Since I've been gone!

Well, the summer is almost over for us and we have been so busy. The blog has been neglected lately because we:

Spent a week at the lake

Spent a week at soccer camp (Aubrey)

Spent a week helping with Camp Agape at church. (all of us - even Mallory)

Have been blueberry picking (um, so good)

Had cousin Jay stay with us while Chris and Leah moved (so, so excited about this!)

Went to see GForce (Aubrey's still quoting lines)

Have been busy getting PTO stuff going

Went to our Back to School Fair

Have been working on Pastor Search Committee stuff

Had a Chez Ami children's clothing party

Have been hanging with cousins and friends quite a bit

And have just been busy with life. I have scrapped quite a bit, but will post pics later when I have a few more minutes. Once we get in our school routine I'm sure I'll be back to my regular posting schedule.

overheard

Last night when we were waiting for our dinner (a very, very long time at an unnamed establishment) I got a snippet of conversation between Aubrey and Hayden. I'm not sure what preceded this comment, but Aubrey said, "I'm going to marry someone who is pretty." Whew! Another thing to check off my worry list! Now I have to start telling Aubrey, "Pretty is as pretty does." and "Beauty is only skin deep." Boy, this kid keeps me on my toes! Fortunately we have a few years to let these words of wisdom sink in.

mornings

I am not a morning person. However, I do love lazy mornings when we don't have to do anything but hang out. I have been so fortunate that up until now in our lives we have had many mornings like that due to the fact that Aubrey has only been in pre-school 2-3 days a week. On mornings he didn't have pre-school, we usually end up in either his bed or our big bed and watch cartoons, snuggle or read together. The other morning, Mallory and I went into Aubrey's room when he woke up. We were laying there together talking and giggling, and I thought, "We aren't going to have many more mornings like this together because Aubrey is almost in kindergarten." I know that may sound overly dramatic, but I feel like our life together as a mom and children is about to have a major shift. Each morning we will be up early, getting Aubrey off to school. And as excited as I am about him starting school, I am a little melancholy about missing our lazy mornings together. I mean, just look at these sweet pajama babies!

two

Two years ago at this time I was in labor with my sweet little girl. She has been such a sweet addition to our family. When I used to think about having children, I only wanted little girls because that's what I had grown up with. Then I had Aubrey, and I didn't care if all I had was little boys because he was so much fun and so sweet. When I found out Mallory was a girl I was of course so excited, and now I can't imagine not having a little girl in our house. I think it's made all of us sweeter. She is such a little prissy thing, loving purses and babies. She has stayed so tiny, but she's so full of personality. She makes us laugh every single day. My prayer has been that we can help reign in her strong will without tempering her sassy personality. I know that God has a plan for her life, and I can't wait to see what that will be. Until then, I will be content and thrilled with being her mommy and love her more than I thought possible.

passing the baton

I have really been thinking lately about my role as a mom and what this entails. One of the biggest parts of my job as a mom for me is to be a protector of my family. While I do try to protect them as much as possible physically, I feel that protecting their hearts, minds and spirits is my most important job. Aubrey often gets aggravated at me because I won't let him watch certain shows, or wear certain clothing, but what we bring into our own homes is something that we can control. I'm not the best at it, but it is really on my heart to be on guard against things that do not promote the values and godliness I pray we have as a family. I also feel that protecting our family time is a major issue, and one that we as a society do not do a good job with. We are all so busy that our family life can really suffer.

I have been reading a book called Engraved by Grace, Creating a Legacy of Faith for Your Children, by Esther Burroughs. I had the privilege of meeting and hearing Esther speak at a WMU conference this past spring. I went to the conference on Saturday morning because I was asked to sing the special music, but left so encouraged and excited because of her message. I am loving her book because it is about how we can pass the baton of faith down to our children, and their children, and so on. It is filled with Scripture and stories, but also practical ways we can use to teach our children about Jesus and our faith in Him. This morning I was reading the book and it had this Psalm from The Message translation of the Bible. It was so neat, I wanted to share it.

Psalm 78:1-8

"Listen, dear friends, to God's truth,

bend your ears to what I tell you.

I'm chewing on the morsel of a proverb;

I'll let you in on the sweet old truths,

Stories we heard from our fathers,

counsel we learned at our mothers' knee.

We're not keeping this to ourselves,

we're passing it along (the baton) to the next generation-

God's fame and fortune,

the marvelous things he has done.

He planted a witness in Jacob,

set his Word firmly in Israel,

Then commanded our parents

to teach it to their children

So the next generation would know,

and all generations to come-

Know the truth and tell the stories

so their children can trust in God,

Never forget the works of God

but keep his commands to the letter.

Heaven forbid they should be like their parents,

bullheaded and bad,

A fickle and faithless bunch

who never stayed true to God."

Whoa, huh? Esther reminds us in the book that we need to be teaching our faith stories to our children and teaching them to be looking for what God is doing in our families daily. It's a bit overwhelming, but I'm praying that God will help me do that with my children. When this is what they look like on a day to day basis, how can I let it slip by without teaching them?

This is a peek into the day to day of what our summer is like. Miss Mallory walking around with a purse (just like her Aunt Leah used to do) and Aubrey with some sort of tool and mud. For the record, as soon as I finished taking the pictures I made him put the hoe away. (I know some of you are aghast right now that he's holding that thing)

Oh deer

I used to like deer. We have them in our yard all the time, and I used to just love to watch them walk or run through, or even stay and graze in our backyard. Now I strongly dislike them. I would say hate, but hate is a word I try to stay away from. Our garden has been doing so well until the past week when the deer visited. Our beans have been decimated, our tomatoes have not fared much better, and our okra is halfway gone. It just kills me! I have been so excited about our garden and all we were producing and then those animals just came and wiped out all that work. D. didn't want to put a fence up even though I strongly suggested we do so. (you wives know how that goes) So, go ahead and get the animal rights activists after me. I don't care. I no longer want any deer in my yard.

P.S. - The good news is that the yellow squash, turnips and cantaloupes are growing like crazy. We had squash and turnip greens last night for dinner and it was delicious.

P.P.S. - I have strong reason to believe the deer may be getting some help from the local rabbits. They are all in cahoots, I tell ya.

Exhibit A - my decimated green beans.

My beautiful squash plant!

My turnip greens which are overflowing!

Tassels on our corn!

These boys

These boys are the sweetest, funniest boys I know. They are having so much fun playing together this week. Jay came to stay with BonBon and Bompie this week and has been spending lots of time with us as well. This afternoon they had a blast riding Aubrey's four-wheeler. Jay was pushing the gas pedal and Aubrey was steering, which made for a hilarious combination. Aubrey would yell, "Stop, Jay, Stop!" and Jay would just laugh. Aubrey finally had enough and said, "That was crazy riding." Boys and their toys. So much fun.