She's got legs.....

The day after the ranch was Princess' first soccer game. Her uncle Jeramy is coaching her team and he really impresses me with his patience and great ideas to teach them things. It wasn't until I saw her in these shorty shorts and long socks that I realized that she was one long-legged little girl. She's the tall one at the end of the line, can you say "all legs?" :)

How did this petite little mom end up with such a tall girl?


Uncle Jerm (or buckethead) and Princess...I think he runs as much as they do! :)

That's all for now folks...I've got to go start helping on a major weekend project...more details on that later!

S.T.A.R.S. Ranch Day

We started a tradition with our homeschool group last year to go to my parent's ranch as sort of an end of year celebration. One more big hoorah so to speak before everyone splits for the summer. This year we added on an overnight stay with a campfire as an option and I was very glad that a few families took us up on it. Before everyone else got there though, my kids got to play and enjoy their Uncle Adam.


I really thought he would make them sick as much as he spun them around, but they just kept begging for more. Crazy kids! :)



My brother's dog, Pepper, is learning to share her love with someone other than Adam. He is still number one of course, but the kids are beginning to get a pretty good reception as well.

When two of the three overnight families got there, we took the hayride trailer for it's maiden voyage. It was a beautiful night and between the sound of the motor from the tractor and the swaying of the trailer, we all got pretty relaxed.

Overnight family number three got there just in time to start the campfire. There was lots of giggling, playing and smores eatin'. Good times!

The next day started bright and early and the rest of the crew came. There were eight families in all...15 adults and 16 kids. Who says homeschoolers aren't socialized?! :) The kids played so well together. They dug in the dirt, pushed each other on the swings and let their imaginations run wild. We took another ride in the hayride wagon, did a scavenger hunt, and fished. This little man can catch just about anything with his bare hands. Last year he caught a baby turtle. :) This year, he found this net and he could get things a lot faster. He ended up with several minnows, a frog, and an empty turtle shell. You can't get much more hands on learning than that!

S.T.A.R.S. moms enjoying watching the kiddos have fun and interact.

Princess was very intrigued by the live minnows that were being caught and just had to play with them. I couldn't believe she was willing to hold them in her hands. She's always surprising me!

Mr. Alan supervising and helping anyone who needed help. He is the original "Mr. Fun".

Several people enjoyed the paddle boat but I think this dad was doing the work all by himself! :)

After fishing, we headed to shoot guns. Almost every kid tried it out and some liked it. Since my hubs couldn't get off work to join us this day, another dad helped Princess shoot. I didn't think she would like it much because it involves loud noises....

...and this time I was right.

More imagining going on....

This couple is super cute together. This was her first time to shoot and he was so good and patient with her. I think she ended up doing really well but I'm not real convinced she liked the loud noise either.

It was a wonderful day and yet another great reminder of what a blessing it is to be apart of this group. We get along well and enjoy the same things which makes these little gatherings a lot of fun. The kids learned things without even realizing it, grew friendships and the adults enjoyed some big people time. Thanks mom and dad for helping this happen! We love you!

Run that race!

I have lots to post about such as, ranch day, first soccer game, and others but today something happened that may have given me an inspiration for the first time in several weeks.

As we were finishing up school, I asked Princess to please get the clothes out of the dryer, lay them flat on my bed and put the clothes from the washer into the dryer while I took a quick shower. When I got out, she was not only laying them out, but folding the ones that needed it neatly and stacking them in different piles just like I do. "Wow!" I said, "You're doing really well!" "Well, I really wanted to quit," she says, "but you asked me to do it, so..." While deep inside me I wanted to grab her up, kiss her all over, and tell her she's the light of this mommy's world, I knew it would freak her out so I just smiled and said, "Well I really appreciate you doing it even though you wanted to quit."

Isn't that how we are in our daily Christian walk sometimes? I know I am. When life has handed you blow after blow after blow, it would be really easy to give up, lay down and hibernate, but that is not what God has called us to do. He wants us to trust him and obey anyway. Just like Princess not realizing now that doing mundane chores is teaching her responsibility for years down the line, we don't always know what God is up to when bad things are going on but we have to trust him and do it anyways. If we knew what was coming during the race, we probably wouldn't want to even start; but knowing that God will take care of us during the race and that spending eternity with Him is the finish line; can keep us going. It reminds me of when I ran the marathon last year. I had trained for months and months and knew that at the end, I'd receive a medal and the complete mixture of accomplishment and exhaustion. What I didn't know was what was going to happen in the middle.

Around the 6 mile mark, my eyes started to get foggy. Like I had something in my contacts that needed to be cleaned off. Well, you can't really stop and clean your contacts during a race, so I just kept going. By mile 16, I could barely see my mom and kids when they we cheering me on and by mile 20, I was so foggy, I couldn't see anything but a blur of colors. I just so happened to realize that there was a girl in front of me with the same color shirt on as me and I asked if I could finish the race out with her. I had no idea that by mile 26, I would be so blind that I couldn't see the numbers on my cell phone to call Hubby to tell him I was done. This was something that I could have never imagined would have happened during the race. If I had known that it was going to, I very likely would not have ever started. Running on the streets of an unknown city among complete strangers not knowing if I was going to step in a pothole or run into the curb, is not my idea of fun. I was so scared with every realization that my sight was getting worse, I knew that I had to completely rely on God to keep me safe and unharmed. He had called me to run that race and I knew he would take me through it. I knew he wanted me to finish what I had trained so hard for and I couldn't give up...I just had to fully and completely rely on Him.

While that is a very literal example of what I'm talking about, I'm sure everyone has experienced some sort of race in their life that you knew God had called you to. It probably wasn't easy, may not have been very fun at times, or the race looked completely scary, but I bet if you stuck to it and trusted Him, you saw what awesome things He can do through trials and tribulations. Whether it's starting a teaching job he called you to and it turning out to be a horrific experience, or calling you to move your entire life only to face a new trial almost daily, if you trust in Him and obey, he will get you through it. I pray that whatever you may be facing today that God is giving you the strength, courage and peace to "finish it just because he asked you to...even though you wanted to quit."


Oh and by the way, I had nothing in my contacts. The mixture of cold wind, sleeping my in contacts, and prolonged exertion caused the vessels in my eyes to swell thus causing my sight to go blurry. About 3 hours after the race my eyesight returned and everything was back to normal. Just in case you were wondering. :)

Time to Spill the Beans

Ya know how when someone says, "You want the good news or the bad news?" even though you know dang well you're getting both? That's what I was thinking when I wanted to post this. Good news or bad news first? So I decided I'd get the bad news out of the way so I can end on a positive note for the day.

The day before we left for our trip my mom called to tell me that her mom (my Memaw) had been to the doctor and they were pretty sure she had lung cancer. Ugh...talk about being glad I could escape for a few days to let it sink in. Since then they have done lab tests, a biopsy and other things and called to confirm yesterday that it is most definitely lung cancer. And they fear it's in her lymph nodes in her chest as well. We are not sure of what treatment will look like, if any. She will be 80 years old in December and has said that if it comes down to shorter, good quality vs. longer, bad quality, she's going for good quality. I can't say I blame her. She's had 7 children, 6 girls who are almost all grandmas themselves, she has 13 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren with one on the way. She has lived a good life. It doesn't mean I like the situation at all though. I'm sure I will be posting more on this issue as I learn more. Writing out my feelings will become a refuge I'm almost certain. It might not always be pretty but I'm learning very quickly that life is never always pretty.

Now on to other news: my children got to experience their first rock concert this week. Air1 is a Christian radio station that we listen to and they held a free concert at our church this week. It was awesome! Little Man wasn't sure what to think of all the loud rambunctious teens that were crowded into the room and was really looking like he was ready to leave until his favorite band got on stage. It was then that his independent free spirit soared. :) He made his way through every nook and cranny to finally get up right next to the stage. He was so excited and jumped and yelled just as much as those crazy teens. He came and found me after they played his favorite song just to tell me he was okay and having a blast. Then off he went again. It was so cute to see him so excited. He got to "touch the shoes of the main singer and they threw water on me! It was so cool mom!" I absolutely adore getting to watch my kids experience things for the first time. You think as they grow up that they've run out of "firsts". There's no more first steps, first words, first potty success, etc. but there are many more firsts that will come. Recently, their first out of country experience and their first rock concert. :) Life is good.

Side note: due to the fact that Princess has had so many problems with her ears and they are extremely sensitive, she didn't enjoy the concert quite so much and ended up falling asleep on my shoulder. Oh well.....

Last but not least: yesterday I was helping Princess read her Bible story and she came to the word "Bethlehem". I could tell it was really overwhelming her to see that long word so after a few moments I decided to give her a hint. I started singing, "O little town of....." and she very proudly proclaimed, "ABRAHAM!" Wow...little did I know that Abraham was not only an awesome Biblical example, a fine president, but also the name of the town that Jesus was born in! How could I not have known that is what she's been singing all this time? No matter....I laughed and laughed until I cried and then we read it correctly. I love my kids!

On Your Mark, Get Set, GO!

Well, we are home from our trip to Jamaica and I can't even begin to explain in words how wonderful it was. The kids got along, the hubs and I got along, and my children have fallen in love with the water and sand just like their parents. I've split our trip into several posts so just hang in there with me. :)



The first day when we got there it was right at supper time and so we unpacked, and went and had dinner and then let the kids go down to the beach even though it was dark. They didn't seem to mind at all. They played in the sand and water and just thought they got a taste of how the ocean was. Little did they know how different it would be in the daylight. :)







I teased everyone that they looked scared in this picture but they could barely see me much less the camera so I have to give them a break.

After playing for awhile we went to the nightly show and then hit the sack shortly thereafter. It had been a very long day!

Full Day One...Resort Time

Saturday we slept in, went and had a big breakfast and then headed straight to the beach. The kids had bought these hats the night before and they turned out to be a wonderful thing to keep Princess's head safe once she got her braids. I thought they looked adorable on them.


Once at the beach, Little Man really liked swimming and watching sand volleyball. The group finally let him in to play and that's when he earned his first nickname, Harry Potter, because of his glasses. The entertainment crew at the resort were amazing and they constantly had different activities going on. Everything from sand volleyball to water polo and then ping pong. It was an awesome place to stay.

Daddy and daughter playing in the ocean.....I had a severe reaction to my sunscreen and salt water this first day so I mainly sat on the beach and took pictures. :) It got much better when I changed to the kids sunscreen so I wasn't miserable the whole trip.

Princess saw this little girl and I finally convinced her to go over and talk to her. Come to find out she was from Portugal and didn't speak much English but that didn't stop them from playing and becoming good friends. We decided that girls don't need to talk but only giggle and they understand each other. :) The mom spoke enough English to tell us that her name was Matilda and she was 5 years old. If Princess ever got out of our sight we knew we just needed to find Matilda and Princess would be there with her.

Daddy burying the kids in the sand. He had fun with little man doing things to him that would irritate him because Little Man couldn't get up and didn't know what was going on. Yes, I really have three kids instead of two. Haha!

Like I said, their daddy is the biggest kid of all....

After a full day of sun and fun, we went back to the room, napped, got up, ate dinner and watched the nightly show. All in all, a fantastic day!

Lions, Tigers and Crocodiles?

Day two we went on our first tour which was to the waterfall and a safari boat ride. The boat ride was in Jamaica's longest fresh water river called the Black River. It's called that because of the sediment that sits on the bottom...the water is actually crystal clear but you'd never know it. There are several crocodiles that live in this river and since they aren't preyed upon, they live a very long time and get very big. Our tour guide would "call" them over close to the boat and he even got one to let him touch him. Wow!



Here's Princess soaking in the sun on the shuttle bus on the way to the boat. Such a diva! :)

This is our first croc we spotted.


Kissing a croc! EWWW!!!!

"I want to hold your hand...come back!"

I played around with the zoom on my camera and captured some good pics of the birds that live on this river.

This man was pulling up his crab and shrimp trap. That's how a lot of the locals in the Black River town make their money...fishing, and tourism.

Beautiful Jamaica landscape...

Croc #2...soaking in the sun...they open their mouths to regulate their body temperatures. Very interesting but I was glad she didn't want to come near the boat!

These trees grow their roots down into the water instead of the soil. They go down into the water about 6-10 inches and then stop. Then they suck up the water to the tree and they end up being massively beautiful creations.

They said this croc is about 80 years old and about 8 foot long. They are huge animals but very lazy!

Good bye crocs....here we come waterfalls!!!

YS Waterfalls

From our safari boat ride we went to the YS Waterfalls. They are not as big as Dunns River Falls but we were told they would be a little easier for the kiddos to hike up. Absolutely beautiful!

Princess getting ready to get in the water


Little Man is ready for his turn

Once we realized how slippery the rocks were and that this is how Princess was going to have to be transported, we were glad we opted for the smaller falls.

The water was COLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We hiked up a little further and found this tree rope. Little Man had a blast riding on it but thankfully he never let go. There were many rocks at the bottom of this pool!

The next few pics don't really have anything I can say about them except, "Wow! God did a great job creating this country!" It was breathtaking!