Please

I need prayer today. I'm not going to go into it, but know that I'm ok and my family is ok. It's just that being a mom seems to be a little extra hard these days. I'm thankful for the hard times as well as the good, but boy can those hard times knock you down sometimes and leave you completely exhausted emotionally, mentally and physically. I need strength, wisdom and understanding.

We Are...

We are at the beach right now! Lovin' it too! David bought me a new camera as an early birthday present and I'm having fun learning all about it so I'll post beach pics when we get back home. We are going to be here for a whole week, something neither David nor I have ever done. I'm sure we'll be ready to go back home by Saturday but I'm going to enjoy every minute of this vacation..even if the kids drive me nuts sometimes, I refuse to let it get to me this week. I'm sure I'll have lots of pictures!

Last night we went out to eat and I had my first shrimp po-boy. Ohh it was soo yummy! Today we took the kids to the public beach and they had soo much fun playing in the water and in the sand and collecting sea shells. Little man enjoyed it too because he slept most of the time except when he was hungry. The humidity was low, the water was calm and actually clear and it was just beautiful. I was irritated today because Mimi realized that we left her bathing suits at home so now we are going to have to find her a bathing suit down here. It was my fault that we left her suits at home, but come on now...packing for six people, loading the car (because David worked yesterday morning before we left), making sure the house was clean so that it would be that way when we got home....all that was a little overwhelming since I was doing it by myself. It's a wonder that I didn't leave a child at home instead of bathing suits. We're going to go look tomorrow for another new suit for her.

Anyway, I'm sleepy for now. Late night. Can't wait to see what we do tomorrow!

Thankful Thursday

It's been a big year so far for Bud. He turned 5 this year, played a sport for the first time and was good at it, became an even bigger brother and today he asked Jesus into his heart!!! It was such a sweet and tender moment! Oh and he also lost his first tooth the other day!

We are so proud of you Bud and we love you sooo much!

An Oldie, but a Goodie!

The Signs Are Obvious, They Are Everywhere
All That We Hear About Is the Gloom and Despair
Too Many Would Be Prophets Saying
"It’s the End of It All"
‘cause Mother Earth Can’t Take Much More
The Hammer’s Gonna Fall

So Nature Has Its Needs, That’s a Lesson Learned
But It Appears to Me There Are Greater Concerns
‘cause We Can Save the Planet
Thinkin’ We Will Somehow Survive
But Father Time Is Calling Us
To Save Somebody’s Life

Chorus:
So I Won’t Bend and I Won’t Break
I Won’t Water Down My Faith
I Won’t Compromise in a World of Desperation
What Has Been I Cannot Change
But For Tomorrow and Today
I Must Be a Light For Future Generations

If We Could Find a Way to Preserve Our Faith
So Those Who Follow Us
See the Price That Was Paid
Then Maybe When They Question
What It’s Gonna Take to Survive
They’ll Find the Strength to Carry On
In What We Leave Behind

So I Won’t Bend and I Won’t Break
I Won’t Water Down My Faith
I Won’t Compromise in a World of Desperation
What Has Been I Cannot Change
But For Tomorrow and Today
I Must Be a Light For Future Generations

Lookin’ in the Eyes of the Children
Knowing That Tomorrow Is At Stake
When the Choice Is Up to Them
Will They Have the Strength to Say

We Won’t Bend and We Won’t Break
We Won’t Water Down Our Faith
We Won’t Compromise in a World of Desperation
What Has Been We Cannot Change
But For Tomorrow and Today
We Must Be a Light For Future Generations

We Won’t Bend and We Won’t Break
We Won’t Water Down Our Faith
We Won’t Compromise in a World of Desperation
What Has Been We Cannot Change
But For Tomorrow and Today
We Must Be a Light For Future Generations

by: 4Him

I just love this song! It came out back in the 90's but with everything that is going on in the world today,it's almost as if it were written today. It encourages me to be that light for someone else. To point others to Jesus, who is the ONLY WAY, TRUTH and LIGHT. We can't get to the Father without recognizing Jesus and all that He did for us. He died on the cross for all of our sins, no matter what they are, big or small. He wants us to have a relationship with Him. He doesn't want us to have religion, but a real and true relationship with Him. He wants us to talk to Him and tell Him what's on our hearts just like we would with a friend. He's such an awesome God and even though I fail at many things, He's always there to remind me that He loves me and is there for me when I may feel as though no one else is.

If you don't know Him I encourage you to seek Him out. He's waiting for you!

Ummm....

Should I be worried? ;)





For some reason, the theme song to Donald Trumps, "The Apprentice", keeps playing over and over in my head..."money, money, money....money".

(And noooo, I didn't give him the money to play with...I was changing his diaper before we left for the pool and laid the money down beside my leg. Before I knew it, he grabbed it...and tightly I must say. LOL!) =)

Small Towns vs. Big Towns

On July 1st, one of David's co-workers and his wife, who we've become good friends with, invited us to a July 4th celebration. They live about 20min south of us in a very small town (same town where Bud and his team won the tournament I mentioned a few posts back). There were three churches that came together to put on the show. How great is that?



There were a lot of people there, more so than I thought would be. This picture doesn't do justice to the crowd of people.

I don't think I have ever been to anything like this, but we really enjoyed the people and the atmosphere. There was singing(gospel and patriotic), praying, honoring of our servicemen (past and present), laying of a wreath and of course, fireworks. They were also giving out (free!) bottled water and cookies. Now we all know that no big town would ever fit the bill for something like that. It was great and we really enjoyed ourselves....even the kids enjoyed it.

Our friends, Danny & Amy.











"I be makin' funny faces!"





We decided to get a spot up close to where the fireworks were going to be and so this is how Boogs enjoyed the show.





I think the thing I liked most about it was that there was true honoring of what July 4th means. It wasn't just about fireworks or the cookouts. It was truly thanking God for the blessings we have in this country and honoring our brave soldiers who have fought (my dad included-Vietnam) and who are currently fighting for our freedoms now. I hope we make this an annual part of our July 4th festivities!

This & That

The humidity has been so low this week and so we decided to take advantage of it. Bud loves to go fishing with his big 'ole daddy and the sun was starting to set and it was just beautiful....









Bud showing Boogs how to fish.












What a cutie!


The kids also enjoyed a picnic outside!



Mimi got in some sweet lovin' this week.

Here's Another One

The photographers at the State Tournament last weekend did such a great job! Wish I could do what they do. Here's another picture....probably my favorite so far. Look how cute my Bud is!! =)

Our "Tornado" Story

Back on the weekend of June 12 & 13th, there was a tournament in Chelsea. We had not had any rain that week and sure enough, come Friday night as we arrived at the ball park and had been there a few minutes, a monsoon came complete with thunder and lightening. The only place for us to take cover was under a big pavilion they had at the ballpark and the silly thing is, we were all crammed under that thing and it had a metal roof...smart huh? The storm blew over and the game started about an hour later. David was down by the dugout and I was sitting with little man in a chair next to some friends we have made through their little boy being on the same teams as Bud, and Mimi and Boogs were playing between David and me.

It was dark at that point and we were all enjoying the game when all of a sudden I felt a little rain drop. I was looking up at the sky and joking with my friend about it raining again when all of a sudden I heard this weird rustle in the tree tops. I started watching the trees and the rustling just got louder and louder and the wind really started to pick up. I mean, all of this happened within a two to three minute time frame when all of a sudden the wind started to blow so hard and I saw things flying around and people started running and screaming. When I say it was blowing hard , I mean it was tornado force winds (or so it felt like). I stood up and was clutching little man so close to my body all the while my eyes were frantically searching for Mimi and Boogs. For some reason Bud never crossed my mind (I'm a terrible mom, I know) and looking back I think that I didn't even think about him because he was with his team mates and coaches and my mind just assumed that they were all ok and would be taken care of even though they were on the field.

Anyway, when I stood up I felt like I was in a scene from the movie "Twister" where all the people were at the drive-in when that huge tornado came roaring in and people were running and screaming. I'm not kidding, that's how everyone looked. Then the power went out so we all were looking for our family members in the dark. I saw David who was looking for Boogs and I started screaming "David, get the kids, get the kids!". He looked like a chicken with his head cut off because he was running around in circles. LOL!! I saw Mimi and we headed towards some shelter, but something was dragging behind me. I felt like I was in slow motion. I realized that I was trying to drag the stroller and it had tipped over and of course it wasn't moving the way I wanted it to because I had locked the wheels to keep the kids from rolling it off somewhere. It was like my hand was glued to the handlebar. Mimi, Boogs and I (with little man in my arms) ran into this storage area with about 80 other moms and kids. Some little kid was in there screaming "tornado, tornado!". It was complete pandemonium!!

I even got choked up myself because all I could think about was that movie scene and the fact that David and Bud were no where to be found. I didn't know if they were ok or not. My adrenaline was pumping so fast.

David finally stuck his head in the storage area we were in and brought Bud to be in there with me. I was so glad to see them! After a few minutes, things finally settled down enough for us to leave. Everybody was trying to find their chairs and umbrellas and anything else they had that had gotten blown away.

Obviously the game was done for the night. On the way home, David and I were talking about what happened. We came across several downed trees in the road and there was debris everywhere. We wondered if there really had been a small tornado near by. We got home and watched our local weather man who said that it was not a tornado but 80 mph winds and something called a duratio (or something like that).

I don't care what it was called, it was scary and I have never been so terrified in my life! Looking back David and I laugh because he was running around like a headless chicken in circles and he tells me that out of all those people out there screaming and hollering, he could hear my screaming voice above everybody else, "get the kids, get the kids!". I'm laughing now as I type this. =)

Lessons learned (and in no specific order):

1. Only grab the kids....leave any and all other belongings where they may be.

2. When you hear the faintest little rustle in the tree tops....run for your life.

3. Make sure you think about ALL of your kids.

4. Scream like a banshee if it gets the job done.

5. Don't assume the wheels will go with you when you go....of course, revert back to #1.

6. Forget all weather related movies you have previously watched.

7. It's ok to be married to headless poultry....you love them anyway!

8. Look back a few weeks later and laugh. =)