Decorating

Wow, what a boring title. Couldn't think of anything better. I've been trying to do some updates around the house. I'm hoping to do the kitchen floor soon. Several months ago I painted my bedroom, got rid of some furniture, and now I'm looking to fill in the empty spots. I'm still looking for a mirror for my dresser. A couple of weeks ago Jack took the boys to a football camp for the afternoon so that meant Jenna and I had girl time. Can I tell you how much I treasure this time? I love the boys, but something about girl bonding steals my heart. Jenna and I went to Pizza Inn for lunch and had the buffet and then started our shopping journey. We stopped at Home Depot (great girls spot...right? but I was looking for my kitchen floor) a shoe store, Target (we have to do target) Lifeway, the dollar tree and then we went to Home Goods. While I was there, I found this piece and fell in love with it. I knew right away it was going over my bed, so my sweet sweet husband put it up for me. By the time I get it together, I'll change my colors again :) (Just kidding)

Saturday Fun

Saturday morning we woke up to the remnants of hurricane Irene. We lost power briefly for a couple of times. I decided that I wanted to venture out so we took the kids to the Child Evangelism Fellowship fun. It was kinda like our family fun fest, except it was at the fairgrounds and it was inside. They had about 15 different bouncies, free popcorn and snow cones and drinks and free face painting. The kids also like the clowns that made balloons for them and Josh had a mini-karate lesson!! Jenna got to meet Miss Garner and Miss Teen Garner, that was a part of HIS radio. It was a nice free event on such a rainy, messy day when you really couldn't do anything else.

Praise you in the storm

It's been a rough/interesting week. I really needed to get out tonight and thankfully, I had a ladies group to go to tonight. I was so ready to get out of the house. I'm not a mile down the road and what song comes on (one of my favorites by Casting Crowns) "Praise You In the Storm".....perfect timing.

I was sure by now
God you would have reached down
And wiped our tears away
Stepped in to save the day
But once again I say "amen" and it's still raining

As the thunder rolls
I barely hear your whisper through the rain
"I'm with you"
And as your mercy falls
I raise my hands a praise the God who gives
and takes away

And I'll praise you in this storm
and I will lift my hands
that you are who you are
No matter where I am
or every tear I've cried
You hold in my hand
You never left my side
And though my heart is torn
I will praise you in this storm

I remember when
I stumbled in the wind
You heard my cry to you
and you raised me up again
my strength is almost gone
how can I carry on
if I can't find you

As the thunder rolls
I barely hear you whisper through the rain
I'm with you
and as your mercy falls
I lift my hands to praise
the God who gives
and takes away

I'll praise you in this storm
and I will lift my hands
that you are who you are
No matter where I am
or every tear I cry
you hold in your hand
you never left my side
and though my heart is torn
I will praise you in this storm.

I lift my eyes unto the hills, where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord the maker of heaven and earth.

Ordinary

Wow, is it only Wednesday? Seems like it should be Saturday by now. It's been an odd week. The kids started school on Monday. So far so good, except I can tell having homework to do is hard for them to get used to. They have all seem to adjusted well. It should be interesting having a child in middle school with 3 teachers!! I hope I'm ready if the road becomes bumpy!!
Yesterday, Jack and I had our 14 year anniversary!! Wow, he put up with me for 14 years!! We did get out for about an hour and a half for a quick bite to eat together. It was hard to stay gone with bed times, baths, homework, etc, but we did get that precious hour or so together.
Yesterday was also a beautiful day so I decided to sit on my porch a few minutes before I had to pick up the kids. I felt the porch shaking. It was so weird. The wind wasn't blowing but I could feel the porch moving!! I looked over to the storm door and could see it shaking as well. I had no idea what had happened until a few minutes later and the news came on saying it was an earthquake!! Wow!! Funny thing is that Jack never felt a thing.....even though his co-workers did.
So after 2 1/2 days full of adventure, today seems kinda "ordinary". I did my normal load of laundry, cleaned the bathroom, got groceries, and mowed the back yard. I guess something still could happen....but I think I'm ready for an ordinary day!!

First Day of School

Today the kids started school. Things went pretty smoothly because I had the clothes laid out, lunches packed, book bags packed.....Josh starts middle school today so I am a little worried, but hopefully things will be ok for him. I started my morning by walking them in, and then going for a 35 minute walk at the park. I'll finish my day by cleaning and organizing for Jack's upcoming yard sale. I'll enjoy today, but I hope to fin something to do with my spare time, or I'll be lost!!

Orientation Night

The kids went to see their classrooms and meet their teachers. Joshua officially starts middle school, so he has 3 teachers. One for Bible and History, one for math and science, and one for reading/writing/spelling. He has a locker too! His home room teacher is Mrs. Kraus....love her! She loves anything snoopy or peanuts themed! Jacob will be in third and has Mrs. Burden. I have had her before with Joshua. She is more relaxed, but a great teacher. She is a Pastor's wife over at Bethesda Baptist. Jenna starts second grade and has Miss Harmeling. She is new. She just graduated and is the daughter of Southside's pastor. I think I will love her. She seems very nurturing and that is what Jenna loves. Josh is excited to have Brandon in middle school with him. They will have lunch and PE together. Hope we can all get up and out the door on Monday!!

Mudcats Game

A sweet friend gave us 6 Mudcat tickets to last night's game. Jack and the kids have never been to a Mudcats game before so we decided to go. My brother, Mark, was still in town so he was able to go with us. I think we may do this more next year as the tickets are pretty cheap and if you take the back roads, it's not that bad of a trip over there. It was a good way to end our last week before school.

Goodbye, Summer

This is our last week before school starts. It's been a different kind of summer. It's one of those summers where I feel that we made the most of it, where I don't wonder where it went. I am going to miss the days of not rushing around in the mornings, but I think it is time for them to start. This summer has been filled with activities.....trips....our annual beach trip, a trip to Busch Gardens and Jack and I went to Charleston. It's been filled with activities.....swimming with friends, camps, VBS, sleep overs etc. It's also been a summer filled with tough decisions to make. I'm still left wondering if we are making the right decisions in certain matters.....but all in all, I say that this has been one of the best summers. My computer crashed over the weekend, so my pictures have not been restored so I won't post any pictures that go along with the summer. Hope to have that up and running again this week.

Jacob, Jacob

Jacob was goofing off the other night and spiked his hair all by himself. He can't do this for awhile now because Jack cut his hair!! The other picture was of him working outside. It just finished raining and for some reason my camera fogged up and it came out blurry!

Last few hours of Charleston

Jack and I woke up Sunday and went for a horse and carriage ride around part of the city of Charleston. It was very relaxing. After that we went down to see Rainbow Row and back to the Open Market. It was so incredible hot!! Jack wanted to do something "spontaneous" so we went back to the hotel to get our bathing suits on and we went to Waterfront Park to run through all the water fountains that the kids were enjoying. I must admit, it was fun and it did cool us off!

More Charleston

After we went to Boone Hall Plantation which was in Mt. Pleasant (outside of Charleston) we drove into Charleston and hit the streets. We started just roaming the streets, but it go SO hot!! I was happy that we found the City Market and I got to look around there. We ate lunch and then headed back to check into our room. As soon as we cooled down we headed back out for a 90 minute boat tour of Charleston. I really enjoyed seeing more of the city and Ft. Sumter and all the other attractions. We walked back the hotel, cooled down, and then hit a local seafood restaurant which was very good. We ended the night by going to Waterfront park and got to see part of the city in the dark. We were pretty exhausted after our full day, but we still had Sunday to go. More pictures of that in my final post.

Charleston

Jack and I had the excitement of getting away this weekend. We had a free airline ticket, but prices were so high that we couldn't use it. Since we had the rare opportunity of someone that was willing to take the kids, we decided to go somewhere closer so we chose Charleston. Neither one of us had been there and we both loved it. I'll post pictures during the week of the different things we did. We left at 4 am on Saturday and arrived at Boone Hall Plantation before 8:30. I'm glad we got there when we did, as it got brutally hot. I loved this place. Even though I'm not a history buff, I loved it. I loved seeing the slave cabins, taking a bus tour of the entire plantation (which was HUGE) and seeing the house. I also enjoyed the HUGE trees everywhere. In a couple of my pictures you can see the long drive coming up and the beautiful trees that meet over the drive. There have been several movies filmed here, including North and South. I could imagine how it must have felt coming up that long beautiful drive in a horse and buggy to that beautiful house (which is not the original).