One fish ... Two fish

Jeremy and I now have 2 fish. We did not buy them at the store ... we grew our own. It ONLY took 4 1/2 years for one to grow and 3 years for the other. Obviously, I'm talking about Ryan and Pace. Since we haven't lived in a neighborhood with a pool or been around many people with pools in their backyards the boys have missed out on swimming very often. However, as we have one in our backyard for the time we are with Jeremy's parents they have made up for lost time.

I decided to work on Ryan first because he was a bit closer to being ready than Pace was. So we worked with him and he is now jumping in the deep end and swimming to the steps in the shallow end. He is oh so proud of himself and his skills.

Pace was a different story all together. Pace in the beginning had no fear, zero, of the water. SO this has caused us to have to jump in after him several times. I lost a phone and so did his Poppa due to this. Friday the boys went up to Poppa's school to go to summer camp with the other boys and girls. They were having a big water slide, the bouncy kind. I took the boys up and Ryan thought it was the best thing around. Pace thought it was torture. The water at the bottom was not even a foot deep, if that and he would not go back up. Actually, he did go back up and decided to stay and play at the top causing all the other boys and girls to not be able to go up and slide down. So we sent Ryan up to tackle his brother and push him down the slide. I never thought I would be cheering on one child while he tacked the other ... Friday I did just that. Pace was a bit stubborn but Ryan finally was able to tackle him and push him down.

So I came home and realized that the boy needed to learn how to swim so he would not be so afraid of the water ... So yesterday he learned. It was one of the hardest things (emotionally) that I've had to do in a while but we both made it through and he is now a fish just like his brother.

Happy Birthday to my man!

Happy Birthday Jer! We love you and hope that you have an awesome day! You are an awesome father, husband and friend! I love you and am so thankful to be by your side. I hope that today is special for you and wouldn't it be awesome if today was the day we found out about our house? I love you and I hope you have a great day!

In a Fog ..

I'm in a bit of a bloggy writing fog. Sorry the blog has been on the quiet side. For those of you who have asked about the house situation ... we are still waiting on a bank to answer us about an offer we made on a short sale. We are hoping and praying that soon we can call that house ours ... SOON please Lord?

Other than that we haven't been doing very much around here. The boys have been living in their grandparents pool and it has been a life savor as we are living in transition. Ryan has become quite the fish lately as he swims from one end to the other with no flotation device helping him out! Pace still prefers to have a float around him at all times and does not like to get his head wet.

Kennedy loves the pool but not the ocean. We took them to the beach last weekend and she screamed when we sat her on the sand ... then she screamed again as we stood next to the water. She wasn't a fan! Next month she will be 1 .. O.N.E. ... can you believe it? I can't ... time goes by too quickly with these little ones! I'm busy planning a luau birthday for her with family. It should be a fun time. I found her a cute dress on Etsy that someone is making for her. I can't wait to get it in the mail!

Well, that is about it for us. We are just taking it one day at a time waiting on our realtor to call us with THE news that we have been waiting on. You could pray for that bank to hurry up and say yes to us if you think about it :)

Hope you all are having a great day! Tell me about your summer ....

Crazy Love

WOW! What a book! If you are looking for a book to challenge you in your walk with Christ this is the book. If you are looking for a book that will pat you on the back in your walk with Christ ... this is not the book. If you are looking for a great book to do with a small group ... this is the book. This is a steak book though. It's not like the jar of baby food meat ... it's a big, juicy piece of steak that will leave you chewing and talking about it days after you have read a line, page or paragraph.

Jeremy and have been taking this book a chapter at a time here and there as we can. We haven't finished the book yet but I couldn't wait until we were done to talk about it here. Have you read it? If so chime in ... if you haven't ... what are you waiting on? Run to the store and buy it now then come back and chime in .... :)

The first couple chapters of the book leave you in awe of the God of the Universe. You know about all the things you are reading but they just come off the page in a way that I've never known before. The videos that go along with each chapter (link below) help to put his words into a unique perspective. In the preface he says the following statement "We need to quit giving people excuses to not believe in God." Makes you think of what your life speaks to those around you. I read a quote some time back that said ... "who you are speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you are saying." That quote coupled with the line from the book really made me stop and pause ... I think it speaks enough for itself that I don't have to add anything to it.

The chapter that caused Jer and I to take a long hard look at ourselves ... not to beat ourselves up but to see how we can move forward better in light of what we have read was the chapter on the profile of the lukewarm. There is a quote from CS Lewis in this chapter that really made us both stop and ponder ... "If you read history you will find Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this." I want to keep the next in my mirror ... eternity is what matters!!

There are several other things that I could pull out ... and maybe I will in another post but for now I'll leave you with these ... tell me yours if you have taken a dive into this book ...

If you are wanting to be challenged in your walk with God and figure out what you could be doing better to show His love to others, "Crazy Love" is a must read! You can find out more at the Crazy Love book website here. And, if that wasn't enough, there is also a DVD Study Resource available here.

11 months

11 months have FLOWN by! A LOT has happened in our lives in 11 months. She has filled our world with so much frill, pink, bows and love. It is so fun to watch the boys love on her and then go be rough with each other. She definitely has everyone wrapped around her finger!

Home

We made it back to land thankfully and unlike Titanic our ship did not go down, thank you Lord. We had a great time and we were able to relax and unwind. We sure did miss the kids ... this post is quick and short because we are about to go get them up from naps and play with them. 4 days of no play has seriously challenged this momma's heart!

I'll have a post later that will be more meaningful than this one. Jeremy and I chewed on a book while we were away ... We only read a couple of chapters out of it because it's a thick piece of book meat ... it needed chewing on instead of a fast read. If any of you out there haven't read Crazy Love Book ... I encourage you to run to your closest store and buy it ... seriously ... RUN NOW. It will rock your world!

A getaway

Jeremy and I are headed on a get away .... we are cruising again to the Bahamas! We leave today and will be back on Friday. Cannot wait to have a little downtime. Hopefully, when we return we will have some house news that we can share with everyone... we are so looking forward to hearing that bit of news. If you think of it say a prayer that the bank will accept our short sale offer!!

Oh well, off to finish packing and get ready to head to the ship. I have a post brewing in my mind about something but you will have to wait until I get back to hear about it :) I know the anticipation is killing you isn't it????

Have a great week peeps! Talk to you all when we return!



oh and PS ... if you want to be among the first to find out what's brewing in my crazy mind ... just click the follow me button to your right and it will show up to you first .... it's like my special little fan club :) hahahaha

Happy 4th!

I would have taken a picture

... if it hadn't been one of those moments where I really needed to be a parent instead of a photographer! Yet, the capture the memories side of me really wanted to laugh and snap a picture ... dang camera was in the other room. Maybe my memory of the event can set the stage for you ... just imagine me having a picture to post!

Last night I hear the boys in their room hitting the walls. So, I got up to go in and did not expect in a million years to find what I found!! Ryan was standing up in his bead almost nekked! Ryan had taken off all his clothes .... he had his pj shorts on his head and his pj shirt on his legs --- his legs were in the arm holes. Pace was standing on his bed trying to get his shirt off so he could do the same. He already had his bottoms off. Mind you this is 9 PM AT NIGHT! They went to bed at 7:30 PM! Y'all I couldn't really discipline them at that moment because I was too busy trying to stiffle a huge outburst of laughter ... so we re-dressed and they went to sleep ... this time for real! Boy I wish I had a camera though ... Ryan really was a sight to behold! And the look on his face to see me bust him was even better!

Ryan update

For everyone looking for an update on Ryan ... The doctor called last night and said that all his blood work came back normal and that he does not have H pylori. He will check him on Thursday and we will go from there. Thanks for all the prayers and keep them coming. He is still not 100% yet.