Makenna's Baptism

We have had a busy summer and I need to get caught up posting all the adventures we have had.  On Father's Day our church held a baptism after our service and Makenna was one of three kids that got baptized.  It was a special moment.

Water Fun

Just wanted to share a few pictures of the kiddos.  Last night Justin's boss invited us over for a World Cup party and the kids got a chance to go swimming.  The older kids found Beckham a life jacket and this is what resulted after he put it on.  He love just floating around like this and I have to admit is was pretty hysterical. You never know what the boy is going to do or say.

And Justin just send me this picture of Makenna.  She started her week-long swim lessons today and Day 1 was a success.

Ebates

Just wanted to pass along a website for those who like to shop online.  Ebates is a great way to earn money for all the purchases you make online, as well as learn about promo codes to help save money.  I have already received $80 since joining. Who doesn't like to earn money while spending it?  Click here to sign up!

The Best Mother's Day

Being a mom is one of the greatest gifts in the world.  To be honest, I think it ranks second to the debt Jesus paid for us on the cross.  I have been very fortunate in my life to have the best mom, two extraordinary grandmas who now watch over is from heaven, and countless other women who have served as great motherly role models to me so Mother's Day has always been special to me.  It has become even more special now that I have two wonderful children of my own.  Every time Makenna or Beckham tell me Happy Mother's Day or hand me a homemade card my heart just melts.  And of course, the flowers and others gifts are nice as well, but none of those hold a candle to the Mother's Day gift I received this year.

Today God answer my biggest prayer as a mother and saved our precious daughter today at the end of our church service.  There is nothing more in this world that I want for my kids than for them to have a personal relationship with Jesus and today I got to experience and witness the greatest joy I have had so far as a parent. To God be all the glory.

Makenna's Kindergarten Program

Last Friday was Makenna's kindergarten program, Stone Soup.  She had been telling  us about the program for about two months, told us she had to sing a few things by herself, and we had received a letter from her music teacher about what she needed to wear for the program.  However, we were completely unaware until that evening that Makenna had the main part in the program and was the only child to have a solo.  She did amazing, especially considering she had strep (she had been on antibiotics since the day before) and had had a fever at school that day and I had to pick her an hour early.  My heart sank when I got the call because I didn't think she would be able to attend the program.  I knew she would be devastated after all the work she had done for it, but luckily the school nurse said that she was okay with her going if she felt like it since she had been on antibiotics for nearly 48 hours.  Thankfully her fever went down and she perked up in time for her performance.  She was pretty tired at the end (as evidenced in the last picture), but we are so proud of her.  She now wants to take voice lessons, so we may be checking in to those in the near future.

Go Away Winter!

This is exactly how I feel.  I have never been one to particularly like winter weather and this year I (and the rest of the family) are just tired of it.   We have missed the most days of school in the 9 years of teaching, with the exception of the 2007 ice storm, but we are quickly approaching that record this year.  It is only the first full week of January and we are at 7 days and with a lot of winter ahead of us, that number could easily increase.  We are now at the point that we only have to make-up 1 day for every 2 missed and when we surpass 10 those days are forgiven.  So now, no matter how many additional days we miss, we will only have to add one more day.  The only days off we now are Spring Break, so it is going to be a long 2nd semester.

Tomorrow is Makenna's 6th birthday--UNBELIEVABLE!  She is having a sleepover party with her two best friends who have been in daycare together since they were infants.  We have a full agenda planned with pottery painting, movie watching, pillow fighting, etc. so it is bound to be a great time.

Holidays

I know it has been a while, but life has continued on for us.  Halloween and Thanksgiving have come and gone and we are now in the midst of the Christmas season.  We are having a great time making memories of our holiday traditions, as well as establishing some new traditions as a family.  Art, our elf, returned a few weeks ago, and the kids think he is pretty cool.  We had planned on going to Silver Dollar City today, but due to the weather we have postponed that until next weekend.  This week, we have holiday baking and visiting Santa are on our agenda as well as a lot of other holiday activities.  I will be sure to post some pictures.

Aside from the holidays, the kiddos are growing each day and we are amazed at how they continue to grow. Beckham is no longer a toddler and his vocabulary and speech have sky-rocketed within the past month.  He talks like a little child and it is so funny to hear what he says.  He also continues to be a ham and keeps us constantly laughing.  Makenna is LOVING school and we couldn't be happier with how her kindergarten year is going.  She does well in all areas, but reading has been her strength.  We went to a book sale this weekend and she picked out some chapter books to begin reading and I was pretty excited because they were some of my favorite books as a child.  We are reading through them together (she reads a page and then I read a page) and it has been great and moments I will cherish forever.  Thankfully, my mom kept all of my childhood books so I will be going through them soon and picking out some for Makenna. :)

Life Lately...A Photo Dump

Makenna on her first day of kindergarten--she loves school and has been blessed with a wonderful teacher

My first made from scratch apple pie of the season

Makenna with her "All About Me" poster she did for her kindergarten open house

Batman--Beckham loved his Batman mask he received from a McDonalds Happy meal (note: the only reason the kids got happy meals was because Makenna's school was having McTeacher night and we stopped by to support them.)

Makenna wanted a picture taken with Beckham while we were waiting in the car for Justin.  He went in to a store to buy some coffee--shocking. :)

A craft Makenna and I made together a few weeks ago.  A pumpkin made out of canning jar lid rims.  So cute and so easy.

Makenna wrote this for her free-write the other day at school.  She is so sweet and she wrote it all by herself.  To clarify, it does say 32, not 35, the 2 is just backwards.

My beautiful birthday flowers from my awesome husband.

 

Two of my current two favorite things--my new tea brewer from Teavana with their Pumpkin Spice Brulee tea.  Perfect fall beverage.

                                                

Busy...the word of the month

I used to think we were busy and had a lot on our schedules, but I can honestly say we have never been as busy as we have been this past month.  Between school starting, soccer, church plant stuff, and just general life we have been home very little.  I am way behind on editing pictures (hence the lack of them on here) and our house is in need of cleaning, but I am learning that this is only a season in life, we a busy doing things we love, and that my kids are growing up too fast so I am soaking up these precious moments.  So here's to a new school year, a new fall soccer season, and the beginnings of a church our city is desperately in need of.  And hopefully there will be some pictures to soon follow.

4 days and 7 weeks

That is how long we have until some incredible things happen.  Our church plant is hosting its first ever Camp in the Park (VBS) this Friday evening and Saturday morning.  This is going to be a huge opportunity for our launch team to reach our target community and make our presence in their area be known.  And in just 7 weeks are church plant will officially launch at our meeting location.  We have been planning like crazy for this big day and while there is still much to be done it is getting very real to our core team and honestly, a bit scary, yet exciting. 

This past weekend Justin and I went to a church planting meeting in Jeff City with part of our team and the whole time we were amazed to be sitting in the room.  We never imagined that at this point in our lives (or ever) that we would be members of a core team getting ready to plant a church in NW Springfield. But never the less, here we are and we are excited to see where God takes us.  Yesterday our planting pastor, JT, spoke at our current campus about why we are planting a church in Springfield and we then sang this song.  While our target area isn't a foreign country, this song definitely applies to the group we are trying to reach--the least of these.

Please pray for us and Freshwater Springfield as we prepare for launch on September 8th.