Have you seen it?

Have you seen The Ultimate Gift? It is soooo good!

It's touching, funny, inspirational, thought-provoking, and sweet.

AND! It was filmed in Charlotte! The mayor even makes a cameo appearance. Go rent it!!

Oh, and bring tissue. I'm just sayin'.

Hi ho, hi ho. It's off to Brazil I go!

So remember when I said "Here I am, Lord. Send me again" here?

Yeah, we're going back to Brazil NEXT WEEK!

I am so excited and yet in a little bit of denial as I have not even thought about packing. I keep forgetting that it is NEXT WEEK. As in, the week after THIS WEEK. As in, one week from this moment I will be on a plane.

But I'm not exactly an early packer (think day before) so it's not really stressing me out or anything.

We'll be going to many of the same villages and towns we visited on the previous trips. We will be able to see and encourage old friends, disciple new believers, and evangelize on the street and in homes.

And guess what else? Remember Baby Wendi?

American Wendi gets to meet her!!! My friend Wendi is going and has been collecting baby stuff to take with her! Isn't that going to be awesome? I'll definitely be taking pictures of that meeting!

So keep us in your prayers----travel, health, safety, spiritual warfare, financial provision, and our families.

"and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" Acts 1:8

How could I have missed it?

Well, the Olympics is almost over. Looking forward to the closing ceremonies tonight, but it's pretty much over.

And guess what I just realized.

I saw NO synchronized swimming. None!

Where was it? Where was I? Did you see it?

I saw badminton. I saw table tennis (I'm sorry, seriously it's ping pong). I saw synchronized diving for goodness sake. My husband saw mall-walking. Really? Should that REALLY be an Olympic sport?

Cause there are some folks up at Concord Mills who could give those folks a run--um, walk for their money.

And while we're on that subject. How about jumping on the trampoline. They are taking baseball out of the Olympics but they've added trampoline jumping?

I even watched the men's marathon. And really it's just men running for a crazy long distance in the crazy hot weather. But I watched mostly to see Ryan Hall, a very cool guy who's a Christian and has a great testimony. Check him out here. He came in 10th, second American.

So anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, the synchronized swimming!!! I'm so bummed I missed it! Those little ladies with their hair all slicked back, noses all pinched shut (that looks really weird, y'all), flipping around, arms and legs all rigid and pointed. It's really an odd sport but it just makes me happy to watch it.

And now I've missed my chance for another 4 years. Man.



REALLY??

School Days, School Days

We officially started school today. Yay! We've had a great summer, but I was kind of ready to get back in the swing of things. The kids weren't terribly excited about giving up most of their play time, but they were looking forward to getting into their new books and workbooks.


I even made a schedule. But you know, one of the best things about homeschooling is the flexibility. So of course, first thing this morning my schedule was trashed. The kids slept until almost 8:30! They NEVER do that. They're usually up by 7, no matter when they go to bed.


It was pretty funny. And my friends put it in perspective for me. I had plenty of time to get myself up, have my quiet time, get ready to go to the gym, eat breakfast, and check email-----all before they got out of bed! And I had rested children for the first day of school! Is God good or what?

These are the faces I got when I pointed the camera and said "First day of school! What do you think?"

Second grade!!

Writing her spelling words

We're working on basic pre-school stuff with Hayes. I made a little About Me booklet for him. He had to trace his name and draw pictures of himself and the family. I also wrote down his favorite color, favorite toys, and favorite foods.

After making Rice Krispie treats today, his new favorite food is "smarshsmellows". He says it like that every time and it cracks me up!

Tracing letters in his very expensive Target curriculum workbook.

Reading with mom. (See, I even got dressed today! Gym clothes totally count.)

I just realized I have more pictures of Hayes from today than Becca. Sorry Becca!

This is going to be a great year. Different, but great. I'm so blessed!

Warning: Kind of heavy for a Saturday!

A little something happened today that took me out of my comfort zone. Don't you love it when that happens? Anyway, it's not a huge deal but it did involve me being convicted by the Holy Spirit and then being obedient. I'm not saying this to toot my own horn, but it did get me thinking about how often I'm NOT obedient.

You know, when you get that feeling in your stomach and you KNOW you should do something but you really don't want to. Then come the excuses.

I don't have time.

I can't really do it.

I'm not good enough.

Somebody else will/can/should do it instead.

Lord, You're not really that serious about this, are you?


Um, yea, He kinda is. Not that He's going to strike you down if you don't. (well, who knows. He could, I guess) But obedience is a big deal.

Obedience is certainly a big deal when you tell your daughter to clean her room and she doesn't do it. It's certainly a big deal when you tell your son not to hit his sister and he does it anyway. It's certainly a big deal when someone drinks alcohol, drives a car, has a wreck and kills someone.

So why do we think being disobedient to the God of the universe isn't a big deal? Maybe because He doesn't immediately come down from Heaven and put us in time-out? I don't really know the answer. I just know that I'm not as obedient as I should be.

Funny that this happened as I'm reading a book called A Life of Obedience (by Andrew Murray). Seriously. I couldn't make this stuff up.

So I don't have some huge revelation or three point sermon on the subject for you. Just a challenge, for you and for myself. Let's strive to be more in tune to the prompting of the Holy Spirit and what He's calling us to do, big and small.

And then let's just, in the words of Beth Moore, DO THE THING, y'all.

Because, seriously, the Olympics are draining all my energy

Or maybe it's not so much the Olympics as it is me staying up until all hours of the night watching the Olympics. And yes, I could DVR it. But when in the world would I watch it?

Because during the day there is always some kind of sporting event to watch on one of the 52 NBC channels.

And also, the laundry? It doesn't wash itself.

And the kids? They tend to need to eat a few times a day. And while they are able to feed themselves, when left to their own devices they tend to gravitate toward Teddy Grahams and Pringles. (and really. Who doesn't?)

So anyway, I'm tired. And tired for me equals no creative brain functioning. Therefore: no blog posts.

BUT! Lucky for me Melissa tagged me with a meme I haven't done yet, so yay! Material!


where is your cell phone? purse

your significant other? funny

your hair? clean

your mother? sentimental

your father? wise

your favorite thing? beach

your dream last night? none

your favorite drink? Dr.Pepper

your dream/goal? honor

the room you’re in? den

your hobby? piano

your fear? cancer

where do you want to be in 6 years? here

what you’re not? creative

muffins? chocolatechip

one of your wish list items? curtains

where you grew up? Granite

last thing you did? church

favorite gadget? phone

your pets? nope

your computer? lap

your mood? reflective

missing someone? yes

your car? red

favorite store? target

like someone? yes!

your favorite color? green

last time you laughed? tonight

last time you cried? yesterday


(By the way, that one word thing was hard to do!)

I tag whoever needs blog material.

Make New Friends, But Keep the Old.......

This week has been a flurry of friends, family, and fun. (How about that alliteration!) The kids and I headed to my hometown on Monday for 3 days of visits with my family and my 2 best childhood friends, Mandy and Ashleigh.


Mandy still lives close by so Ash and I try to see her when we go home to see our parents. Ash lives further away than I do, so whenever she is planning a visit, I try to go for a few days too. We all have kids the same ages and they play together pretty well. AND as I said the other day, we were all dying to get our hands on Ashleigh's newest little girl, Erin Hope.

Here the little cutie pie.







Here's Mandy's son with her. I've never seen a 7 yr old (a BOY, at that) be so excited about a baby. Pretty sure he's going to be working on his mama for a little sister!


Funny story. Mandy was talking to him about babies and a baby sister and he said if he had one he'd "play with her the whole summer!" Cause you know, come fall he's super busy. ha!


We had 2 days at the pool and one at Mandy's house. Lots of fun and tons of laughing.



Here are our moms.


Also known as Marcia, Becky, and Mrs. McGuire. Also known as Ash's mom, my mom, and Mandy's mom. (I don't know why, but we've always called Mandy's mom Mrs. McGuire. Maybe because she was a teacher when we were growing up?) We spent basically our whole childhoods at each other's houses. These ladies fed us all many a meal!

Mandy's Molly and Becca

Molly and Hayes (apparently everyone like to play with Molly!)

The 3 amigas

Our kids

(Becca, Andy, Nate, Erin Hope, Hayes, Molly, and Sam)

We didn't spend ALL our time with friends. We had some quality time with family too. My brother came over for supper and to see the kids. And to be introduced to Guitar Hero.

My mom joined in on the action. She cracked me up holding the guitar. Doesn't it look like she's wearing it like a necklace? I kept laughing at her and she kept saying, "What? What?" So funny.

I absolutely love spending time with my oldest friends. We're all pretty different than we were as kids (who isn't? Although they are always late and I'm usually on time. Some things don't change!) but we still love each other and cherish our friendships. Sometimes it's surreal to think that we all have husbands and families when we can still remember things from childhood that seem like yesterday. Are we really that old? Don't answer that.

Anyway, I love you girls! Thanks for continuing to make fun memories with me!

And I'm a little nervous about the stories she might tell...

We have a new blogger in the house!! Well, not MY house, but you know what I mean. ha!

My best bud from childhood has jumped into the blog world!! Ashleigh and I have been friends since church nursery. Even though we don't see each other as much as we'd like, it's like old times whenever we get together. AND, yippee skippee, that will be next week!! We're meeting up in our hometown to visit our families and each other.

Hopefully we'll also get together with our other childhood friend Mandy and then the reunion will be complete! We all have kids around the same age and they enjoy playing together as well. Not like they have a choice! AND Ashleigh has a new addition whom we haven't even met yet. Soooo excited to meet her little girl. After 2 boys, she was very ready for some pink!!

So go on over and visit Ash at Mama Making Memories and welcome her to bloggyville!