To Grandma's House We Go!

In May, the kids and I went to visit Nanie and SuperDaddy in Midland for about a week! Nanie couldn't do a whole lot because she had just sinus surgery, but SuperDaddy took us to the Children's Museum!




By the end of the week, Nanie did feel well enough to give Ella a pedicure and take a short trip to the pool!

A Freak On The Field!

I have turned into exactly what I swore I wouldn't! I am a baseball mom! Here lately our lives revolve around baseball: practice, and games, and camp, and tournaments. It is a never ending story! A few weeks ago Chance got a new bat, "The Freak"!! And before you think that we have really lost our minds and named a bat, we didn't do it!!! "The Freak" is the actual name of this bat. And just to prove it to you, here is a picture from the manufacturers website: The first night we had it, Chance was so excited that he slept with it! I don't think he has ever been that excited about anything. We kept wondering if The Freak was worth the investment, but this weekend it proved itself to us! Chance's 7 year old team, the Indians were in the tournament for the League Championships! We have a few players on our team who have been in a slump lately. A few of us moms even said it would be a great game, win or lose, if all the boys got a good hit! Well, leave it to The Freak! ALL the boys hit the ball outstandingly! Even the boys that had rarely had a decent hit, used the Freak and hit doubles and triples! We have been riding high since that game Friday night! Saturday the boys played again and it was a nail biter! We were down 9 to 0 in the second inning, but came back to tie it up by the 6th inning and squeaked out a win by one run! We have had an awesome UNDEFEATED season! Tonight will end it all! Chance plays in the Championship game tonight! I will be sure and let you know how it turns out! I have some great pictures from the tournament that I will post next time, but for now here is a a video Chance and I made of his season! ENJOY! (You might want to mute the music at the bottom of the blog so you can hear the video!)

Vacation?!?!?!

Most of you know that we are going to the beach in a few weeks! This will be our first ever Family Vacation! We are really excited, but I for one am also feeling extremely guilty! We have NEVER done anything like this, much less for a whole week!

We found a GREAT house, right on the beach, in a small community called Alligator Point, Florida. Here are some of the pictures that were on the owners website:


This is the place we will call home for an entire week!


This is a look at the inside of the house!


And my favorite...a sunset from the porch!

So, everything looks great, right? So you might be wondering why I am so apprehensive! Well, it's the fact that we are spending more than we ever have before to go somewhere we have never been and I am not even sure my kids will appreciate or enjoy it! I know I can be a worrier sometimes and I am trying just to stay excited, but it is hard. Or it was until yesterday!

Again, God is SOOOOO good! He reassures me all the time that if I just trust the Holy Spirit to guide me and rely on the instincts God has given me then all we be fine! And that brings me to the reason for this post! I wanted to share my devotion from yesterday! It was exactly what I needed and with everyone getting ready for vacation, I thought some of you might benefit as well.

"Ephesians 5:15,16
Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time.

It is the wise man who recognizes that vacations can give us time to invest in the relationships that mean the most to us. Vacations can be a time where you build strong family values and make memories.
As Barbara and I look back over more than 20 years of vacations, we'd have to say this is an area where we don't have any regrets. Vacations represent adventure, discovery and shared experiences with our children.

We have made vacations a priority. Both of us work hard, but we've shared a commitment that our children would not remember us as driven workaholics.

Edith Schaeffer calls a family "a museum of memories." If that's so, then our family has racked up enough vacation memories to fill several buildings at the Smithsonian:

We've seen traffic jams created by buffalo crossing a crystal clear stream in Yellowstone and by a herd of taxis at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.
We've soaked in the solitude of Yosemite Valley (in the off-season), and we've sat in Wrigley Field cheering the Cubs with 35,000 other fans.
All eight of us have shivered through the night in a tent camping at 8,500 feet in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and we've sweated on the beaches of northern Florida making sand castles and tossing a Frisbee.
We've driven 4,000 miles to visit Crater Lake, Oregon, and we've vacationed at home when cash was in short supply, walking 400 yards from our back door to fish and picnic on a public lake.
I was recently in a small group of moms and dads who were discussing family vacations. After our time together, it suddenly hit me: Not a single person mentioned a theme park (Disneyland, Sea World, etc.) as one of his or her favorite vacations. Leaky tents and murky swimming holes outdistanced the computerized roller coasters, Mickey and Minnie as the favorite memory makers.

Think about it. Tonight at the dinner table share your favorite vacation memories as a child and as an adult. Then talk about what you really want to do this summer.

Prayer:
Ask God to help you build relationships and make memories this summer with your children.
Discuss: What can you do to emphasize relationships during your next vacation?"

My moms big thing when I was growing up was "We are making memories!" And she was right! I have tons of vacation memories from when I was a little girl. And most of them were not from big fancy travel destinations! My fondest memories are of the journey to get where we were going! So I urge everyone out there to enjoy your kids and your vacations this summer! Even if you can't afford to do anything elaborate, Make some memories with your kids!

Fun OUT of the Sun!!!

The heat of summer is upon us here in the Deep South! Thank goodness for A/C and the JumpZone!!! We have a gym here in Madison that has a room full of inflatables for the kids to jump on and slide down to their hearts content! It is a great way to spend a hot afternoon!
In the last two days, we have had two birthday parties to attend there! My friend Shea captured some wonderful pictures of the kids and I thought I would share them! I have NO Short Term Memory and Can't remember which ones I uploaded here! So I am not even going to try and write captions! Just have fun looking at the kids having fun! (The sweat is from playing so hard, not because it is hot! Believe me they keep it like a freezer in there!)

Southern Belle All Around

I just had to share, because:
1. I am SOOO excited!
2. It really is pretty dead on.
3. And this is one of my favorite movies of all time!!!

I took the Which Steel Magnolia Are You Quiz on Facebook and here are my results:

Shelby Eatenton Latcherie (Julia Roberts' character)

You are Shelby. You are a breath of fresh air! You are the girl next door, America's sweetheart, and you love to laugh! You may make impulsive decisions because you would "rather have thirty minutes of wonderful than a lifetime of nothing special." Although you're a southern belle at heart (and your signature color may even be "blush" or "bashful"), you still get caught doing things from time to time that might even "frighten the fish"! You're a risk taker, sometimes at a cost to yourself, so slow down. You may make a decision in haste that you'll someday regret!

Back to childhood and into menopause...all in 24 hours!!!

Last night I went with friends to go see Star Trek! It was the BEST movie I have seen in a while! I loved it!!! The only thing missing was my brothers! I was in NO way a tomboy growing up, but I was raised with two brothers! This meant that when it was time to go to the movies as a family, my choice rarely won! So over and over I was forced to watch Star Wars, Star Trek, Indiana Jones, and any other "boy" movie you can imagine!Now though...I am eternally grateful! My boys think I am so cool because I know that Hans Solo and Indy are the same man!!!! So, when the opportunity came to go see the new Star Trek, I couldn't pass it up! I wanted to screen it before allowing my kids to watch it (which I will definitely be doing) but I also just really wanted to watch it! If you get the chance to watch this movie...DO IT!!! You will not regret spending 2 hours in the cool air conditioning of the movie theatre and watching a movie that is non-stop action from beginning to end! And to both my brothers...I wish you were here to go see it with me! It's just not the same without the two of you!!

Ok, now for the second part of this post! I have made no secret of the fact that I have not felt well for a while, but it looks like an end is in sight! I had a phone appointment today with a doctor in Arizona! I recently sent in some saliva samples to have all my hormone levels tested and it looks like that is the problem! Without going into details I just want to share that there is a plan in place to get me back to me!!! I can't wait!!! So, once my prescriptions get here, I will keep you all posted on my progress! If nothing else comes from this, I have learned to listen to my body! Thank you to all my wonderful friends and family who have helped, prayed, and listened over the last few months!!! I hope one day I can do the same for all of you!

One last thing before I close this one out! Today is my baby brother's 28th birthday! I hope it's a good one Josh! We Miss You!! Happy Birthday!

What A Mighty God We Serve!!!!

Some days I think God looks right into my heart, my head,and my life and knows EXACTLY what I need to hear! This morning when I got up to do my devotion I was awestruck at his pinpoint accuracy! One of the things I do every morning is read my daily couples devotion from Crosswalk.com. This is what I read this morning:

A Mother's Influence by Barbara Rainey
Proverbs 1:8
And do not forsake your mother's teaching.


As a mother, I have my days when everything is relatively easy and I wonder why I ever struggle. The children are loving to one another and circumstances seem to flow smoothly.
But there are other days when I wonder if it will ever be fun again. I struggle with guilt and discouragement. Will these children ever grow up to walk with the Lord? Am I ruining my kids for life!?

Because of my humanity, my identity is subject to attack by my emotions, by other people's perceptions and expectations, and by my abilities and failures. Learning the truth about myself and standing on that truth is a lifelong process.

I believe that if I persevere, God will give me a ministry of influence to the next generation. Most ministry activity is by adults to their own generation, but mothers can literally shape the future. President Teddy Roosevelt once said:

When all is said, it is the mother, and the mother only, who is a better citizen than the soldier who fights for his country. The successful mother, the mother who does her part in rearing and training aright the boys and girls, who are to be the men and women of the next generation, is of greater use to the community, and occupies, if she only would realize it, a more honorable as well as more important position than any man in it. The mother is the one supreme asset of the national life. She is more important, by far, than the successful statesman, or businessman, or artist, or scientist.

To have that influence on the future through my children demands that I objectively evaluate my life as a mother in light of that goal.


Isn't God good!!! I'm not real sure why this was in the "couples devotions" But Whatever Works!!!! God got it to me! It is nice to be reminded that I am doing the right thing! That even when I feel like I get nothing accomplished in a day, I am doing the most important job! I am raising my kids to love the Lord and love others! I am encouraged to keep pressing on! To stay on the path he has laid for me! I hope it brings some of you the same encouragement!