Friday, August 30, 2019

God provides again!

 It seems like it wasn't that long ago that Brenna begin praying for God to provide our church with a grand piano. I posted about it here.  Soon others in church were praying right along with her and before we knew it God provided one! Everyone was so excited!

They love to hear Brenna play the piano. And God has blessed her with so much talent!


The piano that was given to us has been wonderful. It does have quite a rustic finish but we have enjoyed how it looks. And especially how it sounds.

  But then when we were in Fort Myers at Winkler Road Baptist Church last week, they were given a new grand piano. That makes 4 that they have.  They offered one of them to us. That's the second grand piano they've given to us! What a giving church!

 My Brenna was so excited!! Cant wait for this Sunday! Her and I are going to play
together for the congregationals! Isn't serving God so fun?



Tuesday, August 27, 2019

1st Day of School!


We enjoyed a wonderful first day of school for the school year 2019/2020!  (wow!  2020, sounds so futuristic, doesn't it?)
We had a hearty bowl of oatmeal to start our day.  I lined up the toppings for them to add in like cranberries, brown sugar, pecans and cinnamon.  But, this time I also put out chocolate chips and sprinkles.  You would have thought I was giving them brownies for breakfast as excited as they were! 


Silas is my 5th grader this year.  He has 3 teachers and is so excited to finally have a male teacher!




Callie is my 4th grader.  Although she confessed today that last year when she finished school early she would always watch Silas's 4th grade classes.  So, she's already a step ahead and has watched a bunch!  I love that girl!  Such a student!



As usual she invited a stuffed friend to join her for the day.


Micah is my 2nd grader.  He has Mrs. Chappell this year which is one of my favorite A beka teachers!



There was so much excitement as we began and finished in a great time. 
Looking forward to a great school year!

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Relearning the lesson of Joy

 13 days after having my port placed the surgical glue came off the incision, which was to be expected as it was right on time. But when the glue came off the incision did not look right and the wound was gaping open too much. After looking at it my husband and I decided I needed to run to the ER just to have it checked out just to make sure.  We've never gone through the port process before!  Since it was church time, my Elisabeth was the one to run me to the ER.  She's amazing and so comforting.  I love that girl!  The goal was to get back before preaching.  We pulled in the parking lot as they were dismissing.

At the ER they took pictures of it and were trying to decide if they wanted to stitch it closed or steri strip it. Having more stitches did not sound very appealing to me! They decided to steri-strip it.


Thinking I was good to go we headed to Tampa the next morning for Patrick's board meeting at Florida Baptist College. After that we planned to head to Fort Myers to spend some time with my parents.  In the middle of his board meeting I received a call that they had sent the pictures to my surgeon and he did not like how the incision looked. They wanted me to come back immediately.

When I came back they decided they had to take out the port that it looked infected. To say that I was disappointed was an understatement. The bad part about it is they don't put you in twilight sleep for this one, they just numb you with lidocaine. And that made me even more nervous!

So they wheeled me on the stretcher into the surgical room. I turned my head to the side and they began giving shots in my chest in the port area. My tears just flowed and flowed as I told them I was disappointed this didn't work out. Getting the port out was not a comfortable process. Even though I was numb the pushing and the pulling and the pressure did not feel very good. Not to mention that it was pretty infected so they had to flush it several times and then pack it with gauze.

Since it's infected they had to leave it open and filled it full of ribbon gauze filled with antibiotic. Twice a day my hero husband pulls 2 inches of gauze out, trims it, cleans the area and bandages me back up. Peeling the bandages off twice a day is a killer!

The doctor said when all the gauze comes out he'll then decide if he's going to stitch closed the wound or use the glue again. After that I can decide whether I want a port on the right side again which I can do in about a month or wait about a week and get a port the left side.

 We're praying for the right thing to do! This definitely did not go exactly as planned. I know through this that the Lord is teaching me lessons. And it comes at the right time.  Last month I was asked to be a speaker for a session at a Ladies Conference.  The topic that was given to me is, "How to have joy in your journey and live in the trees rather than wallowing in the dirt." When I was given this topic I started praying for the Lord to give me wisdom and teach what He would have me to.  I began studying and soon a rough outline came on the page.  I was so excited about the topic and what the Lord had given me!  Then, this happened.  I'll be honest.  Joy wasn't at the top of the list.  I was feeling sorry for myself and feeling the pain.  My eyes then focused on me and my pain and disappointment.  Then, the Lord reminded me of this lesson.  He had already given me all the answers!  I just need to put them into practice.  So, this definitely isn't what I had expected, but the Lord knows exactly what I need.  He's so good to me!

Monday, August 19, 2019

Are you ready for some football!?!



For Father's Day this year, we all grouped our money together and bought Patrick and the 3 boys tickets to the Jacksonville preseason game.  He was so excited!





It was going to be a great match up with Carson Wentz vs Nick Foles.  But, unfortunately, the coaches decided to let them sit this one out since it's preseason.  Our guys still had a great time!


The seats we bought had a very nice (although far away) view! :o)


 The boys came home with so much excitement about the food, the players, the fun.....it was a great experience!!



Since the boys had their night out, and us girls are Eagles fans, too...we decided to do a girls night and make t shirts!  It was so fun!
Brenna found some neat ideas on Pintrest.  We used painters tape, spray paints, freezer paper and acrylic paint.  It was so fun!










We even watched the game and tried to spot our guys up in the nosebleed section.





The shirts turned out great!  We can't wait to wear them on opening night! 
Fly Eagles Fly!!




Saturday, August 17, 2019

10 More Days!


Our homeschooling books came in yesterday!  To say we are excited is an understatement!  I love this time of year....we've had an amazing summer, but it's time for school and we are ready!  10 more days!!!

Friday, August 16, 2019

We've been invaded!


You'll never know what you wake up to around here!




Tuesday, August 13, 2019

God Is providing for VSIBC!

God is doing some amazing things at Victory Springs Independent Baptist Church! Not too long ago we applied with the Jehovah Jireh Foundation. It is an amazing organization that gives away money to Independent Baptist churches that are looking at renovating or building a church building. How amazing! They have such a heart to help churches! We are so thankful that they have given us $70,000 to go towards our building! Things are moving along and we're getting ready to break ground. Of course more pictures are to come :-) So thankful for all that God is doing!

Monday, August 12, 2019

Trying not to decorate for fall!

I've always been real big into waiting to decorate for a season until it is that season. But each year it gets harder and harder to not decorate for fall too soon! It sure is my favorite season and I love all of the fall decorations! I found this really cute sign at Dollar Tree. Anyone else loving all their fall stuff? I'm trying to hold off until October 1st to bring out all of my Autumn Decor. Trying.

What about all of you? When do you decorate for fall? And when do you start lighting candles with fall scents?

Friday, August 9, 2019

Staycation Fun!


This year, for our summer vacation, we decided that is was just a Staycation type of year.  So, Patrick and I put our heads together and came up with some pure family fun for 3 days.  We stepped away from everything and just spent lots of time together!  we started the vacation time with a trip to Checkers!



Then, for dinner we decided to do a crawfish boil (with mussels and shrimp thrown in)  It was so delicious!!



My kids are definitely seafood lovers!


We played lots of games of Sorry, Settlers of Catan, Connect Four, and taught our kids how to play O Shaw.  It was so fun and these kids are good! 


We had a craft night and dyed and created coffee filter flowers.  They turned out so pretty!! I love the look on my artsy husband's face. :o)  What a cutie!


Aren't they so pretty!?!  We followed most of the instructions on this video.


I love these expressions....what's running through each of their cute heads?




We ended our Staycation with a trip to a new-to-us State Park, San Felasco Hammock Preserve.  They have lots of trails!  We picked our route and started walking!

We saw pretty flowers and a few deer.


 We even found some wild muscadines!


 We came across many huge trees.  I love Florida!!



We walked and walked and walked.  And....got lost.  We went round and round in circles and sweated galore!  But, we were together and we had fun!  And when we finally got to our car we were so thankful for air conditioning!! (And drive thru McDonalds!!)


It was a wonderful time together for our Staycation.  So thankful for this great family of mine!