Hanging in there..

Well, my husband left Saturday morning at 3:30 to go hunting until the 15th. I thought I would be in a major funk by now, missing him and pulling my hair out with my children. But wow, has God helped me, I have been so content. The hardest times for me, when Matt gone is the weekend, I guess because that is when we spend most of our time together, but yesterday me and the kids spent all day at home, and I perfectly content. This is huge for me!!!

Anyway, I think the rest of the time Matt is gone will be all downhill from here. Once the week starts our normal routine will kick in and I know with Gods help, we will get through that as well. Friday after Jacob gets out of school, we are heading up to the Kansas City area to see Heather and her kids. Kirk is also going to be out of town so we will enjoy the time seeing them, we haven't seen them in 2 years.

I can't wait to see my hubby again 1 week from today, but I hope with all of my heart that he has an amazing time and I hope he is able to enjoy is dad and relax!

By the way, he got a dear this morning with the arrow we all kissed and rubbed for good luck, he put our names on each of the feathers. He is such a softy!! I love him dearly!

10 Years

Ten Years ago today I was marrying my best friend! I feel so blessed to be able to say that. I thank God for sending me Matt. He is my best friend and my soul mate. I have never doubted whether or not he loves me, he shows me every day in some form or another. I can't wait to spend many many more years with this man. I can spend the rest of my life trying to give him all of the love I have in my heart for you, and I would still probably have more to give. Matt, I love you more and more each day. Thanks for sticking with me and putting up with all of my drama! You are the best!

I'm back...

I can't believe I have waited this long again to do a post. Like everyone else we have been busy finishing up our summer activities and getting back into the swing of starting school.

Jacob finished up his ball season last week. I'm a little sad to see it end, but it will be nice not to have to make that trip to town every week. He played in two sessions of baseball and his team were the league champs both times. They were undefeated both rounds. We are very proud of our ball team!!

Jacob has started back to school and is loving the 1st grade he is in class again with his best buddy Clint, I'm sure that has helped things.

Abby started school on Monday. She was missing Ms. Shirley. She is sad however, because her good friend Skylar has moved to the afternoon class. Now she says all of her friends are in that class and she doesn't have anyone to play with. I'm sure you can hear all the drama in her voice! That is one thing about Abby though, she makes friends wherever she goes. I don't worry about her for a minute.

We have still been on the church hunt. We had been trying Life Point for several weeks but it just started to feel like something was missing for me. Then one Sunday a couple of weeks ago Matt agreed to go with me to James River. I absolutely love it!! The Spirit that is in that place is so sweet, you truly feel in the presence of the Lord. The kids love it. And I think that Matt even likes it if he can get past the size. But it is all part of stepping out of our boat right? I'm excited to see what God has in store for us.

Fourth of July Festivities...

Well, are day was suppose to be filled with swimming and then going to Auntie Ann's for fireworks. The kids were pretty disappointed when the sun never made an appearance for the pool. We just hung out here at the house together and it was really nice. We haven't had that kind of day in a long time, it was nice.

Then we got a call from Tina inviting us over for dinner at her house then we all headed to Gaye Ann's for a game of ball and some amazing fireworks. But we had to stop at a fireworks stand first to get some stuff for the kiddos.

On the way out to Gaye Ann's, Chase and Garrett decided to ride with us and Jacob and Abby rode with Aunt Tina. The boys had some pretty good stories to tell on their mom but I love my sister too much to repeat them. You owe me sis!!!

Here are a few pictures of the evening....

We had an amazing time once again with our amazing family! Most of you know that our family is going through a very difficult time. We are all going through a season of hurt and confusion, and change. But I am so thankful that with our family, when things get tough, we just get that much closer. Through all of this, I have felt God loving me through each and every one of them. I feel like he is showing me that even though me might not all go to the same building together to worship and serve, we will still be as close as ever if not stronger. I'm so thankful for the blessings in my life. God is so good.

It's been another month!! Are you kidding me?

I can't believe it has already been another month since I have blogged. Wow, I am really bad at this.

Let me see if I can catch you up ....

Jacob just finished his first session of baseball. I am so proud to say that his team (6 and under) won the championship!! They were undefeated!! They were so excited and proud of themselves. Here is a picture of them wearing their Championship T-shirts. Aren't they the cutest little team ever?

Other than that, we haven't been up to much. We have been spending alot of time at the pool. It is our free entertainment and the kids love it. Here is a picture of Abby soaking up the rays at the pool last week. She loves her pool days.

We have definitely been enjoying the summer. We are still adjusting the all that wonderful quality time together. The kids have been fighting allot. But thanks to Tammy's creativity, we are hanging in there. Well, now that I have caught you up once again on what has been going on with us, lets see if I can stay current.... don't hold your breathe. Love you all!!

Catching Up!

Here is an overview of some of the activities that have filled our lives. I'm so bad at keeping up on blogging, so here we go, about a whole month in one blog, this ought to be fun....

I guess we will start off with Jacob's and Abby's last days of school. Jacob was pleasantly surprised when I picked him up and I told him we were going to play with his cousins. Tina was in San Francisco and mom had some stuff she needed to get done, I picked up Jacob and we went to Tina's for the day. Here is a picture of Jacob and two of his buddies after school. We didn't know who the one little boy was, he wasn't in any of the boys class and he isn't normally picked up in the back of the school. We had to end up taking him back inside. It was kind of crazy.

On Abby's last day of school, she had a picnic, we me and mom took all of the other kids (Jacob, Garrett, and Chase) to the Ethan and Abby's picnic to share in there special day. Here are a couple of photos from that adventure...

We have been busy with the kids being in sports and stuff. Jacob and Abby both played spring soccer which finished up this past Saturday. Abby even scored a goal!! Jacob also did really well too. I'm so proud of both of them, and Matt too for coaching Abby's team, talk about a challenge!

Abby is in T-ball and has two games left. She does pretty well once we get past the fascination with the dirt. We have filled our glove up with dirt and even did a dirt angel I guess you would call it. All you can do is laugh right? Here is a video clip of this adventure....






Jacob is also playing baseball. He is a really good little ball player. I am ashamed to say I haven't gotten any pictures of him in action yet. I will try to do better this week. They have had two games thus far and the first game they won 10 - 0. Jacob hit a single, a double and a triple. It was pretty amazing. The second game they won 13-3 ( I think) and he got another double! I'm so proud of him and his little team!


Lets, see what else? Oh yeah, recently we had the whole family (Tammy, mom and dad, and the Sutherland's) over for a night of Mario Kart. It was pretty fun and I'm glad to say that I won!! I even beat Chase. Maybe that is just a little sad on my part?!?! Here a some photos of that night..

I promise Tina and Chris were there even though you can see them. And this picture of Abby and Pop cracks me up. Dad was the mediator for Abby and Chloe. Abby loves that dog a little too much! I think this post is long enough for now, but I will try to do better about not waiting as long to post again. Until next time....

Jacob's Field Day

Well Jacob had his first field day on Tuesday, he had a blast! Matt took the day off of work to go and spend the day at the school with Jacob. I was also able to go in the morning since Abby was in school and she went home with a friend so that gave me a little extra time.

At the beginning of the day they were separated into teams (Kindergarten and 1st grade). Then they all went around from station to station competing to see who could win or score the most at each station. Jacob's group did really well. His favorite thing was the tug of war which his group won! He had such a great time!! The whole day ended with a little assembly to announce the winners of each event and then the 1st grade teachers and the Kindergarten teachers had a tug of war contest. The Kindergarten teachers didn't even last a minute, it was so funny! Here is a little clip of Jacob in the championship tug of war contest! He was having the time of his life!