Megan's first dance class

Monday was Megan's first dance class! She attended a class one day a few months back with a friend and loved it. We've talked about it and she was so excited to go. Two of her friends are in the class I've signed her up for and yet she spent the whole class sitting in my lap at the back of the room......By the time class was over she didn't want to leave, so I'm hoping that now that she has seen what they do that she will jump in next time and dance in her new clap shoes! (That's what she calls her tap shoes) We've practiced heel drops and toe drops along with plies and first positions. So, here's to hoping that next class is a load of fun!!! I did at least get a picture of the new pink leotard before the meltdown......

Fun at Nana's

First I want to thank all of you who prayed for our trip and specifically for my mom. We planned the trip to stay and see my mom through her second chemo treatment. She made it through but is having a rough time these days following the treatment. She decided once her hair started coming out to go ahead and let it go. Being prepared she has 4 wigs and a variety of hats to don her head. This is where the fun comes in......Megan and my neice Alana decided to have a fashion show with the wigs. Megan decided she looks like grandmother with the short gray wig on. I'll try to add a little video with the girls dancing and singing in the mirror.

Happy 60th Anniversary!

Our trip to Tennessee was ultimately scheduled to celebrate my grandparents' 60th anniversary. All of us were able to gather at a restaurant to celebrate and had a wonderful time. My grandfather is a man of few words, so when I asked how they got engaged his response was "well, we decided to get married so I went to Memphis and bought a ring." I love that they still love each other and honestly still like each other. I pray that God blesses Jim and me with enough years to celebrate our 60th anniversary. Jim has already instructed Megan that she will throw us a huge party when that day comes--hope you'll all plan to be there. So, save the date--June 1st of 2057.....

Tennessee Safari

Didn't think you'd see those two words together did you? We had a great trip to Tennessee with Megan saying "I really, really want to see Mimi, Poppy and Chloe" only about 500 times! It was so funny. The kids really did great for such a long trip. On Monday Mimi (Jim's mom) took us to a drive through safari in West Tennessee. After driving through and seeing all the exotic animals we got to feed a baby giraffe with a scratchy tongue, bottle feed lambs, goats, a camel and a pig! We then got to hand feed some very hungry goats. It really was fun to see all those animals so closely and get to feed them. Here are a couple pics from our fun day! We topped off the day and met our friends for dinner. Avery and Megan have a sweet affection for each other and it was great to catch up with our sweet friends Trevor and Stacey.

sweet friends

Moving is so bittersweet--you move away from family and friends yet you gain new family and friends. We have been enjoying such sweet times with our friends this summer and I wanted to add a couple pictures of the kids. The first two are of Matthew and Adair at our compassKIDS Klub. The next is Megan with Karis. I may have to limit her time with the babies--she informed me two nights ago at bedtime that she wanted another baby! The next is a picture of Megan with James at a storytime. We look forward to more sweet times with friends and are very excited about our visit to Tennessee later this week to spend time with our family and friends there! See you all soon : )

changes a brewin'

I know that I have shared with you guys that Jim has been really busy with our Worship Gathering transformation and wanted to provide a few more details and pictures......

On September 14th we are changing our time, look and renewing our focus. Because many of us run a little late we are moving our start time to 10:00. I've heard jokes among our church family that we run on "westpoint time". So, we are starting at a new time--fresh start ya know? We also have a new look for the cafeteria where we gather. Our plan is to make our presence a little more permanent for a couple of reasons. First it allows us to invest in the school where we meet plus it allows us to have less set up each week and allows for a more intimate feeling. We're painting the cafeteria and turning it into the "Wildcat Cafe" for the students. We are also turning everything around to use the stage area and hard wire some of the sound equipment in. The school will also be able to use all of this for programs that they have in the cafeteria. We are also hoping to add lighting that can be dimmed rather than the current flourescent lighting that all schools use. For a few weeks our pastor is also going to take time to really focus on our purpose and renew our focus as a church family. We are so excited about these changes/improvements and can't wait to see what God is going to do! I'll keep you posted. Meanwhile, here is a before and after.....

summer fun and boo boos.....

I don't know how I escaped childhood with relatively few injuries. Seriously I only have one scar that has a story (aside from chicken pox). Thus each time one of the kiddos gets hurt it breaks my heart. So far the only scar is from Jacob's surgery (knocking on wood).

Meg was jumping into the pool and caught my friend off guard! Meg landed chin first on top of my friend Kari's head landing both of her eye teeth into her upper lip. She bled, swelled immediately and boy did she cry......She's all recovered from her "fat lip" now, but I just had to share this picture.

I've also included one of Jacob after enjoying a chocolate chip cookie. He truly enjoys the dining experience--my mama never told me a son would be so messy : ) It sure is cute though. I would include a picture of his favorite current mischief however grabbing the camera while he's splashing in the toilet isn't first on my list of priorities.

Life Today

Just an update of life today--Jacob is finally over his fever from this weekend and seems back to his normal self. Megan is doing great! We enjoyed some fun mother/daughter shopping tonight and then she helped me fold laundry : ) I love that she's at an age where we can do things together like this. Jim is busy as ever with the "remodel" of our worship gathering. We've also begun a new small group and are excited to be doing life with these other couples.

We are heading up to Tennessee next week to see family (more on this to come). After the weekend Jim will fly home and I will stay to spend some time with my mom. She had her first chemo treatment last week and is still dealing with some side effects from that. She is remaining positive and just dealing with each symptom as it comes. Her doctors are responding quickly to each side effect. She has gone to work each day this week and seems to make it a little longer each day. Life is such a blessing as is our health--may I be reminded to take advantage of each healthy day God has given me to enjoy and live it to the fullest!

***I promise to post pictures soon. I know it's been a while. We are down to Jim's laptop because my computer died (a day after the vaccum died). We were able to replace the vaccum, but are having to work that computer into the budget.....so I only have limited computer time, please be patient...