Swimming Graduates

On Friday the boys finished their swim lessons. They had a great time and came a long way in those 2 weeks, it was amazing to me. All this swimming should come in handy, I'll think we will be spending lots of time in the pool over the next 2 weeks during our California trip! I spent the time watching Kaden and Gabriel and talking with friends so no pictures of Luke this time but plenty of adorable shots of K and Gabes. After playing and working in the baby pool, their class headed to the big pool to go off the diving board.
They basically get lowered down into the water but both Kaden and Gabriel are VERY proud of themselves! As a treat on the last day their instructor let them go down the water slide. Neither Kaden or Gabriel wanted to do it until she said it was the last call because class was going to end. Kaden went and got in line with no prompting from me. Then Gabriel ran after him. (monkey see, monkey do as Daddy always says!) Kaden was not a fan of the slide. See the look I got:Gabriel had a much better time and I got a great action shot of him!My sweet baby was perfect as always! Other parents asked me if she was really that good all the time! She's an angel I tell ya!! I am going to have to be careful that none of my family swipes her before they leave Cali! Those are Josie's super cute new Princess shoes. She is all ready for our stop at Disneyland :) Have I ever mentioned how happy I am to have a girl?!?!

Short and sweet

Today I took the boys to get a haircut. I have mixed feelings about the outcome! Luke looks pretty adorable but his hair is SO short! I feel bad that it will be that short for Uncle Thad and Aunt Jackie's wedding... At least Thad's hair is short too! Last night after their bath I was using the hairdryer on Luke and it blew all his hair forward. He thought he looked pretty silly and so we took a picture to tell Aunt Jackie that this is how he wanted to wear it for the wedding: What a goof! But now we don't have that option, his hair is pretty much gone:But he still looks cute, right?! I need to hear that he does, POSITIVE feedback is welcome! Here is how Gabriel and Kaden turned out:
Kaden can get the most angelic looks on his face, he cracks me up! Here's hoping the California sunshine makes Luke's hair grow quickly...we have got 2 weeks. (Do you realize that?! TWO weeks my brother!!! Get ready, get set, WEDDING :)

Have you ever...

seen any baby girl this adorable?!

3 thoughts from yesterday

Yesterday at our church service we had a guest speaker, Bill Federer. He is an author, a historian focusing on the Christian heritage in America. Like our pastor said, this man has forgotten more then everything I will ever learn! His wealth of knowledge was unbelievable. He talked at a crazy fast pace, about Presidents, the first 13 colonies, on and on. Now that I am reading my biographies/autobiographies, my nonfictions, I will have to check out one of his books. I quickly wanted to repeat (as best I can) 3 things he said to us yesterday that really stuck out to me.

#1. When talking about one of his books (the one I most want to read) "Three Secular Reasons Why America Should Be Under God". Mr. Federer made an analogy that I continue to think about. He was talking about the idea of "every man created equal." He said that if Americans appreciated and believed this ideal then they are supporting an idea from God. The idea is alone a Judeo-Christian belief. It is certainly not Islamic, women and infidels are worth much less. It is not Hindu because they have some 7 levels of worthiness...(something to that effect anyways, I don't have a clue about that religion). Where does "all created equal" come from? From Genesis, in that all men where created in the image of God. America at its creation was rooted in Christianity, he went into further detail about the 13 colonies, etc. (Hang in there, here comes the analogy) Mr. Federer said "now does this mean there is no place for another religion in the United States? No, but if you like the table you have to have respect for its legs."
Cool, I realize that it loses something in my translation but I hope that you understand the gist. It's a great thought!

#2. This one was just AN INCREDIBLE quote from President Lincoln. Read it, and then read it again!!!
"But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious Hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own."
Yeah, read it a 3rd time, it's awesome!

#3. Simply that you can go the bones of Muhammad and Buddha, you can go to the grave of Jesus, but HE WON'T BE THERE! Christianity is the ONLY religion where our Savior is alive! And PRAISE GOD for that! Jesus brought people back to life. In no other religion does that happen. Jesus himself came back to life and He is coming to get us too!

I enjoyed listening to Mr. Federer. His new book is on Islam. That I'm sure would be an interesting read too. ***Here is my quick disclaimer, I obviously have not read any of his books so if you were to get one and it said something crazy in it, sorry! I just listened to him yesterday and so much of what he said rang true with me.*** It was amazing the amount of quotes he could rattle off. WOW. I only wish I were a better writer and so you guys could really grasp what it was like to hear him but I can only offer this. Read that Lincoln quote again. AMAZING!

More Sweet Josie Claire

Because of our impending trip to California (YIPPEE!!!!) I went out the other night and bought an umbrella stroller for Josie. Our hu-mongo double stroller would just take up too much room in the van. I bought a little fancier one that has a basket on the bottom, cup holders, and a sun shade. It's a great stroller, she'll be stylin'. I used yesterday at the pool and my good friend Michelle pointed out that should the stroller be needed at the wedding it would match perfectly!!! :)

Yep, bought a very bright PINK stroller because I can :) I have a girl :) And although it looks like she is crying, she was actually squealing with delight in her new stroller. She loves it.

Here is another sleeping picture for Uncle Thaddeus. Josie just can't seem to make it through lunch here lately:

ADORABLE!!!

Our Water Boys

Swim lessons started on all 3 boys on Tuesday. Ohmigoodness do they LOVE it! Kaden and Gabriel are in the 3-5 beginners class and Luke is in Level 1 beginners. I am so proud of them. They are listening well and trying what their teacher asks. Day 1 started and ended with a bang. Right when we all piled out of the van Kaden told me he didn't feel good. Sure enough he started throwing up in the grass. Bless his heart. But by the time class started he wanted to join. I let him and he had a great time! And the fun wasn't over, about 10 minutes before class was over Josie started throwing up! Yep, yuck. It was all over her, me, and our part of the deck. The poor lifeguards were very sweet as they cleaned and bleached away Josie's mess. She came home and went to bed. Both Kaden and Josie are fine now. (knock on wood) There was no more incidents. I have no idea what that was about but I am incredibly thankful it came and went so quickly!!! So Tuesday there was the puking, Wednesday no class because of the severe thunderstorms we had, then Thursday everyone had a great time!!! Classes will end next Friday. That will be too soon for my boys I can promise you that! On to the fun pictures:
The big news from yesterday is that Luke started floating all by himself! He was very proud! I'm sure there will be more pool pics to come!

And More VBS

(Yes, more catch up, can you believe it?!) As I have said time and time again on the blog, we had a wonderful VBS this year! The total enrollment was over 1800 kids and the highest day of attendance was around 1340! Awesome! Our church had rented out the city pool for Thursday and Friday night for the kids and their families that attended at least 3 days of VBS. We didn't make it to Thursday's pool party because (randomly) Kaden's t-ball team was taking pictures that night (yeah, a month after the season ended...) But Friday we went and had lots of fun. The boys were so excited. They LOVE being in the pool. Josie is still not a big fan. I hope that changes over the next few weeks as it seems we will be swimming a lot on our California trip! The highlight of the parties was our Children's Ministry leader, he walked on water both nights! Don't worry, you'll see how, I took pictures! The kids all got a huge kick out of that, you can imagine. On Thursday some 700 people came to the pool and Friday the total was around 400. What a great opportunity to reach people! Here are my pics from the night:
What an adorable baby she is! On the Sunday morning where the kids performed their VBS musical we had just under 2000 people at both services! Isn't that wonderful?! After the musicals the church hosted a luau, a free lunch for anyone associated with VBS. That was a huge hit! The gym was open for play and they had put some inflatables up for the younger kids. Luke and Kaden are younger and so they spent all their time playing there. There were 94 kiddos that attended VBS that made a decision for Christ (yeah!!!) and our church is now meeting with these kids and their families, lives are being transformed and I am excited about that! VBS 2008 was a rousing success!

Let us eat cake.

We got Luke's cake on his actual birthday but because the kids were sick we didn't start eating it until the 4th. But it was worth the wait! That cake was pretty good! It didn't last too long, Mike and I finished it off last night. Yum :)

We went in this morning for Luke's well child check. He weighed 43 pounds and was 3 feet 10 1/2 inches. He is quite proud of that even though I know it doesn't really know what that means. He had to get a chicken pox booster and wasn't so happy getting a shot but did a GREAT job! I was very proud of him. Alrighty, back to the cake:

Okay that is totally embarrassing, my nasty, dirty, pizza covered table. Uh, it was Mike's job to clear of the table for the cake. Oops. Just look at my sweet boy instead! (PLEASE!)

my BIG girl!!!

Last week I picked up Josie to get her ready for bed and thought she seems heavier to me. We went into the bathroom and I stood on the scale with her, then I stood by myself (that part was not fun!) and subtracted the amount....Josie was 20.0 pounds!!!! She made it to 20 pounds, she is now 15 months old! Yeah for Josie! I put her on the scale by herself and she weighed in at 19.8 pounds. That was close enough for Michael and I so we turned her car seat around. What a different world it is for Josie in the car, she can actually she where she is going! She LOVES it! See:

Here is a preview of Josie in her outfit for Jackie and Thad's wedding. The colors are navy blue and bright pink. My Mom and I found this dress while looking for Josie's Easter dress. We could NOT pass it up. The other night I found these pink sandals and they were too perfect!You know when the world gets too much and you just can't take anymore??? (different days by-the-way!)

I still have some more catch up to do. Eventually I will get back to the present! Aunt Jackie--the boys start their swim lessons today! I know that will make you smile. :) I will be sure to take pictures of their class!

Faith like a child

I have so much to catch up on, we are doing something blog worthy almost every day right now. But real quick I am going to play catch up from VBS. I was able to load the videos of the kids singing and I know you will like to see them (or most of you will anyways :)

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There are a lot of times I find myself praying to be like a child. To be able to have a strong faith and not to let the outside world affect my feelings on God. Not to let my circumstances make me question His plan. Our pastor always says that children have a simplistic and real view of Christianity. They really do take everything on faith and can believe whole-heartedly. I do think that as adults we start to make things complicated and they need not be so. Here are some of the lyrics to the songs my kiddos sang all week during vacation bible school. These songs spoke to me not just as catchy-cute children's songs but as TRUTH.

"Teach me what is right, Oh God. Teach me what is right, Oh God. And I will do it. I will do it. Teach me what is right."

"I've got some good news for you. I've got some good news for you. God sent Jesus His only Son because He loves everyone. And that's good news for me and you!"

"No one else is like Jesus. No one else can do what He does. He can heal us. He can help us. No one else can love like Jesus."

"God is good, God is real. God loves me and He is always will. God is good to everyone, He gave the world His only Son."

The lines are simple and yet how deep are they?! Reread them. They are powerful!!!

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I am so proud of my boys for singing in front of the church. There were just shy of 2000 people there for the 2 services (2 VBS performances)!!! That is truly awesome! I know God can do a mighty work with that!

Listen

At around 18 seconds on our fireworks video you can hear sweet Kaden's voice. It's adorable!

OOOHHH, AAAHHH!!!

My firework pictures never come out the way I would like, but you get the gist! Last night we headed out around 8:40 to shoot off the fireworks Michael bought. There are only a few cities around the metro that allow you to do this. Choctaw was one but you had to be on private property and we couldn't figure out where we could do it. Mustang was a little farther away but Michael called the police department and they said go to Wildhorse Park. Michael asked if there was anywhere specific you should do it at the park and they said oh you'll see the people everywhere. And you certainly did. It was INCREDIBLE! There were fireworks on all sides and they were the big ones too! The boys LOVE fireworks and were in heaven. Josie was a little scared for about the first 30 seconds and then (of course) she was great! We had the best time. The kids were PERFECT! We left around 10:20 to come home. It was awesome. Last year on the 4th I was home in St. Louis watching the fireworks with most of my extended family and missing my husband like crazy. Michael was flying over Afghanistan last year and had much different fireworks to watch. I was so thankful to be with him this 4th! Here are some pics. I took this one of my HAPPY kiddos:OOPS! I broke the cardinal rule and used my flash next:

Here was our BIG firework. Our grand finale:

Pretty cool, huh?! Oh yeah and here is a shout out to Albert for hitting #300 last night! Congrats dude. We love ya!

God Bless the USA

Last night I was listening to Acapella's version of "God Bless the USA", it's a beautiful rendition. They changed the first verse from "I'd thank my lucky stars" to "I'd thank my heavenly Father to be livin' here today". And how true that is. I love America and I feel so blessed to be an American. I still believe in the American Dream, that here you have the opportunity to reach for the stars and get some of them! No country is perfect, we all know that but the US is the strongest and the post powerful country in the world. We have protected our freedoms for 232 years now! That is something to wonderful to celebrate!!

"The flag still stands for FREEDOM and they can't take that away!

And I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free.

And I won't forget the men who died and gave that right to me."

Let's say a prayer for our military today. Let's thank them for their service and sacrifice. There are still men and women dying to keep our freedom. Regardless of what you feel about the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, our military is performing the ultimate sacrifice. They are WILLINGLY putting their lives on the line to keep the fight away from our shores. They are preserving our freedoms by letting go of their own. And by that I mean they have set aside their comfort of the American way of life for a war zone. They have volunteered to say good-bye to their families and their churches so that the rest of us don't have to. They know the importance of our Declaration of Independence. They are seeing firsthand what dictatorship and lawlessness does to people. Our military sees the suffering and is making a difference in the lives of the innocent people! I cannot find the words to express my gratitude for our military. And of course this is extremely personal to me, my husband and brother-in-law have served in the middle east on and off for the past 7 years. Michael will be leaving again in August to continue the fight. I will miss him terribly but it won't compare to the pride I will have knowing that he is doing his part to protect us all.

This year we have an important election coming up. I know that opinions run deep and emotions run high when it comes to politics. There is disagreements in both my immediate and extended family. I do think it's important to vote and have a say in our country's leadership. I urge everyone to do so, VOTE! But more importantly, I urge all the believers out there to pray. Pray for our country and our leadership. Set aside your personal wants and push for "your" candidate and today just pray that whatever the outcome of this election that God will have His hand on our leader. That God will bless our country and help lead us in a good direction. Pray for all the branches of our government, that their hearts will be reached that we will start to put "In God we Trust" back into action. GOD BLESS THE USA!!!

Let's be truly thankful for all we have! Have a wonderful and safe 4th! God Bless!

Seven's Superhero Party

Yesterday afternoon Luke eventually started feeling better. He still kept his fever but no more throwing up (thank goodness). He got many a birthday phone calls for which his was extremely excited about! As soon as Daddy walked in the house last night Luke was ready for his presents. He just didn't want to wait anymore. Thank you to everyone that sent him something. He loved it all! Grandma's spy goggles are a HUGE hit with all the boys! Luke wanted to have a Superhero party for his birthday, it didn't turn out exactly as I hoped, but it worked. We all dressed up in Superhero shirts, Luke, Gabriel, and Daddy were wearing multiple guys, I had on a Superman shirt, Kaden a Spiderman shirt, and Josie borrowed Gabriel's Flash shirt. The cake (even though STILL untouched) turned out pretty cool:

At present time Luke AND Josie had a blast!

I still can't believe I have a 7 year old child. WOW!!!

Last night Kaden started running a fever as well. (BUMMER!!!) They both slept well but were pretty warm all night long. They still had fevers this morning but both have a least a little appetite! They are tired and a little cranky which I think means they are on the mend.