Summer Church Camp

Britt is currently at church camp. Although the distance is very close (lucky us!), I feel like she is a million miles away! I am so happy that Brittany wanted to go to camp and spend 2 nights in a cabin with a few other girls. I LOVE that she wanted to go and learn more about God. We eagerly packed her bag on Sunday afternoon. We had pits in our stomachs-hers because it wasn't time to leave yet, me because my daughter was old enough to go AWAY to camp!!! Her best friend was registered as her bunkmate so Chad and I felt that would help with the "staying at camp" issue. She was so excited at check-in. The good bye wasn't too bad, for her anyway!

I am so proud of my daughter! What a fine, independent young lady I have!

I cannot wait to pick her up this afternoon and hear everything about camp. I want to listen to her detail the memories that she will have for the rest of her life of the 1st time she went to camp. I want to listen to her detail everything she learned while reading her Bible and studying God's word with her friends.

Follow-up post coming soon!

Gma Alice

Please say a little prayer for Chad's Grandma Alice. She is in the hospital and things are not going very well. Alice has had quite the downward spiral in the health department this summer. Please just pray for peace and for Alice to be pain-free and pray for the family she will leave behind.

THANKS prayer warriors!
susie

Lincoln Arthur 6.22.09

Lincoln Arthur was born on 6.22.09 at 1:58pm 7 pounds 4 ounces 21 inches long. Mom, Baby Lincoln, and Dad are doing great!

Introducing our newest family member Coco!!!!

Chad brought home a puppy on Saturday morning from work. Someone dumped 2 puppies off and Chad, the softy that he is, decided our family could add one more member! I am a big SUCKER for animals as well and I knew once I saw this puppy I would be in trouble. Coco is adorable and my daughter is in heaven!!! She is so excited to be able to carry her around. When
we got Hester he was already 9 wks old and too heavy for Britt and Clay to hold. Knock on wood Coco has had no accidents!?!?! We are taking her to the vet this week so they can estimate what kind of dog she is and how big she will get.

Yes, this is Coco asleep!!!!!

Britt made her a bed for their 1st night together.

I LOVE this pic! Hester is liking his new buddy! Amazingly enough, Hester really hasn't had any major issues! Our cat, Sara, not loving the new arrangement! So far, Sara is just stalking the puppy!


Clay and Coco

We took Coco over to the Brumley's and Coco really played with Tina. TOO CUTE!

Firecrackers Softball

Britt's softball team won another game last night! It is only our 4th victory but it is so rewarding to watch how far these girls have come!! Britt had a double play-as pitcher she fielded the ball and ran it to home plate then ran to 3rd base to get the 2nd out!?!?! One little girl had 2 hits last night and before that she had only 1 hit for the season! One girl threw 3 balls in from the outfield to stop runners. So many details that I could blog about! It is really fun to watch these girls learn the game. Their 1st tournament game is this Saturday so the season is almost over!!!!

Mistaken Identity

This book has been out for quite awhile but I wanted to be "ready" to read it. This book is about the horrible accident that eventually lead to the mistaken identity of 2 Taylor University students-one surviving, one dying.

I was shaken when the news broke about the horrible accident located so close to where I live. I prayed for each family that had been affected by these fatalities and all the friends of those Taylor students/staff.

Then, the headlines came that the girl recovering in the hospital had been identified incorrectly at the accident scene. The family that had been caring for her, living at the hospital while she recovered, talking to her as their daughter, etc. was NOT the girl's family. As a mom, I simply couldn't grip what the families must be going thru. On one hand you have a family that already buried their daughter and had been grieving for her and now they had that daughter back. On the other hand you had a family that had been caring for their daughter for 5 weeks just to find out that their daughter had died on 4-26-06. If any person doubts the accuracy of this story, you need to read the book. The coroner, the medics, anyone else at the scene are not the only ones to blame for the mistake. The families don't blame them, and if anything they need our prayers for how much weight they carry on their shoulders since that night.

I read this book all in one night, I simply could not put it down. The lump in my throat was pretty much present the entire time, but I can tell you this for sure, this might be the best testimony I have ever read. From the parents, siblings, family friends, hospital staff, etc. these people had faith before, during, and after all of this.

When I lost my mom, I never questioned the existence of God. Not once during her very short cancer battle did I think for a second that I could handle it on my own. I knew without a doubt that God was leading me, carrying me, and holding me. I told people all the time that I could not imagine how people make it thru times like this without faith. How they were able to keep going and not go crazy!!?!?!?

Back to the book, without fail this book delivers a very compelling story.

Playing Catcher & Catching the 1st Pop Fly

Clay got the chance to try catching this week. He looked adorable in all the equipment! Photographer Britt got some pics for me!

Britt's team is improving so much! Although we lost last night the girls played really well. Britt (while playing pitcher) caught a fly ball and then knew to throw it to 1st base since the runner was already 1/2 way to 2nd base for a double play! Britt's coach has made the girls some promises. First, the 1st game ball was signed by everyone on the team and the person that caught the 1st fly ball would get the ball mounted on a trophy! Britt is very excited to get that! Then, Coach Taylor gave her a $1 for getting the double play! As you can tell from the pic, the girl couldn't stop smiling!

More Rville Summer Fun June 09

On Saturday Britt went with her friend and her friends' family to a Relay for Life event. The kids got their faces painted! How fun! The girls got fish complete with bubbles and the brother got "knighted".

Weird to think that the next time we see Pam and Jay the baby will be here!!!! CRAZY!







This past Sunday the kids and I went to Rville to celebrate my brother Kenny's bday. With ballgames on Saturday we didn't head down until Sunday morning, so it was quite a busy day.

I tried to duplicate Kenny's fav cake that my Mom used to make for him. It was NOT the version that Mom's made but it was very tasty! You take a angel food cake (bundt style), cut it in half-top to bottom, using a fork scoop out a moat part of the bottom half of the cake. On the side take 1/2 carton of strawberries, slice strawberries and mix with 1/4 of a can of vanilla icing. Put strawberry mixture in moat of cake, put top of cake back on, then use the rest of the icing to cover the outside of the cake. Add the remaining strawberries in the center. VERY YUMMY! After this experiment of trying to get Mom's cake right, I think my sister Pam is right about Mom using strawberry jello pie filling with the strawberries instead of the icing. Kenny was happy with his bday cake, so that is all that really matters!

After a great bday lunch the kids headed out to Slip n Slide. The kids couldn't understand why the hips and abs were sore and where all the bruises came from on Monday!



Miss Madi



Britt in the COLD water



Brayden



Clay was the inaugural slide! Wow-he was definitely airbourne!


Brayden decided he would race the sliders on the side in the grass, but he also fell in the grass!

Church Program 5.31.09

Last Sunday was a BIG day for our family at church-Brittany was performing a speaking part and a singing solo during the children's choir mini-musical and Clay was "graduating" out of the little kids' Sunday School classes to the big kids group.

For graduation our church gives each child a hard bound Children's Bible. Clay was so excited! Ellery is in the same class as Clay. The above pic shows Clay's entire class.

Ellery receiving her Bible.

Brittany had her mini-musical "The Colors of His Love". Here's a video of her speaking part. The kids did really well!

Our church also had a youth group sponsored breakfast and we got a chance to eat with the Maple's-Lilly and Bauer are some of our fav people!

Church Quote from 5.31.09

While sitting at church on Sunday, Pastor Rob was talking about how to become a more generous person. Here is a quote from his sermon,

"You cannot help but be generous if you are compassionate."

I think that is so true! If you don't have any compassion in your heart for people in need, you will not be as likely to extend a helping hand. If you can't empathize with them, you would be more willing to look the other way.

Rob used this sermon to point out that people (sinners) only help others when we decide they are deserving whereas God reaches out to us no matter what. I hope my paraphrasing isn't totalling discounting Rob's intent for this week's message but this is how I reacted to the sermon.

Thanks for another good sermon and giving me something to ponder throughout this week!