My husband ROCKS!!

· April 20 As of 12 noon today, we paid off the Silver Bullet! For the first time in our married lives, Jon and I own our cars free and clear! This Honda might be old and dirty, BUT IT DOESNT HAVE A PAYMENT ANYMORE!!!

· April 21 Story of the day...Saturday my son wanted a Tropical Sno at the baseball fields. They were $3. I said No Way. He cried. Then I told him if he wanted to do some extra chores to help me this week maybe he could earn $3 and buy one next Saturday. Fast forward...right now he is cleaning my windows. This may be his permanent job. Moral of today's story: Buy stock in Windex. Quick! :)

· April 22 Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee; take my hands and let them move at the impulse of Thy love. Lord I give my life to Thee, Thine forever more to be.

· April 25 When I saw Jordan tonite after being away all wknd she was excitedly trying to show me her hands and toes. So sweet that her daddy painted her nails for her while I was gone! I am grateful for the opportunity to have a refreshing wknd with some of my closest friends!

· April 26 I just wanted to let you know that if posts about Thanksgiving and Christmas start popping up we haven't time-warped. I'm just that much behind on my blog. :)

· April 28 It's Wednesday. I can already tell it's gonna be wonderful! :)

· April 30 So we just saw the commercial for the new Dannon yogurt called Dan-o-nino. My son said, "Look! It's Daminato! This could put us in a sticky situation--maybe they shouldn't name it such a complicated name when kids are going to be saying it!

· April 30 please rain... please rain... please rain...

· May 4 awake since jordan started crying at 1am. never never have i ever been downstairs at 530 waiting for 800 so i can make a dr appt.

· May 4 And the verdict... she has a badly infected right ear. And some new medicine to go with it.

· May 5 She slept ALLLL night long! SO thankful she's feeling better, and thankful for al my friends' thoughts and prayers!

· May 5 I'm thankful that I made strawberry ice cream for the Ice Cream Social. And I'm thankful that there was some left over and I brought it home. And I somehow forgot about it until today. I saw it in the freezer, then realized I also have fresh strawberries, chocolate syrup AND whipped cream in my fridge. I don't know... how ALL that happened at the same time, but, man...I am thankful it did! :)

· May 7 likes her new tennis shoes so much she just might work out tonite! Dont get too excited, though...if I dont get to it in 20 minutes the thought will probably pass!

· May 7 Lawson's prayer: "Dear God, Thank you for this day that you just gave us. Thank you we got to go to that park. Thank you for making that, I really liked it there! And thank you for letting us hike down to the bottom of the waterfall and that no one fell and died or fell in that deep water. And thank you that we go...t to ride that train. In Jesus' name, Amen." I love it! :)

· May 8 We are at the park and Jordan is riding her training wheels like a champ. She rode up to me and I stopped her to kiss her on the nose and ask her how she got so big. She smiled and laughed, 'Haha! It's just because I growed!'

· May 10 I knew it!!! I knew I shouldn't have bought the Bonco candy til tomorrow... O-well...

· May 17 'God does not give us overcoming life: He gives us life as we overcome. The strain is the strength. If there is no strain, there is no strength. Are you asking God to give you life, liberty and joy? He cannot, unless you will accept the strain.'

· May 18 The kids found a snail shell in the back yard. When they brought it in to show me (super excited-ly), the snail inside popped its head out. They are still playing with that snail, and Jordan just told me that they named her Shelly and she will be their pet snail. What a fun morning adventure for 2 little kids. :)

· May 18 We read Mary Mack, Mack, Mack at story time, time, time; Now I'm annoyed, annoyed, annoyed, my thoughts all rhyme, rhyme, rhyme! :)

· May 19 Settle, stomach...please just settle.

· May 19 'Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.' James 1:2-4

· May 20 'If God commands anything of us, He also provides what we need in order to obey... God will use the disappointments of this life to teach and train you to be more like Jesus Christ. God will use them to do something awesome: to reproduce Himself in you.'

· May 20 The world's definition of success is far different from God's--which is only logical because the world doesn't know God or fear Him or trust Him. You must not measure yourself or your success by the world's standard. To do so would be foolish. You are in this world, not of this world.

· May 23 ‎'We are all three people. I'm who I think I am, who you think I am and who I really am. The closer those people are to each other, the longer you can last.'

· May 25 ‎"A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person." Today marks eight years into this wonderful journey, and I wouldn't change a thing. I can't wait to see where this road continues to lead us together! :) I love you Jon! :)

· May 27 Dear semi-truck going 62, why do you feel the need to use the other lane up for 10 minutes to pass the semi-truck going 60? The rest of us in regular cars don't really appreciate that.

· May 28 Its 12:07am. I just now got home. Trip stats: miles-720, hours-almost 15, diet dr pepper- 116 oz, potty stops-4, minutes spent in bumper-to-bumper traffic-about 90, kids dropped off-2, minutes until I am asleep-5 or less! I am POOPED!

· May 29 "There are no true beliefs without corresponding actions."

We're outta here in 3 hours...Prayers for us and the work that God is going to do are appreciated!

· May 29 Stranded in ATL bc delta cancelled-not delayed, cancelled-our flight into Teguc. Will probably be tomorrow before we get flights, and our group will be split for a while. First heard there was a volcano, then heard bad weather. Now, though, apparently there is no reason at all. Its all good, though. Everything will work out!

· May 29 The latest: just got done eating. Had to walk half mile to restaurant and when we were done it was pouring. Two sweet waitresses and a mgr drove our party of 23 bk to hotel. Loading shuttle at 330am to get 21 on 645 flt. Jon and I rerouted to diff airport, where we will catch a 4hr bus ride then drive 4 hrs to Mission Lazarus. Keep praying!

· May 30 Bm, Bm, Bm, Bm, Bm-I got a feelin', whooo-ooo, that todays gonna be a good day. That todays good, good day... :)On shuttle headed to airport. Pray our group gets on their flight okay and that Jon and I are able to fly standby on a flight to Teguc.

· May 30 Group just departed for TGU via houston. We're waiting for 940am EST to San Pedro. then we'll take a bus to TGU where a ML rep will pk us up and drive to ML. OAN-a lady at the gate is sharing her pretzels w her 2lb yorkie. She takes 2 bites then puts rest in dogs mouth. Then gets new pretzel out of bag. Repeat. Yum! Ha...ppy Sunday everyone! This is the day the Lord has made. Be joyful! :)

· May 30 Boarded on flight for 945 dep. Next time my phone is on I'll be on international rates-have mercy on my phone bill and dont txt or call. I will try to update when we arrive at the ranch LATE tonite! Thanks for the prayers and encouragement! :)

· June 3 Finally back online, but only shortly. I just wrote a note with some details about the trip so far. Our group is driving to Tegucigalpa this afternoon to fly out tomorrow. Jon and I are staying until Tuesday. Please pray that the travels are safe!

· June 5 Jon and I arrived at Santa Rosa de Copan this afternoon at about 4:45. We ended up on the wrong road for an hour then turned around and came back, but are here safe. The small town we accidentally drove through was so darn cute, though!! We will see the city and visit with the people here tomorrow and Sunday, then d...rive back to the capital Monday. Happy weekend, everyone! :)

· June 6 We are going to the market this morning, then worshiping this evening with the church here. I am sure the market will be interesting...

· June 7 Today we will spend some time in Mission Upreach's office to observe a staff meeting. After the meeting we head back to Tegucigalpa. On the way, I am SO excited about stopping at some of the artesania shops to see the handmade things they have for sale!! I really want a hammock! :) We spend the night in TGU then head ...to the airport tomorrow for our flight back to HSV. I am missing my sweet kiddos SO badly!

· June 8 I just flushed my toilet paper! Do you know what that means?? We are in the United States of America again! Specifically Georgia right now but we'll land in Hsu at 8pm, Lord willing!

· June 9 What a long, amazing 11 days we have had! God is busy in Honduras! We are so thankful for your prayers...seeing the kids run to us tonight may be one of my favorite memories ever! So glad to be home...

· June 17 I am SO thankful for my first day of NOTHING in a solid month!!! "Hi, Facebook and Blog, I don't know if you remember me, but my name is Stacy. It's nice to spend some quality time with you again!!" The kids are loving this day--breakfast and Toy Story, swimming, lunch, swinging in hammocks, swimming...well--that's ...as far as they've gotten! :)

· June 17 ‎5 minutes after I did bedtime with the kids and came downstairs I hear J's pitter-patter across the floor. I noticed she's in the bathroom, "needing" to go potty again after going only 10 mins ago. I put on my "Mommy voice" and told her to finish going potty, get in the bed and I better not hear her again tonight. She ...said, "Mommy, I don't like you talking to me like that. If I do the right rules, will you be nice?"

· June 23 Whoever has the voo-doo doll that made me get up an a totally unreasonable hour just to move my body, then made me mow the grass before my boy-child even woke up--I'm warning you! Give that doll back--this girl is not a morning person!

· June 30 So....if one were to find a $3 cake server/storer at Wal-Mart, what should their logical next step be?? To make a cake, duh! :)

· July 2 Jordan was sitting in the floor playing with our toy laptop. I asked her, "Hey, girl...are you practicing your letters?" She replied, "No...I'm just texting." Good grief.

· July 9 One of Jon's and my friends form Harding-Freddy Piraino-had to have an 11 hr emergency open heart surgery Weds. He was given a 50/50 chance of making it. He has been a little more responsive today. This guy has a huge heart and would do anything for anyone. Please join us in praying his heart holds strong.

· July 12 My kids learned how to swim last week--so crazy!! I posted videos on my blog if you want to check it out!

· July 12 Update on our friend Freddy--his wall posts indicate the following: They've closed his chest up, apparently confident that the work they've done will hold. Started dialysis to help his body remove some of the medications that are in his system from surgery. Breathing mostly on his own, but the O2 will stay in for a while as a backup. Now, they are waiting on him to wake up. Thanks for praying, everyone...keep it up!

· July 13 My kids are in a bad whining phase of complaining and saying they don't like anything I make before they even know what it is. Tonight I made Cheesy Chicken and Rice and put it in tortillas with shredded cheese. Sounds decent, right? Well, my kids were whining as soon as I got the pan out. I felt a little bit affirmed,... though, when Jordan took a bite and said, "Wow! This is gooder than I fought (thought)!"

· July 14 If you know me, you know I love Mr. Clean Magic Erasers...Well, I found some crayon marks on the walls but didn't have any Erasers. I've been wanting to try out a theory anyways--well, I put BAKING SODA on a wet cloth, scrubbed the wall, and the crayon is GONE!! It may be a fluke, but I'll be trying it again if the opportunity presents itself. Just wanted you to know! :)

· July 14 Is there a teenager who might could get to church at 6:15 to watch my kids play on the playground while Jon and I in a meeting? It will just involve sitting on the playground and texting me if excessive bleeding or bone breaking is taking place... :)

· July 15 To all my praying friends: Please lift our friend Freddy and his family up right now. I just got an update saying his doctors doubt he will make it through the day. He has put up a good fight but his body is shutting down. His family is going to need a lot of prayers...

· July 15 Today our good friend, Freddy Louis Piraino passed on from this life. He was an amazing son, brother, and friend. Please send up prayers on behalf of all of those who will miss him, especially his family. This is a picture from January 2000--this is how I will remember Freddy, young and full of life. We'll miss you, friend.

· July 18 Yes. Yes that was me taking pictures of hilarious cards because I cant afford to buy them. Dont bad-talk me-or I wont text you one!

· July 19 Listening to Georgia on my Mind as we pass through Georgia...I wonder if we can maintain state-themed music the whole trip...

· July 19 I was flipping through the cds when Jon asked 'do we have any rock?' Then he looked over and remembered who hes on this trip with. So then we looked for a country, christian or spanish cd. i know. im so non-musically cultured!

· July 19 Goodbye, TN. Hello Virginia. I spent 30 minutes looking for a TN song in my 'collection'. Best I could do was Tennessee River by Alabama. I know its really about AL, though. A Virginia songs gonna be tough...

· July 19 Pretty sure I have the advantage on the Pringles can. I canwget my hand down to the bottom--Jon can only go finger-deep. :)

· July 19 Just in case you aspire to be on American Idol but cant afford a microphone to practice into, empty Pringles cans work well too. Just sayin'.

· July 19 The GPS is good and bad. We arent getting lost. Thats good. Jon is trying to shave minutes off of the ETA. That is causing me stress.

· July 19 Just announcing to those of you who have been engaged in my play-by play on FB-my battery only has one bar so i will have to be more frugal w my usage. 147mi to go-not too bad!

· July 19 We are passing through West Virginia for a few minutes...Alabama's 40-hr week: Hello West-Vir-Gin-Ia Coal Miners!

· July 19 Crossing the Potomac River...that makes us in MARYLAND! 3 mi to hotel. Sadly I think we dont have a MD song...5 states out of 6 not bad...

· July 20 Today is going to be a day that is full of both tears and laughter. Saying goodbye to a friend is never an easy thing to do...but reuniting with friends after too many years apart is sure to lighten the mood. I am sure God meant for thos two things to go hand-in-hand.

· July 20 ‎9 Harding Friends in DC for a few hours? Yes please! :)

· July 20 We spent the morning celebrating Freddy's life, and lunch laughing at memories...his ability to put a smile on faces won't fade. Then we spent a beautiful afternoon walking DC. I just wish we had made it happen before the circumstances brought us together. I will always remember this day.

· July 20 Grrr...I have been trying almost an hour and I cannot fall asleep! My driving shift starts in 3 hours! I must fall asleep!

· July 20 Just passed a rest area...''Look at all those sleeping trucks...'' :)

· July 21 Home. Tired. Wow.

· July 21 Sigh. Going back to your own car after driving a current-year rental is always a little sad...

· July 22 I was just looking at my profile from this week and our trip up to Maryland and I wanted to thank everyone for your support, encouraging comments and friendly banter on all my posts!!! You all helped make a lot of time pass funnily and quicklly! :) I HAVE AWESOME FRIENDS! :)

· July 23 Does anyone want a stack of magazines? They are old magazines including some Country Living, Car Craft, Time, Oprah, etc. Let me know!

· July 23 Corn, rice and spaghetti: the 3 things that are nearly impossible to wipe/sweep until they are dried back out...

· July 25 Jordan just told me, ''Mommy! God made my tummy not have a headache anymore!''

· July 25 Jordan's prayer: Dear God, Thank you for this day and my bible class and my bible teachers and thank you for the food we ate today and, Mom, can I thank God for the squash? (yes) okay, and thank you for the yummy squash and thank you for apple pie and for the frosting on the cake and thank you for Jesus and dear God, Amen.

· July 26 Jon ran then unloaded the dishwasher last night, so it was empty this morning. I set myself a goal of keeping the dishes out of the sink all day by loading what I used as I used it. Granted, it's only one day, but by golly I did it! I have also kept laundry running all day, and have folded each load as it came out of t...he dryer. That (in a word)(for me) is remarkable. :) Happy Monday!

· July 31 Lord, You are greater than my heart; You know everything in me...and when I doubt your love, you are faithful; when I forget your grace, you remind me; and when I lose my way, you will find me, oh Lord, my Savior and my God.

· July 31 What a long, fun day!! We spent the day in West Tennessee visiting family at our every-five-year reunion. I am SO tired, though!!! Funny quote of the day came from Jordan tonight while I was changing her out of her swimsuit to her jammies: "Mommy, I went lots and lots of peepee by the 5, and it felt really really warm!!!" Then she just started laughing. :)

· Aug 4 Pounding headache today bc of no caffiene. So Jon brings me yummy SteakOut tea. Headache gone but now I may be up all night. Cant win for losing!

· Aug 9 My baby girl is now somehow a big, energetic, sweet yet sassy, beautiful 4 year old! Happy, happy birthday to Jordan! I love you, sweet girl!

· Aug 13 At the end of this evening, I am taking a moment to bask in my blessings--I am so thankful for the amazing friends God brought us to in Huntsville. Some days it may be easy to get busy and overlook the good things that I am showered with, but then there are days where it can be made no more evident to me that God is me...eting my every need, and he often uses the amazing people in my life to do it.

· Aug 20 We've been doing a lot of schoolwork lately, and both of my kids are really enjoying it! I was delighted this morning while we were cleaning up and Lawson told me that I could come in his room and sit on his "lower-case bed", which in lay-man's terms would just be his plain "bottom bunk"! :)

· Aug 22 Power's out. I guess that's a good way to get me to stop reading and go to sleep! G'nite!

· Aug 31 So, Jordan just asked me, "Mommy, when we were stuck in your tummy, did we have any toys in there to play with?" No, dear. Sorry. I'm afraid not. :)

· Sept 1 When they call my name to defend my reputation there is only one thing I can say:
'I'm a wretch, I'm a worm, I'm a no good sinner.' But He said, 'I'll save you anyway.' Praise God I'm saved, like the sinner on the cross!

· Sept 1 So take me as you find me, all my fears and failures; fill my life again. I give my life to follow everything I believe in; now I surrender.

· Sept 1 The cat is working its way out of the bag, so we might as well make it "Facebook official"! God has been doing some amazing things in our lives lately, and we have decided to follow His calling. We are planning on moving to Honduras early Summer 2011 and we can't wait to see what else he has in store for us!

· Sept 2 The cat is working its way out of the bag, so we might as well make it "Facebook official"! God has been doing some amazing things in our lives lately, and we have decided to follow His calling. We are planning on moving to Honduras early Summer 2011 and we can't wait to see what else he has in store for us!

· Sept 3 This is a 5-minute video we made to play in the youth group room Wednesday night when we announced our decision to move to Honduras. It got a lot of laughs, and I had a lot of fun looking through old memories to make it! :)

· Sept 13 Why am I so darn distract-able? I sat down fully intending on writing a couple blogs. I successfully read some of my old blogs, watched old videos of my kids, and caught up on Facebook. Bah...maybe I'll catch up on my blog next week...

· Sept 14 I am thankful for this sunny fall-ish day!!! My family is strong and healthy. Two friends had babies while I slept last night, and another is having her baby today. During a rough week last week, my friends proved, yet again, the amazing support we have here. God's blessings are all around...open your eyes and recognize them...then be THANKFUL! Have a great day! :)

· Sept 17 I am trying to price Jon's golf club set for our yard sale tomorrow. Anyone have any recommendations? The name on most of the clubs says Perfect Beat, but when I google that nothing comes up! Is it possible that this is a brand that has nothing online and nothing used for sale anywhere for me to compare??? Help!!!

· Sept 17 There is a neighborhood yard sale in Sherwood Park tomorrow and we are having a sale at our house (Saturday morning)! Come on by--we'd be glad to see you! And of course, I'll sell you some of our junk...errrr...treasure! :)

· Sept 28 I wasn't feeling well over the weekend, and yesterday was terrible...but today was MUCH better! After a few days of laying around resting, my house is a mess, my laundry is behind and our schedule is a little off...but the one bonus?? I am almost completely caught up on my blog and our summer is (almost completely) documented!! Wooohooo! There goes one of the things that was weighing on my mind!

· Sept 30 One of the ladies in the childcare room at Bible Study yesterday told me that she over heard Jordan talking to one of her friends on the play phone. She said, "Hey! I just need to see if you can watch my kids so I can go to Bonco. So I was just checking to see if you'd watch my kids." I don't know WHERE she heard t...hat, but I'm gonna have to pay more attention to who she hangs around! ;)

· Oct 3 I was looking for that verse, 'and if your nose causes you not to be able to breathe, cut it off...' but I cant find it. Maybe I'm confusing it with something else. I am, however, weary of my intermittent ability to breathe and am ready for this congestion to go bother someone else. Not YOU, of course, but someone else.

· Oct 20 I was looking for that verse, 'and if your nose causes you not to be able to breathe, cut it off...' but I cant find it. Maybe I'm confusing it with something else. I am, however, weary of my intermittent ability to breathe and am ready for this congestion to go bother someone else. Not YOU, of course, but someone else.

· Oct 26 Anyone else's power out? Ours has been out about 45 minutes... We didnt even have severe weather here, just about 15 minutes of heavy rain. Thats it.

· Oct 26 What do you do when your power's been out for 2.5 hrs? Go to see Toy Story 3 at the dollar movies, of course!

· Nov 3 MYM--my SH Fall Retreat pics are up. If it weren't 1am, and if I weren't falling asleep at the computer, I might tag some of you. Feel free to take a peek and tag yourselves! :)

· Nov 6 ‎'Beginnings are usually scary and endings are usually sad, but it's what in the middle that counts.' -Hope Floats

· Nov 11 Since I was a little girl, this quote on one of my dad's Marine portraits has meant so much to me... 'For those who have fought for it, freedom has a taste the protected will never know.' I am sincerely grateful to @Clyde Threlkeld and all of the others who have risked their lives or made the ultimate sacrifice for this nation's freedom.

· Nov 24 Yep. You can all be sad you just missed that heartfelt rendition of The Little Mermaid's 'Part of that World' by my macho man Jon Stacy. :)

· Nov 25 First time to start shopping on Tgiving night. Standing guard by one pallet while Jameys standing guard at another one. They take the shrink wrap off in 45 min. A lady near me is chillin in the camp chair she brought. We may be a little crazy but at least it'll be a good show! Heres to some deals!

· Nov 26 Left at 1015pm. Drove by ToysRUs but the line was looong. So Walmart to stand by the things Jamey wanted for 1.5hrs. MADNESS. Then to TRU again for a 2 hrs. Tried to eat at IHOP but crazy-didnt they know theyd be the only ones open. Left to stand in line 1 hr to go in Target and 1 hr to get out. Then 1 hr at Kohls. Then Hardees. Then bed. SO CRAZY BUT SO FUN!

· Dec 5 SO...I guess it's about time to announce even more news for this year! Jon and I (and our kids) are thrilled to announce that we are 'unexpectedly' expecting Baby #3 in May of 2011! God is teaching us that He just lets us 'think' we are making our own plans sometimes, but then he shows us that He has a plan for us. ...

· Dec 14 It has been a long day, but it's worth it to celebrate Lawson's 6th birthday!! I can't believe he is getting so big! I love that kid more and more every day!

· Dec 24 The kids and I are so excited to pick up Jon at the airport-we've been away from him for a week! Im also not upset that he's delayed about 30 min bc w these preggo hormones, it's like I'm watching a mini-Hallmark movie every time a family has a reunion in front of me!

· Dec 25 You're welcome, Huntsville. It snowed because we are not in town. Its a very Merry Christmas here in OK, though. Its great to spend time with family-the kids are having a blast with their cousins. Have a great day, everyone!

* Dec 31 At Chick-Fil-A in Memphis, the 2 couples next to me have talked about the following things during the past 30 min: goose hunting, pillow pets, eye surgery, saltine crackers, Dora, the beach, Boss Hogg, and the black tie event they are going to tonite. How interesting!

Bring it on, 2011!

New Year's Eve

2010-12-31T19:50:00.000-06:00

The kids and I made the trip home from Oklahoma Thursday and Friday, arriving home around 4:30pm on New Year's Eve. We were so excited to be home after 2 weeks away, and we were all super excited to see Jon again. We didn't have any big plans, and I was tired from driving, so we decided to have another Family Game Night.

We played Cars Dominoes, Bingo, Candyland, and Mancala. Then we worked on some puzzles, and played with Lawson's new train tracks for his train set. Jon even played Barbies with Jordan! Before we knew it, we were waiting for the ball to drop...
The kids and I had talked about New Year's Eve a little bit on the trip, and they were super excited to stay up and ring in the new year with us. We had so much fun with just our own little family, and it was nice to put them right to bed after midnight and get a good night's sleep!

Happy New Year!!

The rest of our Oklahoma trip

2010-12-30T19:26:00.000-06:00

Here are some pictures of the less Christmas-specific events during our visit to Oklahoma. The kids and I drove in Fri and Sat (the 17-18th) and Jon's parents picked up Maddison and CJ the 18th, so for the first whole week all four of the grandkids were there. They had such a fun time playing and watching movies. Kathy and I put up the Christmas tree then let the kids decorate all the ornaments, which they loved. This is a picture of them holding hands and singing silly songs around the tree...Monday the 20th we had a really warm day, so the kids played outside in the yard and I put up their lighted deer and trees in the yard. We also had a grocery list that we had planned on buying to make dinner, but I was so excited when Kathy said we could go eat at Chili's instead!
One night the kids spent forever sitting in the same chair giggling their heads off and being so silly. I had so much fun taking a ton of pictures...here are some of my favorites....

This is the big kids showing me their 'hangey balls' in the back of their throats!
CJ roaming around the house. He parked himself under the high chair...
The kids eating the ice cream sundaes that we made at home...
Jenny and Corey came in Thursday afternoon, and Jon flew in Friday morning. We spent the weekend celebrating Christmas and worshiping together. Jenny and Corey left Monday morning and CJ went home with them, so for the second week it was just the big kids. Monday night we went to see Tangled and eat at Red Robin. Tuesday night the kids played all day and then we went to eat at Rib Crib. Wednesday Jon flew home.

Jordan and Maddison in their matching jammies...
Lawson, Jordan, Maddison
The kids being silly in Papa's lap. I came to take a picture and he told them, "Quick! Everyone fall asleep!"
Our last morning...we have just gotten the cars all loaded up and are ready to get into the cars, but we need one last picture, of course!
And now, Nana and Papa with the kids. This is proof that they survived 2 weeks with a ton of loud, crazy company! I am sure that they were looking forward to having a quiet night of watching the shows they wanted after we were all gone!
We had such a wonderful visit and are so glad that we got to spend time with Papa, Nana, Maddison, CJ, Aunt Jenny and Uncle Corey!!

The Sunday after Christmas

2010-12-28T19:20:00.001-06:00

Nana wanted to get the kids matching outfits to wear since they'd all be at church the Sunday after Christmas. The girls' outfits came with matching outfits for their baby dolls, which they loved...
The stairstep grandkids...CJ--21 months, Jordan--4 1/2, Lawson--6, Maddison--7

Christmas Day

2010-12-27T16:08:00.000-06:00

Can you see the excitement? They can't wait to go around that corner and see what might have been left under the tree!! The adults were all happy that no one even woke up until about 8am! I can handle that!
Santa came! Santa came!Pillow pets for all the kids from Santa, plus lots of goodies from Papa and Nana! The kids all had a blast seeing their pillow pets, digging stuff out of their stockings and opening their presents.
Nana and Lawson
Nana and Jordan
Nana and Maddison
Nana and CJWhat a mess!!!
Papa with CJ and Jordan and the gifts Ms. Becky helped them make for Nana and Papa.
Jordan showing Papa her handprint wreath.
Lawson and Jon playing with Lawson's How to Train your Dragon dragons from Papa and Nana
Mommy and Jordan brushing Rapunzel's long hair
Time for breakfast! How many cooks in the kitchen?
And the kids retired to Papa and Nana's bed for the rest of the day to lay on their pillow pets and watch their new movies! It was nice for the adults--we got a break from watching Christmas movies!

Santa's Cookies

2010-12-26T15:49:00.004-06:00

We spent a couple weeks in Oklahoma over Christmas visiting Jon's family, and we made lots of memories--There will be several posts about our time in OK.

On Christmas Eve I helped the kids make Santa's cookies. They were super excited to help, and besides the measuring they did it all, pretty much. They took turns dumping the ingredients, doing the mixer and stirring.My silly kids started singing O Christmas Tree into the whisk...
and their cousin Maddison joined in too!
Mixing...
and dumping...
and watching Polar Express while waiting...
Each kid got to choose a cookie cutter shape to cut out for Santa...
And they all had something to carry...
and set out for Santa!
Then, of course, they wanted a taste too! So they got to have a small square of cookie. Yum! Smile!
Now make silly faces!!!
Now it's time for bed! Tomorrow is Christmas!!!

Toothless. The Awesome Disaster.

2010-12-16T15:29:00.000-06:00

For Lawson's birthday this year, he went through several different kinds of cakes he wanted before he decided on How to Train your Dragon. I thought and thought about what I could make, and talked to him about just having a Toothless cake (the main dragon in the movie). He thought that was a great idea. I thought I had a great idea to make an awesome cake. I've said it before--they do it on Cake Boss, how hard can it be? :)I started by making a 3-layer 9x13 chocolate cake. Then I made Rice Krispie Treats and shaped them into Toothless. My idea was to use wooden sticks to prop the dragon form in the air so it would look like it was flying over the clouds...
It was a decent idea, but there were a few problems...I did it way too early, I needed more support than wooden sticks, and I didn't anticipate the weight of the frosting. Before we even left for the party Toothless had slid down the sticks considerably:
When we arrived at Cicis and I started icing him, his whole body started sliding down the sticks quickly, endangering the rest of the cake. Jon helped me rescue the cake (as much as possible) and we decided to just take the sticks out and lay him across the cake.

At that point Lawson came up and told me it was an awesome cake that looked just like Toothless. That was good enough for me! That's the only reason I try to make an awesome cake--I want my kids to love it!
It lasted that way a while, until his head started drooping, the wing started falling off, the tail spun off and broke and then the head finally came off. It really was a disaster...but Lawson loved it so that's all that matters!
Happy Birthday Bud!

Pizza Party!

2010-12-15T15:21:00.001-06:00

This year for Lawson's birthday party we had a pizza party at Cici's Pizza. We were getting ready to go to Oklahoma in a couple days for Christmas, so we had the party on Lawson's real birthday, the 14th. The kids all had a great time playing in the arcade, being silly with each other, and eating lots of pizza and cake! It was a super easy but super fun party!!

Cheese!!!

Six is so big...

2010-12-14T15:16:00.001-06:00

It is amazing to me that I have a six-year-old. Six is so much bigger than a baby or a toddler or a pre-schooler. I am grateful to God daily for the growth and health of this sweet boy. I am thankful for the support that our family and friends provide as we try to raise him to love the Lord. I know this kid's got a bright future. I can't wait to see it! :)

Happy 6th Birthday Lawson!

Lawson's Milestone

2010-12-13T14:55:00.003-06:00

Last night, after weeks of a super-wiggly tooth, Lawson lost his first tooth! Jon did the deed by yanking hard with a piece of paper towel wrapped over it. Only 2 days before his 6th birthday, he has been feeling the pressure of losing a tooth for a while now. It has been revealed to me that every age has its own forms of peer pressure. Adults feel pressure to succeed in work and life. Teenagers feel pressure to go to certain parties, or make out with certain people or drink certain things. Apparently for ages 5-6, the peer pressure is to have lost teeth, or at least have loose ones. Lawson's friend Abby Kate has already lost 3 teeth, and up to this point Lawson and Abby Kate's brother, Joshua, have been comparing notes every time they see each other to see if they've gotten any loose teeth or lost any since the last time they've met. Even Jordan now imagines that she has loose teeth--she'll tell me her tooth is loose, and when I check and find it still firmly grounded she laughs and tells me she was just pretending. Amazing, the minds of children, I tell ya.
Lawson was so excited he had to call all the grandparents and tell them about his exciting news. This morning, Lawson was thrilled to wake up and find that the Tooth Fairy had taken his tooth and replaced it with a sucker and 4 shiny quarters! I didn't know the Tooth Fairy brought suckers, but apparently one of the characters on WordWorld got a sucker from the Tooth Fairy so now she does.

This is new territory for us...gone are the days of fully-toothed smiles in pictures. For at least the next decade, I fear...

Game Night!!

2010-12-07T11:43:00.000-06:00

Jon has been working so much lately that we love doing things together on the nights he's off. The kids are getting older, and they both LOVE to play games and do puzzles. Last night Jon had the night off so we decided to eat dinner then have a Family Game Night. We've done this a couple times before, too, but the kids were SUPER excited when we told them the plans. They took turns picking games to do...Those that made the line-up include Cootie, Chutes and Ladders, Toy Story Yahtzee, I Remember and Classic Memory. We stopped to make a snack of popcorn and hot cocoa, then we finished off with puzzles. Lawson and Jon worked on a 100 piece Toy Story puzzle, and Jordan and I did several smaller, 24 piece puzzles.

I love this stage with my kids--they are such fun little people!!

Not quite an earthquake, but definitely a shock!

2010-12-05T20:27:00.000-06:00

It's kind of funny, sometimes, how things work out. No matter how much we think we are planning our own lives and determining how things will work out, somehow God always has a way of showing us that we only think we are in control of things. I'm not saying that planning isn't good, we've been doing a lot of that ourselves lately. I am learning, though, on a case by case basis that I need to have a lot more trust in the truths God has shared with us about how he will meet our needs and provide on a daily basis. I'm learning to be more flexible, so that I can fit in easier into the plans that He has for us. This is way easier to say than do, especially when we find ourselves in the middle of a 'lesson'.

As many of you know, Jon and I have committed our family to serve in the mission field, specifically Honduras, for the next 3-5 years. We had planned on moving around May 26, 2011. We thought this timing was perfect--we would be here for the whole school year, but then get to Honduras just in time to be involved with the groups who would come work with our mission during the summer. We thought our timing was perfect.

Then we got a surprise! A shock. Our own personal earthquake. On Friday, September 17th, I got a A++ on 3 different pregnancy tests, and a November visit to the doctor confirmed that we are officially expecting our 3rd child on May 25th. The day before we were supposed to move. Wow!

Talk about mixed emotions! I'm going to be real here, because sugarcoating it and saying that immediately I thought this was GREAT news would be a bold-faced lie! This has to qualify close to the top of the list for "Gut-wrenching change of plans" of my life. Those first few weeks were really a roller coaster for me. Kind of excited about a new baby, but really confused and upset about the timing. Upset that this would drastically change the role I would be able to play in the mission field--going from 2 big kids to 2 big kids and a newborn. Upset about facing the choice of either moving much earlier than we had planned, or several months later. Embarrassed that people might think we were irresponsible in 'letting this happen', especially with all the other plans we'd been making. Then, I was upset and feeling terribly guilty about feeling upset about being pregnant. What kind of mother am I, anyways? What kind of mother feels upset about learning that there is a gift from God growing inside her at that very moment? It was an experience I've never felt before.

It actually took me about 4-6 weeks to get to the point that I felt I could even tell my closest friends. Jon was so irritated with me--he wanted to tell right away. I couldn't, though. I wanted to wait to see if I could arrive at the point of being excited about this baby...I hated the thought of telling people that we were expecting but being so sad and upset about it that our friends walked away with the feeling that it was 'bad news'. I had to wait until it really was 'good news' to me!

Over the course of several weeks I came to my senses. I was able to become excited about this new baby...excited about the plans God had in store for this precious little surprise he has gifted us with!

When we told the kids they became ECSTATIC! They started talking about how much fun it would be to have a little baby in the house. They talked about how much they could help and what they would help me do. Lawson said he could feed the baby and Jordan said she could put the baby to sleep. Lawson said he wanted a brother, and Jordan said she wanted a sister.

The first thing Lawson said was, "Well, if we are going to have a baby, we'll have to think of a name to call it!" I said, "Yes, we will!" Lawson said, "If the baby is a girl, I think a perfect name will be Josie, like on that show 19 Kids and Counting, where they say, '...and our latest, tiny, precious addition, Josie...'. If it's a boy, we can name him, um, James." (I couldn't believe he quoted the line from when that show comes on!) I told him, "That sounds nice, but Lawson, your middle name is James." He said, "It's okay. I don't use it very much. The baby can have it too!"

As we've told people the news, God has really used our friends to encourage us and to build us up. We have had nothing but positive reactions and encouraging comments. It really was an answer to my prayers, especially since I was so discouraged at first.

Jon and I are thrilled to announce that we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of this very special 3rd Stacy baby. One day, I wonder how this baby may feel if he/she looks back and sees how I felt when I learned the news. I hope that I will be able to encourage him/her with knowing that he/she was a big part of some lessons God was teaching us at the time. I know that this baby will be a blessing to me, and to our whole family, and I am excited about getting to witness the experience my kids will have of having a little baby brother or sister around. I am definitely sure...this baby is Great news!

Thanksgiving in Montgomery

2010-11-28T16:45:00.003-06:00

As always, we had a wonderful time spending Thanksgiving weekend with our friend in Montgomery--the Simpsons. I especially love that the kids are old enough to be as excited about our weekend together as the adults are! Our kids were all talking about it and excited for weeks before the trip!

We drove down Wednesday night after Jon got off work and spent the next 3 1/2 days talking, laughing, cooking, eating, shopping and playing. The kids played a lot, and watched an excessive amount of movies!!
This year I didn't take a picture of our food spread, but it was glorious, as always! We all stuffed our tummies and then, because it was such a pretty day, we went outside and played around on Kenny's brother's scooter. The kids (and most of the grown-ups) had a blast scootin' around the block and taking turns on the regular bikes when it wasn't their turn...I hate that I didn't have a picture of Avery...You may have noticed no one had helmets on...they weren't going very fast, and we also encountered a 'difficulty' when Jon tried to wear the one we did have! :)
Of course Jamey and I went Black Friday shopping, but this year we started at 10:30 Thursday night and didn't get home until 6:30 Friday morning! Of course the guys went to a playoff game Friday night and the kids and moms went to the Burger King with a playplace. Of course we went to Steak and Shake Saturday night (following a new-to-the-schedule and oh-so-fun trip of bowling!)

Sunday we worshiped together and ate at out at a Mexican restaurant b/c we were all sick of Thanksgiving food...here are a couple pics of the kids playing on the fence outside the restaurant:

This was our 8th Thanksgiving to celebrate together--we've gone from 'fresh-out-of-college' friends to new parents to watching our kids grow before our very eyes...it has been a most enjoyable journey together. This is one of the things I will miss most about life in the USA--this weekend has become a treasured time for our families and I can't wait to resume our tradition when we come back!

Endings and Beginnings

2010-11-05T23:55:00.008-05:00

Beginnings are scary. Endings are usually sad, but it's what's in the middle that counts. So, when you find yourself at the beginning, just give hope a chance to float up. And it will. --Birdee Pruitt (Sandra Bullock) Hope Floats

The ironic thing about this statement is that oftentimes you must encounter the beginnings and the endings at the same time, and for people like me, that can turn into a pretty emotional predicament.

For the past hour and a half, I have been laying in bed trying to fall asleep, but my thoughts won't allow me to stop crying. Every time I think I'm done, I look at my kids' doors or think of any of a million different memories that are running through my head and the waterworks start again. I wouldn't consider myself an overly emotional person, but when it hits me, it hits hard!

You see, tonight is our last night to spend the night in our home. Tomorrow we will load our furniture into a U-haul and drive a few miles away to unload, and tomorrow we will spend our first night in our rental house. I wasn't expecting to be so overcome with emotion and memories, but I can't stop thinking about all the things over the last 4 years that have helped to shape our family into who we are today. When we moved into this house almost four years ago, Jordan was only 4 months old. Lawson had just turned 2. With the privilege of staying home with them, I have had the joy of seeing every growth and change they have experienced.

Jordan ate her first food here and said her first words here and took her first steps here. Lawson 'helped' his daddy and me as we stripped wallpaper and knocked out walls. We have changed almost every square inch of wall in this house. We've done papers at this house. We've oooh'ed and aaahh'ed at our Christmas decorations. We've read countless stories and played countless games. We've danced to the iPod and sung silly songs. We've played in the yard and raked billions of pine needles. We've learned letters and numbers and colors and shapes. Lawson started Kindergarten and is learning how to read.

Pretty much, what any family does in their home, I guess--nothing special. And the reason we're moving is an exciting one. We're only going to be in this rental house for a few months because it is our transition home before we move to Honduras next year. Our whole family is excited about that.

Tonight, though, I find myself torn between the emotions that Birdee expressed in Hope Floats. Tonight, I am sad that our wonderful time of making memories in this house will end. I am sad because I feel like we are leaving our home. Tonight I am also scared. Tomorrow is scary because it is our first permanent change that shows we have committed our family to service in the mission field. In my mind, this is the beginning of our transition to the new place that will become our family's home. Very soon, I trust that my excitement will return. for right now though, I will allow myself to just feel the reality that we have put ourselves into a situation that is perhaps a bit uncertain. And I realize that uncertainty is sometimes just a little bit scary.

The best part of this, though, is that part about hope. God gave us our emotions, and feeling them is a good, natural thing. He also gave us something else, though, that allows our souls to remain centered and stable and at peace no matter what our mind may be thinking at any given moment. I may be feeling a little bit sad, but my God has given me a joy that can overcome any sadness. He gave me a power than can overcome any fear. He gave me a peace that can withstand any storm.

It's okay to spend some time looking back and reflecting, but I also must boldly move forward, in faith, to the new places he is sending us. I'm ready. Let's do this.

A walk down memory lane...

Stripping wallpaper-December 2006Jordan helping Mommy cook in the new house--Feb 2007 Lawson and Jordan--Christmas 2006
Growing right up--May 2007
"At the office"--October 2008
My, how they've grown! --October 2010
Last night in the place we've called home for the past 4 years--November 5, 2010

Sweet dreams babies!

Jack-O-Lanterns 2010

2010-10-26T22:35:00.001-05:00

Saturday night we carved our jack-o-lanterns so we could make our front porch more festive!
Gross!!!
The kids cleaned out most of the goop, but Jon and I helped some. Then we spent forever google-ing images that the kids would like for their faces. Lawson wanted a scary face. Jordan wanted a 'pretty' face. Do you know how hard it is to find a jack-o-lantern face that is pretty?

Well, we brought them out to the front yard and made them close their eyes while Jon lit them...
And here they are...
Those are some pretty proud kiddos!

My Best Friend's Wedding

2010-10-14T22:02:00.000-05:00

I was so excited to be able to travel to Michigan at a time that coincided with my friend Joann's wedding! All through high school Joann and I were best friends. We hung out all the time, and even after I moved away I always made it a point to swing by her house and catch up. Until Facebook came along, she was the only high school friend I had kept up with at all.
We have so many funny stories and shared memories. One of the ones that Jon thinks is so funny is one I told him about when she and I had gone on a bike ride. Up north, every road has sidewalks, and this particular day I was in front. I was going pretty fast, and before I ever had the chance to stop, slow down or turn, I noticed that the utility company had broken out one square of the sidewalk (I guess to work on a pipe). Well, the hole they left was just the size of my front wheel, so my front wheel sunk right into that hole, lodged itself, and the rest of my bike (and subseuently, me) saw fit to continue moving in an arch over said lodged front wheel. The final picture was me on the sidewalk with my bike laying on top of me, with Joann (who had seen the whole ordeal) running up yelling, "Stac! Stac! Stac! Are you okay?" She was genuinely concerned about me...but as soon as I told her that I was okay she BURST out laughing and said, "Thank goodness!! That looked awful, but it was SOOOOO funny!!!"

Another memory is when we went to eat dinner at a restaurant/bar called Roger's Roost. We went into the bathroom at the end of our meal. In the bathroom there was a huge (6-foot-ish) Indian statue with a loin cloth over his 'stuff'. There was a sign that said "Do not, under any circumstances, look under this cloth." Well, of course my friends dared me to lift the cloth. Just because. And because I was young and immature and didn't like to turn down a dare, I looked. I figured, "Who would ever even know?" Well, the second I lifted the cloth, I didn't even think to look to see what was under there because sirens started blaring and red strobe lights started flashing. I panicked and ran out of the bathroom. As soon as I stepped out a manager started approaching me, so I turned and ran out of the restaurant and the manger chased me out to the parking lot. My friends were dying laughing and I thought for sure that I was in some big trouble...but the manager just said, "Ma'am, I just wanted to give you this..." I looked down and he handed me a pin-on button that said 'Peek-a-boo Club'.

So many memories!

I truly have been blessed by having her as a friend. I am so thankful I was able to see her get married and start the next stage in her life.

Joann is such a kind-hearted person. She is genuine and loving. She loves her family more than anything, and is so loyal to them. I always loved visiting her, and I love her parents too.

Her dad scared me a lot at first, but eventually he grew to love me and soon whenever I came by his face brightened up and he spread his arms for a big hug. Being Italy-born, he would proclaim with a thick Italian accent, "Ohhhh EhhStacy!! Joannnna will beeee sooo glaaaad to seeee youuuu!!" Then I would go in and Joann's mom would go downstairs to the extra freezer to bring up some of the home-made anise-flavored freezer cookies that I love. Such fond memories they helped make for me!
Jason and Joann at their reception
Me and my sweetie at the reception
It was a wonderful evening and Jon and I really enjoyed ourselves while we celebrated with Joann and her family!

Blast from the past

2010-10-09T21:25:00.000-05:00

This may be one of the coolest stories of my life. Well, there have been a few more exciting things, but seriously, I just love this!!

There's going to have to be some background information for this to appear as cool as it is, so here goes. Growing up, my family lived in the same yard all of my life. Our first house burned down when I was in 3rd grade, but we build another house in the same yard. I lived there until I went away to college. My parents, then just my mom lived there until a couple summers ago when they sold it during my parents' divorce. It was kind of sad to not have that house to come 'home' to, especially after growing up on the block--knowing the neighbors, being familiar with the area, etc. Well, that next fall my brother ended up buying the house that was next door to our old house. Is that crazy or what? Not many people buy the house next door to the house they grew up in, do they?

Now, on to the next part of the story. One year our school did a time capsule where we put special things away and sealed it for future generations to open and see what we thought was important at that time. My brother and I thought that was pretty cool, so we came home and decided to make our own time capsule. That's nothing spectacular--tons of kids make time capsules, I suppose. It was interesting, though, that we didn't bury the time capsule in our own back yard. Nope. We buried it in our next door neighbor's yard.

The yard my brother now owns.

Is that not crazy?

Well, the kids and I drove up to Michigan this week planning on attending my dad's wedding, as well as my high school best friend's wedding. My brother, Eric, and I were talking one afternoon about our time capsule and telling Jon, my dad, stepmom, stepsister and aunt about it and my dad chimes in that he has a metal detector--did we want to try to find it?

Well, yes, yes we did! I was almost giddy with excitement...

My brother with the metal detector. We both thought we had put it right by that brick wall. (The other side of that chain link fence is the yard that belongs to the house we grew up in.)
Beep beep beep beep beep!!! Right where we thought it was!!!Trying to get it open...we both remembered that we had put it in an old lunch box, and had wrapped up every thing in foil and plastic. Too bad we didn't realize how rusty and gross and deteriorated that would cause our time capsule to become!
How exciting!
A little clay clown that I had made in art class...
We couldn't remember what kind of lunch box we had used, but luckily there was just enough paint left that we could see. When we first saw the colors and rainbows we thought it was Rainbow Brite, or My Little Pony, but the winner was....Care Bears!
Close up of a few of the things we had put in--we think it must have been 1990 because of the Nintendo World Championship guide! So funny that my brother put that in there! He also put the Madball, the motorcycle and the deck of cards in.
Here is the whole loot--the big foil on the top left and the paper near it was a class picture but it was hard to see who was on it or what year it was...Also included was a bouncy ball, a coin, a school picture of Eric's best friend, a plastic doll fork and, because I've apparently always been an uber-nerd, I also included a math test on which I had received 100%. I know. Poke fun, I can take it! :)
I mean, how many people make a time capsule? On top of that, how many remember they made a time capsule, and remember where they put it? Even more, how many have access to the place where they buried it and actually go back to find it? Twenty years later?

I'm telling you. That's a cool story!

We finally did what everyone else was doing...

2010-10-05T20:50:00.000-05:00

Since we moved here, all I hear about every fall is how all our friends are going to Tate Farms and how many times a year they go and how many years in a row they've gone. Well, up until this year, we had never been.

Last year, our home school program had a field trip scheduled, but we were rained out 3 different times, then they didn't have any more dates to postpone us to. I was sad that I thought we'd get to go but ended up not going. This year we had another field trip scheduled, we decided to finally go and we had a great morning! The weather was beautiful and the kids had a wonderful time!

Cotton-pickin' kids!

Jordan and her cute little pumpkin she found herself!
Lawson picked a huge pumpkin he could barely carry.
Corn crib
The big slide
Sweet girl
Climbing the tire mountain
How tall this fall?
Best I could get...
We had such a wonderful day at the pumpkin patch, then we jumped right in the car and drove to Michigan to spend some time visiting friends and family. It's a busy fall, but we wouldn't have it any other way! :)

Jordan's Nail

2010-10-01T23:26:00.003-05:00

When we first moved into our house, we painted Jordan's room to match her crib bedding then I painted a sign that matched and glued wooden letters on to spell her name. It hung over her crib, and then later over her big bed, even though it didn't match anymore. One day I walked in to find that she had stood up, taken the sign off the nail, then pulled each letter off the canvas backing. I put the sign up in her closet, and for some reason I left the nail in the wall, not thinking anymore about it.Well, over the last couple years, Jordan has caused Jon and me to laugh so many times by the things she's hung on her nail 'just for a little decoration'. We have walked in to find pictures she's drawn and letters she's written stabbed on the nail, and a stuffed bear hung by it's ribbon collar. I thought I had more pictures of them, but just can't find any more...The one picture I do have, though, is probably of our favorite 'decoration':
I really need to paint that girl another sign! :)

Ahoy Matey!

2010-09-30T20:31:00.000-05:00

A friend of ours invited us on a field trip to see replicas of the Nina and Pinta that had sailed up to Ditto Landing, just south of town. It was beautiful weather and we had a great time seeing the ships, picnicking and playing with friends at a nearby playground. Here are a couple shots of the kids by the ships--in one of them they are being pirates.

Later that afternoon, all Lawson wanted to do was use the map I had bought him as a souvenir and be a pirate looking for treasure. Love how their imaginations keep them busy! :)

Skater Boy

2010-09-27T16:40:00.003-05:00

For Lawson's 4th birthday he asked for roller skates because he saw Curious George go roller skating on TV. We got him some RollerBlades because I found them on a great deal at an after-Thanksgiving sale with Jamey.

I love that they are adjustable and actually last for about 4 whole shoe sizes! That works out great because it turns out that he was really kind of small to use them back then, and since then he has gone in waves of wanting to put them on and skate around the house. He's always had pretty good balance on them, but he's been a little timid about pushing off to gain some speed and actually roll. Plus, they should still fit him for another 2 sizes!

This past week he has really been persistent in wanting to put his blades on and practice around the house, and Saturday afternoon after it quit raining I asked him if he wanted to try to skate on the driveway. He did, and we went out and he ended up skating for about an hour and 45 minutes! At first, I put on the old roller blades I had and showed him how to push off and get some speed, and after that he was on a mission to keep trying harder and harder!

Lawson, Jordan and I ended up going down our street and across the way to where the neighborhood's old tennis courts are, and had a cars-free place to practice. Jordan was on her bike, Lawson on his skates, and I was walking.

He's got a way to go, but for his first night of blading outside, I think he did GREAT!!

(By the way, he has on his Michigan t-shirt, blue athletic shorts, and his black soccer socks pulled all the way up...It's not tights!! :) He put the tall socks on so he wouldn't get blisters, and it ended up padding his knees and legs when he fell!)
The video's a little dark, but the sun was just about gone! And, he took a minor spill there at the very end, but I am proud of how hard he's trying and how he just gets up and goes again after he falls!

Just another sign that he's getting bigger by the minute!

Made-Up

2010-09-26T19:08:00.000-05:00

My mom got Jordan some play make-up for her birthday last month, and she LOVES getting it out and getting made up! The other day I guess she thought that the glittery, transparent gel for eyes and cheeks wasn't dark enough, because she spread the darker lipstick across both eyelids and the bridge of her nose! Then she dressed up in her Tinkerbell dress. Jon and I cracked up, but she was so proud of putting on her make-up, and we weren't going anywhere so we just let her be! She definitely has her own personality!!
To top it all off, when we went outside so Lawson could RollerBlade, she changed into her Sleeping Beauty dress and rode the streets glammed out--pretty in pink and on the princess bike, no less! :)

Not quite how I pictured it...

2010-09-25T20:43:00.000-05:00

This first picture was taken several weeks ago with my low-quality phone camera, so excuse the blurriness...but I just had to snap a shot!

When Jordan got this Dora castle and Lawson got his Bat Cave for Christmas last year, I wasn't sure if they would play with them very much. It turns out that they love to play with them, but it isn't quite how I pictured it would be!

I have walked in on this scene several times: They usually put both the castle and the Bat Cave down in the floor, then they proceed to attack the Dora castle with snakes and dinosaurs and spiders--all of Lawson's creepy, crawly stuff. Then, across the way, all of the Barbies get held hostage and locked up in the Bat Cave!! The other day I was helping them clean up the playroom and when I picked up the Bat Cave 4 Barbies fell out to the floor! I couldn't believe it!

Then, this morning, I went into the playroom and saw the following scene. Keep in mind, our Barbies have a couple different white and pink, very girly, princess-ey horses that they can choose from for their mode of transportation. But this particular Saturday morning, Belle must have wanted to take a walk on the wild side...

Like I said, I never really pictured this before! Well, at least they have good imaginations!

Little Mama

2010-09-24T19:46:00.000-05:00

The other day I walked in and saw Jordan sitting on our time-out chair reading on of her library books to her baby doll. It was so sweet I snapped a couple pics. She was making it up as she went along by looking at the pictures.
She didn't know I was there, so I took a little video. I was on the stairs, reaching my arm way over and she didn't see me until about a minute in when she looked up and saw the camera sticking out of the banister. She looks right at it, smiles at the camera, then keeps on going. I think it's just precious. One day I will be so glad I have this memory of my sweet little girl.

Flying High

2010-09-20T19:21:00.002-05:00

The kids have always begged to do the "jumpy things" at the mall, and I have always told them that we didn't have any extra money to do that. This weekend, after we had our yard sale I was excited because I thought it would be fun for them if we spent a little bit of the money we made letting them do this special treat.

When we told them, they were SO excited! As soon as they started jumping and realizing how high they were going they started to squeal and laugh! It was hilarious! I think it was borderline exciting/scary and it was tickling their stomachs. I am so glad we got to give them his experience.

Putt-Putting around...

2010-09-13T15:48:00.001-05:00

Last week we got a Buy a Game, Get a Game Free coupon for a local putt putt place in the mail, so Saturday we took the kids putt putt for the first time ever! I was so excited because I knew that even though they would be too little to bypass any frustration associated with the game (heck, I still get frustrated at that silly little game!) that they would be old enough to grasp the concept and enjoy the game. It was pretty hot, but boy was it a fun afternoon!

Here's Jon showing them how it's done...
Poor Jordan, she has the hardest time holding the club the right way. I don't know how many times Jon had to fix her hands! Good thing she's so darn cute! :)
But she can also be a little priss! Look at that stance!
Once Lawson did a few holes, he started to get the hang of it! He actually did a pretty good job.
Jordan was hilarious...She just dragged her club around after a while, guiding the ball this way and that, circling around and around the hole until it finally went in!

Got it!!!
Waiting patiently for his turn...
They LOVED going into this cave!
Line it up, girl!
Me and my boy...
WE LOVE PUTT PUTT!!!

The next Master?

2010-09-13T06:32:00.002-05:00

I just had to include this video of Jordan. It makes me smile. :)

Stinkin' adorable.

Hiking Rainbow Mountain

2010-09-03T10:01:00.005-05:00

It has been excruciatingly hot this summer, so at the slightest hint of a cooler day we decided to spend it outside! Yesterday the kids and I went up to Rainbow Mountain for a Nature Hike. We packed up a picnic lunch and got ourselves ready for a day of exploration in God's beautiful creation. We saw so many neat things, and had a really great day!!!

It is amazing to me how much bigger my kids are each time we do something like this...Every time we come they are able to do so much more, and they really enjoy being out in the woods!
The flat shady spot we found for lunch...
This picture makes me laugh...Lawson was being the leader, guiding us out of the rocky area. I told them to pay attention to where they put their feet and to not slip. Jordan couldn't figure out where to put both of her feet, and she ended up a little bit stuck and, um, 'over-extended'! It was so cute...she just couldn't figure out how to get her feet back together!They cracked me up on the trail part...such imaginations, and so interested in everything we saw. Here, they are holding their arms up to pass through the "tall grasses"!
We thought this rock looked like a dinosaur head...There were cactus plants everywhere. So cool...They played around on these huge rocks for so long! There were tons of places to climb up to, and lots of little skinny places to shimmy through. It was a neat place for them to freely explore, while I stood on top and could keep an eye on them wherever they went. They felt very "big" because they felt like they were going off exploring in the woods on their own, but I was comfortable because I could still see.This huge tree fell across the path....Lawson climbed a ways up the trunk, but then I started to panic that he would fall off the side so I made him climb back down.
They're getting so big!
I about had a stroke when I saw this animal on the log--thought for sure it was a little snake...
But on closer inspection it was a legged lizard...
Love this picture of the kids peeking into this rotten log. It was so neat to just follow behind and let them lead the way! They had so much fun!
We found another small lizard and Lawson quietly got close enough that he touched it. Yes, that's right. He touched it. Ugh....boys. :)
Thought these mushrooms growing on the trees were pretty cool...
Some 'treasure' that Jordan found.
We LOVE Rainbow Mountain! It was a beautiful day of exploring and exercise and learning and fun. Good times!

Tarzan...uh, Jane... uh, Jordan?

2010-09-01T12:00:00.001-05:00

This is how I found Jordan the other day after breakfast...maybe two sleeves was just too constricting??

Kindergarten

2010-08-27T00:13:00.002-05:00

It's hard to believe that Lawson is old enough to be in Kindergarten! It seems like just yesterday that he was a little baby, and now he is growing up into such a smart, kind, strong, healthy big boy! After much prayer and discussion, Jon and I decided to homeschool, and I am so blessed and privileged that I continue to be my son's one-on-one, personal teacher. I love that I get to see all of the progress he is making first-hand, and that I am the one helping him when he struggles.
I was so concerned about how schooling would go, but we are a month in and so far it has been wonderful! Lawson really likes doing schoolwork, he loves his supply box, and he really lights up when he learns something new! He also loves the new backpack that Nana and Papa bought him!

I am praying that God blesses Jon and me with wisdom and patience as we try to teach our children the things they need to know and that we can keep God as the foundation of everything that they learn.

A new fan

2010-08-26T10:50:00.003-05:00

Monday night Jon and Lawson were able to go watch the Tennessee Titans play in Nashville, thanks to one of our good friends, Ben, giving them tickets b/c he couldn't go to the game. Lawson's friend Joshua let him borrow his Titans jersey, and Lawson loved it! Lawson had never been to a professional game before, and in the past he's not been much of a fan of sports. He has loved playing tee ball, but never cared much for watching any sports at all on TV. Well, Lawson had SO much fun watching this game! Just this year he had started to be interested in football, much to Jon's delight! They had a lot of fun together on their Boy's Night Out!

I'm so thankful they had this opportunity to spend this time together. It's definitely a memory they won't soon forget! Now, the Titans have a new fan! Every time they are on TV, Lawson and Jon sit down to watch them play.
On the way home, they had quite an adventure too! The front driver tire on the van blew out!!! I am so thankful they were safe, but they had to put the donut spare on and had to drive 45 mph all the way home!! They ended up getting home at about 1:45am!! They were exhausted, but at least they had a fun, safe night!