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.

PICTURES!!! (finally)

So finally I am able to blog my photos! These are from Monday night at Red Robin. Family photo, Josie is in there though she kinda blends in:

Josie is too adorable and I couldn't decide which picture to post so you get both. Josie and her pizza plate:

Watching the birthday singers (check out that sundae!!!):

Happy about my birthday and my sundae!!!!! (stinky Daddy!)The Cardinals were on ESPN that night and so we were all watching the game. People around us were laughing because Luke and Kaden knew the players and what was going on. Even Josie got in on the action clapping when her brothers did:
We had such a fun night! I am very thankful that we celebrated his birthday then because he is sick today. He hasn't thrown up in 3-4 hours (yeah!) but he still has a pretty good fever. Daddy will be home soon and it will present time. That should help perk him up! :) Thanks for all the well wishes out there. Even though Luke is sick he is still so happy to finally be 7!!!

S E V E N !!!!!!!

Seven?! Are you kidding me? Today is Luke's birthday, he is 7. I have a 7 year old. What?! I just can't grasp this! It's crazy! Happy Birthday Luke Thomas!
As I write this it's 8:15 in the morning and Luke is sleeping on the couch with a pretty good fever. Bless his bones. He woke up at 4 this morning and I could clearly see his bright pink lips in my dark room. I didn't even have to touch him to know he had a fever. I guess Gabe's 48-ish hour bug is going around. Kaden was a little warm yesterday. Bummer. But hopefully my kiddos will get this all out of their system seeing that in 3 weeks we leave for our wedding trip to Cali!
I haven't taken a picture of Luke today but his birthday celebration started on Monday night. We went to Red Robin (YUM) for dinner. We are members of the birthday club and so Luke received an e-mail with a free kids dinner. He was insanely excited about that. Mike had been having quite a rough time at work, just swamped with things to do and so Monday he thought a great burger would solve some problems! So off we went.
AARRRRRRGH!!! Blogger will NOT let me load pics this morning. I tried all day yesterday to post the videos of the my kids at our VBS Sunday and they wouldn't work so then I tried to load pics of us as the VBS pool party. Nope, didn't work. And today still no luck. Sorry! I'll keep trying!
Happy Birthday to my Luke!