Art Camp

I LOVE art camp with Mrs. Shannon...the kids love it even more than me...Blaine has been going to her camp now for three years. This is Sarah Claire's first year. They make some wonderful things...

I am so excited to hang these!!

Anna Britten got to go to Build A Bear today...while Blaine and Sarah Claire were at camp...don't you just love the bear she picked? We decided to name her Rainbow...

A Decision for Eternity

As a parent, my most important prayer for each of my children is that they will come to know Jesus as their Savior. One of my prayers has been answered this week... Blaine asked Jesus into his heart. Seeds have been planted and I have been praying for him to understand fully what it means to be a Christian. We talk a lot at night about the Bible and living like Jesus. During Bible school week, he brought up the ABC's of becoming a Christian. For Blaine, he needed to know the exact steps. He is a black and white personality- (a- Admit that we are sinners and have fallen short b- believe that Jesus died for our sins c-confess that He is Lord!)I could tell these ABC's had him thinking. One of the few nights we had been discusing it, I thought we was pondering over it, but really he was thinking about what he wanted to be for "celebrity" day at VBS. "Mom, I think I really want to be a famous cowboy tomorrow." I just decided to let the conversation go for the night. The abc's kept coming up though, we talked about them a little more...I told him that he would know the right time to make his decision and ask Jesus into his heart. Well, on our way to visit my parents this week...while sitting in the backseat of the van, he announces he just asked Jesus into his heart...( We had been listening to some praise music, but other than that there were no other distractions- I believe he needed a few minutes without his legos, DS, the pool, and friends to let everything "sink" in and this was his time:)When we got to my parents, we prayed the sinners prayer and I thanked God for His Faithfulness-

Mark,Blaine, and I met with our children's minister today, Kevin Nelson...I love the fact that Kevin has such a heart that Blaine UNDERSTAND everything about his decision. Kevin prayed with us, asked Blaine questions, and discussed Romans 3:23 (We all have sinned and fallen short of God's glory), John 3:16 (Jesus loves us SO much and died for our sins)...
Acts 3:19 (we must feel sorry we sin and want to change)...
Romans 6:23 (we will live in heaven with Jesus for eternity if we believe in Jesus and God raised Him from the dead)...
and must ask Jesus to come into our life and be our Lord... Romans 10:9-10
Blaine will be Baptized soon to share with others the decision he has made- I am counting my blessings tonight and continuing to pray that Blaine's life will be guided by this very important decision!

When I was tucking him in bed tonight he said, "Mommy, I can now take the Lord's Supper." So excited to be able to be His Sister in Christ!

First Haircut!

I took Anna Britten for her first REAL haircut last week...I was a little nervous about it, truthfully. I didn't want to lose her curls, but her hair was getting a little "ratty" looking! It went GREAT and ...she still has curls and now lots of body! Her hair looks very cute. Sarah Claire also got a trim...she really wants to bob her hair, but I'm not quite ready for that!

Wednesday was ZOO DAY at VBS...I had a tiger and two giraffes!

Celebrity day was Thursday...the girls LOVED dressing like "Fancy Nancy". What a fun day! For rec time today, we had three hummer stretch limos! One was bubblegum pink...my group was 4th grade that day and what fun to ride with about 7 4th grade girls in the pink limo...

We had a great week with close to 400 children- WOW!!

Friday night Leigh and I drove to Pensacola to pick up Deepti, Drew, and Ava. Their plane was a little late, so after our meal and TWO movies (Midnight in Paris and Bridesmaids)we got to meet our neice for the first time!

Our weekend was low key which is always nice! Cannot believe June is almost over- Crazy!!

Blaine and Anna Britten on the way to church Sunday!

A Trip to the Big Apple

We have been busy with Vacation Bible School this week. It has been a great week- our theme for VBS this year is Big Apple Adventure and it is fab-u-lous!! I've been to New York City once when Drew was at West Point and did not have near enough time to see everything! I am going back one day and hope to take the girls (Blaine can go too if he wants)- not sure if I will get Mark back there! It may be a girls trip!

This is our sanctuary! It is so fun, bright, and busy. The kids are learning about when Jesus heals the servant of the Centurion during our Bible Lesson each day. It is a lesson about Faith. I LOVE the fact that the Centurion had so much FAITH that JESUS could HEAL his SERVANT without even seeing him...When I look at the kids, I see that kind of FAITH in some of them-I am amazed just like Jesus was with the Centurion in the story. FAITH comes from hearing the WORD and HEARING the WORD comes from the message of CHRIST.-Romans 10:17 We have had a great week so far-

We have had themes each day- zoo day, NYPD (New York Pajama Day), and tomorrow is celebrity day!

More to come...

Blueberries, balloons, and boats

Bebe and Deda (Mark's parents) have blueberry bushes in the back of their house. The kids spent a few minutes helping Deda pick blueberries this past weekend (eating a lot of what they picked!)
After blueberry picking, we headed to Foley for the Hot Air Balloon Festival. It was HOT!! The balloons were not able to fly (we did see two in the air). We were able to see them all blown up and "glowing" before we left. It was a pretty impressive sight!

The picture above is about how pictures go at our house these days- bunny ears and funny faces!

This is my wonderful husband and father to our three children...

Our family has a lot to be thankful for...

I think Mark had a great Father's Day...the kids "decorated" his presents! We went to church and then spent the afternoon on the river! Love these sweet memories!

We love to ride on Deda's boat, but haven't had the chance in a while. Mark did some skiing, Sarah Claire and Anna Britten road in the tube with Mark. Fun times!!

Mark is a "Bulldog"

I can hardly get these two out of the pool once they are in! The only thing that gets them out is a snack...they are my fish!

I have been selling Kelly's Kids clothes now for 5 seasons. I started selling the clothes because I LOVE the quality and I think they are precious! I got my Fall catalogs the other day so I am gearing up for the new season!! I get so many compliments on the clothes...I have enjoyed being a rep- really do not consider myself a salesperson, but the clothes make it easy to market them!

This past Thursday night was the annual "Chairman's Gala" for the Eastern Shore Chamber of Commerce. Mark has been a member for over 10 years and has helped in so many ways including their golf tournament, membership drive, and ribbon cuttings. His hard work paid off because he won the "Bulldog" award this year. The best part about it was it was a complete surprise to him...and I can't believe I actually pulled the surprise off and even got his parents there to see him get it! I LOVE surprises and he deserves this award not only in this area of his life but so many others too!

I am going to take a moment to brag on my husband. Our family has been blessed in so many ways...with the economy like it is, the banking world has really seen some changes. Mark knew that his job with his former bank would be coming to an end, so in true "Mark fashion" decided to take initiative and began a second job at Wal-Mart last October. It was hard for me to swallow at first, but as I look back on it...I realize how much stronger in our Faith it has made us. He found another job with a different bank and it has been a good move, but he also has decided to keep the wal-mart job- it has been nine months now! We are not sure what will happen, but we have learned there are lots of curve balls in life and while we know God will take care of us, we believe that He(God) wants to see some initiative in us too! I'm not saying it has been an easy road (I also worked full time from January to May.), but we have survived and treasure the precious family time and date nights we do have!
Some verses from Philippians ...
"I can do everything through Him who gives me strength." 4:13

"And my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus." 4:19

One that I have been found very comforting and really tried to live by..."Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving present your requests to God. 4:6

Fear should not invade my heart in any circumstance even though it is a natural human emotion-this little tidbit about Mark is only a small portion of the journey our family has been on- and one reason why I wanted to begin a blog to journal about the continued journey. Mark keeps asking me, "have you written everything down yet?" No I haven't, but it is coming...

We are getting ready for our Vacation Bible School next week and our theme is Big Apple Adventure! I am excited- here is little lady liberty...

It should be a FUN week:)