Callan "No stage fright" Jones

Last night we wrapped up the week long adventure on Outrigger Island at VBS. I wish I knew how many people showed up to Family Night. Our sanctuary that holds 700-800 people was packed out and everyone I saw had one or two kids in their laps or sitting in the aisles. I would say there were at least 1,000 people there. That alone was overwhelming, but that is where this proud momma begins to brag. Callan (the quiet middle son) was asked if he could recite John 3:16 on the stage during the showcase of the weeks adventures. He said yes. So up on the stage he stood, with a microphone, in front of around 1,000 people and did this...

(Now mind you I did videotape the entire thing while he was on the stage. I had him perfectly on my screen, but as soon as he began the child in front of him stood up and covered him up completely. So, I have video of my child speaking with another child just standing there in front of him, then me scrambling to see if I could find a place to see his face. So I made him say it again when I got home.)



I do not know where he mustered up the nerves from. It was mighty brave of him... and he did not miss a beat.

A WHAT???

It is a long story, and it all happened very suddenly... but today we added to our family. Meet Stella... our Snorkie.

You gotta see it to believe it...

I will let the video speak for itself.

I was in charge of coming up with the crafts for Preschool VBS this week. I guess I can't get upset when even my own kid does not understand that what he had in his hand was his very own fish tank.

This is what happens when your 3 year old has a mind of his own and then comes to excitedly tell you he put HIS fish in the tank.

Fun Friday Foto

Okay... don't go examining too closely!!!

Since Brent and I are approaching our 10 year wedding anniversary in 4 weeks, I thought I'd show you some "throw-back" Summer Lovin'. This is us on the "everybody does it" trip up Dunn's River Falls on our honeymoon in Jamaica. If I remember correctly, it was FREEZING and I was not all into the "get back under the falls so we can take a photo of you"... until they pushed me in. And yes... it is from my scrapbooks. I believe one of the first pages I ever made.

If I only had a picture for this post...

Long story short, it is VBS week here and naps are a daily requirement for Mommy and the 2 little ones. I just need 10 minutes (or 30 whatever they will give me) to unwind and close my eyes. Silas, I guess, is too keyed up to sleep. He goes to his room, but after a few minutes is tempted to play. This is new for him. He is my compliant child and has not really entertained the thought of even getting out of bed much less playing while he is supposed to be sleeping.

Today after we got home from VBS we ate a quick lunch and I took the little ones to bed quickly because Nommie, Bubba, Julie and Jackson were going to come by for a little while. I thought Silas was asleep because he was quiet, but when Eliza woke up I discovered that he had been playing the whole time so I banished him back to bed. I left him up there for a little while, but soon told Nommie she could go get him up (because I promised him she would). Now remember, Silas is my hat and pajama loving child. He only will lay in his bed if he has PJ's on, and sometimes we change PJ's 10 times a day. In fact, we have been working hard on him being able to put PJ's on all by himself because I am SO OVER the changing of the PJ's... ANYWAY...
Mom goes to get him up and he is wearing not 1, not 2, not 3, not even 4 or 5, but 7... count them... 7 pairs of PJ pants at the same time... one on top of the other!!!
OH I WISH I HAD A PICTURE. He told Nommie not to tell me ( I don't know why) but it was too priceless not to share. I guess he has the ability to do PJ pants by himself now.

I know... IT'S CORNY

Hot Pink Sunday

Eliza and I both wore our hot pink to church on Sunday. She was too cute with her big bows not to share.

Rite of Passage

Saturday was a rite of passage for Silas "Wee Wee". He went on his first Daddy-Son fishing adventure. Brent loaded up the boys for the morning and took them to his Uncle Richard's pond. Baylor and Callan both took their first Daddy-Son fishing trip when they were Silas' age, and they all wore the hat Silas has on. Only it got slightly damaged on Callan's trip when Daddy let Callan fall into the pond they were fishing in. It was full of muck and even after washing, it did not return to it's former glory. The big boys told Silas that he had to wear the hat on his fishing adventure, and Silas being the hat lover was proud to wear it.

Brent said Silas was not that into it at first, and was ready to come home after about 15 minutes.His brothers set him straight quick telling him that it was their fishing day too, and no way were they leaving anytime soon.

Here he is with his catch.

Funny Foto Friday...

Okay... my mom is going to kill me but I have to do this... it is too funny not to.
My nephew came home from Florida with my parents so that my brother, the Youth Minister, and his wife could go to Centrifuge (Lifeway Youth Camp) for the week. My mom e-mailed them his picture tonight to show them "thing are going great" and this is what they get...



I laughed out loud (not at him but because I understand)! Jackson and his sweet Florida citrus blood did not stand a chance. For some reason mom and dad have lethal mosquito's at their house. How do I know this? Because this was Baylor at about Jackson's age after a visit to Nommie and Gandie's house. They dive bomb the kids heads!

THE Bear

Baylor really enjoyed Line Drive University all week long. He played, he learned, he ran, he hit, he listened. He learned not only about baseball, but some life skills too. The head Coach is all about having the kids learn life lessons. Things like tucking in your shirt, how to put your hat on... that you must kiss your "momma" and shake your daddy's hand every day. He even held a contest for the cleanest, most polished shoes on day 2, and there were rules... like no help from grown-ups, and no new shoes. Baylor scrubbed 2 seasons of dirt off of his shoes for an hour in the garage with a toothbrush in an effort to impress the coaches. He did not win the contest, but is still very proud of his shiny, clean shoes.

Baylor also picked up a nickname this week. He is now THE Bear... not just Bear... THE Bear. You must know that when I named Baylor, I was clueless to the fact that there was a University by his name. I do not know where I saw the name Baylor... I just saw it and KNEW that was my first child's name. The mascot for Baylor University is the Bears... and my little boy is quite a bear himself. Not in the "Grrr" kind of way, more in the tough, hardworking, stick with it, show em what you got kind of way. So this week, my little boy became THE Bear. The Head Coach named him that and called him THE Bear all week. He worked really hard and made it to the finals of a lot of the competitions (grounding, running, bunting...) but today MY BOY... WON the Home Run contest (for his age group). He got to stand up in front of the entire camp (ages 7-15) and hit... and BOY did he hit it. ( I missed it but this is from his father's view). When it was time for him to get in front of the whole group the Coach said "Where's THE Bear... get up there Bear... the weight of the world is on your shoulders, show them what you can do". He got up there and smacked one foul, and then on the second hit a line drive that went out about 290 feet. Brent could not believe it, he said he has never seen him hit like that. Coach told him to go stand with his ball so he could see how far it went and then allowed him to come up and get congrats from the camp and coaches telling him to "tip his hat". ( Yes, I know I am bragging... but mom's can do that)

I am so proud of him... not just because he did so well at camp this week, but because God has blessed me with a good kid. The older he gets (the more mature he gets) the more I just love being around him... he is just an AWESOME kid.

I have to add... there is just something about baseball that just "gets" me. When I left him on Monday and watched him walk out on that field I cried. Not from leaving him, not watching him walk away with all those big boys, but because HE loves it. My dream for him is that he always loves it and he gets to keep doing it as long as he loves it. That doors will always open and that we will always put him in the right places so that he will be able to be the best he can be. That we will allow him to accomplish his dreams for baseball, and that he will always be as good at it as he seems to be now.

That boy... and his baseball... they just get to me!

BRENT... This is your Father's Day Post

So... Father's Day. I could go the sentimental route and talk about dad's and the one's in my life. I could talk about my husband and the father that he is to our children. I could tell you that I had no idea what to get him for Father's Day and when I asked his son (the middle one, that was somehow cloned to be him)he told me just what to get him and told me where to go. I could tell you that I had nothing better to do because I was passing time while my oldest was at camp so I took middle son up on the challenge, and actually let him talk me into going to GameStop for Brent's Father's Day present. I could tell you that he went straight to what he wanted to get him, picked it up with confidence and convinced me to buy it.

I could tell you that I gave it to Brent and he acted like it was no big deal, but that it was cool and sweet for his son to think he would enjoy it. THEN I could tell you that he has spent every waking minute playing this game since Monday. That he has used the words "I am going to clean up downstairs" in an effort to sneak in some "tournament time". I could tell you that he let the kids stay up until 9PM last night watching him play and every time he walks in the door he disappears downstairs because the game beckons him.

I could tell you... HIS NAME IS BRENT... HE HAS A PROBLEM... IT IS BASS FISHING FOR THE Wii.

Happy Father's Day!

This is Brent so engrossed in locating fish that he has no idea I am taking his picture.

This is a picture of our TV with Brent catching said fish.

Thoughts...

I have got nothing for you. I have random video's of my kids from last week. I have family beach photos, and I have thoughts on a Father's Day post that I was in the middle of writing when Brent got on the computer and deleted it by accident. He told me tonight he was still looking for that post, so I am going to have to start all over (at some point).

This week has been "off to the races" for us.(I thought things were slow and easy in the summer) Baylor is attending Line Drive University (a baseball camp) this week and enjoying it. The mommmy, and three other siblings are not. Since the camp is all the way in Cool Springs (a 30ish minute drive) we drive there to take him and "fiddle faddle" around until he is done. Camp is about 3.5 hours and a lot of time to "fiddle faddle" with a 5, 3, and 1 year old. I also learned that giving your 5 and 3 year old their own water bottle on the ride is not a good idea unless you like to frequent every bathroom establishment that exists in Cool Springs. I have gotten a lot of random (normally useless) errands run though and know all the back roads from Franklin to Cool Springs.

Maybe tomorrow I will have something interesting to talk about.

Put a fork in us... we're DONE

Thursday night we went for a nice night time swim. It was fun! Eliza likes to jump in to Gandie (but only off the ladder) and she would look around for an audience. The kids really love the water, but in the dark it gets a little hard to keep up with them all, so we did not stay that long.





This was all her... and she did not want to get out of it.



Friday, you could tell the kids were done with the sand, with the water, with the sun. I got a few good pics of them bugging the fire out of us under the umbrellas. It was a good thing that we had our nephew Jackson's 2nd birthday party to go to, because they were done. We went to Bubba and Julie's house for the celebration ( and my camera battery had given out) but I did get a video of us singing to him. I think it freaked him out a little, but then again it does me too and I am going on 30+ times of having to sit through that song with everyone starring down at you.






That's all folks... THE END



Just for an added laugh... I have to blog about it, but it still has me in a deep quandary. As we were driving home yesterday somewhere in North Florida/ South Alabama we pulled into a gas station to do a diaper change. We decided to let all the boys out to pick a drink. As we were unloading a woman (I THINK) pulled up (again I think... it looked like it used to be a car) jumped out of her car, slammed the door and exclaimed... "I KIDNAP ME SOME BOYS" and stood there as we just stared at her (?) trying to see if she were serious/joking/crazy enough to be serious/ or just plain crazy. Like I said... bloggable, but still has us going HMMMMM. She walked away "Har-har-haring" So we just got out of town... quick!


Maybe tomorrow when Blogger is cooperating I will post a few mugs of some of our accomplices this week. I try not to post photos of other people's kids... but I might just do a few so you can see their fun.

Catch Up

Tuesday night we (and when I say we I mean... Me, Brent, Baylor, Callan, Silas, Eliza, Nommie, Gandie, Uncle Bubba, Aunt Julie, and Jackson) went out to eat with the Davis' clan and then to a the little Jetty to look for hermit crabs... this is a blast and recommend it to all Destin/Ft. Walton visitors. There were not as many there as last time, but the kids had a blast!









Then last night we hired a professional photographer and got all dressed up. This was me pulling my camera out when I thought the photographer would not be offended.

What went wrong?

What day is it? Where am I? Yesterday was not so good. I do not know what happened. I went to bed just fine with my stomach upset and woke up full blown sick. That is not supposed to happen at the beach when you have not been in 2 years. I spent the entire day in the bed yesterday... and I mean when I even tried to get up I ended up back down. I do not know if I ate something, the sun did something funny to me, or if it is just a bug. I am still not 100% but then again I have not eaten since Tuesday. Nothing pains me more than to be at the beach and be able to see the sand and water and umbrella's and feel to bad to even get to the beach. Good thing we brought family with us because without them I think Brent might have packed up and gone home.

Today the big boys are going to Big Kahuna's water park with the Davis'. I am so sad because I used to love water parks and have not been in about 10 years. The plan was for me to go but I am afraid I will get there (pay the heavy price to go) and then turn green again.I have been excited about going for a while, and it is just not a good idea.

Anyway... thought I would share the good, bad, and ugly.

We did take some beach pics last night with a professional here. Hopefully I can share those soon.

What can I say...

I am typing on my laptop, listening to the waves hit the shore... kids are in bed... does it get any better? If I weren't so tired, I'd spend hours enjoying this.

We had another fun day. Brent woke up with the stripes. I am not sure what happened really. I think some of his skin decided to reject the sunscreen because I SPRAYED HIM GOOD... like at least 2 coats. We used a whole bottle yesterday alone on just him and me for goodness sakes. But, none the less... he has stripes. So, he had to wear a shirt out today because we spent too much time making fun of the dummies yesterday with funny burn marks... he could not be the one made fun of today.

Baylor spent so much time in the ocean yesterday he came in chaffed from sand in his shorts, so he is walking funny and the salt stings the wounds. But his buddy/cousin coaxed him back in after a few coats of Aquafor and he played for hours with her. That boy is a fish and is really comfortable in both the ocean and the pool.

Eliza loves the sand. She will spend an hour putting it in buckets or over in her little pool of water, and then she is off for her new favorite treat "num num's". She made it up herself. She has discovered starburst love and when she wants one she just says "num-num" until you give her one. It can be a battle of wills because she can say it about 400 times in a row... but a girl can not live on starburst alone!

Silas is all about the snacks. He is neither here nor there about the beach he could take it or leave it. He plays some, but again is all about the snack bag. He also loves the little splash park they have here. He runs around in it trying not to get wet.

Callan has suddenly become afraid of water (something to do with Brent getting stung by a jelly fish yesterday) but even the pool he is struggling getting in. But he dug a hole so big yesterday with TayTay and Colby that he had to be pulled out of it ( too deep to climb out) and that kid was wiped out today. He fell asleep wiping down the coffee table and slept for several hours ( and then cried for 30 minutes because the "old time" Incredible Hulk marathon went off while he was sleeping.

We have also enjoyed some time with my brother, Juile and Jackson, but seeing that he is a Youth Minister, he was pretty much required to be at church on Sunday and then had some things to take care of today. We have spent a little more time with Julie and Jackson and that boy is a hoot. He is about to turn 2 on Saturday and is talking so much. His sense of humor is going to be so FUNNY... he keeps us laughing at just the little he can say and do.

OH... and there was a huge deal on the beach ( picture Baywatch) I do not know what exactly happened (no one would tell us) my dad went and listened to the lifegaurds radios and we think it was a search for a missing person in the water (WAY OUT)But from what we can tell the family did not seem to be sure if he went in the water or was just missing. It had everyone's attention for several hours.

Anyway... enough about us... we are having fun I have pictures to share from pool time but I am too lazy to post them tonight... maybe tomorrow.

Florida Fun

We made it... we spent a day sitting in the sand and the sun. I will try to post photos tonight. I am sure I will have stories as Brent already has a sunburn streak where his trunks started out up high and worked their way down lower through the day.Fun stuff!

This is how we roll...


This is how it began at 7:30 AM

Forever Family Day

One year ago today at about 5 PM we arrived home a FOREVER FAMILY to Nashville, TN. I cannot even begin to explain the emotions I have both from then and now. This child is a gift from God in so many ways. This process, this child, has shown us new love, deep love, and has opened our hearts in a whole new way. I honestly wish that everyone could do this, everyone could experience adoption. Not just for the child, but for your heart. I wish I could say we weren't done with adoption... but Guatemala is just plain closed and I do not know if it will have an adequate system for years. It makes me so sad, because in so many ways I felt like there would be another Guatemalan baby. In fact, I felt like we would get the call about Eliza's birth mom having another child placed for adoption. It hurts my heart to think that perhaps it has already happened and nothing can be done about it, we will never know, and that child could have been abandoned with no one to take him in. I try not to "go there" but once your heart has seen, there is no going back.
Here are some shots from our arrival and our first family photo.






Oh... we are off to the beach! Hopefully we will at least be at Cracker Barrel in Columbia by now. I have a laptop with me and I hope to post some, but we will see.