Enjoying the Farm

My cousins just had their second little boy on May 15. He had fluid on his lungs so he had to be in the NICU for 7 days while they gave him antibiotics to keep it from turning into pneumonia. He was a big boy at 9lbs and 1oz (his momma is a tiny little lady) and healthy otherwise.

They also have a 2 year old boy. They had been making several trips a day with their 2 year old to the hospital to see their little one. To give Miles a break from the hospital and mom and dad a chance to just be with their newest one my mom, Mal and I took all the kids to Rutledge/Wilson Farm park.

I love this park, as do the kids. They have the coolest playground made to look like a barn and silo and then they have animals from miniature ponies, calves, sheep and a working hen house.

The kids had a blast, Miles and Haven are the best of friends. They love each other, it's cute watching them talk (they have their own language) and hug and kiss each other.

Our little rock climbers.Future farmers. Haven's a pro, she'll be able to drive and put her make-up on at the same time. They have a fiberglass cow with water in the utters that the kids can try their hand at milking. Jadon was the only one we could get a picture of.

Bouquet for Haven

I enjoyed a beautiful walk with the family tonight. We even got in our whole walk and was back home before it started pouring rain. It has been a beautiful evening. Even when the rain came it was one of those really nice rains that didn't last long and left everything feeling refreshed.

On our walk Jadon and Todd picked wild flowers and put together a bouquet for Haven. She loved having her brother and daddy pick flowers for her and displayed them proudly. I enjoyed photographing her with her flowers. She is such a beautiful little girl.

Dollar Flip Flops and Chocolate Covered Strawberries

So, yes I did it. I braved Old Navy yesterday, on the day they had their flip flops for 1 dollar. I don't know if I got a great deal or was just out of my mind. I spent 2 hours in the store trying to check out and came home with flip flops and a dress for me, flip flops for my sister, brother and his girlfriend.

When I finally emerged from the never ending line at Old Navy my mom and I hit a few more stores to take advantage of their great sales. I was needing some things for China. I also wanted to look for some dress shirts for Jadon. He's about to outgrow all his others. I was not disappointed by the deals I found. Especially for Jadon, I found nice button down shirts at Gymboree for $5.

While I was having a good shopping day (it was nice to be shopping, I hadn't been to the mall in months) Todd was at home. I had no idea what he was up to, but when I got home I was pleasantly surprised. I came home to a picnic basket with a rose, a movie, sparkling grape juice, wine glasses and chocolate covered strawberries. Chocolate covered strawberries that he had spent the day making. I am convinced that I have the best husband ever!

He had treated me to a date night with sushi on Friday and now a picnic date in our living room after the kids go to bed. And he made me chocolate covered strawberries. I am so blessed.

I took a picture of the delicious strawberries. I think they are definitely the best strawberries I have ever had. Yummy!

The Zoo

Last Friday my friend Angela, her two kids and my crew planned on going to the zoo together. That morning she called me and said that her husband had finished a job early and she had invited him to join us. It worked out perfectly because Todd had taken a vacation day, he just found out he had a weeks worth of vacation he had to use up before the end of May or he lost it and so he had been taking days here and there.

Apart from several schools choosing the zoo for the end of the year field trip we had a great time. Todd actually counted 13 buses there that day. It was nice having our whole families together enjoying a play date.

Another highlight of the day was the elephant exhibit. When we got over to the exhibit we got to watch one of the elephants playing in the water. Then after her play time she began trumpeting and it was so loud and unexpected that Jadon and Haven about fell off the fence they were sitting on to see. I laughed hysterically watching everyone run. Todd tried to get his phone to video it, but he was busy trying to make sure the kids didn't fall off the fence when trying to get away.

Jadon and Haven waiting for our friends.

The 3 oldest.

The two young'uns.Feeding the giraffes.

The First Bloom of the Year

When we lost Karis we had some sweet couples send us miniature rose bushes. I kept them in the house through the rest of summer and winter and come Spring Todd and I put together a memorial garden with all the flower plants we were given. It sits right in front of our porch. There are 2 rose bushes and 2 lily plants that were all given in memorial of Karis.

This is the 5th year for our rose bushes blooming so beautifully in our garden. Year after year the bush flourishes and I am pleasantly surprised by how much it grows each year.

Well, I just had our first rose open up last week and it was such a beautiful rose. The very next day both bushes were covered in roses. Here's my first rose of the year. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

My Time In The Bathtub

So for the first time since living in my house, which will be 7 years this September, I found myself along with the kids hiding in the bathtub with pillows and blankets over our heads. Most of you know that this is the most recommended course of action when there is a tornado warning in your area and you don't have a basement.

I have never been afraid of storms, actually growing up I would sit out on my front porch with my dad watching storms go over us trying to see if we could find a funnel cloud. But this day, May 8, I found myself feeling a little anxious as we felt our house shaking, the attic fan and vents opening and closing very quickly, lights flickering off and on and I for the first time in my life heard that loud train like sound. Todd was at work, with no phone because he had to send it off for repairs, and Donna and Gary were on their way to Texas so I was really was a little nervous. I wasn't sure if my mom would be able to answer phones because she was at work and the airport was having tornadoes right over them. Thankfully my mom answered the phone and I was able to talk to her and she helped us to know what was going on as she kept an eye on the radar.

After spending about an hour in the tub the storm finally went over us and we were safe. Thank you Jesus! Our house was still standing and we still had a roof over our heads. We thankfully had no damage to our house. Praise God! But we were without power and I got word that our church had been hit and had damage.

After being home without power and needing some water I decided to take the kids and go see the church and pick up bottled water while there. I was surprised as I pulled up to the church to see the extent of the damage. As I walked through the building I honestly wanted to cry. I hated seeing the damage.

As I walked through I took a few pictures. Here's what the worse of the outside and inside looked like. It's hard to tell because of it being so dark, but there is ceiling laying on the floor and metal hanging down

The pictures show the outside of the front of the sanctuary. The roof was ripped off down to the trusses. We did find out that we had 6 trusses damaged with 3 of them having to be completely replaced. We may not be worshipping in our sanctuary for a couple of months.There was more damage done with our garage, fences, the houses, multi-ministry building and the semi trailer we use for the Live Nativity Pageant was turned over. You can check out a video here of the full damage done to the church.

We did spend almost a day without power. Some of our neighbors spent several days without power. We also had several families in our church that had a lot of damage to their houses and land. Fair Grove high school was hit really hard with a dear friend being in the room that the ceiling and walls fell in around the students. Thankfully she was not hurt, but I can not imagine being there seeing all that she saw.

Mother's Day

I am truly blessed to celebrate Mother's Day. I have a wonderful mother and mother-in-law whom I love and admire so tremendously. I also have 4 beautiful children. These children have brought me great tears and great joys. I have experienced great frustration when they are being disobedient and great excitement when they've done something for the first time and felt great joy over many, many things.

I've seen the great grace God has given me in my life through my children. I have also been given a first hand example of my relationship with my Father in Heaven. I know I have frustrated Him when I've been disobedient and He's had great excitement and joys when I've been obedient and have experienced what He has planned for me.

I am looking forward to all the new experiences and joys I will experience with my children and husband. I also pray that I will grow as a mom, most importantly in my relationship with Christ so my children will see a mom who loves the Lord and loves their daddy and loves them.

I hope everyone had a Happy Mother's Day.

My Daddy's Birthday

On May 2 we celebrated my Daddy's birthday with bar-b-que. I love my daddy, I think he's the best dad around. My kids are also quite fond of their Papa. I pray this year is full of many blessings for my daddy. Here's some pictures I took of him with the kids on his birthday.

Papa showing the kids the nest of baby birds in the wreath on their front door. Every year this bird comes and builds a nest in mom's door wreath. Every year after the birds leave they take it down.

If you look close you can see the bird poo on Jude's finger. Papa lifted up and he immediately tried grabbing the baby birds, instead he got a hand full of bird poo. The baby birds.

What Can I Learn From a 4 Year Old?

There are many things I have found I can learn from a four year old.

Everything is a big deal, either big happy or big sad.

The mind is much clearer and able to remember everything and I mean everything.

Especially boys can tell you everything you need to know about spiders, snakes or lizards.

I would have to say the thing I have most recently learned from a 4 year old brought me to a point of conviction. I have to start by telling you what brought me to this point and then I will explain my conviction.

In our house Jadon and Haven can earn marbles for going the whole day without grumbling or questioning, Do all thinks without grumbling or questioning that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, Philippians 2:14-16a. It has been a way for us to actively teach Jadon and Haven about this verse. And we go through times where they earn marbles everyday and times where getting a marble just isn't going to happen. We then have a list of things they can turn their marble(s) into. For instance going to Jump Mania takes 3 marbles, getting extra time on the Wii is one marble. The big one is saving up enough marbles to get spending money.

Jadon has been working for about a month on saving enough marbles to get spending money, there is this train he's been wanting "very bad". He also knew that the cost of the train was about $2 more than he is allowed to spend. So, he's also been collecting money to help buy his train. He did some work for Pappy and earned 50 cents, he's been picking up every penny he finds on the ground. It has been very rewarding watching him learn the value of money and work ethics.

Well, he did it, he finally earned enough marbles to go get his train. He was excited, I was a little less excited than he. Because of the timing couldn't be worse, we needed to buy presents for several family members between birthdays and Mother's Day. I had to try to explain not having enough money for him, but we were going to buy all these other presents for other people.

As an adult I enjoy buying gifts and giving them to other people. I get satisfaction out of giving gifts to people. Jadon on the other hand, gets satisfaction out of receiving gifts. I talked to him about our dilemma. That I was so very proud of him for earning his marbles and being disciplined in saving them all this time, BUT (that nasty, awful word) maybe we could work on patience and we could go shopping for him later. I even suggested we make a calendar so he could see how many days he had before we could go shopping for his train.

I'm sure your thinking right about now that he probably did not go for it. Well, your right. He didn't throw a fit, he just quietly went to his room and cried. I have to admit that it would have been so much easier if he had just thrown that fit. Instead I felt like a heel and I wanted to say, "Honey, I'm sorry that mommy and daddy don't have the money to buy you everything you want when you want it. But this could be one of those circumstances that will help develop your character into a selfless person who will love and put others first."

We let him have his upset time and then I went in and asked him if he would like to go shopping for the other people who will get presents instead of you. Actually, I didn't quite say it like that, but I'm sure that is how it sounded to him.

Todd and I felt bad, not because Jadon crying made us so sad (although I do hate seeing my children cry) but because we knew how hard he had been working. Not only to save his marbles, but to save money as well and his attitude lately had been wonderful. We discussed the possibility of being able to go ahead and let Jadon pick out his train.

Jadon decided he wanted to go to the store with me and help pick out the presents for his cousins, Papa, Nana and Mema. Our first stop was Big Lots where he had seen the train he wanted. Once he realized where we were pulling into he asked if he could go look at the trains. I agreed that after we had done what we needed to do we would go and he could look at the trains. It was such a pleasure to stand there with him as he talked about the trains and picked the one he really liked. He never asked me if he could buy it or complained about not being able to buy one.

After awhile I told him we had to go and he needed to put the trains back. As he started to put back I told him he could get the train he wanted. He looked up at me as if he was pretty sure he didn't hear me right. Mom was going to let him have a train? I told him again to get the train he was wanting and bless his heart he said back to me, "Mom, I can get one? I was just going to look at them."

He was content with just going and looking at them. This made my heart melt and I was excited to be able to get his train.

I am so proud of him, he could of easily thrown a huge fit that carried over into the store. He could have kept asking and asking over and over if he could have a train. Instead he got upset, got over it and accepted his fate.

I learned a valuable lesson from him that day. I recently have been feeling a hurt that I keep going to God and saying "why, why me?" This isn't fair. I don't want to feel hurt and I want what I want and I want it now.

I didn't realize I had been acting this way with God until I watched Jadon and how he acted and the Lord ever so quietly showed me that I was acting the way I expected Jadon to react. Cry and throw a fit and ask constantly when he was going to get his train.

It humbles me when I learn a lesson through my children.