John and Hazel

I realized today that I had yet to post about my in laws. I am pleased beyond words to say that I have wonderful in laws. They raised a great son thus giving me a wonderful husband and great dad. I trust them with our children with everything in me. They are terrific grandparents in so many ways. I would be the happiest mother alive if my children grew up to be like their mamaw and papaw.
I can not lie and say it was always like this. In the beginning of my relationship with Jeremy there was lots of tension between my in laws and I, and was caused by so many things (mainly things Jeremy and/or I did that were wrong). I am not sure about them, but I feel that a blessing that came out of Jeremy falling out of the tree was our relationship. To me that is when we finally started to get to know each other and some time had passed since Jeremy and I stopped acting so stupid for lack of a better word.
Since then it has been a relationship that continues to grow and I am so thankful to have them in my life. And as I said before, my children's lives. Thank you John and Hazel for being the wonderful parents and grandparents that you are:)

VBS'08 Family Night

I was not able to take pics of last night:(
However, it was a great turn out. Larger than I can remember for a family night since I have taught VBS. We had a great time with the kids, giving their parents and/or grandparents a touch of all the fun we all had this past week. There was one song we all sang that had an echo effect in it, so...all the young kids (K-5th) would turn around and face the youth, the youth would sing (or yell) the line in the song and the younger kids would echo it back. It basically was a yelling match but it was really fun.
The parents and/or grandparents came by the rooms to see them and meet the teachers, and then we all headed out to the fellowship hall where we had hot dogs and a bunch of other goodies.
A group of kids that attended actually brothers and sisters live a few houses down from Jeremy and i. We see them at least 3 times a week as we pass their house and have for almost 3 years now. Today for the first time as we were headed past their house, one of the boys was outside and not only was he wearing all the army "gear" he got from VBS but he was smiling a big smile and waving hello to us. I have 2 points to make with this...
1. I am ashamed to say that we (Jeremy and/or I) had never taken the time to wave at any of them before...but....
2. I was soooo happy that some sort of impression was left on this child that he recognized us (we only taught him 1 out of 5 nights) and stopped what he was doing to wave.
Like I have said a few times now, that alone made all the VBS prep, running around, sweating, etc...all worth it!

Jeremy and I clean our church weekly and we went up today to clean and was not looking forward to the clean up after VBS, but thanks to our loving church family, we had not much extra to do. Thank you to all who helped out in that area. You will never know how much Jeremy and I appreciated it.

VBS 2008

Okay, so VBS is now over. We have family night tomorrow, but the classes are over. It was a great time with great kids, youth and adults (and plenty of water balloons). I enjoyed teaching with Jeremy and I think we worked well together (although I missed you Aimee). No one got saved directly, but like I said before we all planted many seeds that will maybe one day grow into salvation. I know all the children and adults each learned something new. Here is Jeremy, solider of God:)

Here is a pic of our youth group this year.

A pic of Preschool, making their shields of faith.

A pic of our adults back row left to right: Darlene, Janice, Robert, JD

Front row, left to right; Uncle Lou and Jeremy.

Bro. Joe talking with Uncle Lou and Bro. Robert.

Our youth teachers, Bill and Lisa (with Joe T. in the back ground).

My FIL, Papaw to my boys but this week, he was Commander John:)

Our cross in church, covered with the pieces of the Armor of God.

Group ages K-gr. 1. Erin and Krystal are great eachers and the kids just love them.

Jon and Aimee's class, this night they had grades 4th and 5th. This was a great group to teach in their own ways:)

Some of the kids: Cymber, Abby, and Brent T. This pic occured after they all got cleaned up after being covered in shaving cream...even Jon and Aimee. As you can see the fingers are pointed at Jon for that!

Ms. Mary with grade 2nd and 3rd making their Bible covers..there's Kolton:)

More activity for the youth group, always a large group, they always have a blast getting wet and dirty:)

Ryan, making his shield of faith.

Jacob also making his shield of faith:)

Kolton working intensely on his Bible cover:)

Erin and Krystal had the K-1 grades this night, they are working on their helmets of salvation. Joe T. in the background helping out. Joe taught VBS for the first time this year and I think he did a great job bringing glory to God and spreading the gospel:)

2 pics that may bring the idea to you of what our theme was...

This was a great experience and I wish all could have it. We have family night tomorrow and I will take more pics and post them soon:)

Prayer Request

Okay, so I know I said I wouldn't be posting for a few weeks but this is important. For those of you have not made CF Husband a regular read, Tricia has cancer in her brand new lungs. It seems to have been caused by mono that can cause cancer in transplant organs, but maybe just transplant lungs. Please pray for Nate, Tricia and sweet sweet Gwyneth. I know God will pull them through this yet again another toughtime. But I know our prayers would sure help. Check out my blog roll to connect to their site.

PINK

Here is a link I found from the CF blog. This is another wonderful story with a sad ending, yet happy ending because the CF sufferer is now with Christ, her name is Haley and she is 12. Today is her funeral. Attendants are asked to wear pink as it is Haley's favourite color. If you read this today, check out her blog and wear some form of pink:)

http://www.caringbridge.org/cb/viewHome.do

Just a Quick Note...

Thanks Alice, I saw some new stuff added to your blog and really liked it:)

Counting Down to VBS

We have 6 days until VBS starts (including today). Jeremy and I get to teach together this year for the first time. Before we each taught seperatley with another couple, Jon and Aimee. I told my pastor, Bro. Joe and Jon that if this didn't work out so well, I reserve the right to take Aimee back next year! (I love you Jeremy). Aimee was great. She was so helpful and made me feel comfortable and really helped me to grow in teaching, not just VBS but all teaching.
So, this year our theme is the Lord's Army and our lessons are based on the Armor of God. Our church tried something new this year. A committee of 4 came up with everything for our VBS. From our theme to our snacks. The purpose was to make it less expensive for the teachers (they took up offerings) and not as time consuming. They have done a great job, thanks Lisa, Bill, Krystal and Jeremy:)
I love VBS. Just to see one kid smile when they are learning about Christ makes all the runing around and tiredness sooo worth it. My prayer this year as every year, is for at least one person to come to know Christ through what they have learned at VBS. But, even if that doesn't happen, it's okay because we will have all planted a seed that will one day hopefully grow into salvation.
So..please pray for the teachers, that will be studied up and prepared and will have fun. Pray for our pastor, Bro. Joe and deacon John (my FIL). They have the tough job of making the kids laugh and get interested in what they are about to learna nd what they have learned. This can be a tough job I'm sure but for the 4 years I have participated, they made it seem effortless. They are always dressing up in goofy outfits and just being plain silly ( I will post pics after all is said and done).
Please pray that God will fill our classes with children of all ages, young adults and adults too. And please pray that anyone attending that does not have salvation thorugh Christ might find Him through what they learn.

I doubt I will post until VBS is over. But the first post I make will be about it and with pics.

The New Baby

Well I got to see the new baby today. He (or she) was stretched out in my belly. I could see a bottom and a spine and head and an arm waved too. It was great. I am 14 weeks and 4 days and am due on Dec. 3rd, but who knows exactly when the baby will arrive.
I am having my thyroid checked, but other than that everything seems wonderful.

James is really keeping me busy these days being mobile and all. He ate a piece of dog food the other day! He has learned "no" real quick and now when he goes towards the dog food, I say "James, no", and he detours. He will stay in his playpen for about 15-20 minutes 2 or 3 times a day which he likes and so do I. He has new schedule that seems to start his day (and mine) at 5 am. I am not sure what he is thinking! I am guessing he is hungry but I can't really feed him anymore than I do at a time and I already put a bit of rice in his bottle with a bit extra before bed. He sleeps from 7 pm to 5am with a feeding at 11pm. I guess this is good really and I should be happy with it, but I was enjoying it when he slept until 6 am. I have tried keeping him up until 8pm but he is not having it. So, needless to say with early rising and chasing after the kids all day and carrying another one...I'm tired today.

Kolton finished school today. Next year he is in 4th grade!!! I can't believe it. He had a great year with excellent grades and he seemed to have fun with it too. Next year he starts a program for kids who are imaginative and bright. He already has friends who are in the program which is great, and he is really looking forward to it. It will not interfere with his day to day class activities so it's not putting anymore on him than normal which is good because we were concerned with that. I want him to continue to enjoy himself which will help him to continue to be so successful.

I will post soon with a picture update and the new video I shot of James "crawling".

Pictures

I have not added any new pics recently, so I thought I would do so now. They are just random but here you go.....

I am not sure exactly what the problem was here but it was making them both a little on the mad side I would say. I do remember that taking that picture of Jacob while he was mad made the situation worse, can you tell?

So, here is James playing with Daddy's toes.....

And my foot...he is alomost 7 months now, I can't believe it.

Here is a video of James "crawling". He can really move when he wants to. It looks a bit dark, I will have to post another one soon.

And after a long, hard day, James is ready for bed.................

I go to the doc tomorrow so I will post about that asap. I am also going to be taking some new pics (more of all the kids) and will post them too.