More Pictures from our 2 week stay in Albany

Well, it truly was a fun 2 weeks at Mom and Dad's. We are a special family--we love each other deeply. Like every family, we have our less than stellar moments--some of them down-right stinky, but God's grace runs through our family like a sweet cord binding us together. I had such a fun time getting to spend more time with Titus and AndyIV while their parents were away on a trip. Mom and Dad were extremely gracious hosts to us for such a long stay. I laughed a lot, gained weight from all the good food, swam usually twice a day, got a little tan, loved every precious second I got on the porches, was spiritually encouraged and challenged, got to hear my marvelous Dad preach, stayed up late and got up early because I hate to miss a second with these precious people! The list goes on and on. They were sweet days. Thank you Lord for our family!

Lake Blackshear--the most fun I've had in a while!

We spent the day yesterday on Lake Blackshear. We rented a pontoon boat and a sea doo, and we had the time of our lives! Soooo much fun! It was truly a joy-filled day. So many rich moments. Wonderful memories that will last a lifetime. Lord thank you for these wonderful days of family vacation.

VBS 2010

This year at VBS, I had the awesome privilege of leading the opening and closing sessions which are called things like "Sing and Splash Play" and "Floating Finale" since we were doing the High Seas Expedition this year. I loved it! Lots of singing and dancing. Meeting our daily "Bible Buddies" and learning our daily "Bible Points". Remembering to "Watch for God" and talk about our "God Sightings". I had a blast! Brother Dale, our new pastor, also helped out every day by performing a brief skit with me. He acted as "Sailor Jack" and he did a wonderful job. Sailor Jack was a bit of a hippy sailor who always said things like, "Whoa, man! Groovy, man!" etc. :) The kids really looked forward to seeing his silly antics each day. The Floating Finale was usually a little more complicated and involved some sort of interesting activity or experiment with the whole group. One day we used air cannons to blow cups off one another's heads. Another day we created a storm--it grew from just sprinkles to full blown thunder and lightning. Another day we were surprised by a sillly game of "What kind of ball is under this blanket?" Miss Tina, our children's coordinator, was hiding beneath one of the tables with her head sticking up like another ball, so when I pulled back the blanket, she surprised everyone. On Thursday I enlisted the help of some of our youth volunteers who acted out the death of Jesus on the cross, and with God's grace and mercy I led the whole group in a sinner's prayer. That was probably my most memorable moment. Hearing all of those little voices whispering the prayer with their heads bowed. Truly a miracle that they were focused and quiet enough to participate in that! Lord bless that moment and draw those precious children into a life-long relationship with you! On Friday we brought forward blankets that the kids worked on in arts and crafts and laid them on the altar as an offering to the Lord. We'll be sending them to children in Africa and spreading God's love to them. It was a fun-filled week. Exhausting? Yes, absolutely. But spiritually invigorating as well! Here are some pictures. We actually have a lot more, because we took pictures every day and made slide shows for the kid to see as they were coming in for the floating finale. Most of those pics are on a computer at the church, so I'll have to get them somehow so I can include some of them here. Olivia and Benjamin had a fun time and were sad to see the week end. Thank you Lord for a special, fun week.

Reward Time

Well folks, we've reached a major milestone in this house. Nobody is doing their B.M. in a diaper anymore!! We have been praying and praying for this day to come, and hallelujah, it has come! There is no rhyme or reason about why he finally gave up and surrendered to it. Truly a mystery. I said on a Tuesday a couple weeks ago, "Mommy's tired of changing your stinky diapers. You're too big to do this anymore. Why don't we try sitting on the potty tomorrow?" (I've said these same exact words millions of times before with no positive results.) The next night when Stan was at choir practice, Benjamin said, "I need to do my B.M." I said, "Remember? We're going to try sitting on the potty today." He cried pitifully for about 3 minutes and then suddenly he stopped and said, "OK, let's go." We went into the bathroom, and I put him up on the porcelin throne, and he said, "I need some pwivacy. Cyose da door, pwease." I obeyed his request thinking, "Yeah, this isn't happening." A few minutes later, he said, "I'm done." I go in and see the amazing result, and I screamed so loud that I terrified him. Olivia came running in and she and I cheered and cheered for him, and he sat there on the potty with his chin in his hands, elbows resting on his knees, and eyes rolling with embarassment. When we finished, he said, "Mommy, do not cheer for me tomorrow when I do my B.M." :) Yes sir! Whatever you say, sir! We had promised him a guitar that I had found at a consignment shop for cheap, so he was elated to get that, but Daddy had also (in a moment of desperation) promised him this set of "Armor of God" that he'd seen at a Christian book store, so that was the first thing we did the next morning--went to Jacksonville and got the armor! As you can see, this is one happy knight for Christ! Praise the Lord and help me, Lord, to trust you with these crazy aspects of parenting that are out of my control.

Blueberry Picking

Kendra Blackerby, a sweet friend I met through Olivia's dance class, invited us to come pick blueberries at her father's blueberry farm, and we took her up on her offer. It was a beautiful drive out to the blueberry farm--way out from Woodbine truly in the middle of nowhere. She gave us perfect directions, and we picked through two rows of berry bushes. It was kind of one of those family experiences when I as the Momma wound up saying things like, "We're out here to have fun, by golly, so lose the stinky attitudes and let's pick some berries!!" Stan and I had a great time! Olivia was bothered by the dragonflies which were in abundance. We tried to explain that they were completely harmless. They were beautiful, too! There were several different types and I enjoyed seeing their beautiful wings. Benjamin was kind of in and out. He was fairly gungho at the onset, and then as the row stretched on and on, he lost his excitement and began to moan and beg to be pulled in the cart. I kept trying to motivate them by saying things like, "This is such a blessing! We're getting tons of free blueberries! Think of all the smoothies and cobblers we'll enjoy!" They both perked up as we neared the end of the second row and they saw our buckets filling up. It was so kind of Kendra to invite us, and we have, indeed, enjoying them and have been thinking of the Blackerbys each time we indulge in a cool, fresh smoothie!

Braids

Olivia loves for me to do this from time to time. She begs me to braid her whole head of hair. What she really dreams of is having me braid it all AND put those cool, brightly colored beads in her hair so her hair will go "click! click!" when she swings her braids around. (What she doesn't know is that those beads can hurt when you swing them around! I remember some of my black friends in elementary school whacking themselves in the eye! Youch!) Anyway, I gave in and did it for her recently, and she was thrilled. When it was time to go to bed, I tried to convince her to leave them in. It had taken Mommy a long time to do it, and I was hoping to get a little more time out of all that effort. She, however, discovered that it wasn't very comfy to sleep with them in, so I took them all out, and she thought her hair was sooo cool looking! :) Reminded me a bit of my 7th grade perm. Fun times!

Beach Breakfast June 2010

We've enjoyed going to the beach for breakfast one other time as a family, so we decided to enjoy it another time. Someday we'll make it in time for the sunrise. We got there just shortly after it had risen. We had egg and cheese sliders, granola bars and apples and oranges. Very yummy! Then we played until almost 11. It was such a fun morning full of boogie boarding, sand castle building, shell seeking, and we even ran into an old friend from high school. Shannon Emory was here visting her parents and she and her kids and her sister and her children were enjoying a day at the beach. Very nice to catch up with her and our children had a great time playing together. We have to make this happen at least once more if not more often before school lets in again. So much fun!