Let Faith Arise

One of my favorite songs right now is called "I Lift My Hands" and Chris Tomlin sings it. It just makes me think of the world we live in right now and the need we have for men and women of faith to step up and walk by faith always guided by God's word! When things don't make sense, when we don't see the rhyme or reason in a situation - we MUST let our faith arise! Holding on dearly to the knowledge that even we don't understand, GOD DOES! He knows the bigger plan and sees the bigger picture. Our faith and trust must remain in him and know that "All things work together for the good of those who love the Lord and are called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28)

Let me say - I don't believe that verse is saying all things will always be perfect just because I am a Christian. I often find myself making decisions that don't make my children happy, BUT they are the decisions I must make for their good. In the same way, our God makes decisions and allows situations to play out that may make us uncomfortable, bear pain and endure loss. I do not believe this brings him any satisfaction in the same way it is hard for me to do things that make my children unhappy.

HOWEVER, he has my best interest (and those around me) at heart.

He knows the lessons I need to learn, the sin that needs to be purged from my life and the true joy that will come from being freed from that sin.

In our world today, it is seemingly harder and harder to see true believers acting on faith. It seems like our news bulletins are full of so much selfishness, evil and people making poor choices. The truth is this - Christians are called to live according to God's word and we fail miserably. We also look at non-Christians through our filter and assume they should act in accordance to God's word. Why would they act that way? They do not know and have not heard his word. They are not guided by HIS Spirit! We, as believers, must step up and live as righteously as we can and LOVE those who do not know him for who they are and where they are. ONLY God can change a life, a heart, a home, a marriage, a community and our world. We simply must live by faith - let our faith arise! By living according to HIS word, others WILL see HIM!

Here are the lyrics to this song below. This is a link to the song on video.

I Lift My Hands

Be still, there is a healer
His love is deeper than the sea
His mercy, it is unfailing
His arms are a fortress for the weak

Let faith arise
Let faith arise

I lift my hands to believe again
You are my refuge, You are my strength
As I pour out my heart, these things I remember
You are faithful, God, forever

Be still, there is a river
That flows from Calvary's tree
A fountain for the thirsty
Pure grace that washes over me

So let faith arise
Let faith arise
Open my eyes
Open my eyes

I lift my hands to believe again
You are my refuge, You are my strength
As I pour out my heart, these things I remember
You are faithful, God
You are faithful, God, forever

What is a song that is speaking to you today?

I am linking to Cyndi at Walk in His Grace.

Demolition & Reconstruction - Boys' New Room Part One

Since we are adding another child to our household, we are playing musical chairs with bedrooms right now. In order to do this, we are having to "remodel" a bedroom downstairs for the older two boys. It had paneling on the walls and Greg hates paneling! He decided to rip that all out and put up drywall. Once he got everything out, he realized there was no insulation between the studs. There was also no vapor barrier between the concrete walls and the paneling.

Here is a picture part way through the demo:


Here is a picture of the insulation going in:
Greg is doing the work himself and won't let me help! He is about 3/4 of the way done with the insulation. Next step - getting drywall up, mud on and sanded (the BIG mess!).

One step closer to getting them in their new room - they are so excited!

Pool time and Monkey Joe's

Each week during the summer, I try to do fun things with the boys. We have been very blessed by some wonderful friends who invite us to swim often. Last week we went swimming on Tuesday. (The week before I think we went 2 or 3 times!)Uncle J relaxing poolside!!

The big kids having their snack (on the other end of the pool from the moms!).

The boys have also been taking swimming lessons at a nearby pool for the past two weeks. Blake has been learning different strokes, diving in the water and swimming laps across the width of the pool. Noah has been doing a great job swimming under water, and learning basic swim strokes. Andy has been......well.....he has been getting in and kicking some :) It is amazing how great he does an hour later after swim lessons at a friends' pool with me!

Blake going off the diving board.

Andy waiting his turn on the side of the pool. He has his goggles on :)

Also last week, we met up with some of my high school friends (Toni Rae, Emily & Amanda - we missed Casey!) and their kiddos at Monkey Joe's in Lexington. We were going to go swimming and it looked like storms/rain, so we opted for inside fun. The boys love this place, but we don't go very often. They had a good time jumping and wearing themselves out!

Blake being goofy!

Noah was sweet and helped Andy up several of the big slides and helped him down!

It was a fun and busy week! We also had library time, Laura and her girls were here at the first of the week and we met our grandparents for lunch in Georgetown. We went to see the movie, Cars 2 on Friday night when it premiered here. I had a baby shower to go to today for a friend of the family and had Carter, Cora and Ellie here on Friday and Saturday!

FLIPT

Last week was our church's annual Vacation Bible School. This year's theme was "FLIPT" and was about how God changes our lives. We talked about how God helps us overcome our fears and how we can do anything with his help and strength.
I was able to help lead worship for the two different age groups 3 out of 4 nights. Andy had his first experience being one of the big kids! He only got to go 3 nights because he was sick the first night. He had a hard time in the beginning and seemed to cry a bit - he is not used to being in the "treehouse" with the big kids and VBS went from 6-9 each night so he was more than ready for bed when we got home! He really enjoyed the water night on Thursday and liked the worship times. He wanted to get on stage with me!

I tried to get pictures of the boys throughout the week as best as I could. The first night I was able to get some pictures of Noah at physical challenge and Blake with his group at worship.

I got some pictures on the second night of Noah's face - he wanted to look like an army man!


Some pictures of Andy with his group at worship:

On the second night, Blake's group did "Messy Games". He evidently had to lay down with a hot dog on his face and let his team mates put toppings on it - sauerkraut, relish, ketchup, mustard, etc. DISGUSTING! I cannot believe he let them do it. I didn't have a picture, but one of his leader's showed me a picture from his phone!

On the third night, Blake got called onto the stage during the large group session. There were six students chosen at random. They had 10-15 items on a table and told them they could pick one they would take with them if they were on a deserted island. I told Greg Blake would pick the lighter. He surprised both of us (Greg thought he wouldn't go on stage) and picked the Bible as his item! He got a little shy when Sarah asked him why he picked that particular item.

KINGS ISLAND

A yearly tradition for us is a trip to Kings Island. It started with my husband's company having a "Family day" there where we could go for free. They discontinued that, but we kept going anyway! Several of our friends usually go with us at a discount and we make a big day/overnight trip out of it. This year we decided to only go up for one day, so last Sunday we left about 8am and got there when the park opened.

The boys had a blast! I think they rode every ride they wanted to ride in the kids' area at least once. Blake rode the Racers with Daddy. He was big enough for the Beast, but not quite ready for that. Greg had to take one for the team since I cannot ride anything right now and he rode the Shake, Rattle & Roll with Andy and Noah. He is not a fan of things that go round and round. He looked a little green when he got off the ride! Blake was tall enough to ride that by himself, so he thought he was big stuff!!

Of course, we had to have LaRosa's pizza for lunch. I had some major heartburn from it and knew I would, but decided it was worth it!

We spent a good 4-5 hours at the water park. The boys enjoyed the wave pool, slides and pirate ship. It was perfect for me and really cooled everyone off. Andy thought the wave pool was great fun!

We ventured back to the park after that and rode a few more rides before calling it a day. We ended up being back home a little after 11pm. It was a long day, but certainly full of fun.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the day:

The Gift Card Dilemma

We went last Monday night and signed up for the summer reading progam at our local library. All three of the kids signed up and I signed up as well. (I love to read and for every 2 1/2 hours you read as an adult, you can fill out a slip, turn it in and be entered in the drawing for a Kroger gift card, Toys R Us gift card or KY State Park getaway!).

This summer the them is One World, Many Stories. Here is a link to our local library.

At the summer reading sign up, they had a door prize giveaway going on for the kids. Each of the boys entered their names. Later that week, we had a message on our answering machine that Noah had won a $10 gift card to Walmart. When I told him, he immediately got excited and had to go tell Blake.

For the next three days, they plotted what they would buy. Notice I said "they" not "he". We went to Walmart on Saturday for Greg to pick up something and they wanted to peruse the toy aisles to plot what they would buy. (We hadn't picked up the gift card yet!) Noah discovered Star Wars lightsabers for $4. Somehow he determined that he could buy one for himself and buy one for Blake also (I think he had a little help from Blake determining this).

I took him yesterday to the library to pick up his card and he was so excited. I talked to him on the way there about how it was really nice of him to consider buying something for his brother, but that he didn't have to do that. He said he really wanted to and I told him that was very kind!

Today after swim lessons, I broke down and took them to Walmart. You should have seen them. They were cracking me up! They knew it was $8 and I tried to explain tax. Noah wanted to spend every penny, so they found something else for a dollar! They are happy with their new lightsabers and have been warned about what they can and can not do with them in order to not get them taken away!

I am proud of Noah for sharing his prize and letting his brother share in his winnings! Here is a picture of the proud winner with his gift card:

Last Day of School & Kindergarten Graduation

So, last Thursday was the last day of school. Blake got to pick up his portfolio of work he has done throughout the year, artwork, writings and more. We got his State Project Book that his teacher had bound. (He got a 100% on the project!) We also got his certificates for Excellence in Reading, Science and Math and the A/B Honor Roll for the year. Blake decline having his picture taken before school and I honestly didn't get one the rest of the morning :(

Noah had his Kindergarten graduation that morning. They all looked so little marching in to the Pomp & Circumstance song. He walked in with Kennedi and stood on stage. They recited a poem about Kindergarten and sang two songs. He looked so sweet!

Then each student was called to receive their "diploma" and they had to say what they wanted to be when they grew up. Noah said, "A race car driver". I wonder where he got that from - ahem, Daddy?? Men in our family certainly like nice & potentially fast cars :)

Here are some pictures from the graduation:

Noah with his teacher, Mrs. Noble.

Noah walking down the aisle during the ceremony.

The kindergarteners reciting their poem.

Noah on stage.

Celebrating back in the room with his friends.
Sweet memories of a precious morning. I cannot believe when school starts in the fall we will have a 1st grader and 3rd grader at our house! (Not to mention a 3 year old and soon a newborn!) Time is going way too fast. We are going to enjoy every day of this summer break!

End of School Fun Part One

Last week was the end of school. It was bittersweet for me. I was glad to have summer break stretching before us and time to have fun with my boys! But I was a little sad to know that they were done with one more year of school. Time just seems to fly by once they are in school and follow that calendar.

Last week we went to the lake for the Memorial Day weekend. Here are a few pictures of the boys out on the lake!

We went to Patti's restaurant on Sunday evening and it was wonderful as always. They have the flowerpot bread with strawberry butter and the best pork chops! We went to play on the playground there after dinner.


Andy asked me to take his picture in front of the water wheel here at Patti's.


On Tuesday, Noah's class had a field trip to the Game Farm and went fishing. Daddy took off to go with him and they had fun! (But Daddy didn't take any pictures!)

Wednesday was Blake's field trip fun day with the 2nd grade. We went to Falling Springs to swim and then have a picnic lunch. Here are a couple of pictures from that fun day:


The last day of school events/pictures will be featured on tomorrow's blog :)