A little more thoughtful...

This summer has been a great summer for thinking and understanding truths. They've mainly focused on the power of music to touch the soul (Tracy's iPod he got me has awakened my delight in good worship), the true meaning of being a woman (thanks to the book Captivating) and the joy of discovering God's word anew through study and Christian fiction.

Concerning music-- during the school year, I mostly crave quiet when I have a moment, but in this mostly quiet summer (after the kids are in bed, of course) and during my runs (which I started again this summer) I've discovered the joy of finding music that speaks to the particular moods of my heart. I have had great friends send me music (thanks Sarah) and I've also been exposed to some new Christian groups. For example, I just recently discovered Leeland (click on the link and you can preview their album on their site). My favorite song is "Falling for You" and it talks about falling in love with Jesus again and going back to the place where it all began. I don't think it's just about going back to your moment of salvation, but going back to places where you remember making decisions that moved you away from where you were supposed to be going and going back and making amends in your relationship with Christ. I think that is so healing because how often do we backtrack and try to fix mistakes we've made in the past in any relationship (though we should)? Our relationship with Christ is just like any other relationship and requires diligence and loving maintenance.

And the book--I really believe this book was sent from God in to my unknowing hands one late night at Wal-Mart on vacation (it found itself in the bargain bin first!). I believe I cried through almost every chapter and just wished that I could have found this book when I was a young teenage girl trying to figure out what it meant to be a woman. It has been so healing and so refreshing and has helped me see what true beauty means.

And finally, God's Word (and His Word in fictional form!)--as an avid reader, I can never escape words and their power to transform. With more time to study God's Word, I am every day amazed at how God guides seemingly unrelated devotionals, Bible passages and even fictional books to preach the same message (what are the statistics on that, I wonder?). With ears to hear, I've heard Him so clearly this summer and His message? Well, that's pretty personal. : ) But I will say that it is bathed in love and challenge and moving me past those places where I get stuck. I truly feel the verse "I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye" (Psalm 32:8) has been my verse this summer.

I'm not sure what is in my future and how this next year of school will be for me, but I know I walk in all that is ahead of me with a sense of God's leading presence and an assurance that He can talk to me through various mediums as long as I have ears to hear!

4th of July Pics a little late

We made a visit to Chau Ram Park to do a little swimming. The kids really enjoyed it, but the water was amazingly cold!

Ethan is such a good big brother!

We didn't go anywhere for fireworks or buy any of our own so we listened to the 4th of July music programs at Nana's house. Here Ethan and Katelyn are "getting down" to Huey Lewis and the News (remember them???).

Ethan is officially just on the big boy potty now, but I though this was too cute! Katelyn likes to sit on the potty to read a book, but has yet to master its real purpose!

Katelyn's birthday---a week late!

Here she is looking at all the Dora stuff. Of course, I forgot to take a picture of the cake. It was a cute Dora cake with little figurines: Dora holding a present and Swiper chasing her. Katelyn loves Swiper and if you are doing something she doesn't want you to do she says, "Swiper, no swiping!"

Of all of us, Ethan was the most comfortable in the party hat. He wore it almost the whole day!

Her hat-wearing lasted about 3 seconds after I took the picture!

When I wasn't looking, Ethan tried out ALL of the blowers and promptly ruined them by biting and slobbering. Fortunately, Katelyn didn't seem to mind.

Katelyn got lots of wonderful presents: a baby doll, a little car, a kid cell phone, a dress, a Dora kite, a recorder (I'm not sure yet if I think that one is wonderful!), some cute items from Nana and DaddyBob and two bubble makers!

The big present from Nana and DaddyBob was this beautiful rocking chair they got her. She loves it!

Our big present was a Princess bike!

After all the fun, we went outside so they could play in the pool and use the Bubble machines.

Ethan is obsessed with this bubble machine. We don't let him play with guns, so I guess this is the closest he'll ever get. He runs around outside either chanting "kaboom" or "I got the doctor!". I have no idea why he says that, but he thinks it's funny.

Yes, my little darling is now officially two years old. Her birthday was June 26th--which was also right in the middle of VBS. That's why this post is so late! Her birthday party was last Saturday, and although it was all adults, she (and Ethan) had a blast. Her theme was Dora and while she was taking her nap, we put up balloons and put out her Dora plates and stuff. When she got up, she was so excited and kept yelling, "A party! A party!".

Daddy, Don't Go!

Ethan and Katelyn didn't want Daddy to leave and go to work. : )

Having fun in the sprinkler!

Ethan loved the sprinkler, but Katelyn was a little upset about getting wet!

Playing, Playing!

Katelyn and Ethan playing in boxes.

Here the box is a boat and Katelyn has the oar!

"What's that sound?" Katelyn's favorite question! In this case, it was an airplane. We were outside playing in the sprinklers.

Splashing in a mud puddle made from the sprinklers. Unfortunately, right after this Ethan got bitten by a huge ant all of his legs!

Ethan and Katelyn refusing to let Daddy go to work (video to come later!).

Eating after swimming in the pool of a youth group member.

Ethan and Daddy in the pool! Ethan found the squirt gun and was in love.

Grandpa reading Katelyn her new favorite book--Incredible Me. She even sleeps with it!

Katelyn wanted to see her cute pigtails in the mirror and then Ethan wanted to see himself too!

Smiling for Mama! I finally got all of Katelyn's hair up!

Enjoying summer!

It's been a great couple of weeks beginning summer! I haven't taken many pictures, but we've been busy. We've gone swimming and playing at the lake, swimming in the pool in Toccoa, gone to the library (yesterday they had a magician show!) and had fun at home. We've been reading lots of books. We are doing the Catching the Reading Bug at the library and the kids get prizes after I read them a certain number of books. Ethan likes every time I write a book down on his list (though Katelyn is ahead of him because she isn't as picky!). We've even played in the sprinklers.

I can't believe it, but Katelyn is turning two in a couple of weeks. She's turning in to such a fun little lady. She talks so much now and is such a happy girl. Yesterday, Nana and Grandpa came over and we took the kids to the lake to go swimming and play in the playground. Katelyn was so excited that in the car she kept giggling and and kicking her legs. She's such a happy girl! She's obsessed with Dora, but calls her "D-D-D-Dora!". We're just doing a small family party for her this year since she's still so little and with Ethan always around, she's never lonely for kids anyway!

Ethan and Katelyn are really starting to play together. It gives me a nice break every once in a while, though they mostly want me to play with them. Ethan is blowing me away with how smart he is. The other day Ethan was playing with his legos and he built this tower/rocketship in perfectly coordinated black and red. It was amazing! I wish I had taken a picture of it!

I'm loving being on break. It's amazing that you don't realize how busy you are until you have a moment to yourself. I was running on empty a bit last year! This summer has been so refreshing!

Back from vacation from Myrtle Beach!

I am under the colorful umbrella with the kids. We spent a good bit of time just playing on the beach which went a lot like me chasing them as they ran in different directions and me building them sand castles that they stepped on! It was fun though!

When we got back, we put Ethan's bunkbeds up and he really likes them. Now he actually has room to play with his toys!

This is at Broadway at the Beach an outdoor shopping area. It has everything though--Build a Bear (which Katelyn loved), rides that Katelyn and Ethan really enjoyed, IMAX and even a place to feed fish.

At our favorite place to eat--Japanese!

Ethan showing off his new Cars toy at the Japanese restaurant!

Amy, Nana, DaddyBob, Uncle Kelly and Uncle Mikey!

They really enjoyed the lazy river at the hotel.

As you can see, I didn't actually take many pictures. Nana took the best pictures, that we got copies of but don't have for the blog. It was a great week with lots of fun and shopping and good food! A week isn't long enough though!

Ethan's bunkbeds

We just got the bunkbeds last night that Nana is getting for Ethan's from someone at our school. We didn't have time to put them up in Ethan's room last night, but you can tell from this video that he is very excited about them.

At the circus

Last Friday night, Janice and I took the kids to the circus in Clemson. The kids really enjoyed it. The show was great with elephants and tigers and jugglers (oh my!). It was amazing what these people could do! Ethan really liked the jugglers and giggled and clapped with delight. Katelyn mostly liked the lemonade and the toys! : )

Katelyn watching the show with Nana!
They really enjoyed the elephants!

The best time was when they got all sorts of fun stuff like crazy hats and monkeys.

Don't they look adorable?

Ethan's elephant toy

Ethan clapping for the jugglers

Ethan and Katelyn's School Pics

Been busy...

I don't have any pictures to update with, but Mother's Day was lovely. Tracy got me an iPod and we spent most of the weekend figuring out how to use it (and then having my students at school help too!). We went camping with our youth Friday night and Ethan and Katelyn came for a portion of it. Ethan caught his first fish! He was really excited though I think he was more interested in the worms than anything else. Unfortunately, the video and pictures got deleted off of our camera. : (

Tomorrow night we are taking Ethan and Katelyn to the circus for the first time. This time I will make sure the photos do not get deleted. I can't wait to see how they react to it all. It will be a late night for Katelyn, but, as much as she loves animals, I know she's going to love it!

I only have 6 more days of school left and 7 days till vacation! I cannot wait! This will be Katelyn's first time to the beach (last time she was a newborn and we didn't take her to the beach part). Next weekend is also Tracy and my 6 year anniversary! I'm sure we will go to the movies or something--I really want to see the new Narnia movie! : )

A very weird commercial

Anyone who knows Tracy, knows that he loves to watch Ghost Hunters and other weird TV shows. Someone sent this to me, and so, in honor of my husband, I thought I'd put it on my post. Enjoy, all you paranormal lovers!

This video is from a commercial that was filmed in Europe. When the commercial was finished the editors noticed a white mist floating around the car after it came out of the trees. It is difficult to see but if you look closely you can see the mist that caused the commercial to be pulled. Click below to watch.

Ghostly Car Commerical

This week has been such a lovely week. The weather has been nice and I've had a good time in the evenings with my babies. Ethan has become quite the question asker. Everything is now "Mommy, what's that noise?" "Mommy, what are you doing?". Last night after we put the kids to bed, Tracy made some brownies. Some time after Tracy took them out of the oven, Ethan called for me and said he needed to go potty. As I was taking him to the bathroom, his eyes got really big and he said, "Mommy, what's the smell?? I think Daddy is making cookies!". I wish I could let you hear how he said cookies, because it was so cute! It wasn't long after that Ethan decided that he was hungry and needed a snack aka a cookie. It was too funny so we gave him a small brownie and some milk.

Another cute thing that happened was the other day coming back from Ethan and Katelyn's "school" (that's what they call it), Ethan was talking about how naughty Chick from the movie Cars is. He said he needed to go to time out. Katelyn upon hearing this started saying, "Ethan! Time out!" Actually she says "Etan"! : ) Ethan got very offended by this and said, "No, not me, baby Katelyn! I'm a good boy!" She was in turn offended that he yelled at her started crying and Ethan felt bad and said, "Katelyn--you want to be my friend?" Katelyn yelled an adamant, "NO!" It was so funny. I can tell you that they quickly made up though. They play together so well and Ethan is so gentle and watches out for her all the time.

Katelyn is talking so much now--she even says sentences believe it or not! Last night while we were sitting at the dinner table, her and Ethan decided to get under the dinner table. Katelyn yelled, "Daddy look at me! I'm under the table!" Of course, that wonderful sentence was probably only intelligble to Tracy and me!

Tonight I am going to a one-night conference near Helen. I'm very excited to be focusing on something spiritual and look forward to the fellowship. My friend who invited me is a friend I met in college 14 years ago! It's so hard to fellowship when you are watching little ones. Of course, it's hard for me to be away from them even one night because I miss them so much. They'll be at Nana and DaddyBob's though so I know they will be happy.

The last couple of weeks have been a neat time with the Lord. I've been as busy as ever, but I've been learning that it's the short times during the day when I remember the Lord and turn my heart towards Him that can be the sweetest. It's neat to remember that I don't have to be completely stopped to fellowship with Him (though it's wonderful when I do!). We've been talking more and more with Ethan about spiritual things and the other day when it was storming, he told me he was scared. I asked him, "Who is with you always even when your scared?" He yelled out, "JESUS!" (Of course this is always his answer to anything that has to do with the BIble!). I then told him how God is always with Him and he can ask Him for help. It's so neat to see him beginning to understand these things.

Katelyn eating a cupcake!

They took this picture at school and sent it to us! They always take their shirts off when they eat things like that! Isn't she adorable?

Enjoying the nice weather

I love playing with my yogurt--it makes a great hair gel!
Katelyn looks so precious in her little dress. We were going to Tracy's first wedding (in a park).
Me and my cuties
At the park where the wedding was--it was beautiful.
Blowing dandelions

Ethan smiling for the camera before church. You can see his lip is still a little sore but is vastly better than earlier last week when he got Katelyn's virus.
She finally got to wear her Easter dress, but wouldn't give me a smile for the camera! : )

The weather has been beautiful and we enjoyed a very busy weekend. Saturday Tracy performed his first wedding which went well. It was in a beautiful park and we had fun, although it was difficult chasing the kids around the park while wearing heels! That night we went out to eat and got the kids some summer clothes from Target. Sunday started our revival at church which Professor Collier from TFC spoke at. It was so awesome to sit under his biblical teaching again and I was challenged again to get in to God's Word and to really learn. One thing I really need to do is read more spiritual books. I have been reading Tedd Tripp's Shepherding a Child's Heart which is an awesome book about biblical parenting. The chapter I was just reading talked about how parenting your child and teaching them about God's principles needs to be our priority since we only have them for such a short time. It's so good to be reminded of these truths because it's so easy to get caught up in busy schedules and not invest in what is eternal. Does anyone have any suggestions for books I should read that have really impacted your walk (especially in relation to being a mother/woman etc)?