Love Our Backyard Bonfires!

We love backyard bonfires... especially with great friends! Sunday evening we enjoyed the fire, food, and friendship with the Hobecks!

Mike attempted to get the fire started on his own with some sticks, but it didn't get going so well...

Before too long we had both Jim and Mike working on the fire while Jen and I just watched... and laughed!

While we were waiting we decided to have some fun with self snapshots!! This was Kayleigh and I's...

Finally... a fire!!!

Jake and Chase both helped keep it going... or so they think anyhow!

It wasn't too long before we finally were able to eat!

For a little kid... Jake can sure devour a hotdog in no time!

The girls had a great time too!

In the end it was a fabulous evening! I even learned a new s'more trick... use a Reece Cup instead of Hershey chocolate! Yummy!

Stone Mountain Day Trip

We took a family day trip to Stone Mountain State Park in Northwest North Carolina Sunday after church for a picnic and hike. It was a gorgeous day with perfect 80 degree weather!

Along the trail we saw a big sign that said "Fatalities Have Occurred Here" so we knew we were in for a strenuous workout ahead. After finally reaching the bottom of the Stone Mountain Falls the kids played on the boulders for quite sometime. Mike and Devin disappeared up into the trees. I THOUGHT they were just looking out over the hillside.... NOPE! Seems my brilliant husband and daring son decided they were going to climb to the top of the waterfall!!! Mike admits now that it probably wasn't the smartest thing he's ever done!

Once they recovered from their journey we headed back up the mountain... 392 steps UP the mountain! I thought I was going to die!!! Thank the Lord a bench was placed after every 40-50 steps to sit and rest... because that we did!! Devin beat us to the van and had it nice and cool for us!! Such a good kid!

It was a great day, a great hike, we had great laughs, and just had a great time!

Slideshows From Youth Sunday

These are the 2 slideshows they showed at Youth Sunday.

The first one is Wade Center. This is the mission trip that Devin went on in an underprivileged area of West Virginia. Devin helpd with a soccer camp for kids, as well as went out on worksites to clean and build.

The second is Kayleigh's mission trip, Jerusalem Project. This one was local... they went to homes in need, the food kitchen, and ended with an outreach that was a huge success! Kayleigh and a friend are pictured in the slideshow praying with a boy who devoted his life to Jesus that day.

We're sure you'll spot the pictures of Devin and Kayleigh in the slideshows! The two that bring tears are the one of Devin in the first video at 4 minutes 52 seconds in and the one of Kayleigh in the second video at 4 minutes 36 seconds in. So very proud of both our teenagers!!

Youth Sunday

Today was Youth Sunday at our church. Once a year the youth lead the entire service. They talk about mission trips, give testimonies of how God is working in their life, their praise band performs, they do the ushering and greeting... it's all about them! It is typically standing room only and a big deal for our youth.

Well... Devin was one of 4 who gave his personal testimony during the service this morning. As a parent there is nothing we have enjoyed more than watching him onstage pour his heart out explaining his relationship with Jesus. We were so in awe of the words pouring out of his mouth that we couldn't even cry.

Then, tonight, he gave the entire message at their Youth Service. This is something he's been working on for the last month or so with a friend. His topic... a touchy one for high school kids... how to share the word of Jesus with their peers each and every day without being singled out or pushed away. Wow! He NAILED it!!!

(Devin after Youth Service with his Youth Pastor, Sonny)

Kayleigh also participated in the youth mission trips this summer. One of the photos on the slideshow at the morning Youth Sunday Service was of Kayleigh, a friend of hers, and a little boy with their heads bowed in prayer. Such a beautiful thing to see that she's able to reach out to others unconditionally.

We are so very full of excitement, joy, pride, and so many more emotions! We are very very proud of our kids and can't wait to see what God has in store for them!

Back to School!

The kids all went back to school this week without a problem!

Paige is the only one of the kids that let me take a picture though! She's in first grade this year and very proudly told her teacher "I am NOT a ringleader... I JUST like to be in charge!". Poor Ms. Williams didn't know what to think. She had a great first week, despite having a nasty cold.

Chase is in Middle School this year and is on a modified block schedule. I think it's a great way to transition him into Middle School and he seems to enjoy it. He has the first 2 classes with the same teacher, then the next 2 classes with the same teacher. In the afternoon he has his "elective" courses. The continuity in the main courses will be really beneficial to him.

Devin is a junior and attends the Career Center in the morning for college level AP classes, then heads to Reagan in the afternoons. He has officially taken control of Mike's Honda Accord in order to do this though!! He's enjoying it so far, but has a LOT of homework!

Kayleigh is in her sophomore year at Reagan and so far so good. She's been buried in Algebra already and spends a lot of time studying (as she's always done). She's been bumped to Syphonic Band this year and we're excited to see her progress with that.

As for Mom and Dad... we're trying to figure out a schedule that works for all of us. And, we're exhausted from all of the homework that WE had as parents! You know... forms, forms, forms, oh.... and MORE forms!

Hope everyone else has a great back to school!

A Little Late is Better than Never!

We celebrated Chase's 11th birthday on August 14th. He is such a fun kid and always has the biggest smile despite all he's been through! He has taught such patience, love, and understanding to us and we are having fun with him each and every day!

Chase picked his birthday dinner... lasagna and root beer!

Kayleigh spent the day making him a great big chocolate chip cookie cake that was sooooo yummy!



He hasn't picked his activity for Daddy's Day Out yet (Mike always takes the kids out for a Daddy's Day on their birthday. Very fun tradition if you haven't started one yet!).

Guess we'll wait and see....

Bring the Rain

Mike and I have been married for almost 18 years and what a roller-coaster it has been. We have endured 3 miscarriages, the life threatening illness of our son, premature births, the loss of my Mom and many other loved ones, crazy injuries, heartache, pain, and so much more. I guess you could say we've been through a lot of "rain"... and even more "storms". So many, that if I wasn't living this life myself I wouldn't believe it could all happen to one family.

We sang this song, 'Jesus, Bring the Rain', in church Sunday and it brought me to tears. It's a song about praising God and having Faith, even after all the troubles, heartache and pain in life. After each storm we've endured, we are always stronger in the end we've always gotten through. Believe me, I'm the first to admit there were times when we had given up on God even caring but He was, and is, always there to see us through and it's after the storm is passed that we are able to see how great our God is and how He held our hand through the rain.

So yes... if the pain is what shows us Your great glory and love for us... Jesus, Bring the Rain.

Video Montage of Vacation

We had a fantastic time in Southwest Indiana with the Taylor-Schroeder family! This video sums up our week in pictures!

Enjoy!

Wrap Up of Wrightsville Beach

I cannot begin to put into words how much fun we had at the beach with Mike's Dad & Step-Mom, Judy. We are very very very grateful for the fun weekend they gave us and all the memories that we left with. Here's some pictures to wrap it all up!

Family Pictures at the Beach

Can't Wait to Meet You, Baby Chloe!

I hosted a baby shower for a very good friend and co-worker of mine this afternoon. Marli hired me straight out of college as a therapist, and within a month had enough faith in me to promote me to a Rehab Manager! We just "clicked" from the get go and I treasure our friendship.

Baby Chloe is such a blessing to Marli and Rick! After 8 long years of testing their faith and hope, she's well on her way! We are so very excited for Baby Chloe to arrive and can't wait to snuggle her up and tell her how many people prayed for her every step of the way!

Instead of games (because Marli's not a fru-fru girl!) we all told Marli what no one ever told us about childbirth or raising a baby! What fun that turned out to be. Did you know that you now have an option to freeze dry the placenta to be put into vitamin form for the Mom to take to reduce effect of post-partum depression!!! We all learned a lot today!

While the big girls were upstairs opening gifts, eating, and having fun, Paige was downstairs with Daddy and her brothers. Yep, you guessed it, she managed to get hurt anyhow by falling off the footstool to the recliner. Now she has a gorgeous shiner to sport to church tomorrow!

Marli - I enjoyed having you and all our coworkers over today! Thank you for being such a good friend and I look forward to meeting little Chloe!

8 Teenage Girls Under One Roof!

We celebrated Kayleigh's 15th birthday a week early... with a sleepover of EIGHT teenage girls! Mike and I gave up our bedroom for the night so that they could have plenty of space (if you've never been here - it's 600+ square feet with a living room suit, dining room table, and king size bed!). They stayed up until well past 4am... but all woke up by 9:30am Saturday!

We really are blessed that Kayleigh has such a great group of friends! Mike and I slept directly above them, and didn't hear a thing! They had a great time and we enjoyed having them!

Kayleigh - we hope you had a great time and are very proud of you! We look forward that God has in store for you!

"Harry Potter Can Rot"...

If you haven't heard yet, the new Harry Potter movie was released this week. The world seems to be pretty excited over it... I just read that worldwide it has made over $100 MILLION dollars in just a few short days!!!

On the flip side of the excited fanatics who are storming theaters to see this movie... you have the exhausted employees who work at and operate the theaters...

Take Mike, for example....

Tuesday he worked 7am to 11am to prep for the movie, then back in at about 4:30-5:00pm for the beginning of mass chaos... notice, I didn't put an end time... that's because he came home at 7:00pm WEDNESDAY for a total of 26.5 hours straight! Then the poor guy had to BACK at the theater at 7am this morning to meet a tech to fix a projector! By the end of the day Saturday he will work over 60 hours!

Mike's facebook status this week has been "Harry Potter Can Rot"... and I can certainly see why!

Such a Proud Kid...

Chase was jumping on the trampoline this afternoon without a shirt on and flipped off of it, backwards. Now we all know Chase is made of rubber and doesn't really break... so for him it was "funny" and quite a proud moment complete with some scratches and battle wounds from the fall!

It wasn't quite so funny after he came downstairs tonight asking what all the bubbles were all over him. It was then that his big brother said he had fallen into a patch of POISON OAK!!! Really not so funny now! The kids is COVERED in poison oak all the way down his chest and left arm! Add to the poison oak bubbles the fact that he's got open scrapes all over his chest.... YUCK!

After a long hot soapy shower and careful towel dry we lathered him up with a 50/50 split of prescription strength corticosteroid cream and Eucerin (b/c the cream was adult strength). For now he's doing fairly well and says it feels "cooool"!!

The smile still shows how proud he is... wonder if he'll still be this proud tomorrow when he's all itchy and miserable?

Happy Birthday Grandma McMahon

Today would have been Grandma McMahon's 81st birthday. I miss just hearing her voice on the phone every week, and miss talking to her about memories of my Mom and her telling my kids stories of my Mom.

I also have such fun memories of visiting her and "Pap-Pap" when I was a kid. My favorite memories will always be the nights that we would travel and get to their house late at night. She'd always be at the kitchen table waiting for us with fresh kielbasa and colby-jack cheese from the Convenient store she worked at down the road. We'd nibble on it little by little in hopes of staying up even later. Meanwhile, Pap-Pap was snoring like crazy in the lounge chair in the living room with his dog on his lap... claiming he was trying to stay awake for us to get there! It was always a special treat when we were there!

I know that Mom and Grandma are celebrating together in the Glorious Heavens.

Until then...

Love and Miss you!

"Shell"

Happy 60th Birthday Mom!

Dear Mom,

Today would have been your 60th birthday. You're not celebrating here with us, but I know you are having your special day in Heaven with the angels. I miss our "girl-days" we always shared on birthdays... getting up bright and early and spending the entire day together with Cassi. Such fun memories I'll always treasure!

You are always loved and always in our hearts.

Love and Miss you!

Blog Hop!

Brent Riggs and MckMama are sponsoring a Blog Hop! This week, on TUESDAY, 7/7/09, the theme is A FAVORITE PHOTOGRAPH. Want to join us? Post up one of your favorite photographs and a caption that tells the audience about it.

This is a picture of my beautiful daughter that SHE took HERSELF this week! She's growing up so quickly...

Another One Behind The Wheel!

Kayleigh starts "in-car" any day now, then she'll get her permit... so I decided I'd give her a shot behind the wheel in our church's parking lot. She wasn't so sure at first, and was so nervous! I was just praying she didn't drive right through the sanctuary!

After about 20 minutes we switched and I drove towards home. Once on Summerglen, I figured I'd give her a shot again... after all, it's only about 1/4 mile and it's a straight road... surely she could do that... right?




OK... so it was her first time... But, I guess we have some work to do!

Fun on the Fourth

We learned last year that fighting the traffic to get to Lewisville Square for fireworks was just plain crazy... so we found our own spot in a field up the road to watch the fireworks and let Chase and Paige play.

After the fireworks were over we walked back to our house and enjoyed the $10 fireworks we bought from Kmart more than we did the Lewisville fireworks anyhow. Mike had me a bit worried... beer plus fireworks just seemed like a recipe for disaster... but it turned out ok!

Hope everyone else had a great holiday!

Goodbye My Friend...

This evening, Matt is pain and cancer free. He will be missed by family and friends, but we all know Heaven is rejoicing today as he is welcomed to his eternal home.

Just a Moment In Time...

Word spread tonight of a high-school friend recently diagnosed with non-hodgkins lymphoma just a few weeks ago. While on chemo he contracted a bad case of pneumonia and now is fighting for his life. The physicians are telling the family it is not looking good and to expect the worst.

It really got me thinking... when we were in high school we didn't look around and think: she's going to die in a car accident at 23, he's going be on dialysis at 40, she's going to die after a kidney transplant from complications of diabetes at 36, he's going to be fighting for his life at 41. We all seemed so invincible back then. After all, we were all going to live well into our 90's, right?

I've seen so much heartache, pain, and suffering to family and friends and such young ages. My best friend Tammy died in July of 1995 in a car accident... 23 years old. My own Mom was only 54. Cancer is not choosy and accidents do happen each and every day. Life really is unpredictable and we can't just take tomorrow for granted. We need to live today like it is our last and we need to live righteously.

Pastor Beaty said something a few weeks ago that popped back in my head tonight and I'm leaving you with it...

If you died tomorrow, would you go to Heaven? Have you opened your heart to Jesus and accepted Him? Trusted in His love for you? Are you living your life to glorify Him? Will your family know that you have given your heart to Him so that they have peace in knowing your final destination?

Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me shall live, even though he dies" (John 11:25)

Clear The Roads!!!

Devin got official permission from the state of North Carolina to drive without Mommy and Daddy in the car...