Girlie Gifts

Annabelle got some very special gifts for her first birthday from her Nana that I just got around to taking pictures of. Annabelle is in love with shoes and the second her Nana heard that, she jumped on that quicker than I could say "Mom, just because she likes shoes doesn't mean she needs 34 pairs!" But, look what Nana did, she made her some! How stinkin' cute are these!?

And then she drew her these adorable pictures to go in her bedroom. Everything in the pictures are taken from the fabric that was the inspiration for her room. I've still got her quilt to make, a wall hanging to figure out and a valence and then I think it will be done. Slowly yet surely it's coming together.

Aren't they all just so cute?! I just love that my mom and I share a love for crafting. Such a fun girlie thing to bond over. Thanks Mom for loving my little girl almost as much as I do :)

Three and One Half

Joseph is now 3 1/2. Apprently to him that's close to 6.

Whatever his age, it's all going way too fast for me.

Lake Gaston Trip

We just went on vacation nearby to Lake Gaston with Andy's family. It was perfectly timed after several hard weeks of life and right before we dive into our first year of officially homeschooling. It's amazing what a good vacation will do for your soul!

Samuel was such a fish. He was fearless of the water and spent every chance he could swimming off the dock.

Lots of time was spent on the boat.




Goat Island


Lots of disc golf was played

GranRan celebrated his birthday on Monday. The boys were more than willing to help blow out his candles.

The kids adore Mr. Patrick (Julie's boyfriend). He is pretty awesome!

These two pictures say a million words about Andy and Annabelle and the special relationship that they share. Nothing more adorable than a man and his daughter.


Sweet Joe Joe

Samuel blew us all away and went tubing with Andy. So proud of our brave boy!

Snuggles with Gigi

Summer is officially coming to a close... now it's time to turn our attention to finalizing our school plans! It's going to be a great year!

Snorkler Joe

Samuel got a snorkel set for his birthday. Joe decided he wanted one too. So he decided to take matters into his own hands and make a set for himself:

Quite creative, huh?

Spring Forth Farm

We have some friends at our church who left a very comfortable lifestyle in Colorado to live on a farm with their 4 boys. One day last week we went over and spent the day with them. We toured their farm and then as the boys played in the mud I tried to squeeze as much wisdom out of the mom as I could. I inquired about discipline, homeschooling, fertility, gardening, raising godly boys and everything in between. She is a wealth of wisdom and is doing a fantastic job with her husband raising their children.

It was such an encouragement to see a family a few steps ahead of us, who shares our not-so-popular values who has children who are thriving like they are. Such confirmation to know that all this hard work will pay off if we are diligent in seeking the Lord's guidance. Parenting is hard work, but He is faithful!

If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. James 1:5



...being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. ~Philippians 1:6

This family is so inspiring and such an answer to prayer. God, you are so good!

Baby Sweet

Our little girl has dozens of nicknames. The boys have given Annabelle many nicknames of their own. The most often used by them lately is "Baby Sweet". It sounds more like "bibi sweeeeeet" in a very small mouse voice.

It's adorable how much they love her.

Joseph Accepts Christ!

This past week the boys were both able to go to a Vacation Bible School through a church nearby. They were thrilled beyond belief that they could go together. Here they are with all their loot one night.

Samuel looks shorter than Joe, so, I just had to figure it out once and for all their height difference. Looks like they are exactly the same size.

Joseph was talking all about his first ever VBS experience. He was so excited. He loves new things and meeting new people. I was so thankful that he was able to have this experience, but never really considered what an impact it would have on him.

Ever since Samuel accepted Christ, Joseph has been saying "God is working in my heart, and I'm almost a Christian, but not yet."

We always thought that was pretty profound for a 3 year old.

So, this particular night (Tuesday, Aug 9) Joseph was in his bed waiting for me to come in and do our nightly routine. He came running into the bathroom where I was with Samuel and yelled "tonight's the night! I want to become a Christian tonight!"

Andy was out to dinner with people from work so I called him and he was on his way home. I told Joseph that we would wait for Daddy to come home so he could help him pray. When he heard Andy opening the front door, he yelled "He's home!!! I can be a Christian now!" After Andy talked with him, he prayed and asked Jesus to come into his heart and forgive him of all of sins and asked him for the strength to live for him all of his days.

We were totally shocked. It was more than overwhelming to have Samuel come to know Christ at age 4, but then 5 months later to have Joseph accept Christ as well. We have been speechless since then. They obviously have a long road ahead of them to fully understand the depth of this decision (don't we all), but to the extend of their understanding of the gospel, they want to claim it as their own and make their relationship with Christ personal.

I gave Joseph a 'christian necklace' as they call it, just like Sam. And they bounced all around the room together for quite some time. Excited by Joseph's recent decision, but I'm sure the cupcake with icing they had at VBS didn't help. Ugg!


The next morning Joseph had this huge wave of sadness rush over him. I asked him what was wrong. He asked "Mommy, are there two Gods?" And I reminded him that God was in 3 parts, but that there was only 1 God." He said "Oh NOOOOO! That means that Sam isn't a Christian anymore!" He thought that since he was now a Christian and Christ was living in his heart, that he must have had to leave Samuel's heart to live in Joe's heart. Then he asked if maybe God was in Sam's heart and Jesus was in his heart. Makes sense to a 3 year old, but bad theology :) Once I was able to walk through how God can be in every one's hearts who trust in Him, he was so relieved and hasn't worried since.

It's very cool that however different the gospel was preached to Joseph, it was just what he needed to make everything fit together. We are so thankful that we live in a country that has freedom of religion to allow our child the opportunity to hear the good news of Christ preached outside of our home.

As we celebrate 11 years since our first date today, we are overwhelmed at God's goodness in our lives. He has blessed us with an amazing marriage, 3 fantastic children, with 2 of them who have accepted Christ. That's a whole lot to be thankful for.

I Heart NY

My Dad's side of the family was having a family reunion in New York where most of them live. I would have moved a mountain if necessary to make sure I was there. It's been entirely too long since I've seen some of that side of the family and I wasn't going to miss this opportunity.

So, the 3 kiddos and I took a road trip! It was so much fun to be on the road with them. They were such troopers riding over 1,200 miles in only 1 week, missing naps, staying up late, eating meals on the run and being confined in house after house each with their own set of rules.

Needless to say, it wasn't the most stress-free trip, and no one witnessed the most impressive days of my mothering to date, but God is faithful and he certainly blessed us with an amazing time with our family and friends.













It was so much fun, we're considering making it a yearly trip!

My Summer Sewing Class

For 6 weeks over the summer I have been able to take a sewing class with one of my friends, Kim. It has been awesome. We were the only two in the class and really were able to cover some good ground with our sewing skills. There were a lot of firsts for me in this class:

I tried sewing with my serger for the first time.
I sewed with a knit fabric for the first time.
I used elastic thread for the first time.
I finished my first (and second) dress for Annabelle.
I made sleeves for the first time.
I made something with a button for the first time.

I can hardly keep this girl still now that she's walking. So here's the best picture of this dress I could get.

The other dress is for when she's bigger so I'll post a picture of that when she's in it.

This class was a huge motivation for me to get over this sewing bump-in-the-road I was finding myself in. I learned a lot of skills that will keep me busy for some time.

Kim and I are going to try and keep up with our Friday night sewing together and inviting girls from the church who want to learn to sew. About 12 of them (it seems) are pregnant so I think I'll be walking them through some baby quilts. I'm very excited to be using this hobby of mine to help others.

Summer Fun

This is a 0-3 month top on Annabelle. It was my absolute favorite of her's when she was a newborn and it still fits. It's obviously much shorter than it used to be, but it still fits. I'm thrilled.

Pictures at the water park on Samuel's birthday


At the start of each night of Sports Camp all the coaches and helpers lined up and the kids got to run down the long line by themselves and slap everyone's hands while crazy music played. The kids loved it. I thought it was such a unique way of giving attention to each and every kid that was attending. This was on the last night when family was invited. Andy was there each night leading and since it was at our church Samuel was not as disappointed this time that Joseph wasn't there. Here's Joseph eating up all the attention running through the 'tunnel'.

While we were visiting different churches last Summer all Joseph and Samuel kept talking about was they wanted to make the church with the spider web their church. Andy and I had no idea which one they were talking about. So, when we told them that Charlottesville Community Church was the church that God has lead us to, they were thrilled beyond belief. That was the church with the spider web on the playground!

It has been a joy to worship with this congregation and to go through their membership class and know that God had an even better church for us that we even imagined. Their heart for our community continues to amaze us. What they are capable of accomplishing in serving our community is astonishing considering their size.

Here is Joseph enjoying the spider web at the carnival after the conclusion of the Sports Camp.

And here's Annabelle enjoying her snowcone with no flavoring. She thought she was in heaven.

Samuel with his award from the week!

Their new obsession, water balloons!

Samuel got grown up legos for his birthday, but they can only play them when Annabelle is sleeping so it's a very special treat.

Miss thang had her first peanut butter and jelly sandwhich. She loved it of course!

It's been an awesome summer, I can't believe how fast it's going, though!