A Few More

The next batch...

...of vacation pictures!

These were the steps that we had to climb (and then go back down) to get over the dunes to the beach. Just picture us dragging our stroller up and over these. It was always worth it once we got the stroller to the other side because then I could walk McKenna down the beach and it made it easy to keep the sun off her. I did notice that we were the only insane family with a stroller on the beach.



This last one is Christian's most favorite picture from our vacation. He loved being in the big waves with daddy.

No News

No real news on my niece Elizabeth. She had a ton of tests and hasn't gotten any results yet. Keep praying. She has tried to eat, but can't keep anything down. She is also extremely lethargic. I'll keep you posted.

B-Beth

McKenna with her cousins B-Beth (Elizabeth) and Hannah!
My precious niece B-Beth is in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit right now in Richmond. Please, please pray for her. I can hardly write this without crying. B-Beth woke up from a nap today at her Grandmommy's house and threw-up several times and had a seizure. From what I understand the seizure didn't stop until the paramedics gave her some medicine in an IV that went into her bone (how awful is that?). She has already been through way too much in her young life and now she is being poked and tested for just about everything to try to figure out what is going on. Pray that she sleeps well tonight and that my brother Tim and his wife Erin get some rest too. Pray that the doctor's will be able to find out what caused this and one of our biggest prayers is that this will not re-occur and that these test won't reveal anything that's wrong that can't easily be fixed! I'll keep you posted if we find out anything of significance.

One of the best nights of my life

August 6th was one of those evenings that I never want to forget. After we unloaded all of our stuff into our hotel room we headed to the beach.


The delight on Christian's face was priceless. It had been a little over a year since Christian had been to a real beach. I think he was expecting to see a beach like the one at the lake. He was so overwhelmed with the grandeur of it all. He couldn't stop running and jumping. So fun to sit and watch and enjoy it through his eyes.

He LOVED the ocean. He squealed and giggled every time a new wave would get his feet.

The best part of the evening was watching Ryan with our kids. He's such a great father and most of the time I'm too busy to see it. He's so patient and kind with them. They trust him completely. And he knows how to play, not just supervise. He and Christian have so much fun together. I love it that Ryan enjoys Christian. It's not work for him to spend time with him. Ryan really is Christian's best friend, although Christian will tell you that Nate is.

McKenna's eyes were so big, just taking it all in.
Ryan loves his little girl.

Christian's first dip in the ocean. The waves were rather calm, so the boys went out pretty far and Christian became confident in the water. And that was it. The rest of our stay he could care less about the pool. He wanted to go in the waves with daddy.

As the sun was setting over the dunes I walked McKenna down the beach in her stroller and just drank in the moment. The only people that were around were my three favorite people in the whole world. Sea gulls called to one another, shells and jellyfish were washing up on the shore and I kept thinking of this verse..."God saw all that he had made, and it was very good." Genesis 1:31 McKenna fell asleep to the lull of the waves and the boys laughed and chased each other (and some poor birds) for the next hour.

"The seas have lifted up, O Lord, the seas have lifted up their voice; the seas have lifted up their pounding waves. Mightier than the thunder of the great waters, mightier than the breakers of the sea - the Lord on high is mighty." Psalm 93:3-4

Pool Parties

I should have posted this before our vacation.

I'm just a little behind and trying to catch up with everything.

Two different pool parties.

The same pool.

Thanks Houpts!

We love spending time with you guys and we love your pool!

This is not the best picture of McKenna's friend Gwen, but I just had to post it. Look at the girls holding hands. They're only 6 weeks apart!
Christian playing Polly Pockets with the girls.
Kate and Christian are ready to eat!
All the daddies hanging out!
McKenna's checking out Gwen's very cool exersaucer.



Taryn and McKenna.
Emma, Abby and Emily

Emma insisted that I take and then post this picture. She wanted everyone to see how she could jump in the water.

The Fabulous Matching Shirts

The Marshalls just got back from a trip to Mass. to see their dad. While they were there they spent some time with their Auntie Christine and the girls made these very fun shirts. Emma made hers and one for Nate and Abby made her own and Christians. Aren't they cute? They've been talking about them and examining the different colors and comparing them all day. What a hit! And how brave is Auntie Christine to let the girls have at it with all those different paint colors!

And I forgot to mention...

that we are having a very happy day!
There has been a fashion show!
There are several trusty firemen in the backyard putting out fires (pretend of course).
Lots of hugging and little people happy to see each other.
Sharing is actually taking place :)
And then there's the fabulous matching shirts...more on that later!

We're home!

We're home.
Had a fabulous trip to Corolla, NC (on the Outerbanks).
I have all five kiddos right now, so there is no time for blogging.
I've gotta get everyone some lunch and get Kenna down for her nap.
And then there's the laundry :(
So here's just a few pictures until I have more time.
I think I had some of the best moments of my life this past week. The kind of moments when you just take a deep breath and savor every second of incredible blessing. Can't wait to share...but it'll have to wait.
Missed you guys out there is cyber space!

Beach & Blogs

We are headed to the beach! Woohoo! I can hardly wait! We are going to be awfully close to some of my favorite blog readers but we've decided that we need to have some time with just the four of us. No cell phones, no blackberry, email, blogging (I know...very sad...I'll be going through withdrawal and missing all of you) no texting, or visiting with friends (even though I really, really want to), we just need to have some family time. So I'm planning on lathering up with sunscreen, digging my toes into the sand, building a few sand castles, eating out, and I might even get to read a little (and I do mean something other than Thomas the Tank Engine books).

And what are all of you going to do without me for a week??? I'm being sarcastic of course :) But I do have a great plan for all of you to keep you occupied!!! I want to share a few blogs with you that have literally changed my life. Yes, I'm actually being serious now.

God has been teaching me some rather life changing lessons through these blogs. I have come to realize that most things that God calls us to are rather uncomfortable and difficult. That sometimes God works in ways that will break our hearts, but that he's still worthy of our praise. Scripture is not full of promises of an easy and fun life. On the contrary, the Bible is full of stories about hardship and trouble. I think we, especially as Americans, want life to be easy and comfortable. We focus on our own pleasure and then when things don't go our way we cry out to God wondering what happened. But God never promised a suffering-free life (as these blogs will show you). Just because something is hard or challenging doesn't mean God isn't in it. This has been very thought provoking for me. So I'd like to introduce you to a few women who have either taken on some incredible challenges or who have been handed tremendous grief. Their stories have brought me to my knees. Their stories have inspired me to pursue my relationship with Jesus with all my heart. My faith is stronger because of their testimonies. They are ordinary women who, like me, are just trying to know God and love Him.


Angie

Jody

Jen

Kenzie

"Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, "The LORD has done great things for them."- Psalm 126:2

Can you tell...

...that I'm just not happy with how my blog looks? I've been changing it a lot lately. I finally figured out how to make my own header (thanks Jamie for pointing me to scrapblog.com), but I don't know how to make my own background. So I've been making my own headers and trying to find a background that matches and it seems to be an impossible task. So until I'm happy you'll never know what's going to pop up on the screen when you log on!

Sometimes we're just not happy!

Sometimes we're both pretty sad at the same time and then mommy gets sad too! And then we all just have a sad time!

My Boy

When I took this picture today Christian looked at me, shook his head and said, "Mommy, you take lots of pictures. Why you take so many all the time?"

The poor kid is starting to develop a really fake smile. His eyes get all squinty and he sticks his tongue through the gap where his tooth used to be. I'm not fond of this "new" smile because it's making it harder to capture his real personality. But I guess I'm to blame, I do take a picture of everything :)

Emma's Week at Camp

Let me just start by saying that - NO - I didn't follow Emma to camp to take all of these pictures. Hehe...I snagged most of them off of the camp website. Amy and I did go to the camp for their closing program on Friday so I did take just a few of these.
Emma had an awesome counselor named Danielle for the week. She is 17, therefore, she is really cool!

Emma on her first day with some of the girls in her group.
Snack time!

What you don't see in these pictures is the playground, water slide, "Secret Girl's Clubhouse," game room, chapel, etc.

Emma's the one with the goggles.

You'll notice the Abby, Nate and Christian are in this picture. They loved seeing Emma's camp, although I think Christian was a little miffed that there weren't tents and marshmallows there. He has a very distinct idea of what "camp" should be.

Emma really, really wants to spend the night next year and Abby wants to go too! She could have gone this year, but she just seems like such a little girl, so now that Emma's checked it out and had a fabulous time Abby will probably get to go!

I tend to be a little picky about children's programs, but I think Camp JoyEl is outstanding. Christian will definitely go when he's old enough. It's affordable, fun, educational and character building. Love it and recommend it!