What have we been up to?

The last week or so has been pretty standard at our house. Just hanging out, going to the gym a few times, playing outside and swimming at the neighborhood pool. Chris was gone for 8 days to Jamaica on a mission trip, but he's back now and everything is getting back to normal.

School begins in one more week!!! Morgan goes back to school August 3rd and the little kids go back to preschool on August 17th. We've had a great summer and it has flown by fast, but I am getting ready to have a schedule again. Dave Ramsey probably wouldn't be too proud of us this summer. Since this is the first summer that we've really been on a paper budget (and really trying to stick to it), it's definitely been a learning experience. Our credit cards are still paid off, but money is being shuffled from one envelope to another. The summer months really put a new spin on the financial situation. Well, I guess we'll know for next year.

One more thing I've done in the last week is sign up to run a half-marathon. Not just any half-marathon, but the Disney Princess Half Marathon. Yep, that's right. I'll be running 13.2 miles around Disney World with JUST GIRLS! It's going to awesome, but definitely my first and LAST half-marathon ever! My body just isn't made to run long distances, but I figured that if I'm gonna do it I better do it now!

So, we'll keep truckin' on for now. August will be filled with buying school supplies, getting used to the schedule, early bed times, more time to clean the house and getting used to middle schooler.

Aubie's 50th Birthday Party

Last week, my mom called to ask if I would be interested in going to an event put on by the Atlanta Auburn Club - specifically Aubie's 50th birthday party. For those of you who are so unfortunate as to not know who Aubie is... he's the tiger mascot for Auburn. So, anyway, of course my answer was SURE! Tonight, my mom, Ivey and myself had a girl's night out and headed down to Cobb Galleria for the party. It really was a lot of fun. There were vendors there selling Auburn parafanalia, food, a silent auction, drawings for prizes and a short program to introduce the new head coach. It was a lot of fun and I got several new pictures. I always have a great time at Auburn sporting events because I love the atmosphere and excitement of the fans. I'm still trying to find tickets to a game or two this season, so that's my next big project... Here are a few pictures from our fun night!

Here is one of Auburn's eagles - Nova. He is one of the eagles that flies in the stadium before the game begins. It truly is awesome to watch and gets the fans ready to cheer on the Auburn Tigers. WAR EAGLE!

Here the kids gather around Aubie to sing Happy Birthday. Several former "Aubie"s are standing in the background.

Basketball camp

Morgan went to basketball camp last week at Blessed Trinity High School. I decided back in the Spring that he needed some sort of camp to go to this Summer to help him develop some athletic skills. He has always been interested in sports and fairly natural at playing them. As a mom, I really want him to be involved in something, whether it is band or sports, while he's in middle school and high school. The past couple of years he has shown more interest in basketball, so I decided that's what we would work on. I searched the internet for a legitimate basketball camp in our area this summer and came up with the Nike Elite Hoops basketball camp in Roswell. It was a week long camp that lasted from 9 AM - 3 PM every day. To say that Morgan didn't want to go at first would be an understatement. He was extremely nervous about being at a new place with people that he didn't know. I could totally understand his apprehensiveness, but I also knew that it would be a really good experience for him both physically and socially. So, he went. And... HE LOVED IT! I delegated Chris to the task of taking him the first day and staying a few minutes until Morgan was comfortable. Then, I picked him at the end of the day and he had a huge smile on his face. He made several new friends, got great exercise, practiced and learned basketball skills and gave Mom and siblings a break! At the end of the week, his coach gave him a hand-written evalutation to take home along with several goodies.

Pirate's Cove

Today, the little kids and I met a couple of friends at a new play place while Morgan was at basketball camp. I had heard of this place from a friend's blog and knew that we had to check it out! The place had a HUGE sand box, pirate's fort, cannon ball shooters for foam balls and several big jump and slide things. It's a bit of a drive from us, but the kids LOVED it and played for almost 3 hours. They would've stayed longer but I was starving (I had to do the "good Mom" thing and give my lunch to Gavin since he left his in the garage on our way to the car). Anyway, the kids had a ball and it was nice to be able to sit and chat with friends. Here are a few pics:

Ivey and her friend, Jacob, watch where the ball is going after shooting it! They collected balls from around the area to put in the yellow bag to shoot.

Gavin takes his turn with a cannon ball launcher!

Ivey and Zachary play so nicely in the sand box.

Gavin loves to climb, so he was constantly climbing up into the fort and then sliding down the poles. He had lots of fun and cried when it was time to go.

It's a rainy afternoon here in the ATL - thank the Lord!! We need the rain and I know my flowers are so happy right now! The rain started coming while we were eating lunch, so I told the kids that they could play in the rain when they finished their lunch. As to be expected, they were immediately not hungry anymore and went to get their bathing suits on. I took a few pics of them playing and having a great time together for the photo album. It was raining really hard and we came in just before the thunder began. What fun to be a kid!!

This week is Vacation Bible School at church. Myself and a friend have been teaching Missions to the elementary aged students. We've had such a great time and I love being able to meet ALL of the kids involved in VBS. Our fearless leader, Ginger Debusk, has done an AWESOME job with coordinating VBS this year. And, as always, I'll have the songs stuck in my head until we do something new next year!!

Gavin enjoys a yummy donut before time to go to his class

A picture of Gavin with some of his friends in class. When I walk in the room, it's always nice to have him running to me saying, "Mommmmmyyyy!"

This is a picture of our hair for Silly Day. Morgan's hair was spiked and looked great! Ivey and I pulled our hair in 3 pigtails with bows. Also, Morgan was a "helper" this year for the first time. He did great and I was so proud!

This is Ivey singing her songs at Family Night. Before we left the house she said, "Oh, I can't wait!! I can't wait to sing my songs in front of hundreds of people!" Well, you go Ivey!

Muddy Buddy

Last year, Chris and one of our neighbors did a race called the Muddy Buddy. Well, this year they talked both of their WIVES into doing it with them! We all registered for the race a few weeks ago, went to REI last night to pick up our race packets and then had a very yummy dinner at Seasons 52 (I highly recommed it!) with our good friends, Nate and Kala.

I should also probably mention that the race started at 7:30 this morning in Conyers. So we were up bright and early to be there by 7:00 AM! Actually, it was still pretty dark.



The Muddy Buddy is a race that is 6 miles long, has 5 legs and is a combination of running and mountain biking. The runners and the bikers share the trail, so everyone has to be very careful. You and your "buddy" (i.e. partner) start out with one person riding the bike and the other running. At the end of each leg, you and your buddy each do an obstacle and then switch places - the one who rode the bike then takes off running and the person that was running takes off on the bike. And the end of all 5 legs, both partners crawl through a mud pit and then run to the finish line. It was a lot of fun but extremely challenging. It was much harder than I imagined it would be, but I like challenges and I don't give up easily. So, I did my very best and we had an awesome time. Here's a side view of the mudpit! You actually have to crawl under each set of flags to get to the end.



We ended up running into our friends from church at the end of the race and they were kind enough to take a picture of Chris and I. We weren't very muddy since we had already washed off a bit. I'm excited to see the other pictures of us during the race because there were photographers everywhere taking pictures of the participants as we were all running, mountain biking and gasping for air!




Chris and I have really enjoyed taking on the sport of running because it's something that both of us can do together. We've tried tennis and maybe golf, but neither of those really worked out for both of us. Running kind of "happened" to us by accident and since we're both so competitive, it's great for us to compete against ourselves and with each other (in a friendly sort of way!) Not only does it keep our competitive juices flowing, but is it great for our health and we have fun participating in all of these different kinds of races together. We aren't "serious" runners by any stretch of the imagination but it's challenging and something that we can spend time doing together which, I think, is a very important component of a successful marriage. We'll be doing the Peachtree Road Race in two weeks for the second time. We're excited about that and even more excited that our friends, Teri and Marc, will be doing it with us. Come on, friends, join in the fun!!!

Poor Charlie...

At the beginning of the week, I was petting Charlie's ears (because they're so soft and floppy) and realized that she had some sort of squishy, large, water-filled bubble in her ear flap. I asked Chris if he thought we should take her to the vet and he said yes. So, Monday, Ivey and I took her to the vet and the vet concluded that she had a hematoma in ear flap probably due to shaking her head or scratching her ears. He tried to use a needle to drain out some of the fluid, but apparently because of some fibrous tissue he wasn't able to drain it. According to the vet, surgery was in order to lance the hematoma, drain it, stitch it up and then flush out her ears. Tuesday morning we took her back to the vet for her surgery and left. She was nothing short of pitiful when Chris picked her up and brought her home later that afternoon. When all was said and done, we had a very large vet bill - yikes! But, she's like another baby to us, so we felt like we had to do it. Thanks to Dave Ramsey, we were able to work our finances so that we could pay for the visit although it definitely put a damper on our next month's budget!

Updates

Last week I was in Helen, GA with the youth from our church. While we were there, we partnered with Georgia Moutain Resort Ministries in ministering to a nearby trailer park and to the Unicoi Springs RV Park. The team I was on was assigned Pardue mobile home park and we did a kids camp in the mornings each day. The other team did the same at the RV park. In the afternoons we all helped with various service projects: helping clean up a nearby church, picking up trash along the river, etc. At night, we did a little program with singing, skits, balloon animals, face painting and testimonies at three different locations in Helen. One evening we were able to have some free time and went tubing down the river. It was fun for about the first 30 minutes and then I was over it! There were lots of rocks which we had to keep getting out and pulling ourselves over. Right at the very end, I got off my tube and was walking to the exit point and slammed my leg up against a rock in the water. I ended up with a huge gash on my right shin and pretty yellow bruise to go with it. All in all, it was an awesome week and it was a privelege to be able to share God's love and mercy with people that only live an hour away from us. Morgan and I had a blast. It was his first mission trip and he loved it! Here are a few pictures from our trip.

A group shot before leaving our church

Getting a game of ultimate frisbee going

My very first game of ultimate frisbee and it was a blast!

Teaching the bible story

Doing crafts with the kids

My team along with most of the kids that came to our camp at the mobile home park

Helping to scrape paint off of the old church so they can repaint

Facepainting in downtown Helen

I loved learning how to make balloon animals. I can now make a dog, sword, flower and hat!

A few of our kids singing worship songs for the patrons at Unicoi Spring RV park.

Doing a skit at Unicoi State Park during our program

Our group along with the team from Georgia Mountain Resort Ministries

A Day at the Lake

We've been to the lake several times this summer already, but here is our first tubing ride. Morgan loves to tube even though we go slowly due to the boat being a pontoon. Anyway, it was fun and we always love to spend time at the lake with family and friends. It's beautiful and relaxing and a great place to get away. The little kids love to watch and will get their turns soon. The water was so cold this particular day that none of the adults were willing to hop in with them! Below is Ivey and Gavin with cousins, John and Emma.

On Friday, we went on our first of many summer MOPS outings. This time it was to Cagle's Dairy Farm which is just down the road from our house. It was a lot of fun and the kids enjoyed it. At times there was a little more talking from the tour guides than preschoolers are willing to listen to, but they did great and had a good time. Here are a few pictures from our day at the dairy farm.

First we took the kids pictures with their life size measuring stick.

Then the kids got to pet and feed the baby calves who are being held in this barn to learn how to eat hay and feed.

In order to get the farmer to drive the tractor on our hay ride, we had to scream "Yee Haw" when it was time to go. See here, Gavin is screaming "Yee Haaawww!"

At the end of the tour, they gave each child their very own milk carton of white milk or chocolate milk straight from the dairy farm. We had a really good group of kids, but here are my nephew and neice along with Ivey and Gavin.

I feel that I should make a few clarifications about my tyrade on cosmetic surgery two posts ago. My intent was not to belittle or attack anyone that has had cosmetic surgery. I have several friends and family who have had "something" done, I love them dearly and I would never want them to think that I would ever think less of them. What I expressed in my blog were my convictions on the subject and I realize that those aren't the same convictions of others. This sort of subject is difficult because the Bible doesn't clearly and exactly address the issue of cosmetic surgery. However, I do believe that it clearly and exactly defines God's love for his children and how he made each one perfectly in their mother's womb. I would also like to take this chance to apologize to my friends and family who may have been hurt or insulted because of my post. I would really like for cosmetic surgery to not be the norm but rather organic bodies that God made. My wish and desire (and reason for the blog) was for women to see themselves through God's eyes instead of through the eyes of our world. And that's all.

My sister gave me an Amplified Bible for my birthday and I'm absolutely loving it! A friend of mine introduced me to it last year as she quoted a very rich and clarified version of a verse that I was already familiar with. The A.B. uses several English words to help translate even better the meaning and context of the orginal Greek and Hebrew language which are sometimes concealed in the traditional American-English translations. Honestly, I love it!! As I as reading and trying to memorize a verse, I continued reading and came upon this. I'll show you the traditional translation as well as the amplified translation....

Phillipians 4:6-7

Traditional translation: 6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Amplified translation: 6Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God.
7And God's peace [shall be yours, that tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and being content with its earthly lot of whatever sort that is, that peace] which transcends all understanding shall garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Incredible isn't it?! I'm definitely hooked!

Invest in Your Looks Wisely

Seriously??? My heart sank as I saw the newest edition of our county magazine on the racks last week entitled "Invest in Your Looks Wisely." It's extremely sad, but true. This IS what our world has come to. It is now the norm. It has inundated and taken over the minds of women everywhere. Plastic surgery is something that I have thought about, struggled with, coveted and even planned on having at one point. I had consulted with the doctor, given my deposit, tried on my new boobs and even set a date for surgery. Until... I finally relinquished control of my life for a minute and decided to ask God what he thought. And then... I cancelled my appointment.

I kind of figured that may happen which is why I never bothered to ask Him earlier. This is something that I WANTED and that he WOULDN'T understand. And, then I decided to put myself in his shoes, if I could possibly even imagine being God.

How would I feel if my beautiful baby girl came up to me and said, "Mommy, I know you love me. I know I grew in your tummy and people say I look just like you. But, I wish I could look like my friend next door. She's prettier than me. She's taller and skinnier than me. Why couldn't you have made me like her?"

That would break my heart!! Now think how God feels, who loves each of us more than we could possibly ever love our own children and who made us with his very own hands, when we tell him that we want to change ourselves.

Oh, nevermind, God, I'll just fix it.

This particular topic is now something near and dear to my heart because I "get it". I understand what these women go through and how they want what God didn't give them. Certainly I should know what's best for my own body, right? No, you don't. Not according to the Bible. I am grieving the fact that so many Christians, including myself, have fallen into the trap of not being good enough. And, I don't care what anybody else tells you, the reason someone has plastic surgery is because they aren't finding their identity in Christ. THAT, my friends, is the bottom line. I know because I've been there. I could explain to anyone why I was getting cosmetic surgery, why it wasn't wrong, why it was MY choice. I could justify it all. day. long. Christian or not, if your sole identity is not in Christ, then you become like the world around you. And you want to BE like the world around you.

If I'm not confident in my own skin, then I'll change it. I really wish I had C-cup breasts instead of A-cup, so I'll change it. I really wish I had a flatter stomach, so I'll change it. I really wish my butt was smaller, my thighs didn't have dimples in them, my eyes are closer together, my nose didn't have a bend in it, I wish, I wish, I wish... SO I'LL CHANGE IT! This is the trap that countless women have fallen into, both Christian and non-Christian. However, what grieves my heart is that Christians aren't seeing themselves through God's eyes. They have forgotten who their first love is and WHOSE LOVE THEY ARE. They are forgetting that the maker of the universe made them, too. Just go out on a clear summer night and look straight up. The same person who made those stars, who put the earth into motion, who told the seas how far they could come and no farther, made YOU and ME! Christian women have forgotten who they really live for (again, I'm not leaving myself out of this.) Am I living for myself, for my neighbors down the street who are prettier than I am, for those women I see at the gym with big perky breasts and cut abs?? Or am I living for God? The author and perfector of my faith? The one who gave his Son for me? The one who MADE me?

Psalm 139:13, 15, 16

"For You (God) did form my inward parts; You did knit me together in my mother's womb. My frame was not hidden from You when I was being formed in secret and intricately and curiously wrought as if embroidered with various colors in the depths of the earth, a region of darkness and mystery. Your eyes saw my unformed substance, and in Your book all the days of my life were written before ever they took shape, when as yet there was none of them."

I'm not sure if I'm getting my point across. No one may ever read this and, if they do, no one may ever agree with me. But, I can understand and empathize with the women who obsess over the idea of changing their bodies because they notice that other people have something "better" than they do. And, seriously, who doesn't want something that's "better"? This whole idea of "better" is man-made, not GOD-made. To God, what could be better than perfect?


The facts about breast augmentation that no one tells you:

**The average "life-span" of breasts implants is 10-15 years. So, if you're 30 when you get them then plan on having it done again when your 40, 50, 60 and 70. Sound good?

**It's not cheap and most people end up financing their implants.

**If ever you decide to have the implants removed, like when your 60 and don't want to have surgery again in 10 years, the breast tissue has changed and the results are less than desirable like puckering, dimpling and wrinkling. But, be prepared to finance that as well because you know surgery isn't cheap.

This morning was the 6th grade graduation at Morgan's school. I really didn't think I would be sad, but I did get a little teary-eyed as the 6th graders did the "Walk of Honor" around the school. I was fine until they turned on some sappy song and then I couldn't hold it in any longer. Chris made fun of me for crying, but I just couldn't help it! I tried to take some pictures and video footage of Morgan's last day as a 6th grader. He's leaving the elementary years behind and moving on to a new phase in life. I'm excited, but yet a little sad, that my baby is getting so big. He especially means so much to me because of all that we've been through together. He's such a great kid and I love him to pieces. I'm excited though for the upcoming years and I'm really praying that God will grab hold of his heart and never let go. My greatest wish for him is that God would mean more to him than anything or anyone else and that he can hold on to that relationship as he struggles in the adolescent years to come.

Morgan with his favorite teacher, Mr. Cowart, and his best buddy, Andrew.

Morgan gets ready for the awards ceremony.

My handsome guy poses for one last picture as a 6th grader.

Morgan's 6th Grade Graduation

This past Saturday Ivey had her dance recital. I think she wants to try gymnastics or something different in the Fall, so this could be our last dance recital. Here are a few pictures before and after the big performance. We did videotape her dance, but Chris is working on getting it saved from the video recorder to the computer so I don't have that yet.

The last two weeks have flown by. Last weekend, Chris and I had the whole weekend to ourselves while the kids were visiting with grandparents. We were celebrating my birthday and our 8th anniversary. We had a good time being together without the stress of kids (although I must admit that I did miss them a little bit), but I was a bit disappointed that we didn't get to do what we had planned. We had hoped to go mountain bike riding or to go hiking up Kennesaw Mountain. However, both activities were canceled because of the threat of rain. So, on Friday, we did a little shopping, ate dinner at a sandwich shop and then went to the movie theatre and then we had a relaxing day at home and then went out to dinner at a fancy restaurant on Saturday.

This is the first week that the little kids didn't have school, so after a couple hours at home I'm ready to head out to do something. The first few days we have run errands, gone to the gym or played at the park, but, yesterday I was feeling brave so we took advantage of the Mommy and Me special at the Georgia Aquarium. I met two friends from MOPS there and we explored the aquarium with our little ones. The kids and I actually had a great time and we enjoyed being able to bring along our friend Jacob while his mommy ran errands and got a haircut (that's what friends are for, right!?) It was my first trip to the Georgia aquarium and I really enjoyed it - probably the best one I've ever been to. So, anyway, here's a few pictures from our last two weeks...

Ivey recieves her first Awana Cubbies award for finishing her first book.

Ivey (top row) sings with her class on the last day of preschool. Gavin's class didn't do a "show" since he's in the 2-yr old class.

Gavin's teacher made each child this beautiful quilt with a class picture, the child's name and a list of all the children in the class. In fact she made each quilt unique for each child with what he or she likes most. Gavin's was made of tractors and "diggers." It was precious and Gavin sleeps with his every night.

Here we are the aquarium. Ivey, Gavin and Jacob.

Here they are watching the jelly fish

They stop for a quick pose between whales and sharks.

The beluga whales

And this was the biggest crab I've ever seen. It was spider crab and probably measured about 2 feet tall and four feet wide. All I could think of was "that would be awesome with some drawn butter!"

Here are the little ones one last time. They were great and we'll definitely go back soon!