Weekend on the Beach

Our second trip up to "The Thumb" happened last weekend. My mom is the park manager at the county park, so we spend our time at the camp ground and on the beach. The kids ride bike everywhere and enjoy the campfire at night. On this trip, we also went to the Farmer's Festival parade, and we enjoyed a DJ on the beach as the sun was setting. It was a great trip and perfect weather. The kids love playing with my favorite niece, Josey. It is always a fight to see who gets to sit by Josey in the van or at meal time. Tammy and Ty brought Ty's boat up so we could all take the kids tubing, but the wind was too rough on the water, so no boating on this trip. Mom made Justin's day by grilling up steak and ribs for dinner (a special treat Justin doesn't get at home). All in all it was the perfect trip... until we headed home. It was the longest five hours ever! Even Justin and I were asking, "Are we there yet?"

"Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts

Hebrews chapter 2 and 3.

"We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away." vs. 2: 1
"Fix your thoughts on Jesus" 3:1

3:12 See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first. As has just been said:

"So, as the Holy Spirit says: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.... Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.

Kids say the neatest things....

Today and each day really, the kids say such cool stuff. But, today especially I wanted to write stuff down so I won't forget. Here is just a small portion of there many words!

Jalen: “Mom I got my seatbelt on so I won’t be legal”. "Jalen you mean Illegal." “Oh, illegal. Is that like an eagle?”

Miah says often, “I love you to the moon and back.” “God made mee, say it agaaiiiin! God made me, say it agaaiiin!”

Jalen said today, “Mom, I love you to God and back, well No, just to God, not back. Cause once I get to God, I don’t want to come back, cause I want to know what God is like.”

Cameron said today, “I want go to heaven because then I can fly around from place to place, and because chocolate grows on trees in heaven. And you can eat all the candy you want and you won’t get sick. And the candy will all be in wrappers.”

As Jalen and I cuddled today, he said, “Mom, I love you all the time even when your mean.” I said, “I’m sorry honey, I don’t want to be mean.” “Well I mean like when you have to give me a spanking when I do something wrong, I still love you even then.”

“Stop- pause- hug, Stop - pause - hug, I just love you too much!” Jalen chanted. (Reminded me of Stop-Drop- and Roll!)

Two Boys, One Girl....

Our little Miah saw the boys "doing their hair" the other day. They were getting it wet, combing it and using gels and hairsprays to make it look how they wanted. Miah had an idea! She found her way into mommy's bathroom and climbed to the highest shelf and found my scizzors. Yes, she decided she wanted hair like the boys! She began cutting. Moments later the boys found her and came running to Justin and I. We were outside doing yard work. Tears came to my eyes as I saw the clumps of hair on the floor. Now I had heard many stories of girls doing this, but I never imagined it happening. But, once the shock wore off, we took her hair out of the pig tails it had been in, and I decided not to give her a hair cut. It isn't as bad as it first appeared. Miah kept saying, "I want to have hair like Cameron!"

Some favorite verses

1 Peter 1:3-11
"His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you posssess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins."

Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Acknowledge him in all your ways and he will make your paths straight.

Galatians 6:7-10
Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

"Kick the Can"

As I blog, my family plus Diana, are playing "KICK THE CAN". For those of you who have heard Mark Beeson speak, we give him credit for us knowing about this game. It all started when the kids asked to play HIDE AND SEEK in the basement. Now that is something we play all the time, especially when Diana is over. So tonight Justin was trying to think of some other game to play, since riding bike had already been done. So we described this new game to everyone, and now they are joyously playing. I was lucky to play for a few minutes while Jalen went potty, I thought someone should take his place. Now I am safely inside watching through the window. Summer is great, isn't it!

Trip to the "Thumb" (Michigan that is)

Spent three days back home. We went to the beach each day, rode go-karts, bumper boats, etc! But, mainly we attended the longest birthday party ever! It started about 10:30 am, when great-grandma arrived from the nursing home, and it ended about 10:30 pm, when the rain attempted to put the campfire out. I am posting some photos of the event. The part I wish I could show you on video, is of the five children putting on a concert for us at this big concert bandstand. Special guest was my niece, superstar Josey (aka Hanana Montana Girl). The rest of the kids were just background dancers or managers, but they all worked well together.
Also at the party was, as always, Pinata time, water balloons, and this water fight, that I guess now includes adults. My sister doesn't just throw a party, she goes all out! Everyone is looking forward to next year already.

Jalen is riding bike!!!!

This has been on the way for a long time. We knew Jalen was capable of riding his bike without training wheels since last summer, but the only problem was that he didn't know it. He was completely convinced that he couldn't do it! He would tell us that repeatedly every time we mentioned riding bike. About 2 months ago, I took his training wheels off, so that he had no option, but to learn to ride with out training wheels, but he did the unexpected. He refused to ride bike for the past two months. He used a scooter, or a toddler trike, but would not even attempt his regular bike. So finally we were on a family walk, and Justin and I decided we would just let him know that there was no longer an option. 15 minutes everyday we would practice riding his bike. So July 1st, at 8:00 pm was his first time. July 1st at 8:10pm, he was riding on his own, with one of us running along side him. At 8:15 pm, he looked at Justin and said, "This is fun!" He is so proud of himself. He loves it. So for the past three days, all he has wanted to do is go for bike rides. I love it!!!!!!

Beginning of a new month

I always love starting a new month. Fresh clean calendar, a whole new set of bills, four weeks of meals to plan, four weekends ahead, so many nice things about starting a new month. And JULY, of all months, JULY is pretty cool.
I started the month by teaching two spinning classes, grocery shopping, signing the boys up for soccer camp, sending out cards in the mail, juicing carrots, kale and celery, vacuuming, 4 loads of laundry, and unpacking from a long weekend away from home. I am now ready to chill out, but wait, I still need to make dinner! Oh the joys of being a wife and mother. It really is fun, but we all need some down time too. Maybe I should plan that into the monthly calendar!