Happy 7th Anniversary!

How excited we are to be celebrating 7 wonderful years of marriage today!!  I honestly never, ever imagined that marriage could be this great!  On July 28, 2001, Tim and I were married here in Columbia, SC.  Then, we moved to Charlotte, NC for three years, and now we are back in Columbia again.  In the past seven years the Lord has blessed us far beyond what we could have asked or imagined, especially with our precious children.  Most of all He continues to reveal more of Himself to us as we study His Word.  We are thankful to be growing together in the Lord!  Every year of marriage truly does get better and better. In a world where you rarely ever hear that said, we realize how truly blessed we are, and we are SO VERY THANKFUL!  The picture I have included for this post is one that was taken right before we were married.  Wow!  We look young! :) We are looking forward to the next seven years!

Common Sense?

   "Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years.  No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.  He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:  Knowing when to come in out of the rain; why the early bird gets the worm; life isn't always fair; and maybe it was my fault.  Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).

   "His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place.  Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student only worsened his condition.  Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children.  It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an Aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.  Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses, and criminals received better treatment than their victims.  Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.  

   "Common Sense finally gave up the will to live after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot.  She spilled a little in her lap and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.  Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust; his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason.  He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers; I Know My Rights, I Want It Now, Someone Else Is To Blame, and I'm A Victim.

   "Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone.  If you still remember him, pass this on.  If not, join the majority and do nothing."

-- Author Unknown

New Dishwasher and New "Home"

   Recently we went to Sears to pick out a new dishwasher because our old dishwasher stopped working.  It was going to cost $120 for delivery and installation, so Tim decided to save us some money by bringing it home in his truck and then installing it himself.  I was so impressed that he installed it without a hitch and saved us a good bit of money at the same time.  Now I have a nice new dishwasher that works beautifully.  Thank you, baby!!     The box the dishwasher came in was far too big and fun to throw away, though.  So, the girls and I decided to make a house out of it.  We cut holes on each side to make windows and a large opening in front to make a door that Hannah and Lauren could enter and exit through.  We also made window boxes and put flowers in them, which were made out of pipe cleaners.  Then, came the really fun part - painting.  The girls had a blast painting their new house on two different afternoons.  They really enjoyed getting paint all over themselves and their clothes.  

   Mama is happy to have a new dishwasher, and the girls are happy to play in their new home.  

What are our children learning/doing?

What a blessing it is to have children!  I thought I'd take a few minutes to blog about what our children are doing these days.  We have so much fun learning together at home and in everything we do.  I am SO GRATEFUL to the Lord to have the privilege to stay home with our children.

Tim and I have been encouraged by the the following verses as we strive to raise our children to fear and love the Lord.  Deuteronomy 6:5-7 says, "And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.  And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:  And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up."

As excited as we are about educating our children at home, our number one focus and priority is to train their little hearts - to shepherd them and to mold them into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ.  It is fun to teach them how to read, how to write, how to add, etc.... but, oh how much more wonderful it is to teach them to hide God's Word in their hearts and to have them explain to us how it applies to their lives.  "I have hidden your Word in my heart that I might not sin against you."  My heart smiles every time I hear our girls singing God's Word around our home, in the car, outside playing, or at the store.  

So, what are our kids doing these days?  

Well, Hannah and Lauren continue to memorize Scripture, and Timmy will soon be catching on.  :)  Today we started working on Colossians 3:23-24, "Whatever you do, work at with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.  Since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward.  It is the Lord Christ you are serving."

Tim shared these verses with the girls the other day while they were working on their "school work."  Everything they do, we want them to do unto the Lord... and oh what a challenge that is to us as parents to do the same.

What about Hannah?  She turned 4 just over three months ago.

As of  last week she read her first book to us - and she actually read it to me, sounding out all the words by herself, instead of just having it memorized.  She has "read" books to me before after memorizing them, but she did this one on her own.  I was so proud of her!!!  It's fun because educating our children at home allows them to learn at their own pace.  When they are ready to grasp a concept, I jump all over it.  But, if they are not ready yet, then we wait a while longer.  Hannah is ready and excited to learn how to read right now.  

She has known how to write all of her capital letters for quite a while now, but she can write almost all of her lower case letters now too.  Hannah is a great teacher to Lauren.  Anything she learns, she passes on to her sister.  We have an easel/chalk board.  Hannah has been teaching Lauren how to write her letters, and they have fun working together on this.

Hannah can also write all of our names by herself (Papa, Mama, Hannah, Lauren, Timmy, and many other words), and has also mastered simple addition.

Most of all, and most importantly, she is learning to trust the Lord, to pray from her heart, and to be joyful in all things.  We work on this daily, and now she is such an encouragement to Tim and me.  Just the other day she was reminding Tim to trust the Lord and that God ("the one true God") is amazing!  :)

What about Lauren?  She turned 3 just over three months ago.

She likes to memorize books and "read" them to us.  She also can write most of her capital letters now.  Just yesterday she surprised us and wrote 4 of our names all by herself (Papa, Mama, Hannah, Lauren), and as of today she can also write Timmy.  I was shocked because we haven't been working on this.  As I mentioned above, Hannah is a great teacher, and Lauren is a good student and loves to learn.  It's fun to watch our kids teach each other.

Lauren really enjoys coloring and does an amazing job coloring in the lines, almost as good as an adult.  She also likes to do connect the dots and simple mazes and loves to build with little legos. Both of our girls love playing with their baby dolls and being little mamas.  It is precious to watch them "train" their baby dolls as we are training them.  They don't miss a beat and are paying attention to everything.  

How about Timmy?  He is now 9 months old.

He is doing the army crawl these days and saying lots of new "words".  He also really enjoys holding our hands in order to walk across the room.  He is not ready to walk on his own, but he sure appreciates the helping hand as it gets him from one place to another much quicker. Timmy is able to entertain himself very well whenever he has big lego blocks.  One of our neighbors gave us a big box of legos that are just the right size for him... and the girls really enjoy them too.  It's fun to have a set of toys that all three kids can enjoy together.

As you can see, I am blessed to be the Mama of these precious cuties!!!

May we be faithful with these that the Lord has entrusted into our care.

Timmy at the Beach

A Day at the Beach

Hannah and Lauren have been counting down the months since March for our trip to the beach over the weekend of July 4th.  Neither of them have been to the beach before, and they were super excited to experience the beach for the first time.  On Saturday we went to Folly Beach with Jessica, and it was a perfect day.  Hannah took to the water right away and loved splashing and running in it. She especially had a great time in the ocean with Tim and told him while they were in the water, "Papa, I just love you so much!!!"  Lauren took a little longer to warm up to the water, but then she loved it as well.  Timmy was content to sit on the beach, but when we tried to put his feet in the water he would pull them up underneath him to avoid it.  Jessica and I enjoyed hanging out on the beach and a relaxing day.  Thank you, Lord, for such a wonderful day!

The 4th of July

We had a great time over the 4th of July in Charleston, SC with my good friend and college roommate, Jessica Bell, or Aunt Jessica, as Hannah and Lauren call her.  We spent most of the day on Friday on a beautiful piece of property called "Peaceful Way" where there were water activities, horses to ride, lots of yummy food, a hot air balloon, and fireworks later in the evening. We left not too long before the fireworks started, but we had a wonderful day together as a family and with precious friends.

WMHK Birthday Party

Recently the local Christian radio station here in Columbia (WMHK) had a big birthday party with lots of ride for kids, a concert, and lots of free food.  Hannah and Lauren enjoyed their first little ferris wheel ride, getting their faces painted, sliding down a huge inflatable slide, and eating lots of treats they're not used to eating (cotton candy, hot dogs, popcorn, juice, chips).  We had a great time even in the super hot weather.

Cute Timmy Faces

Timmy is crawling/scooting all over now and is so much fun!  He has become quite expressive in the faces he makes, and we all like trying to match his faces and then get him to repeat them.  He is learning that we think he is funny and that makes him want to interact even more.  These are some of his little faces that Tim captured recently.

Girls, Baby dolls, and Purses

Our girls love taking care of their baby dolls and are going to be wonderful mamas one day.  They each have several dollies that they take take of - feed, change their diapers, change their clothes, etc.  Whenever they go on pretend trips, the girls will ask Tim and me to babysit their dolls and will give us quite the schedule of how to take care of them.  It is precious!  They also enjoy filling their purses and bags full of goodies to take on a "trip" with them.  They always want to make sure they are well prepared (for anything!!).  Recently, they came outside in their pajamas with one of their dolls, their diaper bags, purses, and a cute hat on.  We just had to take a picture.