Our Trip to Aunt Sarah's in PA

I miss this boy already!! This is Nate, my newest nephew. I couldn't get enough of him!! I LOVE babies, their soft skin, their smell and sweetness!! He is so precious!! Lauren and I had a great time visiting! She also loved the baby and always said "He's so soft and so cute"!!



Look at those eyes, another "heart breaker"!!



Will and Lauren were playmates!! They loved doing the same things together!! On the way home Lauren asked if we were going back to Will's house and I said we were going home, she didn't like that idea at all. How sweet to have cousins you love!! I pray that as the cousins grow up they remain close.









This was a park near Sarah's house right on the Lake. How beautiful is this?!






The three musketeers. They all dressed a like for church and Sarah and I didn't plan this.




This sweet girl, Abby, is so tiny and light but a ball of energy. I thought my boys were full of it but this one may have even more. I miss her too!!



We played with Aunt Sarah's homemade play dough a lot!!




Thanks Gehman's for having us up!! We enjoyed our time and wish we lived closer!! Sarah, I miss you so much and loved just hanging with you!! You are so precious and a GREAT mom!! I love you so much!!

Lauren's 3rd Birthday

Where does the time go?? Lauren is 3 already, how crazy is that! She is a beautiful, sweet little girl(most of the time)! Her favorite song right now is "Mighty to Save", we have to sing it at nap and bedtime. I pray that she does accept the Lord as her Savior at a young age and continues to follow HARD after Him all of her life!! I pray that God will mold her into a godly young lady who will stand up for the TRUTH! I pray that she will have a quiet and gentle spirit and yet be SOLD OUT for Christ!! I love this sweet girl so much!! I praise God for her life and allowing me to have a little girl.



This is how we spent Lauren's 3rd Birthday, on the York River with her brothers, Caleb, Josh, Jesse (her adopted brother) and me.





Happy Birthday!! She got lots of princess stuff since that's what she loves. She is my princess!! We celebrated with dinner and cake the night before the real day. Miss Dee (their adopted Grandma from church), and Brayden another church friend (in the picture below) was a part of this celebration.

Random Pictures

This was our first "official" day of no school!! Our summer has started!! It was one of those HOT days and we got out Lauren's pool (of course, a great yard sale deal!). The boys still like to play with their sister even though the pool is way too small for all three of them.



Lauren wanted to play in the pool all day and even when she woke up from her nap.




This was Memorial day weekend. It was a jammed packed weekend but we got to see Christy, Scott, Eli, Lily and Zack. Lauren and Lily loved this jeep. They were pretty good about taking turns driving it with some help. As you can see Zack just goes with the flow, so he got to have a ride on it once Ithink.





This was a wedding that Shaun did on Memorial Day weekend. Our neighbors who live right across the street asked my hubby to marry them. We have been trying to share Jesus with them so he agreed, plus their son is always over and like family to us.

I had to post this picture because I rarely get a shot with my handsome boys!!

Josh, Logan and Caleb.

Shaun and the boys at the wedding!

May is flying by...

May has been flying by with all of our end of the year activities. The boy's had their piano recital! They have done so well, thanks to their wonderful teacher Mrs. Noble. My in-laws were in town to see their performances which was special, since our families live so far away and they usually don't have their grandparents around for their special events.




This was a few hours before their piano recital. It was a hot day, so after baseball the neighborhood kids decided to come over to cool off in the slip-and-slide!! This is our neighborhood crew Clowey, Noah, Caleb & Josh, Logan & Jesse. I seem to adopt more and more kids!!



Baseball season is in full motion!! Josh is on the Met's and Shaun is coaching him. This is his first year pitching and I think he found his nitch!! Caleb is on the Cardinals and is playing in the "Majors" that it little league. He is playing with 11 & 12 year old's. He is doing great as well!! They both LOVE baseball.





Here is our church property!! It is coming along and the foundation is done. They are now framing, how exciting!! Thank you Lord!!






We had a home school Mother's Day outing playing Putt-Putt!! This was Lauren's first time so she was very frustrated in the beginning, but by the end got the hang of it and had so much fun with her brothers!!

The first video clip is Josh playing the Doxology at his piano recital. The next is of Caleb playing "The Gift to be Simple".

The Whole Armor of God

Usually I just post cute pictures and I don't write lengthy spiritual truths. I don't always think of amazing things to write like my sister Christy who just has that "gift". I'm not trying to imitate her at all. This may be my one and only spiritual journal. This year hasn't been easy for me with the whole homeschool thing. It's been the hardest and biggest adjustment for me, besides just being a parent. God has really been speaking to my heart about my attitude with this whole homeschool thing. I feel like this is where God wants me and what is best for my children right now. With all that said, He has been showing me how selfish I am, and how I need to change my attitude. There are many days I try to do all of this on my own but lately the past few weeks I've been waking up before the kids (which is hard, I'm not a morning person) and spending precious time with the Lord!! I have been crying out to Him and asking Him for His strength, patience, love, peace and joy(I need all of the fruits of the Spirit), to be given to me through out my day. I need to be a good example to my children, how will they see Jesus if I am being easily frustrated, stressed and impatient with them. My prayer has been just this and it has made me realize my need for Jesus not only each day but moment by moment!! I am still not perfect and never will be. I will still struggle with this as any mom does, but I am realizing more and more how important it is to be in the word and in prayer daily. Without it the day just seems more chaotic, less peaceful and full of my fleshly, selfish attitudes and ways. I understand the verse that says we need to die to self daily!! I praise God for His goodness because each morning He has just what I need in his word or in one of the many books I'm trying to read.

I have to share a little of my time this morning from the Word and then a little from a book called "A woman's walk with God", by Elizabeth George. I read from Ephesian 6:10-18, "10 A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.11 Put on all of God's armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil.12 For we* are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore, put on every piece of God's armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm.14 Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God's righteousness.15 For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared.*16 In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil.*17 Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.*" This is so true, the only way we put on the Whole Armor of God is by being in His word daily. He speaks to us through it. I love just reading through the letters of Paul and journaling because it speaks to my life.

I also read from the book "A woman's walk with God" this is what it said, "Oh, dear sister in Christ! You and I have just seen Jesus submit to His Father's will, to death on the cross! We cannot help but to ponder, to marvel! This is too amazing for us not pause...and to praise...and to pray! Oh, dear Jesus, thank you! But we must also look to ourselves and to our walk with the Father. How is our performance when it comes to following God's direction for our life? Speaking to myself, I know I pray so little. When something tough comes along in my day, I too often blurt out, "no way!" and go on my merry way. If something requires more than I want to give, I say, "Oh, thank you very much, but I won't be able to do that." Or I grind on, doing what I have to do on my own, in my own flesh, and by my own power, never approaching the father for His filling. I murmur, gripe, complain and fret. I do my duty...but I do it grudgingly. In times like these, I need to follow my Lord's example and go to my Garden of Gethsemane, my place of prayer. I need to turn to the Father and contend with my flesh until I realize His fruit of love, joy, and peace. I need to spend the time however long it takes! To allow Him to fill me with himself until I have all of Him and He has all of me (Empty Me, by Chris Sligh). If you and I would, for one week or even one day, fellow follower, commit ourselves to God in this way. If we would commit ourselves to rush to Him in prayer and remember His promises when we need love, when we need joy, and when we need peace, and stay there until we have it, however long it takes. We could indeed change our world for Christ. If we would commit ourselves to spend time in the garden with the Father and to pay the price Christ paid to walk by the Spirit, overcome the flesh, and thereby experience God's love, joy and peace well,, the effects are unknown, untold and limitless! Prayer in our own garden would mean Christ in us changing our hearts, marriages, families, homes, neighborhoods and our world. And He can do it! But without Him, we can do nothing. Without Him, we only go through the motions, giving so little to a husband, a child, or a world that needs him so much!!

This is good stuff and I pray that this encouraged and challenged you as it did me!! We are all on the journey together!! Praise God for the amazing promises and blessings He gives us when we follow Him!!

Baby Bunnies

Josh and his friend were playing in our backyard when they heard little cries. They found a nest of baby bunnies. At first Shaun thought they were mice but then when they popped out you could see their little pointy ears. They are so sweet. We read on-line about these bunny nests and discovered that during the day the mother leaves them so she doesn't bring attention to their predators. She feeds them before sunrise and after dark. Each day my boys have been keeping an eye on them because a few times they have escaped their nest and we put them back in so they wouldn't fall prey. This is the discovery channel right in our own backyard. This is a real live Science class for the boys. And since Josh has been learning in Science about mammals and their environments this is perfect timing.

Fun times

After a few beautiful days, it got cold and rainy!

Our morning and after nap routine!! Swinging and jumping on the trampoline.

Dress up time and Abby just wasn't sure about this!!

I had to get this shot because they got to have lollipops and plopped down on the floor just like this!! We had lots of fun with Will, Abby and Aunt Sarah (with baby in the tummy, as Lauren would say)!! Even though we still had our homeschool routine, it was fun to have time with My sister and her kids. It's always awesome to spend time with my family and so hard to see them go!! Thanks Sa for driving so far to visit and being so pregnant(even though your still so little)!!