10 Things I Learned This Week

1. The only reason I would want anything to do with the medical field is being able to wear scrubs.  They look really comfortable! Ya know - it's not about helping people.  It's about looking cute.  lol
2. The West Nile virus is making me totally scared!  I don't even want to go outside.
3. In about two weeks our family is going to be in serious overload.
4. Your mother will tell you the Gods honest truth...and its not pretty.
5. Weesale is in 5 days!!!!
6. Listening to Christian songs with Ethan is so cool.  He was actually picking out songs he wanted to download and knew them and was singing along.  It certainly pays off to listen to 91.9 in the car everyday!
7. Dollar Generals are built in the middle of nowhere.  Why is that? 
8. Ethan starts school on 6 days.  Thank God.  One restless boy = one anxious mommy.
9. Two sleeping boys on a road trip makes for a peaceful and relaxing drive.
10. Sure is good pulling into my driveway.  That never grows old.

**+

One Smart Cookie

I have to brag on my little Eli just a little.  While giving him a bath tonight he got to playing with these plastic alphabet letter bath toys that you can stick on the side of the tub.  They're great for learning ABC's or how to spell.  Well, of course Eli can't do that quite yet but he certainly has his favorite letter picked out - O.  In the entire set there is probably four O's, along with letters that look similar like D or Q.  He searched the entire tub for all the O's and had them neatly stacked in his hand.  In watching him and figuring out what he was doing I was curious to see what he was going to do next. Then a Q floated by and I was sure he was going to pick it up and stack it up. He picked up the Q, took a long hard look at it, back at the O's in his stack then tossed it aside. Same thing with the D or any other letter for that matter.  Once I figured out what he was doing, I was so excited for him!  He's so smart!  Coincidence ... I think not!

Tap, Tap, Tap

Do you ever feel like there's a tap on your shoulder from God and you just keep resisting, when you know you should really just listen and do what He says?  For the past few months or so Chris and I have been wondering where God is trying to lead us by moving us into this new neighborhood, and more so, within our church.  Our Journey Group leaders, the fantastic Andrew and Kathleen Cope, have been throwing hints for quite some time about us starting our own group.  Well, of course I'm thinking, NO WAY JOSE!  I'm just not ready spiritually.  The thought of leading a group when I myself don't have all the answers scares the crap out of me.  Here I am thinking, I can't do this.  I'm not a leader.  I'm not brave enough.  But soon I realized it's not about me ... God has other plans.  God makes all things possible.  And he reminds me of that constantly with messages, worship and especially with the song we sang yesterday morning at church. 

You are always with us.  Gracious to forgive us.

By your power we've been set free.

Lord we stand amazed in your presence.

Astounded by your mercy and love.

Our hands are lifted high in surrender.

Your grace for me is always enough.

There is no one higher than our God.

There is no one greater than you.

Let my life forever praise the glory of your name.

There is no one higher than you.



Listen to it here:
http://northpointmusic.org/no-one-higher/

It's phenomenal.  If it doesn't move you, well, I don't know what will. 
So last night, we officially started the JG training.  So it's on like Donkey Kong now.  We will continue to pray about how God will use us to move, both ourselves and others, and make disciples.  I'm actually looking forward to how God will use leading a group to help US grow as well.  We are excited, scared and overwhelmed at the amount of support we've received so far.  And we've already gotten names of at least two or three couples to boot!

To further encourage me today I read this from a friend who posted this on her facebook and it rings true for me today.

"May today there be peace within; may you trust that you are exactly where you are meant to be.  May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith in yourself and others.  May you use the gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you.  May you be content with yourself just the way you are.  Let this knowledge settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love.  It is there for each and every one of us."
- Mother Theresa

 

Amen.

10 Things I Learned This Week

1. I love the look, feel and smell of a clean wood floor!
2. Keeping that floor clean is a battle I'll constantly be fighting.
3. Watching airplanes take off and land is now a favorite pastime of mine.
4. I love love love seeing someone on fire for God. 
5. Nothing like an amazing song to move your spirit and make you one hot mess - listen to No One Higher and see if God doesn't stir something inside you.  http://northpointmusic.org/no-one-higher/
6. Pray for Chris this week.  He has a knee scope on Friday ... while under anesthesia. And I'll be nursing him back to health this weekend.
7. I love my hubbys heart.  There is nothing more attractive than a man who has a heart for loving God and others. 
8. Being off from the gym for 4 weeks hurts. 
9. I am enjoying the first signs of fall on some of the trees in the backyard!!!
10. Going to bed at 8:30 makes you feel old, but you sure do feel better the next day.

Gone Baby Gone ...

Here are more pictures of the backyard and tree that was removed.  Chris and his dad hauled off all the wood from the demolished fence and old doghouse this morning.  You can see how it opens up the space and now we have to actually decide what is going to go there. But it's getting there!

Date Night With Ethan - Carowinds Style

This summer we've focused on trying to have regular date nights with Ethan to be able to spend time with him and just him.  In June we took him to dinner and a movie - Madagascar 3 and Sonic (his choice even though we didn't eat because we ate so much popcorn at the movies).  In July we were supposed to go to a Charlotte Knights game but mama and dada got the stomach flu.  :(  So this month we went big and went to Carowinds!  Every time we drive past Carowinds all he talked about was wanting to ride the roller coasters so now was his chance!

At the gate we had to get a measurement of how tall he is now.  Wow how he's grown!  44 1/2" tall!

Of course we had to get a picture on the NC/SC border.

As soon as we got to Planet Snoopy he was all about meeting the characters.  Ohhh man we're in for it whenever we go to Disney.  I have a feeling we'll just be clicky clicky with the camera.  He was bummed that Snoopy wasn't around today.  I mean, how do you have Charlie Brown and Woodstock but no Snoopy, and it's Planet Snoopy.  Bummer.

Then it was off to ride!

 Scared to ride the Nighthawk!  :)

Then we headed over to Whitewater Falls to check out the splash bridge.  I have to admit mommy did a really sneaky thing - I made Ethan stand on the bridge with me to "check out" the splash that the ride made.  Well, I sorta moved out of the way as soon as the ride was coming down the falls ...

and this was after ...

I was DYING laughing!  He kept saying "I'm soaking wet!"  I think he was in shock from the amount of water that came over the bridge!  So we attempted to dry off in this rip off of a warmer...

Total waste of money.  Anyways, then we walked around and had more fun.

Ethan was obsessed with looking at the map to make sure we were going in the right direction and what ride was coming up.

At one point the clouds and wind rolled in and we thought it was going to storm but it didn't!  But it did give us a really pretty rainbow that we got to see on top of the skytower!  Gorgeous!

On our way out Ethan stood at the measuring stick once again to give his wahhh wahhh face - that's the face we got every time he was too short to ride the fun rides.  Maybe next summer buddy!  He said he'll keep drinking his milk!  :)

 It was a fun trip!  See ya next summer!

10 Things I Learned This Week

1. Bubble Guppies makes me grin from ear to ear.
2. I heart the Olympics bit I'm sure glad it's over.  I need to catch up on my beauty sleep.
3. Planning a Disney trip is exhaustingly (is that a word) fun.
4. Eli is brave in the water.  Too brave.
5. As concerned as I was at the beginning of the summer that it would be long and exhausting, I've truly enjoyed all the quality time I've had with the boys.  I'll be sad (but partly relieved)when E goes to school in a few weeks.
6. I really want to go camping.  It's been way too long and I need to get my marshmallow toasting on.
7. When God calls on you to do something, you LISTEN!
8. My Ethan is becoming quite the little artist, and speller!  While doing sidewalk chalk today, he spelled STOP while drawing a stop sign all by himself.  What a big boy!
9. My knees just aren't what they used to be.
10. Sometimes what the heart needs is a good book to make you realize how sweet life is, even the smallest things.  I'm currently reading One Thousand Gifts and it is amazing so far!

Timber!

Two days after we moved into our new house Chris and I went to sit out on the deck to read our devotional for Journey Group while breathing in the fresh spring air.  Five minutes into sitting outside we realize we are getting showered with something sticky.  Soon did we find out that it was sap and it was coming from the huge tree right beside the deck.  We covered all the fabric covered furniture for fear of it getting completely ruined.  As the weeks went on through the rest of the spring, the deck and concrete patio below were constantly sticky and covered with sap.  Since then we haven't been able to truly enjoy the deck which we really like.  So began the conversation of possibly removing the tree.  I was apprehensive since I knew it may be expensive and I just didn't want to remove the main reason of why we liked the backyard.  After months of discussing it, weighting the pros and cons and getting two estimates, we decided to take the plunge and just do it! 

Today was the big day and I was a nervous wreck!  The crew of 6 arrived at 7:30 AM, before the kids were up, and my brain.  They got to work immediately and worked fast.  I was so nervous I asked Ethan to sit down and say a quick prayer with me!  Once the boys were up they were busy running from window to window watching the tree climber cut the limbs and the rest of the crew putting the limbs into the wood cutter.  Eli could not get enough of watching the wood cutter.  He wanted to be picked up every 2 minutes to see out the window so we just put him in his chair and set him in front of the door so we could see out!  As for the rest of the day, I had plans to take the boys to Carrie's house to play with her kids so I didn't have to sit by and watch.  I'm so glad I did because when I got back from being gone all day the tree was down and the job was complete.  Poor guys - they looked exhausted! 

As for the final product, I do have to say it's going to have to grow on me but I'm just excited that we'll be able to see the stars from our deck! It is like a big empty hole is there in between all the trees but it makes the yard feel so much larger and open.  Here are some pictures Chris took of the progress, minus the final picture of the finished job.  It was too dark to take pictures since these guys worked their tails off until 8:00 PM!

BEFORE - Two gigantic trees!


Brave tree climber!  You couldn't pay me money to do that mess.

BEFORE - You can see the tree in the middle of the house behind the second window from the left.



Eli watching from the window.

Limbs are all removed

Making progress as the day goes on ...

Tree #1 is completely gone - now on to tree #2.

Making more progress...

Stay tuned for pictures from the final product!

Our Little Swimmer

Ethan took his second summer of swimming lessons last week and the week before and he did great!  Last year was a challenge because he wanted NOTHING to do with going underwater or getting his face wet.  This year he conquered that fear so that's a thumbs up!  I'm so proud of him because he's done so well.  We're getting there very slowly.  He even made a couple of friends along the way.  On the last day of lessons they got to go down the big slide which E loved and did about 8 times!