Christian's First Trike!

Sophi, our neighbor and Christian's friend, had a tricycle that Christian could peddle, so we decided he was ready for his very own "bike". We had no idea how difficult it would be to find a standard, old fashioned tricycle! We finally found a great one that he loves and looks precious on, but as Kelly said, it will be easier picking out his first car than it was his first tricycle!! :)

Cutie Pie!!!

I wanted to share with you two sweet little conversations I've had with Christian in the past week. Katie, my sister in law, shared in her blog about a conversation she had with Layla, my niece, on the way home in the car and it was precious. I hope these two little comments Christian made about God bless your heart the way they have mine.

Last week we were having a picnic in the front yard on a blanket and we were rolling around and acting silly and I said, "did Jesus make your body?"
and he responded in his silly voice, "no"
and I asked, "then who did?"
and he said, "God did".

Today we were in the car driving home from the gym and I was singing a worship song and he said, "What singing Ma?"
and I said, "a song about Jesus"
and he said, "Go see him, Go see him Ma?"
and I said, "We will very soon!"

These statements prove that the word of God is in our mouths and written in our hearts! I'm so thankful to see his little mind wrapping around God as his creator and wanting to meet him!!!

Pictures of Ramey

For those of you who know Ramey from college, and anyone else who may be interested in seeing her life and family pictures, you can go to the following site:

http://prayforramey.wordpress.com/photo-album/

There's also an audio of her funeral on the site that I listened to today that is the most awesome thing I've ever heard! Take a listen if you have the time.

College Friends!

Monday night I got together with two great friends from college! Mindy lives here in Springfield, so we see one another fairly often, but Renee is from Texas, so it was really great to catch up with her! We had a great time and I love how your college friends really are your forever friends!
Sadly, I found out though, that another super cool friend from college just passed away three days ago. Her name was Ramey and she died at 33 with a brain tumor. She married a guy from Liberty (where we went to school) and had a seven year old son. She was so fun and full of life! She was very gifted musically and would sing worship songs she had written and play the guitar at coffee shops while we were in school. I so admired her spirit and love for the Lord.
Her death is a sobering reminder to me of the verse in the Bible that talks about our lives being like flowers in the field. We're here today, the wind blows over us, and we're gone tomorrow. Her length of days may seem shortened to me, but she lived a life of triumph as an ambassador for the Lord, therefore her death is not tragic, it is victorious! We will all be with the Lord very soon, if we too are His messengers of the gospel!

Dear Lord,

Please help us to remember that each day is a gift and the only thing that matters on earth or in the next life is what we've done for your Kingdom. May we be your mouthpieces, your instruments, your beautiful handiwork! And may all our efforts everyday be for one purpose alone -to bring you glory!

The '72 Chevy

This was Kelly's ride in high school, a 1972 Chevy he and his dad remodeled. He just had the engine rebuilt and got a new paint job and sold it on Sunday. I saw him drive it for the first time on Saturday and I really didn't want him to sell it. He looked like such a cutie in it :) I wanted to be the girl sitting snuggled up next to him with the loud engine in the background. Sounds funny, I know, but I really did like it.
With no place to store it and gas prices soaring (it's a real guzzler!) it made the most sense to sell.
The cool thing is though, that the man who bought it was also getting it for his high school son to drive. Kelly liked the idea of that!

Look at this octopus water toy Gammie sent me in the mail today!!!!! Isn't it cool?? I love it!! Thanks Gammie! I love you!!

Christian...the Outdoorsman

This weekend we went boating with some friends. Christian loved it and loved swimming in the lake. He was so brave and was even jumping off the boat into Kelly's arms (with a life jacket on of course). He caught his first fish - a small bass. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera so I don't have any pictures to post :(
Today the three of us went kayaking and also had a great time!! We went toward the evening and the temperature was so nice, no humidity either. Christian rode in Kelly's kayak and they even did more fishing out of it. He's quite the outdoorsman! On our way back to shore we saw a barred owl (we think he was the barred species) in the trees. He was so cool!!! He stared us down and he was so big and majestic. I'm so thankful the Lord gave us the extra treat of seeing the owl. He was awesome.


See if you can guess what these words mean...
dan dang
spicket



How about...
band aid
biscuit

Christian's words. Aren't they the cutest????????????

Making Strides

This week has been a very good week at our house. I have, as several times before, decided to turn off the TV completely. The difference in our home is remarkable every time I do this, I don't know why I fall back into the video and morning cartoon routine time and again. I wouldn't trade anything for the peace and clarity of mind I've had this week! Everyday I'm a little nervous to start the morning because I hear my little boy calling my name earlier than I'm ready and I know it's all up to me to teach and entertain him. How easy it would be to turn on Curious George and give myself a little time to wake up (this has been my routine in the past due to my lack of excitement about morning time)! Instead, sleepy, groggy-eyed me prays, "okay God, please help me today". And guess what!!!!!!!!??? He has!!!!! God has been so good! This morning we even had school for the first time. I made a sack-breakfast (instead of sack lunch) for him last night before bed and had a couple of worksheets for him that helped him begin to draw straight lines from left to right and top to bottom. We did a bear craft and read a book on bears. It was so fun preparing all this for him and guess what else...he loved it all!!!!!!!!! He even wanted more worksheets!!!!!!!!!!!!! My kind of student :)

All I can say is praise Jesus! I can't believe how dependent I had become upon the TV to entertain him. I'm not going to proclaim, "no tv ever again", but I am going to take it one day at a time as I've done this week and trust God to help me without resorting to television. Christian has been in a better mood and we've played more than ever. Usually he's requesting a television show or another video every 10 minutes, but at the first of the week when he started asking I just said, no tv we're going to play a game, or play with our toys, or go on a walk, etc... and he's fallen right into stride. Don't get me wrong, we have played with toys and have played outside more than inside since the spring, but when we were inside, it seemed the tv had to be on. Having it off has made all the difference.

Here are a couple of pictures from his first day of school (it seems like the teacher in me has been waiting for this day ever since we brought him home ~smile~).

Another stride forward that happened today was Christian putting on his shoes all by himself for the first time! I didn't even ask him to. I was in the bathroom fixing my hair and he walks in saying, "wook Ma, put shoes on all by self!" I couldn't have been prouder of him. Part of me wanted to cry. We hugged and cheered for a long time.

A couple of cute things he's saying these days are:

"What doin' Ma? (Da?)" He always wants to know what we're doing.

"Gwad to meet you Da (Ma, Soph, ect,...)" Kelly taught him this and he'll shake our hands (or paw) and say this phrase. It's so sweet and sounds so sincere!

Neighborhood July 4th Party

We live on the best street in the world!! Our little cul-de-sac has 10 houses on it and our neighbors are truly like family. We are very thankful for our dear friends here on Glendale Avenue. On Saturday we had a 4th of July block party with a parade put on by the kids, good food, and fireworks. We had such a great time! Christian loved the fireworks especially the loud ones! We loved watching him!! And even the neighborhood doggies got to come.

First Produce Is In!!!

Yesterday I picked my first few cherry tomatoes and two peppers!!! We ate the tomatoes and one pepper on tacos before I got a good picture of them all. It's so funny how you admire the beauty of each vegetable when you've grown it!

Great picture of my brother Eric and his family

This is my brother Eric, his wife Missy, and their four kids, Savannah, Ellis, Carson, and John Hughes.

Daddy and Christian swimming at the hotel on the way home from Tennessee

Plus another picture of Christian and Pock since the others were so small!!

Fun with Mimi and Pock

Christian had

such a great time with Mimi and Pock (Poppy but Christian has nicknamed him Pock)!! His very favorite thing was riding the tractor with Pock and picking blackberries in the field. He also loved playing under the apple trees and especially loved the strawberry picnic he and Mimi had under one of the apple trees. He has asked almost everyday to go back and see them :( It makes me sad because he doesn't understand that they live too far away to go see often.

-i regret that the first three pictures are so small!! They are adorable!!!-

More Tennessee....

Kelly took a couple of days and went to the mountains to hike and explore. The Smokies are one of his favorite places to relax. He even saw a bear(the black bear is in the trees in the last picture)!!! I'm glad he got to go!!