Saturday, April 26, 2008

Paint Misbehavin'


Mom took the kids to a really fun pottery store. You pick your pottery, paint it, then they fire it for you and you pick it up later. My precious three were so proud of their creations. Josh made a moon to hang and a fish for my Mom. Beth made a horse that holds trinkets. She made it have beautiful green eyes. Brenna made a polka dotted mug for Taylin. As Patrick and I looked around the store, we realized we want to paint something to, Mom! Thanks for taking them, they loved it!

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Chocolate Croissants & Sugared Crepes


I think I'm going to adjust very well to the French side of the St. Barthelemy culture! While were in the French section of Epcot we had crepes and Croissants! MMMM! They were so good. They serve crepes often and the bakery in Gustavia sells Chocolate Croissants. The ones at Epcot were good, but not like the bakery in St. Barths. While we were visiting St. Barths I also had some sort of fruit tart. It was delicious too!

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Expectations



I think I've inherited another trait from Mom. We both have high expectations. You know what I'm talking about. You have an idea in your head of exactly how things should go...High Expectations. Then, when things don't turn out the way you've planned you're a little disappointed. Well, one of those situations took place this week. Since November we've been saving and planning for a mini vacation/2nd honeymoon/ anniversary getaway for just Patrick and me. We've been so excited planning the things we wanted to do. Our parents were each going to split time watching the kids and we were going to be gone from Monday evening through Friday lunchtime. Can you believe it? That many days alone? We left Monday evening and Tuesday morning in Orlando I woke up with the Stomach Flu! Yuk! And for those of you thinking....no, it's not morning sickness. So, our plans changed a little bit. We spent a lot more motel room than planned. The last day, Thursday, we were able to go to Epcot. We enjoyed it. I was still a little weak. Just not what I had in mind. My husband is so sweet and I'm so glad we're best friends and love being together. Hey, here's some good news...My Dad just offered to keep the kids again! So, before we leave Florida we might have another romantic moment...Here goes my Expectations again.

Monday, April 14, 2008

A Man After God's Own Heart

I had a blessing in my Bible time this morning, so I thought I would share. Have you ever thought about what God meant when He said that David is a man after God's own heart. There are so many ways, but the Lord really showed me another way this morning. I was reading in 1Samuel 24 and I came to the portion in scripture that talks about when David had an oppurtunity to kill Saul. You know, the man that was after David to hurt him, kill him, do whatever evil he could to him. David was in the inner portion of the cave when Saul came in with his men not knowing David was in the cave. When Saul and his men rested, David's men said that this was David's oppurtunity. David was so wise! He could have acted in the flesh and gotten revenge. I love verse 6 and the end of 10. David had such a respect for the authority in his life even though that authority was doing him wrong.
I have a small outline from a sermon I heard on this passage that I wrote in my Bible. It says...
1. Expect to be mistreated at sometime
2. Anticipate feelings of revenge
3. Resist those feelings
4. Refuse to fight in the flesh
5. Forgive! Only with God's help is this possible.
Romans 12:17-21
If you think about it, this is such a picture of God's forgiveness. God has every right to take revenge on us, to turn His back on us, and send us right to Hell! But in His mercy and grace He's chosen to forgive us. I'm so thankful our God is like that!

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Brenna's Turtles



Brenna is our turtle girl. She's collected turtles since she was 3 and she's developed a nice collection! She knows each one of them by name and some are grouped into families. She showed her collection to her Grammy and Grandpop and they loved it. They loved how she named each one and remembers their names. They laughed and had fun looking at each one.

Special Day with Grandma


My Mom has been planning a special Granddaughter day with her 4 oldest granddaughters. She surprised them with taking them to the new American Girl store in Naples. (all the girls brought their dolls) Then they went to lunch at Rib City. The girls had such a good time, they talked and talked about all of the fun things they did, saw and ate. Thanks, Mom, for being so special to my girls. They really look up to you, just like I do!

Feed Me Uncle Patrick!!


Patrick has a soft spot for Chloe. (Personally, I just think he's ready for another baby! :) ) So, while Taylin was eating her food he offered to feed Chloe her bananas. She was so messy by the time she was half way through. She would grab the spoon with both hands and get every bit of banana off of the spoon (which wasn't much because it was all over her)

Hillbilly Night












My cousins Terri and Rachel are in town, so my Mom wanted to plan a special family dinner. For those of you who don't know, my parents love to plan "themed" family get togethers. They are so creative and we have so much fun getting ready for them! They've had Bible Character night and Western/Cowboy night...so Mom wanted to have a Hillbilly night to honor her roots :) We had hillbilly fixins and dressed hillbillyish. I converted some overalls into an overall jumper and sewed on patches from the leftover material from Beth and Brenna's quilts. I think it turned out cute. We put freckles on the girls (Tabitha, how's the freckles washing off?) and some of the boys wore overall. Fun! Fun! Fun!

Homeschool Picnic


My sister Tabitha has been meeting with homeschoolers in our church every other week for a picnic. Since we were in town we were invited to go. We had a blast! The kids enjoyed playing with all of the other kids. It was so neat how the older ones involved the younger ones. Josh loved it when they picked teams and played kickball, but his absolute favorite was when they played tackle football. He loves to be rough and play hard, so this was his kind of thing! The girls made sandcastles and decorated them with shells and branches. The ladies just talked and talked. I'm so thankful our church homeschoolers are getting together like this. We definitely enjoyed it! The kids are already begging to go to the next one. If we're in town, we'll be there! Thanks for the invite Tab, we had a great day!

Thursday, April 10, 2008

A Challenge

Sunday morning in Sunday School the teacher gave a challenge. Are you up for it? He said that one of the best ways to study the book of Proverbs is by topic. You read through each chapter looking for a particular topic. Write down the verse you see it in and exactly what it's talking about. I've started to do that and it's such a neat way to study. I'm writing down everytime I see something on the tongue (or speech, words of my mouth). There's so many you could do...laziness, fools, finances, children, women, friends. So...are you up for the challenge? Let me know what you find!

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Lakes Park Letterboxing


We went letterboxing at Lakes Park with my family while we were in Fort Myers. We had such a good time! I think I have Taylin hooked on letterboxing now! We're going to try to find some more in the next week or so.

Sleeping Trio


We were at Patrick's parents and I couldn't find Patrick and the girls. I looked in the guest bedroom and there they were! It's so nice to be in Fort Myers and rest and relax!

Tea Party in Ocala



At our meeting in Ocala they had a men's night and a ladies night. I spoke at the ladies night and I enjoyed it so much. It was a blessing to share the burden my family has for the wonderful people of St. Barths. On Men's night me and my girls decided we would have a tea party. We love tea parties!! We had Earl Grey Tea-Beth's favorite! The other picture is of my Apple Pie I made for Wednesday. For those of you that don't know, my goal is to be a pie baker. I think my family is enjoying all of my trial runs!

Ocala, Florida



We had a great meeting in Ocala, Florida. I love my children in blues!!