SUMMER HIGHLIGHTS

Although we've stayed close to home, we've keep fairly busy and made some great memories. Our favorites.

Lauren & Ian's wedding
Watching our house being built
Fourth of July weekend with family in Branson
Camp Caudle for Jordan and Cameron
RL Owner's Conference and Franchise of the Year award for RLs of Russellville
Basketball and Volleyball camps for Jordan and Sheridan
Having friends over to swim and play

House on the Hill

T- 2 weeks until moving day. 

Back side of the house as you drive into the street/neighborhood. Brick & stone all finished...yard = a mess! 

Front of house, almost completely bricked and stoned. No pillars yet on porch and no landscaping!

First day of wood floors down! I'm thinking this room will be my favorite. I can't wait to fill the shelves with our games/books/movies and a comfy window seat cushion. There will also be a huge gray sectional and a navy/gray rug. 

Back porch. I love the stained concrete but it's pretty dirty now. I anticipate family time on the porch and a great view out of our trees and maybe a pool someday. (hint, hint)

Snocones, volleyball and firsts!

Summer days are LONG...but we've managed to stay pretty busy! We stopped by the local sno cone stand one day and the kids chose watermelon, strawberry and tiger's blood as their top picks! It was a good way to cool off on these 100 degree days.

Sheridan has been going to open gym with both basketball and volleyball all summer. There are some kids who play on competitive teams all summer but we didn't think we could make that work this year. She's enjoying herself and played in a team camp at Tech with her classmates last Saturday. We got to pop over for a game. She's very short compared to the girls on her team, but she can hit as well as anyone from the floor!

We had our FIRST MEAL in our new house this week. Richard called me to come check some things and the kids were already with him. I wasn't going to have cheap pizza as our first meal in our forever home...so I made the trip across town for some Chick fil a. It's only right that you get your favorite fast food for your first meal! The counter was dirty and the floor was dirty, and there was no seating, but NO ONE minded! TWO WEEKS until we can get in!

Monday Funday

GREAT morning going to look at Lauren's wedding pictures....ahhh. And then getting to eat lunch with our dear friends Kent and Laine. This family was placed in our life during a season where we were just desperate for a friend couple who was just ahead of us in parenting and ministry. They moved a few years later but return to Russellville a couple times of year. We are TRULY SO THANKFUL they call us to catch up and eat a meal with them when they're in town. We feel blessed on a day when we are reminded of God's goodness.

Fun facts:
1. Laine is the first person I told I was pregnant with Sheridan.
2. Laine and Richard share a birthday.
3. Their three kids are boy, girl, girl, and so are our first three.
4. They gave us a baton (of their daughters) when they were moving, over 10 years ago, and we still have it. And it's still being twirled!
5. The Fanchers are the only adults we have ever gone to an amusement park together, without kids!

Let there be light!

Richard just sent me this pic from the Hill. We've got power...and he and Cam are putting in the can lights so we can see! It's been a slow few days as we had to re-work some power things to get signed off by Entergy and the city to get our power. The guys are still outside rocking and bricking...it's been SO HOT this week...we feel for them. Now that we have A/C the wood flooring has been delivered and it can acclimate to the temp of the house before being put down. We're headed up the hill now, the girls and I, with our first meal...we'll clean up and get ready for the final touches. I don't see us moving until August 20th...but if we get things rolling, maybe just maybe...we can start the process.

Quote of the Day (maybe week)

This morning at 8am, Cameron was pondering the deep things of life.

"Mom, why do they call them AirHeads if they don't have air or heads in them? "



That is all.

LOST CHILDREN

This morning we had our annual BIG SCREEN week at church. Our pastors use a modern day story (movie)  to bring Biblical truths to our lives. They use Jesus teaching in parables as an example of this kind of story telling/teaching. BIG SCREEN is only during July each year and we're encouraged to invite people who normally wouldn't go to church (but would not have a problem with going to a movie) to attend with us.

This morning the movie we watched part of was CREED. It's a boxing movie, and although my family watched it last night (in preparation) I wasn't interested. This morning I was so moved by the first scene they chose to share, that I had tears running down my face the entire time.

**I'm not writing his very smoothly, but I know I have something to say so bear with me if you've found yourself on this blog for some reason.

The first scene we saw today was a lady coming to get a boy from LOCK UP after fighting. He was fighting "again." When she went into the cell to talk to him, I knew nothing about the storyline, I knew nothing about her, or what was going to happen, but when I saw that boy, maybe 10 years old, standing there in that prison cell, I just lost it. He did not have a dad. This lady was the wife of his dad, and this boy was born of infidelity with another woman.

She was coming to get him...to take him to her home. The dad was no longer living.

This boy had been fighting for a long time already, his hands were in fists as he talked to her, he had a bruise on his cheekbone and he looked mad. ...

All I could think of was all the real boys who are in this same exact BUT REAL place of hopelessness, anger and complete loneliness. They've been abandoned and do NOT know what to do but fight. Whether it be fighting with their hands, their words or their tears, they can only fight, because that's what we  humans do to survive.

These kids need people to love them. They need people to speak TRUTH AND LOVE into their lives. They need people to teach them other things to do but fight...and I speak from experience, it takes a lot of work to un-teach them this reaction.

It's hard work. It's uncomfortable. In some cases, it will be dangerous, but not all cases. BUT, we have an epidemic of children who are LOST...lost from family, lost from love, lost from security and they need to see families who eat together, work together, play together and respect each other. If we do not get to these children we will have an epidemic of crowded jails full of angry adults who have taken guns into businesses, schools and churches...oh wait, we already do.

Consider this, there's a chance your first experience will not be good. I can GUARANTEE your work with the DHS will not be smooth. It's a system made to protect children but it is not without it's basic flaws because we shouldn't HAVE to have a system to protect children!

It will be hard, but it could also be the most rewarding thing you have ever done. And WHY should any child be standing in a prison lock up?

It is Well

In this crazy time in our world, it's good time to have this song in my head: 

Grander earth has quaked before
Moved by the sound of His voice
Seas that are shaken and stirred
Can be calmed and broken for my regard

And through it all, through it all
My eyes are on You
And through it all, through it all
It is well

And through it all, through it all
My eyes are on You
It is well with me

Far be it from me to not believe
Even when my eyes can't see

And this mountain that's in front of me
Will be thrown into the midst of the sea

Through it all, through it all
My eyes are on You
Through it all, through it all
It is well
It is well

So let go my soul and trust in Him
The waves and wind still know His name (repeat last line during 3rd run)

It is well with my soul
It is well with my soul
It is well with my soul
It is well with my soul
It is well it is well with my soul x3

Through it all, through it all
My eyes are on You
Through it all, through it all

    

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Txg5nOIZYO8
It is Well, Bethel

House on the Hill

Whoa. I am getting that crazy panic-ky feeling about packing. We're still living here, so we can't pack entire rooms. So, we'll keep chipping away at the extra things and grow up our garage sale pile...and get excited instead of anxious and watch it all come together.

Bricks and stone.
Built ins installed.
Tile set and ready to be grouted.
Beams up in great room.

Missing Erin

Erin got to come home the entire week before Lauren's wedding, but she's back to Falls Creek, working Monday - Friday and hanging out with friends during the weekend.

I miss this girl. I stole these pics off her Facebook page. It looks like she's doing fine!!

INDEPENDENCE DAY! 🇺🇸

BIG weekend for our family...packing up and leaving town! We've stayed close to home this summer and it was good to get out our bags and plan a fun weekend with Richard's family. Richard's parents got a HUGE house for us all to stay in close to Big Cedar Lodge in Branson and it was just the thing we needed to have some fun! Lauren and Ian even came from their honeymoon and joined us! 

We ate all meals together, played board games and outdoor games. The kids swam at a pool that we could walk to, we went to a BIG firework display at Big Cedar and just had fun! The littles LOVE to chase each other around and come up with crazy plans of dances, shows and games to play. I'm thankful for time to catch up and getting to laugh with the fam! 

Recovery Week

It feels like we should be recovering from our build up to the wedding, I wanted to sleep in at least Saturday morning. And on Monday, I was super tired. Richard was out of town from Sunday - Wednesday so we just tried to stay cool and keep busy enough to not drive each other crazy. I have a huge personal goal to not have the tv on until at least after 4pm, so even if everyone asks...I usually say no. The kids all have Bible studies workbooks. Two of them do them with me, and some we throw some math in too.

This week has had it's own adventures:

- Tuesday: Jordan had a friend over for the night.
- I taught Cameron to play Guess Who, my favorite kids game.
- Jordan thought she had a splinter...from a pineapple.
- I let the girls make a main dish and a dessert from internet directions. - Wednesday: Sheridan had a friend over from Clarksville for the night.

- Apparently someone ran over my computer cord with the vacuum. :(
- Thursday: Sheridan spent the night with a friend that is moving out of state at the end of the month.
-Richard offered to clean out the fridge and apparently you shouldn't put large quantities of rice (or noodles) in the sink. Precious husband, saving me from this job...spent hours trying to get it unclogged and still had to call the guy with the BIG SNAKE to quickly clear that clog.- I was helping move something off our trailer and stepped off crazy with my right foot, hit the ground with my left knee and suffered from yet another episode of extreme vertigo for a few minutes in the extreme heat.
- On the Hill: I had to request a paint change in the house...too blue for me in two small rooms.
- On the Hill: the kitchen island has been delivered, the tiles are being put up in the master shower, and the flooring has been delivered.

- Worship Night was awesome on Wednesday, and I wish it was every night!
- I ordered all my RL products for my next event and put WEST on my billboard and yard signs instead of EAST in my directions. :(

- Richard upgraded my phone...and I dropped it before I had a protective box on it. :(