The potential of a child

I am amazed at how amazing God is every time I see a newborn baby. If you have read Mike’s blog you will know that our awesome friends Travis and Boni have a new baby boy! John Jeremiah was born Sunday morning(the 26th). He is 5 days old and Drew and I went to take a peek at him a few hours ago. Wow – he is so beautiful and so helpless at the same time. I stay so busy with everyday life that I occasionally get a wake up call to just what a responsibility being a parent is. I’m not talking about the responsibility of feeding them their veggies, washing their clothes and making sure they brush their teeth. I mean the BIG responsibility of leading them in the right direction. The responsibility of showing them Jesus in a world full of selfishness and materialism. Showing them Jesus in a world full of sickness and pain. Showing them Jesus in a world full of sin! That is an awesome responsibility. It makes being sure they ate their spinach seem like child’s play. What is even as awe inspiring as looking into the eyes of a newborn is realizing how much potential God has put into those little bodies. There might be a pastor in Boni’s arms. There might be a missionary playing with blocks in her floor. The little “tweener” watching Hannah Montana on my couch might be a women’s Bible study leader. The little boy in my house getting dressed for soccer practice could be a worship leader. My little 3 year old that had an “accident” this morning trying to make it to the potty might one day be a youth pastor that leads thousands of teens to Jesus. Parents always have hopes and dreams for their children as they watch them grow. But God has bigger plans. His plans reach as far as eternity. So, welcome to the world Baby John! I can’t wait to see what God has in store for all the children in our lives.

Camping with friends

I just got back today from spending a couple of nights at some cabins close by with 3 friends and all our kids. It was a great 3 days of fun before we all have to get back into the routine of school. The kids had a blast!! They played in the pool, fished in the lake, rode the water slide and just had fun being kids. They stayed up to late, ate more junk food than usual and got grouchy but no harm done – a little too much sugar and not enough sleep can’t hurt every now and then. When you put all our kids together there are 11 incredible little squirts from age 3 to 8 (and one more on the way in about 2 months!) We moms had a great time to sitting out amoung the misquitos every night talking about everything from childbirth to church and everything in between. It was really good for me to be with these other moms and see how similar our struggles are. We all are in the same stage of life and can really relate to each other. We shared our fears of raising children in a fallen world and the joy that comes from knowing no matter how fallen this world is God is still in control. I am reading Vickie Courtney’s book Your Girl and am learing that my children are God’s and He has given me the privilage to raise them. It would be an impossible and terrifying job without Jesus at the center of everything. It would also be much harder without woman like Andi, Dee Dee and Stephanie in my life. We all come from different churches and backgrounds but we share the same Jesus and that is a bond that cannot be broken. Thanks girls for an awesome time and those late night chats about 12 little lives that might just change eternity one day!

Camping in a heat wave – who’s idea was this?

Have you ever slept in a sauna – with 3 kids and a husband.  Well, I have now.  We went camping at Fairy Stone State Park Thursday and Friday – it was in the 90’s both days without much cooling down at night.  Mike had a thermometer on his sleeping bag (I know – you can tell he’s an Eagle Scout!) and it was 85 in the tent at 10pm.  We still laughed and giggled while trying to go to sleep and roasted s’mores over the hot campfire and had a great time.  The kids loved playing in the lake.  They have an area of the beach roped off for kids that has giant floating lilly pads, logs, snakes, turtles and frogs for them to play on.  Their are also paddle boats and canoe rentals.  If you want a nice place for a family camping trip I recommend it.  It is in the middle if no where – but that’s what you want when you camp.  You’ll have to read the legend of the Fairy Stone to find out where the park gets its name.  We went to the hunt site and spent a while looking for Fairy stones and found a few but none that were quiet as dramatic as the ones on the website or we saw in the display at the park.  It was still fun to look and the woods where the hunt site is was beautiful – it looked like a place for fairies.  After a hot 40 minutes on a paddle boat we decided to skip the hike and head back toward home and stop at the candy factory.   You can’t go wrong with chocolate!

THIS IS SOOOO FUNNY

If you have kids and take them grocery shopping with you – you HAVE to read this – it is SOO funny.  It is an ebay listing from a woman with 6 kids- she is trying to get rid of a pack of Pokemon cards that her kids, unknowing to her, put in the buggy while shopping.  I found this link while reading Holly Furtick’s blog – it’s a great laugh until you think about the next time you have to take your kids to the grocery store with you!

Diet Coke and Mentos

Check out this video
I know this trick has been around for awhile but this was our first time trying it. I am holding the camera and had to quickly stick it under my shirt to keep from getting “coked” – thanks Josh.

Recovering

We are recovering from our High School Musical 2 Party. Last night we had about 25 6-10 year olds over for pizza and the debut of the Disney movie. My kids are HUGE fans of the first movie and have been really excited about the new one. I can’t really give a good review of the movie because I didn’t get a chance to really watch the movie but from what I saw it had good music and dancing like the first High School Musical. I can give you a review of the party. Lots of squeels and giggles and dancing so I guess that’s 2 thumbs up!! It was crazy but a blessing to have a house full of kids and enjoy this stage in our life.

My first blogging drought

I have not had time to post in several days. I have been busy getting school supplies, trying to get things caught up around the house and taking a couple of pool trips. Gotta cram in that last little bit of summer. I hate to see summer go. It is by far my favorite season. I love the smell of sunscreen, making sno-cones, and going to the beach. So I guess there will be plenty of time for blog posting when the wind is blowing snow against the windows…for now I’ll keep enjoying my summer. Anyone want a coconut sno-cone?

Bye Diego Bye

I haven’t gotten around to getting rid of the Diego toys yet – gotta break the news to Drew today
Here is a funny post by Holly Furtick that lists the website you need to go to see if your toys are recalled.

soccer tryouts

I am planning to take Emma and Luke to soccer evaluations this morning. They played upward soccer last year and loved it. It’s a good program sponsored by Skyview Baptist Church. Kids ages 5 through 6th grade can play. Here are sign up times if you are interested

Today (Saturday August 11th) from 9am-2pm
Thurday August 16th from 4:30 to 8pm

Evaluations are at the field at the Southwestern Virginia Training Center
Cost is $48 and includes a really nice jersey
email me if you need more info