Revived

What to write about... It is late and I am up. Not really sure why :)

This week has been great. We have been on a fifteen day revival at our church. It ended Sunday. What a great time we had in the word. Very refreshing. However, tonight we were back in the normal swing of things.

We have a readiness meeting at our church, which is for every Sunday school teacher. It is broken up by departments. I teach in the preschool, so I attend the preschool one. Shocking I know. lol. It was so nice to see everyone again. We have seen each other but not really spent time with one another during the revival. So that was a nice time. We took turns talking about what we got out of the last fifteen days. What a blessing to hear everyone share and just catch up.

One thing that really stood out to me was when a guy in the meeting was talking about being selfish vs. selfless. How when we have our own schedule we seem to forget about being patient and loving towards our children. It is like go to the bathroom, wash your hands, and lets go. Then ten minutes later you look and they are doing karate kicks in the bathroom...really... right now you decide to practice your kicks when thirty minutes ago I begged you to. :) The bottom line is though we have schedules and busy times, to not let it get to us and get impatient. Does it really matter if we show up just a few minutes late. (Now trust me I always strive to be on time...but it is not the end of the world if we every now and then are a few minutes late). I feel I am most stressed when I am running late or don't give us enough time to get out of the door. So I need to learn to plan extra time in so that doesn't happen. So even after going through the revival and getting all that I received out of it. Sitting in a meeting talking about it I am still learning.

After our meeting we have choir practice. Man have I missed that. I love being with friends and worshiping our Christ. Our practice isn't just a practice, it is a time to get with God and worship. I love that. We are the leaders of our church and on Sunday morning we lead through worship. On Sundays we are split up between our two services so on Wednesday night when we are all together it is just awesome. I love the music we do and hearing all the voices and instruments.

So moral of the story is I have missed my routine and I'm glad to be back in the midst of it.

Hope you had a wonderful Wednesday too.

Big Backyard

Gainesville is very different than most cities. It is part city life with the country still close by. We were so blessed to buy in the neighbor hood that we are in. It is one of the only neighborhoods that has an acre of land but that is still in the city. 

When we moved in the backyard was out of control. It was full of bushes, brush, and vines. The kids kept getting into ivy and all kinds of stuff. So they were told they were not able to go into the back until we cleaned it up. Last weekend we spent all day Friday and Saturday getting it ready for Renee's party. Mike was cutting the big bushes down. The boys were dragging them to the burn pile. Then Pop (Mike's dad) would come by on the mower and mow it all down. They had a system and it was working. They did the whole back in a matter of hours. 

Now that we have the back cleared out we have seen all kinds of animals. We have bunnies, birds, and 2 owls. They perch on the tree right outside our window. We can walk outside and get less than 10 feet from them and they don't move. They will just look at us. It is the coolest thing. So in honor of media Monday I have a few pictures.

Renee's Birthday Party

We had a great time at Renee's birthday party. It is always nice to have our friends and family together. Now that we have the space we can do it more often. The boys got to run and play. While the girls got it sit back and chat. The parent's were able to get a break. :)

Mickey Mouse Cookies

Brooke with baby Logan.
Thank you Brooke for taking pictures for me all day. :)

Baby Turner

Baby Aiden
We have had 3 best friends have babies in the last 4 months.
Makes for fun times and always someone to hold. 

Girl time.
Gray, Audrey, Renee

Getting favor bags for the piñata.

Destiny is ready to catch the candy.

I'm not sure who was more happy about the presents, every gift was "OHHH Renee,
WOW, what is it?!?" so cute.

Thank you Audrey for my Mickey and Minney shirt.

My favorite gifts are the ones that come in the small boxes. :)

Today was Mike's birthday. So I saved the last gift for him to open.
Renee almost cried cuz she thought that is was for her and he was
opening it. So she opened it for him. :) It is a thermostat. LOL

Ever since we have been house shopping he has been wanting this thing. It
is more of a tech thing I guess. He is trying to explain why it is so awesome.
Trying to sell everyone on it. It is called a "Nest".

Boys playing in our new yard. So glad we have plenty of room to run.

The family. Wesley was being so funny. He was squealing too.

Enjoy your Monday!

Baptism

Jon and Wesley were laying in bed one night after being tucked in and prayed for. Then I hear Wesley calling "mommy" (not very uncommon for him) so I go in to see what it was this time. And he says "do we come back to life when we die?" So I wasn't sure if this was going to be the start of something that I didn't want Mike to miss out on. I called him in to join me.

Wesley had lots of questions about the future, what would happen to us and what it will be like. He was processing every answer and had questions to build on that. He is very methodical. Jon was laying in the top bunk listening to the conversation and asking questions as well. After about a thirty minute conversation about how you go to heaven and how we cannot make the decision for them we told them to get some sleep and if they were ever ready to ask Jesus into their heart and wanted help to let us know and we would stop everything we were doing. Kissing Jon goodnight for the second time he said "Daddy, I'm going to ask Jesus into my heart tonight" Mike said "You are? Well, why do you think you need Jesus" and he says "Well Dad, there were these two people named Adam and Eve, and they ate off of the tree that God told them not to eat off. And when they did they sinned and now we all sin" (Just remember they have never heard about Jesus or God six months before, and now to be able to recite the story and remember every detail was amazing.)

He continued on to say that in order to go to heaven he has to ask Jesus to forgive him and to be in control of his life and that he was ready to do that. So Mike asked him to come and sit in his lap on the floor. That night Jon started his walk with Christ. We tucked him in bed and Wesley said "daddy I want to pray the prayer too". If you know Wesley then you know that he is not the type to be pressured. He will only do things in his time (which is sometimes frustrating for me :) So Mike got him in his lap and talked to him some more. Then Wesley prayed and asked Jesus to be in control of his life. What an amazing night. Then to top it all off Jon says "do you think my old mommy and daddy (thats what they call their biological parents) will be going to heaven." Mike said he wasn't sure and that if they did not ask Jesus into their hearts that they would not but that we could pray for them to make that decision. Jon said I am going to right now. He then started praying out loud "dear Jesus, I pray that my old mommy and daddy will ask you into their heart and will be able to go to heaven with me and Wesley and mommy and daddy. Amen." If Jon and Wesley asking Jesus into their hearts wasn't enough...for Jon to do that was just incredible. 

We left the boys room to go pray with Renee. Walking into her room she says "mommy, daddy, I do not want to talk to Jesus" lol. The mind of a four year old. So precious. Mike said she was probably thinking...I have some guy living under my bed, one in my closet, and pretty sure one outside my window, I don't need one in my heart trying to scare me from the inside. :)

So in just three days they will go in front of the church to be baptized. They are so excited to share this with everyone. They even practiced last week in the pool at nanny's house. :)

Thank you Lord for blessing me with amazing children, and for the gift of salvation. I am not worthy. But very thankful.

Birthday Girl Renee

Sunday, May 13 on Mother's day I was able to tell my baby girl happy birthday for the first time. My kids for the first time were able to tell me Happy Mother's day. What an incredible day. My heart is very happy.



We spent Saturday night enjoying the evening. Mike made italian, my favorite. They surprised me with a cake and a pot of lilies to plant. For anyone that knows me well knows that I love lilies. Mike took care of the kids bedtime routine. Bath, Teeth, Pj's, and all that goes along with it. A night where I could relax was just what I was looking forward to.

Then Sunday came and I woke up to the birthday girl climbing in the bed. After telling her happy birthday she proceeded to say "where is my daddy". I get that question a lot on Sundays since he leaves the house before anyone is awake. Can we sat "daddy's girl" So then I had to get her back to the important matter on hand...her birthday.

We took some pictures for her invitations. I have them for you to see since I was unable to post them yesterday on Media Monday. Forgive me...life has been busy.

We started revival this Sunday at church so we have been there a lot. Which is definitely needed. I am getting a lot out of it. But then we also have a party for Renee this coming Sunday at the new house. Which is just crazy. We are scrambling to finish unpacking, painting just enough to get by, and doing some (very little) decorating so that we can have the house ready for company. Then on top of all of that I am running around to get supplies, presents, and party decorations. We just came off of visiting family for the week since Mike was gone on a business trip. So there is the unpacking of that and now laundry to do. Oh yea, then throw home school into the mix. So, I hope you understand me being a day late.

I give a BIG Thank you to Tina Bishop, she made Renee's shirt and did an amazing job. If you want/need (I always say it is a NEED) something made she is the girl to do it. Here is her Facebook info. http://www.facebook.com/Designsbytina

Please enjoy the birthday girl...

Yes... I made the tutu. I was very pleased with myself   :)

Splash Park

Last week we met up with some friends and went to the Splash Park. It is about 30 minutes from our house. It is a very small water area to play in. Only about 30 feet long and about 12 feet wide. But you would have thought we went to the largest water park possible. We played for a long time then we had a nice picnic lunch in the shade. After lunch it was back to playing. :)

I took some bubbles not knowing how much fun it would be since we had never been before. Plus I am one of those that bubbles and water go hand in hand since they are so messy. (Let's just say we don't play with bubbles often :) They had a great time playing with them. We also attracted some followers. So if you see some random people in the pictures that would be why. We can't help it, we're just that awesome!! :)

It was a nice day to play in the hot sun. Fortunately, Lauren is a more experience mom than I am since I forgot to bring the sunscreen. I laid it out to bring and walked right off and left it. Thanks, Lauren. Ethan, Jon and Wesley had a great time playing with buckets and cups. They would fill them up and throw the water on each other. Sometimes even spectators. So don't get to close to the "splash zone". Then they got ahold of the water guns. I think the camera even got shot a few times.

Audrey and Renee play so well together. They are both girly, but will definitely boss someone around. :) They played hard, well until after lunch when Audrey took a fall and received a boo boo. But that didn't slow Renee down. She was still in the middle of it. At that point she found the nearest bucket and started splashing the boys.

Landon is so cute. He has the most capturing eyes. He was a little timid at first then he went all in. Once getting wet he kept saying..."no, no" or "no, don't" and occasionally "ut oh". Renee was so sweet with him. She just loves babies, especially "baby Landon". All of the babies she plays with at home are named "baby Landon" girls included.

It is always nice for me to get out of the house with some friends and catch up. Lauren is so easy to talk to and we always have a great time together. And today was no different.

We had so much fun we are definitely going to put this on the list of things to do again. Well, until school lets out and it gets to crowded. :)

Enjoy the pictures...

Ethan picked a flower for Lauren and me.He said "Happy Mother's Day". So Sweet.