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?