Let's Play A Game......

Come on and play if you read this blog--it will make it lots more fun!!

Okay here is what we will do. I will post 6 pictures that are close up of common things--well if you have kids and live in the south--and you leave a comment on this post and tell me what you think they are. Please put your guesses in order. If you're not sure on one (say #3) then put #3 skip and go onto #4. Is that clear as mud? To leave a comment just click on the word comments at the bottom of this post. You need to have a Google account to leave a comment so if you don't have one take a few seconds and get one--it's FREE!!! I'll post the answers (or full pictures) in a few days.

Have fun!!!

Big Water

We got to try out our new camper this past weekend. Mr. Judy let us use his spot at Big Water which is on Lake Marion. Steve knows Mr. Judy from work.

We had a great time--despite a few mishaps (you know the usual--grill wont work, kids throwing up, leaky diapers). We found out that we can break down camp from start to finish in about an hour and a half.

Here are a few pics of our weekend.

The first one is of Drew crawling in the front storage compartment (it happens to be under our bed) to get something our for Steve. Don't ask me why they didn't just go inside and open the cabinet doors from the inside!!

Next we have Drew after walking back from the pool.

He is such a nut sometimes!! He walked all the way back like this. Yes we got a few looks!!

Max also enjoyed the trip. He took up residence in this chair and pretty much stayed there the entire time.

He barked at other dogs every once in a while but for the most part was pretty quiet. He was happy to go inside and sleep at night. He did spend some time digging in the dirt. We got him stopped and then Casey and Landon started digging in the same spot. They burried his bone and then Landon dug it up and put it in his mouth!! I know I know--YUCK!!!!!

The girls wanted to sleep in the big bed so we told them that they had to share it with Landon and let Drew sleep in the smaller bed alone.

The two little ones started out side by side but that was quickly changed!!! Steve and I laughed because the 3 biggest bed hogs got to share 1 bed!!! They really did pretty well. We could see both the play ground and the putt putt course from our site. They both got lots of use!!! I think we used both every day. The kids had a great time playing putt putt.

Casey taught Landon all she knows about the game. Drew and Shelby also took the kids the playground on several occasions. We mainly used the swings.

Drew and Landon created their own little swing game.

Landon thought it was so funny!!

So what happens when Mommy forgets to pack the swim diapers (which are required for little people to use the pool?) Daddy to the rescue. What happens when Mommy only tells Daddy what size diapers to get?

Well, if you are Landon, you get to wear PINK Little Mermaid swim diapers for the weekend. Doesn't he look just thrilled with all of this? Oops!!

Every night we played cards. It was much better the 2nd night after we got a new mantle for our lantern--so much easier to see the cards.

I think Drew and Shelby had a great time. I know Steve and I did. We spent our last day swimming and walking on the pier. Landon loved seeing all of the boats.

He never wanted to turn and look at the camera but he finally did stop for a minute and sorta look my way!! We spent the rest of our time in one of the pool and the lazy river.

Casey thought it was great to be able to not have to share a float with anyone. Let me just tell you that she and Landon are so tiny that they just fly through the lazy river. If you aren't holding on to their floats it's more like a NASCAR race than a lazy river!!

Drew spent his afternoon playing ball with some friends that he made and really didn't have time for the lazy river with us. Sign of the times? Hope not to much!! After 3 hours in the pool this last picture sums up how we all felt......

Mission Trip Blessings

We had a great time on the mission trip last week. I want everyone to know that God answered several prayers--especially the one for my nerves!! As well as for our health since Steve was pretty sick when we left. I thought I might have to go alone and even though I didn't want to, I would have gone. Thankfully, he felt like going and started feeling better after we got going on Friday.

We arrived on Thursday night and found a place to "camp" for the weekend. We were all supposed to sleep around the walking track on the 2nd floor of the gym at the host church. That was fine because there was plenty of room to spread out. After we got settled, Steve went on the search for a store that carried a few items he was looking for and I headed off to find out where the showers were located. When I left the gym area, all of the kids were playing games on the first floor. When I returned, I looked over the rail to see one of the boys balled up on the floor holding the back of his head. I took off down stairs because I knew this was not good. By the time I got down there, another parent had gotten to him and had a wad of paper towels on his head to try and stop the bleeding. I took off to find his mom or dad. The good news is that his mom was a nurse and well able to make the call on if he needed stitches or not. They decided that even if he did need to have it stitched, that it could wait till the next morning since the bleeding was under control. So what happened? Well it seems that the kids started playing tag and two of the boys collided and when they did, Garrett fell and hit his head on the bleachers that were around the gym. What a way to start the trip. God is good, all the time!!

And by the way they ended up NOT taking him to get stitches. Also Dawn dish washing soap inside of a zipper bag freezes great--bendable and not as hard as ice. I would recommend double bagging it though!!

Sleeping wasn't all that great on Thursday night. At one point after lights out, I wanted to trip a couple of the teenage boys who kept having to go somewhere, I guess to the bathroom. The made a ton of noise walking by our "campsite"!!! I say lights out very tongue in cheek since they wouldn't turn out one row of lights out in the gym for safety reasons. They didn't want it to be to dark and someone actually fall over the 1/2 wall around the area we were sleeping. This would not have been an issue since they left on so much light that I could read by it. I got about ZERO sleep. First of all, I didn't know how much I really like for it to be dark when I sleep. Second and just for the record, I CANNOT stand to have something on my face or even near my nose when I sleep. Third, in an effort to make it dark, I slept with a shirt over my face--well I tried to sleep but I kept feeling like I was suffocating so there wasn't much sleep. Fourth--apparently I'm the only person in my family who has this issue because everyone one else slept just fine!!

Friday was the day Drew had been waiting for--HIS BIRTHDAY!!! We put a sign up across from where he was sleeping so that when he woke up he would see his giant birthday card. After a short devotional, the ladies and kids under 12 did a mini VBS for an inner city day "camp" while the men worked on several projects (painting and building a rolling sound booth) at a local community center and the youth (over age 12) got to do landscaping. We were all supposed to meet back by 12:30 but Shelby and I got back a little early so we walked a few blocks and picked up a few sandwiches for our families lunch. Steve got back next and then finally Drew. Drew had just gotten started eating at about 1:15 and shortly there after, the fire alarms went off in the church!!! We got up and started heading out but I did run back for Shelby's shoes. I really thought that it was just a fire drill (since they have a day school in this church) and I didn't want her standing on the hot pavement without shoes. Well it turns out that it was a real fire!! An exit sign of all things had shorted out and started a small fire. So we got to stand outside in the heat for almost an hour. Poor Drew had to go and finish with his crew without finishing his lunch but you know what? He never complained one time. God is good all the time. Steve went to finish painting and Shelby and I were off to the nursing home for the afternoon.

We all got back around 5:30 and went out to dinner (see the post about Drew's birthday). After that we walked around down town. Then we went back to the church and crashed. I don't think I've ever been that tired!!! They did finally realize that there was plenty of light coming in from the windows and turned off the lights in the gym--God if VERY good!!!! Although, I think I was so tired that I would not have cared if they turned them off or not but I sure am thankful that they turned them off.

Saturday was more of the same for Steve and Drew. Shelby and I however got to go to the park and talk with families there. We, our group, took drinks and snacks to the park at the Greenville Zoo and passed them out to the families out enjoying the park and/or zoo. That was nice but boy was it HOT! We started a game of kickball and invited kids to play with us. I think everyone had a good time. On Saturday, we were all supposed to be back by 1:30 so that we could get lunch, pack up and get ready to set up a block party at a community center. Poor Drew, (now this is all me because not one time has he complained AT ALL) ended up working on yards until 3!!! His lunch by the time he got it was very cold and probably pretty yucky but he ate it and never said one word. We got the block party up and going and I spent the next 5 1/2 hours talking to a ton of people that I didn't know. I talked so much that my voice was giving out by the time we left to go home!!! God is good all the time!! Drew manned a beanbag game for the kids--I figured he deserved a chance to sit down if he wanted and he's great with little kids. Steve and I mingled with the crowd but I didn't stay with Steve very much because I needed to be on my own so that I didn't "fall back" on Steve.

I spent the entire weekend in neighborhoods that I normally would do my best to not even drive through on a normal day. I spent my time talking to lots of people who are definitely not on the same life path I am on. One of the most interesting people I talked to had JUST gotten OUT of prison after 15 years and 5 months. He told me lots about his life and how he had messed up and how he had turned his life around and how he would like to keep kids from making the same mistakes. He said he should be in the ground and not walking around but that God had given him another chance and he didn't want to blow it.

Let me just say that my bed felt WONDERFUL after 2 nights on the floor of a gym!!! We made to church on Sunday but not to Sunday school. And you know what, we love our church and have since we first started going there but now, now we belong!! We have found a place for us.

God is so good. As lots of you know, Drew does not like heat. He hates bugs in his face and being hot. I say all of this to say that not one time did he complain or have a bad attitude or anything like that. He served God to his fullest and with a joyful attitude!!! God is so very good!!! And for the record those 9 boys did 16 yards in 2 days!!!

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

My daughter and I did not recently ride to a bridal shower in a golf cart--to a bridal shower that was NO WHERE near a golf course.

I did not talk so much on Saturday night (to people I had never met before and still don't know) that my voice was worn out all day on Sunday.

I did not forget to set this very blog to post "A Happy Birthday" message to Drew. It didn't matter that I forgot to set it up to post only because, I forgot to take the time to write the post in the first place.

I did not sleep with a dirty shirt over my face on Thursday night just so it would be dark where I was trying to sleep. Not me because I hate having things over my face.

I did not totally blow my Weight Watchers out of the water while on a mission trip this weekend.

I did not turn around and go back to get one of my children's shoes when the fire alarms went off in a building I was in this past week.

I did not tell my son I would give him $50 if he could blow out all the candles on his cake in one breath and then go and put 3 trick candles on the cake. I would never do that!!

Happy 13th Birthday Drew!!!

Wow!! I just can't believe that Drew is 13!!! He is such a great young man. For his birthday this year, he got to go on a mission trip--his choice. So he got to spend his birthday cutting grass and fun things like that but I'll tell you all about that later--after I catch up on some sleep!!!

We did go out for dinner at a Japanese restaurant on Friday night.

The guys there gave him a hard time trying to get him to dance while they played the drums!!

Today he had his cake and ice cream after church.

We told him that we would give him $50 if he could blow the candles out in one breath. He took us up on it but what he didn't know was that 3 of the 13 candles were trick candles that would keep relighting.

I know it was bad but he thought it was okay.

Drew is a great young man.

He loves God.

He loves his family.

Drew has a forgiving heart.

Drew has a great voice!!!

He is great with the little kids.

He loves playing video game.

He loves enjoys tennis.

He loves music.

He tells lots of jokes.

He enjoys maps and learning about new places.

He loves trivia.

He loves pizza.

He loves reading.

He will only read books of a series if they are in order--no skipping around for him!

He is good at math.

He doesn't like to write.

He is a great swimmer.

He is a hard worker.

He likes spaghetti with no sauce.

He doesn't like gnats!!! (I'm sure he is his Daddy's kid)

He doesn't like lasagna.

He doesn't care for very hot or cold weather.

I am so honored to be Drew's mom!!!

We love you Drew and are so proud of you!!

Oh the things we hear around here!!

Casey: Mom can you turn on Little Farm on the Cherry (aka Little House on the Prairie) for me?

Casey and Landon playing:

Casey: Dad, I'm making my bed.

Landon: Why?

Casey: You will be angry with me if I don't!!

Landon: Okay

Shelby (trying to take pictures of the 2 littles): Landon come here. Don't you want me to take your picture? (time passes) LANDON LET ME TAKE YOUR PICTURE!!!

Casey: Okay!!

Shelby: Not you, I already took your picture I want to take Landon's picture!!!!

Casey: YOU'RE NOT THE BOSS OF ME!!! COME ON LANDON!!!

Landon leaves with Casey and the process starts all over again.

Drew: Mom can you load that file for me from Mimi and Kokopat with the cheats to this game on it?

Me: You know when we were kids, we didn't have cheat codes. We had to figure them out for ourselves!!

Preparing

That's what we are doing.

Preparing.

Preparing for school full time.

Preparing for Casey joining us during some of our school time.

Preparing for our first camping trip in our camper.

Preparing for our 1 year (it's almost here) walk thru on the house.

Preparing for a life style change as far as our eating habits--yep even though they don't know it, the entire family is coming along on this ride!!

Preparing to have a teenager in the house--just when did he grow up?!!!

Preparing our minds and hearts to go on a family missions trip this week. I can't believe it's here. The kids are really pumped. Steve's totally swamped at work and me? Well, this a huge stretch for me. Let's just talk about being outside of your comfort zone--I'm there! I'm going on a trip with 60 other people that I do NOT know to talk to people that I do NOT know!!! These are just things that I do not enjoy doing!! Those of you that know me know me well should know this to be true!! You would think that as much as we have moved I would not have a problem in this area but I do. I have been known to get sick on the way to a new church!! As a matter of fact, just thinking about things like that make me a little sick feeling. My nerves are just a little bit tense!!

So why are we doing this? We were so blessed at Thanksgiving to be able to spend the morning feeding the homeless. I have a child that has told me several times that they want to be a missionary when they grow up. Well I want them to know that you can do that in this country as well as abroad. We need to be the hands and feet of Jesus and we are not always. So we are not going far but we are going. Is what we are going to be doing important--you betcha!!

One of my friends and I have been talking about missions in our own backyard a good bit lately. She also has a very missions minded child. Why leave? Why not be helping families right here where we live? I can only guess as to why they are having us go to another town. My guess is because "we" are all so busy that most people would say "sure I'll be there" but when the rubber meets the road, something would come up and they will feel like "well someone else will be there. They don't really need me". I'm not saying that hasn't happened to people planning on going on this trip but the money's been paid, we wont be sleeping in our own homes where "life" just takes over. We are making a commitment to this and we are not letting the business of life get in the way.

Preparing for......