Green Band!!!!!!

Caroline was SO excited to earn her green band at the YMCA today!  Last year she easily earned the yellow band which means that she can swim in up to 3ft of water with a floating device or me.  The green band gives her access to the entire pool.  She has talked about it all summer but hasn't "wanted" to complete the swim test in order to get it when we go.  But for some reason today, after we had been there about an hour she said "I want to do my swim test"  She had to jump in the pool, swim in place as she calls it for 30 seconds and then swim the length of the pool without ever touching the sides or bottom of the pool.  She did it and was SO excited!!!  So proud of her!

The Gospel Coalition 2014

 I am just getting home from an AMAZING weekend away!  You may have remembered two years ago I attended the first ever Gospel Coalition Women's Conference.  Those of us who went the last night knew we wanted to attend again this year (it's only held every other year) and wanted to share our experience with other ladies!  This year there were 11 of us and God met each of us in a very special way!  Many of our biblical hero's spoke-Tim and Kathy Keller, John and Noel Piper, DA Carson, Paige Benton-Brown just to name a few!  There was a lot of absorb this weekend and I will definitely have to process before I post more...but what a blessing it was!!

 They had an awesome photo booth set up for us to take pictures with.  My sweet friend Sage was there with ladies from her church but we did manage to spend some time together in between sessions.  Below is the group from our church.  What a blessing!!!

 After 8 hours of travels, I came home to this...sweet messages on my car along with balloons attached to it as well!  What a welcome home for a tired momma!!!

more to come...

Family Fun

 Today was one of those days that we had a million things to do in a short amount of town.  Some were big things and others were pretty small.  But the good news is that we had a blast doing them together.  The first thing we needed to do was haul away some old furniture for Andy's parents.  So we loaded up in Andy's old Ranger, which is 22 years old, has no air, only plays tapes-no radio, and was one of the first "extended cab" vehicles with a tiny square for back seat!!!  We LOVE RUSTY, especially Caroline because she gets to ride in the front seat-this was before air bags were installed in all vehicles.

We did several other things but one of our favorites was picking blueberries at our friends John and Susan's house.  YUMMY!  I see a blueberry cobbler in my near future...that is AFTER weigh in on Tuesday!!

Swim Meet #2

I was so excited that Caroline was going to be swimming at my college alma mater.  She couldn't quite understand what happens when you go to college but she thought it was fun that she was swimming at Mommy's college. 

 Sadly she was still a little nervous about the meet yesterday.  During warm ups she was once again overwhelmed and didn't want to get in the pool.  Thankfully parents weren't allowed on the pool deck and therefore she was with Grace.  Grace loved on her and eventually got her in the pool.  I can't say enough how much it means to me that these young ladies are so loving and patient with an anxious almost 6 year old.  They will never fully understand the impact they are making on Caroline!  What a blessing!!

 Caroline wasn't going in the pool by herself and thankfully she didn't have to.  Grace was allowed to swim in the lane beside her and she was confident and ready!  (Thank goodness Grace and Ruth are great swimmer and can swim these extra races...)

 Caroline is a close second to Madison in the lane beside her.  (Madison is also on our team)

 hanging in there, finishing in 2nd in her meet

 Not sure what they were talking about here but they were both laughing and smiling!

 Ruth was there to congratulate C!!

 Love these girls so much!

hmmm....notice anything different here??  Somebody decided to put their swim cap on.  A little girl in Caroline's dance class walked up after the first race and asked "Why don't you have you swim cap on?  It keeps your hair nice and dry."  Immediately she grabbed her cap and put it on! :0) We are making progress people!!!!

 Granny came up for the meet

 Grace ready to swim! 

 Catherine also came to watch Caroline!!

 Caroline's second race was the breaststroke.  She told Ruth "I don't know how to do the breastroke!!"  Grace agreed to swim with her again and told her to watch what she was doing.  

 Caroline took her seriously.  The entire way down the pool she would pop her head up to see what Grace was doing...she finished last but she tried her best and didn't give up. I was SO PROUD!

We will miss the meet this coming week but will be back the following week. Can't wait to see what she's gonna do...

Celebrating 11 years!!!!!!

Hard to believe it's been 11 years since our beautiful wedding day!!  So many sweet people spent so much time and effort to make our day oh so special!  Friends from back home helped with flowers and food for the reception.  Lot's of local friends came out on Friday to help decorate the CLC for our reception.  My sweet daddy, having finished Chemo just days before the wedding, wanted to BBQ a pig for the reception and he did!  I remember my brothers and my dad hanging out in our carport with the grill and the pig.  The Lord blessed us that day with a gorgeous June day...a cool breeze and sunny skies!  I can honestly say our wedding was EVERYTHING  I wanted it to be.  I often joke with our associate pastor Chris, who did our premarital counseling, did you ever just want to laugh at us...we didn't have a CLUE as to what we were getting into!  The "issues" we discussed in counseling were NOTHING like what we would face over the next 11 years...the death of my dad, years of infertility, sickness of parents, loss of grandparents, health issues for each of us...the part of our marriage vows "for sickness and in health" we could never really grasp the importance of our vows until faced with each of these situations.  I can honestly say that in these hard times, we pulled together and worked as a team...we supported one another and did what we needed to do to get through each one.  And in return, these are some of our most cherished memories.  I couldn't imagine going through this life with Andy by my side and I am so thankful the Lord chose HIM to walk this journey with me.

I pray that we continue to bless one another in the years to come and give Caroline a glimpse of what marriage really is.  She is at a fun age and had a lot of  questions about why we were celebrating today, what we were going to do, etc.  It gave us a chance to share with her God's design for marriage and what it means for Andy and I to keep our part.  I pray that she too will one day take this call of being a wife seriously and honor God in her marriage.  We are a great example of a couple who falls SHORT often but we are committed to the Lord and wish to honor our commitment to the Lord.

So how FUN that our anniversary was on a Saturday this year.  Early on we talked of trying to head to the beach for a day of fun in the sun.  Well those plans quickly changed when we got Caroline's swim meet schedule...a meet was scheduled for today.  (another example of what we didn't know when we got married...kids change plans A LOT!)  So Andy asked what I wanted for plan B.  I told him to run with it, plan it, let it be a surprise and I would be happy!  He did and we had a blast!!

After the swim meet, Caroline headed home with Mrs. Charissa and Catherine.  She was SO excited to get to hang out with her best buddy!!  Andy and I showered and headed in the opposite direction of the beach...we ended up at the Mast General store.  It was fun to walk around and putz with out having to worry about little hands touching things or being on her schedule. :-)  We bought a bottle coke and saw this fun Checkers game.  Since we didn't have a set schedule we sat down and played.  When we were down to just a few king checkers, Andy thought it might be a good idea to end the game where it was...before I lost!  The little sales lady laughed at us when we got up and told us how much fun she had watching us play. :-)

We thought about walking around downtown before heading to dinner but changed our mind...it was HOT outside!  So we headed over to the mall and walked around INSIDE before dinner.  We didn't see a whole lot we couldn't live without so we left and headed to dinner early.  There is a fun hole in the wall wings place that we love!  Andy thought it would be fun for dinner and it was!  We both enjoyed some yummy wings and fries/chips.  Sadly there was a gentleman that we watched at the bar, he was sitting right behind us.  He had definitely had too much to drink.  We noticed he left the bar and didn't come back for a while.  Shortly thereafter, the cops showed up and ask some questions to the bartender.  We overheard them say "Someone called 911 because you wouldn't serve them anymore beer."  Sure enough, it was the gentleman and sadly he was arrested for calling 911 for something other than an emergency.  It broke my heart...poor fella!  I wondered if he had a wife at home or who would even come get him out of jail...pitiful!

We ended the evening with a stop at Dairy Queen and an episode of Andy Griffin.  

Today was a perfect day!  So much fun celebrating the fact that we have survived these past 11 years!!!  Look forward to many more with my sweet man!  What a blessing the Lord has given me!

Camp God

 Hard to believe another year of VBS has come and gone.  Our theme this year was Camp God.  We spent time talking about Jacob, Joseph, The Tabernacle and honestly I don't remember the other day.  This year my role was a little less involved in curriculum and planning-I got to photograph the events each day!!!  Oh yeah, that's my niche and I loved every minute of it.  By Tuesday the kids realized that if I got their picture, they would be in the slide show at the end of the day.  It wasn't too hard to get fun pictures of everyone!!!  Tonight we had our closing event with dinner and the kids got to sing a few of the songs they learned.  I am exhausted as many others are tonight but what a fun week!!!

Ottis

 We were so excited last week to take Ottis to the groomer.  We knew he would feel better AND look better but we couldn't imagine just how cute he was gonna be when we picked him up!  What a huge difference!  He looks much younger and more like a little puppy!  He is settling in quite nicely with the family!  He and Lucy are learning to get along with one another and share this space. :-)  Some days I wonder if he ever wishes he was back on the streets...cause Lawd knows Caroline is enough to drive him back to the streets.  But the crazy thing is he just takes it...goes right along with her.  We definitely hit the jack pot with this sweet boy!

at least she was thinking about his safety and buckled him in

 watching Curious George is way more fun with Ottis in her lap! 

Happy Father's Day to Many Wonderful Father's!!!

We are all so very blessed to have/had such wonderful father figures in our lives!!  Some who are our own and others who walk along beside Andy showing him, encouraging him as he takes this challenge of being a father to Caroline.  I think of the verse from Psalm 127 "Children are a heritage from the Lord...blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them."  I never really understood that verse until recently...what a blessing it is to be responsible for this little one...what a privilege for her to call Andy Daddy!!  You don't have to be around these two long to realize the special bond they share and just how much this girl LOVES her daddy!!!!

 Given the crazy crowds on holidays, Katy and I decided to host our special dad's at our house.  We split the meal and the boys got to "show up."  To make the day a little more fun and to honor my daddy, I brought out my china.  The last time I hosted a family gathering with my china was with my daddy.  It was a special day and he was so excited and proud of me...so if he couldn't be here today, at least I could do a little something to honor him.

 After lunch we enjoyed visiting together and chatting about some found memories of Andy and Katy's childhood with their dad.  I am super sad that I didn't get a picture of everyone with Mr. Andy.  We all enjoyed a Sunday afternoon nap before heading over to Tomi Jean and Greg's for dinner.  The kids had a ball playing in the pool before dinner.

 Sweet Grace is trying so desperately to teach Caroline to dive...girly has so much more patience with C that I would have...they are so fun together!!

 These two weren't quite as lucky with this meal...they had to do a little cooking to help with our meal.  Uncle Greg's YUMMY grilled tenderloin!!  

 pretty sure that isn't a correct "competition" dive!!!!

 Jay and AK, love the expressions in this

 All the kiddos stopped long enough for a picture

So thankful for the chance to truly recognize and honor the special men in our lives who have been called by the Lord to be a father.  It isn't a job to take lightly and thank goodness the men in our lives understand the privilege and step up to the plate.

Caroline's First Swim Meet

Caroline had her first swim meet tonight!  We were all pretty excited.  However, after almost 6 years with my girl, I sort of had an idea how it would go down...and she didn't prove me wrong.  I noticed early on, maybe around 2 or so, she got very overwhelmed in "new" situations.  When she was younger, I honestly thought it was just her being stubborn.  But now I realize it's more of a true "fear."  She clings to one of us or whoever is near and totally breaks down.  Tears, sobs, you name it, we have it!  So in anticipation of tonight, we tried to warn her and even bribe her.  She was so excited! (She even won the competition at practice.) I didn't so much care about her actual races but the fact that they put her on a relay team of girls 10 and under...I was nervous that if she didn't compete the girls wouldn't be too excited...maybe just maybe we had sweetened the deal enough for her to compete without tear. 

Well folks, we were WRONG!  When it came time for warm ups the tears began...she froze...she wasn't going in the water!  Not even on the steps...sweet Grace and Ruth both tried with all their might to get her in the pool.  She wasn't having it.  Now yes, I could see the reason for being overwhelmed...there were about oh say 150 plus parents sitting around the pool.  Tons of kids getting in and out of the pool.  Lots of loud noises where they were testing the equipment...and even though I warned myself of what I knew in my heart was coming, it was still SO frustrating.  It's hard for me to understand why her mind works like it does.  She is so strong and confident in so many things, yet so fragile at the same time.  I do believe it's true fear and that she gets overwhelmed and sadly I don't know how to help her overcome it other than to just keep trying...

*These pictures are a little hard to see because we are at opposite ends of the pool...*

Andy trying to convince her to get in the pool for her relay

 She is almost in...nope!  Not gonna have it.  Sadly our team was disqualified because she wouldn't swim.  But you want to know what really got my momma heart...several of the girls (who she has known for several summers of going swimming with Ruth and Helen) came up to her and told her it was ok...they understood it was her first swim meet!  Oh how precious...somebody is raising their kids right!

 We had about 10 minutes between the relay race and her next race.  Notice that this picture looks a lot like the first one...daddy trying to convince her to get in the pool for her race.  Literally they were waiting on her...talk about pressure for a momma!

 Next step, she put her goggles on...but not going far.

 Then someone had the idea to let her coach Ruth (who Caroline loves!!!) swim with her.  As long as Ruth did not touch Caroline or help Caroline, she was allowed in the lane with her.  Well folks it was on!  Caroline jumped in and swam her little heart out!!!!  AND the crowd went crazy cheering for her...they were probable thinking thank you LORD we can move on!

 Notice how far ahead of the little girl she is...

 She was doing what she LOVES OH SO MUCH-swimming her heart out!

 She was so proud and excited!!!!  The crowd was cheering for her when she touched the wall!!  We were so thankful for Ruth's willingness to race with her!!!!! 

 First Place Ribbon!!!!!!!

hanging with the big girls who are so good to her!  Notice one of these things is not like the other...someone tried two different times to wear their swimming cap...wasn't gonna happen!  Oh well, we will practice it this week and hopefully by next Saturday be good to go! maybe...

 Granny came for her meet and she was so excited!  She sat with granny and the little girl beside her and talked their ears off!  There is my girls confident smile!!!

 She and Jack chatting after it was over.

SHEW what a night!  All is well that ends well...until next Saturday's meet! ;-)