washed by the water

I like a lot of different songs, but at the moment, this is officially my favorite! LOVE THIS! (Turn off my play list to hear it!) This group is from Seneca, SC , not far from my hometown!

"When Bad Things Happen to Good People."

Photo of Nicole Sponberg (Hear her song at top of my Play List.)
I'm having a hard time this morning. I know God's ways are higher than ours and that He is sovereign, but sometimes it's hard to understand with my finite, human mind why God allows certain things to happen. I just read this morning where Nicole Sponberg lost her 2 month old baby, Luke, to SIDS Tuesday night. Her brother (Todd from the group Selah....see my play list) and his wife just lost their baby just 7 weeks ago, though different circumstances. Then last week, Steven Curtis Chapman lost his 5 year old daughter in a tragic accident. It seems so hard to understand why God has allowed these things to happen, especially, dare I say it... to people who are so faithfully doing his work. I know that God is faithful and never changes. My heart just hurts for these families. It makes me want to go pick up my kids from school right now and hug them and tell them I love them again. I hope we all realize how precious our families, our children are. Love on yours today, and lift these grieving families up in prayer. (See this blog post for more details.)

I'm glad we have a Savior who hears us when we call. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 says this. "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.

chillin

Hopefully you all had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. We did. As the official start of summer unfolded, I thought it appropriate to experience the pool for the first time this season. All I can say is.....Brrr! It's still way too cold for me. I am begging my dear hubby to get out the solar cover and warm that baby up! The kids are loving it though, and Matthew is beginning to regain his courage and swimming skills that seemed to have withered a bit during the colder seasons.

Saturday, we enjoyed the pool, grilled hotdogs, ate strawberry shortcake, and just hung out. Monday, we grilled hamburgers (perfectly grilled this time...that's a blog entry for another day), braved the cold pool, and enjoyed ice cream cones. My kids had a very nice, relaxing weekend with no place to hurry to, other than church on Sunday. And I could really tell this morning that it did them a world of good. They both woke up on their own, without being grumpy or forced out of bed, and they both got to school on time without any fussing or whining! I think all of the T-ball, school, and baseball stuff was beginning to tire them! We have 1 or 3 more games of baseball (depending on whether or not we have to make up a couple of rained out games). This is the last full week of school, with next Monday being the final whole day. Then they attend Tues.-Thursday half days (Yep...probably a waste of time, but the older kids have to take those exams)!

To end, I thought I'd post a couple of more pictures of photo assignments and projects from the awesome "28 Days" class" I've been taking. Have a great week!

tragedy

My heart is heavy right now after finding out the news about Steven Curtis Chapman's family tragedy. Apparently, his teenage son was pulling into the driveway of their home yesterday about 5:30 PM, and did not see his 5 year old sister in front of him. Maria Sue was accidentally struck and killed.

I can not imagine the whys and the what-if's that family must be experiencing right now....the pain they are going through. I have been a huge fan of Steven Curtis Chapman for years and have always admired his dedication to his family and the cause of adoption. I pray that God's peace and comfort will surround this hurting family right now.

If you have your sound turned up, you can hear the song that he wrote for his little girls....definitely taking on new meaning right now. Little Maria is "right now at the grand ball with her bridegroom." Pray for this family whenever they cross your minds this week. Thanks.

Orientation

On Monday, I chaperoned the fifth grade on their trip to the middle school for orientation. Can my baby really be a rising sixth grader? When I was in sixth grade, it was still part of elementary school, and then you went to junior high (WAY back in the day!). I'm sure he'll do fine (with lots of prayer)! LOL!

Today I reached the halfway mark in my 28 Days class. Below are a couple of layouts I've done. Of course, I'm behind in my projects, but I'm still enjoying it. Hope you all have a great week. :)May is almost gone...and the kids will be home from school for the summer soon. What are your plans?

secret world of scrapbooking

Okay...just found this on You tube, and I have to say...it's funny. We scrapbookers aren't quite THIS bad, but ya know, my "scrubby" gives me this annoyed look once in a while. :) LOL! (You may want to turn off my playlist below to hear video.)

Today

I am LOVING the "28 Days" class I'm taking. Above are the 2 latest projects I've done. Basically, we have one photo assignment per day and one project per day for 28 days. It really helps me be creative....even when I'm busy and overrun with other things to do. Like today....I had to take Matthew for a surgery consult. Fortunately, the doctor doesn't recommend surgery, and he does NOT believe that he has a dermoid cyst (see April post here.) He thinks it is a "subcutaneous hemangioma." Not sure if I spelled that right. Basically, it's a blob of blood vessels below the skin. When they fill up with blood, it looks swollen, but ordinarily, it's just a slightly bit more prominent than the other side (his head above the eyebrow). So we're just going to "watch" it. Hopefully it will do as he thinks it will and just go away over time. After the doctor's appointment, we went to lunch and Toys R Us. Matthew wanted to spend his birthday money...and he did for the most part. He has been playing ever since we got home. Made dinner and had to photograph it (yep...for my class). I've gotten a little behind with the projects and have been playing catch up after the boys go to bed. Well...that's about it for today. Hope you all have a blessed Thursday.

Mother's Day '08

I'm so blessed. I had the best Mother's Day today. Last night, Ed spent what seemed like forever in the kitchen cooking a meal that we would take on a picnic today after church. We had fried chicken, okra, potato salad (homemade), and bean salad. It was GREAT! We didn't go to the park as planned, because we had thunderstorms early this morning, and the grounds were still soggy. So we improvised and picniced at the table next to our pool. It was nice! I also made banana brownies (Yummy and a great use for overripe bananas). Get the recipe here.

My hubby ordered me a watch ,which didn't get here on time. But he did give me a $50 gift certificate to this place. I also got these beautiful flowers and card (that plays music). My kids were great! I love being a mom!

Praise

This morning while getting ready to go to school, my older son, Jonathan said, "Ya know what my favorite verse is?" I said, "No. What?" He said, "If they remain silent, then the rocks will cry out." He even explained to me what it meant. So glad to hear words like this come out of my child's mouth. I think that this boy of mine will continue to praise God, because he knows that if we don't....the "Rocks will cry out." I believe this verse comes from Luke 19, where Jesus is riding into Jerusalem. The Pharisees wanted Jesus to rebuke His disciples for noisily praising God as He entered the city, and Jesus told them, "If they remain quiet, then the rocks will cry out." I love that!

Something else I love right now...I am taking an on-line class called 28 Days through Big Picture Scrapbooking. It is awesome so far. Each day for 28 days we take photos, do layouts, and other crafty things, and it's a whole lot of creativity! Here are a couple of projects I've done within the first two days. (Click photos for larger view.) The first is a journal that I altered with my own paper, rub-ons and stickers. The second is a mini album to put all the photos from this class in when I'm done. I just hope I can keep up the pace!

but shock

HA! HA! The funniest quote of the entire weekend was from, who else...Matthew of course. He had a horse at his birthday party, and for a while, he had a hard time getting the name of the horse right. His name was Buckshot....but to Matthew he was "but shock!" I guess that's what it was like to ride bare back for the first time! LOL (and click on them if you'd like a larger view). The party turned out great, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Check out these photos from the party! The electric 4-wheeler was Matthew's big gift! He LOVED it! One of my favorite shots of the day was the photo of a little boy (below) on a stick horse, and Buckshot, the REAL horse is checking him out! So cute!

birthday boy

This is the birthday boy! We will be spending this weekend getting ready for his party on Sunday. He has invited his whole class, but since no one rsvp's anymore (a pet peeve of mine), I have no idea who is coming. I know of at least 4, and that's it. Anyhow...we've hired someone to bring a horse for the kids to ride. He is so excited that a "Real" horse is coming to his house! This particular horse is used in therapy with special needs kids, so I'm sure it will be great. We're going to ride the horse and play a couple of other games with the others who are not riding. Then cake, ice cream, presents, then we're DONE!
I can't believe my BABY is turning 6 years old. It just can't be! Can it? Some of you know my story, others don't. I prayed for this child for YEARS! My husband and I couldn't seem to get pregnant. So God sent us Jonathan, a beautiful baby boy who we adopted at birth. When we were ready for another, God prompted us to go the fertility route again....which I didn't understand because after having exploratory surgery, the specialist told me that he "couldn't promise" my tubes would ever work. I gave up. But then a year later....surprise! I was pregnant with Matthew! What an answer to prayer!
Let me encourage you. God ALWAYS answers our prayers. He has told me NO. He has told me NOT YET, and He has told me "Okay." Little or big prayers...he hears them all. As a funny little example of a little prayer He answered recently....I was in Wal-mart on a Sunday evening. There were 4 registers open and lines and lines of people. I was at the back of register 14's line! I had worn flip-flops all day, and boy did my feet ache! I just tried to be calm, and I whispered to God, "Please, God. Let someone open reg. #15 and check me out." And about TWO seconds later...guess what happened! A man came from behind the customer service counter, walked up to register #15 and opened it. I said, "Are you checking out?" He said, "Come on!" I couldn't resist telling the nice man that he was an answer to prayer! LOL!
Well....if you see my baby out and about this weekend, be sure to wish him a happy sixth birthday! He and his brother are true gifts from God!