So proud....

Emma has been practicing writing her name for a while now, but this is the best one so far. She was so proud!

Lessons from Sunday school......

Emma learned about Shadrach, , Meshach, and Abednego at church today. She colored a picture of the three men in the "hot furnace". When we picked her up, she showed us her picture and told us they were in a fire, but did not get burned. We asked why they didn't get burned and she replied, "God saved them."
We got to the car and I looked at Emma's card from church which had her memory verse for the month. I told her that there was a new verse to learn and I read it to her, "Love God with your heart, your mind, your soul, and your strength."
She immediately said, "and don't get burned!"

I love the way their minds work! I am not sure she learned the intended lesson, but at least she is concerned about fire safety. For a Mom petrified of fire, this does my heart good.

Would Anyone like a Kitten?

This sweet little kitten has wandered into our lives this week. It is really cute and playful, but our family does NOT need a kitten. Is anyone out there looking for a new pet or know someone who might like one?

Sunset in Florida

I'm in South Florida all week for work. The meetings start today, so I had to fly in yesterday. After a good seafood dinner, I pretty much told my co-workers we were going to the beach to watch the sunset. They weren't opposed to the idea. It was beautiful. A few more pictures are on my Flickr site.
















On Wednesday, we drive to Miami for a "market visit" (read: go look at high Hispanic/Cuban Wal-Mart stores). We're staying in South Beach, so I plan on getting a nice sunrise picture. Hope you all have a great week. If you're bored, I'm sure Allison would let you watch Emma & Brooklyn for a few hours!

July 8, 2007

When I was younger, I always looked forward to the baby dedications at church. To me, it was a time to see all the new babies that were born in the past year. Not until I had children, did I truly realize the meaning behind them. Today, we dedicated Brooklyn to the Lord. We dedicated ourselves to praying for her, raising her to the best of our ability in the Lord, and then praying some more for her! It was also a great reminder of our dedication with Emma 3 years ago. All of our family came into town for it and most of our community group was at the service. Uncle Sam got to perform the dedication like he did when Emma was dedicated. It was a neat service. There were only 3 children dedicated which was a blessing because as soon as we walked off stage all of the electricity went out. Not just in our service, but campus wide. The Worship Center, children's area, high school, etc.....It could have been a disaster, but it was handled so well by the staff. Honestly, it made the service more intimate. I loved singing with just a guitar, no slides, and hearing a sermon by candlelight.

Our verse for Brooklyn and Emma's dedication were the same:
"The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine upon you and be
gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace." Num. 6:24-26

Lord,
I pray that you bless Emma and Brooklyn. I pray that Your face shine upon them as You mold them into Your image. I pray for peace in each of their lives and I pray that they might know you an intimate way. I pray that you turn their hearts toward You at an early age. We love you, Emma and Brooklyn. As parents, we commit to giving you our all and doing the best we can to train each of you in Christ's image. Thank you Jesus, for Emma and Brooklyn. What a blessing they are to us. Amen

Sisters

The Beginning of the End

Brooklyn had her 9 month birthday yesterday. And she was the one giving out presents: her first official crawl. The switch has been flipped, and she's all over the place now (though at a slow pace). We now have no immobile children. Let the good times roll.

Adventures in Traveling with Kids

We've been traveling a lot. Almost every weekend for the past month or so. And it's not letting up until mid-July. It's exhausting on all involved, too. Especially when you're kids don't sleep well in hotel rooms.

Abiline, Texas
We went to Abiline for Allison's aunt's 50th wedding anniversary celebration and family reunion. That's about a 7 hour trip without kids. A couple of months ago, we went to Dallas for the weekend. It took us 8 hours to get there. Expecting more of the same (and not looking forward to it), we decided to go early and stay in Fort Worth for a while. The drive down was pretty good. We made the trip in about 6 1/2 hours. The next day (Thursday), we took the kids to the Fort Worth Zoo and hung out at the hotel. On Friday, we went on to Abilene. To make this post short, I'll highlight the "fun" we had while we were there:

• Very little sleep. Brooklyn cut 2 teeth over the weekend! 2!!! She was fussy the whole time and didn't sleep well. When she doesn't sleep well in a hotel room, NO ONE sleeps well.
• Brooklyn threw up twice at a super-nice steak house with the entire family there. Not "spit up"...we're talking projectile vomiting. We left the party soon after.
• Emma. Where to start? A tired 3 1/2 year old girl is not a pretty thing. Especially when she's been struggling with mood swings a lot. I'm talking minute-by-minute ups and downs. Before the final dinner on the last night, we had a throw down with her in the hotel room. Over what? Putting on her pants. I had to hold her for the next 30 minutes before she could calm down. I wanted to do anything but hold her...I was furious.
• Spankings: see above point. There were many handed out throughout the weekend.

On a good note, it was nice meeting new family members and hanging out with them. It's a fun family and they all pitched in to help with the kids. For that, we are super thankful. In the picture: this meercat sat in one spot for at least 2 hours and just stared at me while I took pictures.


Mountain Home, Arkansas
My dad just turned 60 this past week. And he and Mom just moved into their new house on the golf course. To celebrate, my sister and her family and my family went over to hang out. The house is really nice and has spectacular views of the golf course! I played LOTS of Wii with my nephews while the girls all read magazines and talked house plans (my sister is building a house). Luke & Isaac (my nephews) are becoming interested in golf. So I took them to the driving range at the course and let them hit a large bucket of balls. Then we putted for a while. Us and the Hannon's (my sister's family) went to the pool and hung out for a long time swimming, which is always fun. Emma is all about jumping in from the side of the pool. Of course, I have to catch her each time so she doesn't go under water. Being a parent at the pool with your kids is really, really a great time! In the picture: Uncle Sam fed Brooklyn before bedtime Saturday night. She was so tired, she fell asleep while eating.

Brooklyn did decently well sleeping. She cut another 2 teeth this weekend! At this rate, she'll have a full set of teeth by the end of August! I'm praying they stop coming in...I'm ready for my happy Brooklyn to be back full-time. Emma slept great and got to play with her cousins all weekend. Dad and I were going to play golf this morning, but got rained out. Very sad.

We're looking forward to August....when we can have a rest from our travels.