Summer Fun!

I did it. I gave in and did it. I had taken a morning off from work to spend some fun time with the kids… and then this time I took them to Chuck-E-Cheese. It was my first trip, actually… and wasn't half as bad as I'd imagined. And the kids had more than double the fun than I had hoped!  They've been before with Mimi, but this was their first trip with me.  We arrived before the doors opened and were first in line… Avery and Silas knew right where they wanted to go!

Such fun!  I will say that weekday early lunch is the perfect time to brave the mouse place.

Last weekend, we were excited to plan a lake weekend with the Shirkeys, our wonderful friends that live in Oxford. We headed out Friday afternoon (Mom was keeping Eleanor and Garnett as Grace and Micajah were in CA for a convention) and readied the lake house. Well, it's really an island house I suppose… all roads are underwater… it's only accessible by boat!  But, hey, it makes things extra fun.

This picture cracks me up. Garnini knows who is boss. She was our lookout girl during our short ferry out to the house.

Fun friends!!!

A picnic for supper, perfect!

Saturday morning meant rain showers and lots of clouds. But it didn't stop us from getting out on the water. Big Bubba makes the perfect shelter when the sprinkles come in:-)

Roomie.  Man, it seems like yesterday we were getting our Martin dorm room ready… or our apartment… or our room in the Chi-O house… or her helping me move to Kentucky… the list goes on and on.  Love Amy Hardin!

This is how Avery likes to tube.

Avery: "I just can't look, I just can't. Is it raining??"

Lake tired=> Disney tired.  and booster seats = neck pain.  Sometimes you're that tired.

Another great summer weekend with wonderful friends. Check out this framer! Our couch keeps growing!  Next time, we'll have one more!

And had to add in this pic of Silas and Avery after the Let Freedom Ring Celebration at church… the block party was such fun.

Father's Day 2015

Mom and Dad were on the coast with Dad's work, then spent a night or two in New Orleans… on the way home, stopped the day before Father's Day. We all went out for dinner to celebrate this guy. Papaw. Dad. He sometimes is known for signing his cards/emails/notes to us "PDOD" (=proud dear old dad).  I think we are the ones proud to call him Dad.

And to Bruce, another wonderful Daddy… making these proud to call him Daddy every day.

Happy Father's Day!!

What else have we been doing?  Making cinnamon rolls!  We've been making rolls as we prepare to go get Samuel, to help us with our upcoming trip to China! Silas and Avery are such good helpers and we've all really enjoyed doing it!  (Silas still is upset that he gets one pan for every 10 we make, not one pan for every single pan we make…)

Update: I've tried to add a timeline to the blog for easier tracking…. we are now awaiting USCIS (Homeland Security) approval to bring him back. Then, we will await an Article 5 from China, then Travel Approval!   We've applied for visas already and should have those by mid-July.  Hoping to travel late August or early September!  

VBS and Summer Camp

June has been busy with VBS, camps, swimming lessons, tons of fun!!  The first week of June was VBS… Silas and Avery loved every day of the week with their friends and learned about Thailand - the people, culture, animals, their needs, their language, even how they used the potty!  (Just ask Silas about that one)

Over 200 wonderful volunteers graciously gave so much of their time and energy to make sure the 750 children had not only a wonderful experience but also learned about and felt the love of Jesus!

Preschool worship...

I came home from work one day and saw that Avery had emptied her piggy bank… under her bed.  I asked her if she told SueSue about it and she said "no…" I began to probe as to why she had made such a mess under her bed, but she explained, "I'm giving money to Thailand for Jesus". My heart smiled and we cleaned up the mess and set out a big bag of coins to take with her to VBS. I asked her if she wanted to give ALL this money that she earned by making her bed and saying "yes ma'am" and other chores and she confidently said "Yes, Mommy. If girls bring more than boys, we can silly-string Daddy"!!!  "Shhh, it's a secret".  Oh my goodness…

Well, the girls trumped the boys on the offering for the week…so Family Pastor goes down!
Not sure if that's quite the right motive for giving… but at least half of it was… I'm just sad I missed it!

After a great week at VBS, we left Friday afternoon for another weekend at the lake. This weekend was Thunder on Water, the big festival Grenada puts on every year… it is always tons of fun!  One little kink in the plans is that the lake house is now an island… the roads are 30 inches under water - so we must take the "ferry".

We enjoyed a wonderful night with family and friends… and were graced with THIS:

Sometimes you have to stop everything and clap for our Maker… wow, incredible.

At dusk, the fireworks show began.  This never gets old!

And here, my friends, is my Daddy.  The picture is about as descriptive as it gets. He might wear a suit and tie everyday in the courtroom, but THIS is him.  My hero, in so many ways.

We love going to the "ice cream shop" on summer afternoons. Doesn't everyone finish their yogurt bowls like this?!  He seriously gets every last drop in that tummy.  (and I'm silently thankful he pours into his spoon instead of drinking from the bowl…)

The week after VBS was Superhero/Princess camp, the Warf's favorite.  Look at these Superheroes ready to conquer the world!  Again, just for the record, can you find the Warf?  He decked out in full head to toe gear every single day. 

And our reigning princess, on Sleeping Beauty/Aurora day:

Since our neighborhood pool is down for the summer, we love old-fashioned fun in the sprinkler!  Silas, always the safety conscious of the two, makes sure everything is operating acceptably.  

And long summer days full of fun mean tired kiddos at the end of the day.  I walked into the house after work one day last week and saw this.  For the record, he did not acknowledge my arrival.  Seems like yesterday he was 1/3 that size in that same position.  Time, slow down. 

Adventure Camp and Swimming Lessons

Silas is loving tball.  We went outside to practice catching the ball one afternoon and he took a few tosses then said, "okay, wait just a minute, I need something". He returned donning his batting helmet.  I did not chastise him for that.  (wink!)

We loved a visit from our wonderful friend Karen who is now in Lexington, KY with Jake doing his residency… Avery doesn't like babies at all, as you can see…..
(kidding… she simply cannot WAIT to get Samuel home and "mother" him)

We enjoyed the first camp of the summer at FBCJ, Adventure Camp!  Here they are on fishing day. Look at these big, growing people!

What a stud:

What a rockstar:

Silas and Avery began swimming lessons with Mrs Angie and came home with homework every night. I had to document that we were compliant!


To say they enjoyed the swimming is such an understatement!  This was their first time in lessons. Look at this fish go!  I'm so proud of him!!

Surprisingly, Silas jumped in with his face under, swimming like a fish… while Avery spent her time in lessons trying to talk Mrs Angie out of it: "I like your necklace… why do you have on different sunglasses?… Do you like vanilla ice cream or chocolate?… where's your daddy?  (she asks everybody this, hilarious!)
Part of the reason water goes in her nose/mouth when she goes under? You guessed it… it's never closed!  haha.

What a fun two weeks!  These two deserved these ice cream cones on the last day!  Thank you Mrs Angie!!

Savannah Tour 2015

Time rolled around for the FBCJ Student Choir Tour 2015… this year we planned to go to Savannah, GA. I was super excited because this was this first year Silas, Avery, and Bruce would go with me and the group in the 9 years we've been leading student choir.  We made a trip to the library for several "car books", loaded up the iPads with games and movies, and rode in the car behind the bus. You'd have thought Silas and Avery were going to Disney World… not only did they think they were going on a "big kid trip", they thought all the "big kids" were going on the trip FOR them.  On the way, Silas wanted to draw a family picture. I wondered why he asked me how to spell Samuel's name, but when he said, "Mommy, look!"… I saved that drawing and put it in a frame at home. Isn't this the sweetest thing ever!!

(He is into belly buttons these days. That's him - Silas - on the left with a belly button, Samuel in the middle, and Avery on the right. Mommy and Daddy on the bottom)

We began the tour at City Church here in Jackson, partnering with our other campus and helping with Sunday School and singing in their service:

Then we loaded the bus and headed toward Georgia.  I was so proud of the kids… they did very well on the trip as long as they could see the bus in front of us.  After a long day, we spent the night (well, a few hours) in Dublin, GA and headed back out bright and early 7am to drive the rest of the way on Memorial Day for our big fun day on Hilton Head Island!  

First on the agenda: Zip Line Hilton Head: 

What a blast!  We spent about 2 and 1/2 hours on the 9 different ZipLines, then a few hours on the Aerial Adventure Ropes Course with a lunch break in the middle… with 50 people, it took until about 3pm.  We were pooped!  (and VERY sore the next day…)  No, the little kids didn't zip line, but they helped Bruce and a few others grab our lunch and scope out the beach where we would spend the rest of the day…

After the ZipLine adventure, we headed to Coligny Beach. What a beautiful day!!  Have you ever seen such cute kiddos?!! Silas and Avery LOVED every second on the beach!  They played in the waves, built sand castles, buried big kids…

And their favorite part of the whole trip was when their good friends Carr and Emory found us! They happened to be staying with their family in condos on Hilton Head Island and were walking on the beach… we spent a little time with them at their hotel pool… what a small world!

Sweet friends!

After supper and driving to Savannah, we finally settled in our rooms for the rest of the week. Early Tuesday morning, we all arrived at the church with whom we were partnering Bull Street Baptist in downtown Savannah. Our job was to help canvas the square mile (over 4,000 homes!) surrounding the church to help create awareness and excitement about their Wednesday night program, CityKids. Silas and Avery were so excited to be able to join in on the service. We split off into groups and began the big task in the hot sun!

Beyond proud is how I felt about the way Silas and Avery walked and walked without any complaining with the "big kids", ringing doorbells and talking to people. And, I must mention that the "big kids" were beyond nice, beyond sweet, so GREAT with them.  The first day, we walked over 4 hours and spoke with countless people; we were able to pray with a few and invite most to the program and to BullStreet. We did this Tuesday and Wednesday morning; what a great way to serve, and what a great way for our students to see the way this downtown church loves on its community.

GROUP SHOT!!  Savannah is such a neat city. Tuesday night, we ate at Paula Deen's restaurant (of course!).. after we'd had more than our fill, we explored downtown and the riverwalk. What a great group!

Wednesday morning began the same way, and Silas was the champion doorbell ringer…

While Avery maintained her job as bus entertainer.

A small group of the senior high went to sing and visit at a nursing home where the student pastor was providing the devotional for the week. I did have a really good helper too…

After lunch, we headed to the beach again for a few pop up concerts!  We walked up and down the beach and gathered up to sing a song or two for about 2 hours. How fun!

Bull Street graciously fed us dinner before church.

Then that night, we had our concert at the church. The students did such a wonderful job, and this last night is always my favorite… as we recap the week and how God has used us… but most of all, how we've been changed by our own experiences.

We had a great night after church fellowshipping with their student group in Forsythe Park with some football, kickball, frisbee throwing, you name it!  Finished up the night with delicious ice cream at Leopold's… great night!  After another quick sleep, we trekked home. 

This is always a great week of the year… this year even more special as my family joined! Silas and Avery are old enough to understand what a family mission trip means… this was a great first one!