Swimming like a fish!

We had a great vacay in Garden City with all our family and friends. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. Bethany did start swimming all on her own. I think she didn't want to be out done by her big cousin Hudson when he started swimming without his swimmies at the beach too. Here are some pics of our week.

Miss B in her sun hat

Sam's Corner

Rusty Roo's Birthday celebration


Mommy and Daddy's night out. The grandparents kept all the kids while all of us went out one night.

Joey, Billy and Charley. They were coming to the beach together since they were babies and now they have babies that they're bringing to the beach!

Our little olympian...

Lydia relaxing poolside

Bethany, Blake, Reed, Cy Marie and Anna Cate

My sweet family

July 4th weekend

We spent the 4th on Lake Cherokee like we've done so many times before. The house was full and so were our hearts. It was so nice to be with the whole family and we had lots of reasons to celebrate. Hudson had his 4th birthday on Thursday and we had a little party for him and Doug had just celebrated his 60th birthday and Joey's graduation.

This is Hudson blowing out his Lighting McQueen cupcake. Liddy is dangling in the background...

Adrienne, Macy and I on Kabob night.

Elba taking B for a canoe ride. We had some technical difficulties with the boat so had to find a new mode of water transport.

Danny and his sister came to visit for the day and went to Oconee Falls.

I bet you didn't know that Hudson and B could kayak.....

The Patrick Family at Dee and Gray's annual bbq. It's a big broad and Rusty's not even married yet!

Our family before the 4th bbq

My sweet patriotic girl! We were taking a late evening cruise around the lake. You've gotta love those quiet and still evenings. (Note: every little girl needs a head light at the lake. You know, just in case your in the likely situation of being out in the woods by yourself at night:))

The sun setting over the Appalachian Mnts

As much as I am blessed and forever grateful to our founding fathers and those who have died fighting for my freedom. I remember that first and foremost I am a citizen of heaven and my home is not here. If not for my freedom and right to worship I may be like the millions of others that have never had the opportunity to find the hope and peace of salvation. Today Joey and I prayed for unreached people groups around the world and those that are persecuted for simply trusting Jesus as their Savior. I hope you lift your voices tonight in prayer and pray for the church around the world. The ones meeting behind closed doors, or hiding bibles in secret places, fearing for their lives, being shunned from their families and despised by their neighbors. Simply because they are believers. Pray for encouragement and comfort as they walk a road many of us will never have to walk because we have the privilege to worship freely.

"But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body." Phi 3:20

Our final graduation? Nope

Well, it's been a busy graduation week/weekend. We started the festivities off in typical graduation week fashion; skit night and bbq at Dr. Smith's pad. Complete with the big white tent and band. Joey volunteered himself last year to write the skit for his class. Let's just say he wasn't asked again this year! But he, Russ, Danny (whom they recruited from the 2nd yr class), and Carlos. They did their own thing and it was pretty funny to see Joey in my running gear and a depends. Don't ask.

Maggie, Asia, and Bethany climbing the big Magnolia tree in the front yard

Some of the residents gearing up for the skits.

Our family the last three years:(

Joey (Dr. Sealy), Russ (Dr.Smith) and Danny AKA Danququ

The goofballs. This crew could only mean trouble!

The next day was the big graduation day. Joey's family came and his older brother, Charley. We missed Rusty but understand he's got a "real" job these days. We then went to a little reception afterwards and said our goodbyes. Lydia was really tired and started getting fussy at this point and I took her home. I got to avoid the long goodbyes which I HATE! But I went by and said bye to the Acosta's later that day. So sad.

Joey getting his diploma, at least I think that's what you call it?

Bethany was so proud of her Daddy!

The Montgomery Center for Family Practices class of 2010!

Liddy had to be taken out during the ceremony but she was all smiles afterwards.

After the big graduation I took her Joey to ATL for some Braves games. Before kids we went to at least one series every season but I haven't been to Turner Field since the year I got pregnant with Bethany. Joey's been back each year but it was a long time since the two of us enjoyed some games together. We saw two great games against the Detroit Tigers. The first night McCann hit his career 100th home run and then the next day Chipper hit a 3 run homer. We enjoyed our time without the kiddos but I missed them.

Most people would be happy to never go back to school after 23 years of school but he's not through yet. Joey starts seminary in the fall while he works at Ware Shoals family practice. He has to get so many seminary hours before being appointed as a career missionary with the International Mission Board. We're in a our last phase before we leave for the mission field! So exciting. We have the month of July to ourselves before he starts working! We plan to make up for lost time while he was a resident! It's amazing to look back over the years and see God's hand at work. Guiding us when we had no idea he was nudging us. I can't wait to see what the next few years hold!

The Man of our house!

Dad cuddling his girls:)

I wanted to post a little about the man that is the father of our house. He has a lot to put up with with three girls that want his attention and love. He is the type of man who gets up in the middle of the night when his babies are newborns and calms his anxious wife when she isn't sure of herself. He makes bottles, changes diapers, plays tea party and cowgirl, and cuddle and kisses his girls daily. On top of his domestic duties he is fully committed to his patients and their families. Many a night he has come home after staying with a family well past his shift to comfort them or reassure them. He prays with nearly all his patients and has shared the gospel with many who lack the hope of salvation. He is passionate about his family and his calling and we are few lucky girls to have his devotion! We love you babe!

Father's day 2010 at Lake Cherokee

Lydia's first Father's Day

Saddle Ridge Ranch

Howdy ya'll! This here is a few pictures of our VBS at "Saddle Ridge Ranch"! Another teacher and I led the preschool missions. We had two classrooms for each age; 3k, 4k and kindergarten. Bethany had a blast. They learned about African missionaries that work with Ostriches, Cowboy missionaries that work with cowboys and X-treme team missionaries that work in hard to reach places like the Amazon. The first night they looked at me like I was from another planet but by the end I think they realized what missionaries were and that they could be missionaries right now just by showing God's love and telling others about Jesus. So if they got that then I deem it a success! We had over 150 kids each night and the last night was "Family Night". Bethany got to sit on a real horsey and that made her day. Each night she reported to me that there were no real horses. I think she thought VBS was going to be all about horses! I have so many cute things that the kids did but not the energy to write them down. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves....

This was my 4k group, they were a trip! You can see trouble all over their little faces!

B before the worship rally at the beginning.

This is part of B's class, 3k, this isn't all of them. They were hard to corral. The costumes were part of my lesson.

Family night and Miss Priss is on Velvet. Look at that smile. She told me last night that for Father's day she was getting dad a REAL horse and for "Child's Day" (a holiday I was not aware of) she wanted a really pretty dress.

She hung around Velvet for a while before she did the jump houses.

End of the Year Program

I thought this was funny. It's Bethany's end of the school year program and she did much better than her Christmas program. At the Christmas program she just stared out into the crowd and didn't move. I think she was mesmerized by the big light. But this time she did better. Note the ugly face she makes before the music starts. I get to look at these kinds of faces at least 6-12x a day! She also gets stuck with the "eyes" motion for a while but by the end she was doing all the motions. It's only a little bit of the video hope you enjoy....
* You can silence the music by scrolling to the bottom of the page and hitting the pause button.

Memorial Day Weekend

We had a great Memorial Day weekend with my family. The only thing missing was Joey! He had his next to last call night and was working all weekend. The girls had a blast with my sisters and brother. Poor Anna had Bethany on her hip all weekend. B also slept with Anna and woke her very early every morning!!! Kara played in a basketball tournament all weekend and i got to catch one game and Bethany went with them to a game. She also got a new horsey compliments of Gram. I don't have a picture with her and the horsey yet but she named him Spotted and rode him all weekend. It's just a little stick horse that makes a galloping noise but she loves it! Here are a few pics of the girls with the family.

B and Lid getting a pic in their matching outfits

The girls with Gram and Papa

Kara and Sam and B. She had a great time bossing them around all weekend!

"Bloom where you are planted"

Or is the phrase "Grow where you are planted"? I don't know but this little phrase sure helped me out when I was in one my most discontented states. I first pondered this quote 3 years ago when I went on my first women's retreat with South Main Street Baptist Church. I was struggling at this time with moving to Greenwood and being a stay-at-home "single" mother. It was Joey's intern year and Bethany and I spent most of out time without our man. Greenwood didn't have much for me to do and I terribly missed working as an HIV case manager and my co-workers that had become great friends. I was just kind of unhappy. But once our speaker Ruth McWhite started to share about a season in her life where she felt this way she quoted this little saying and told how it really made a difference in her life. I started thinking about that and it hit me that I was only going to grow more miserable if I continued this state-of-mind. It's funny how easily your outlook on life can change by just being more positive.

I thought of that season of my life today as I was harvesting our first crops out of the garden. Only weeks ago we planted little seeds that needed sunlight, water, and nutrients. We took special care during this time to water and feed them so they would grow and bear fruit. It's such a wonderful analogy of us. At the beginning of our relationship with God we need spiritual food and nutrients. We need our roots to grow deep so that when the drought of life hits are roots are deeply planted and we can still bear fruit.

"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and i in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."

John 15:5

Monty watching me harvest my veggies! Last year he got into the little fence around the garden and ate much of our veggies. He also ate several cantaloupe that had vined outside of the fence.

Note all of Bethany's plastic eggs that he has chewed!

Our Garden!

We have squash, zucchini, cantaloupe, okra, tomato,red and green peppers and lettuce.

Me with my 2 squash and zucchini! Can't wait to cook those things up...yum!

Liddy Lou

Can you believe it's already been 3 months since Liddy-Lou-Who was born? She's laying next to me right now as I'm typing and giving me her best toothless grin. What a joy she's turning into! To recap on the last 13 weeks, she was quite the handful until about 6 weeks old. At that point she started to settle in and didn't have anymore inconsolable "spells" as my grandmother would put it. She discontinued her acid reflux medication during her second month and has done great without it.

Liddy, at 3 months you are doing well. You will now sleep 8-10 hrs at night. We give you one last "dream feed" around 10PM and don't wake you and you will sleep until 6:30am-7:30am. You take 3 naps a day and your daytime sleep totals 5.5-6 hrs of sleep. You eat 5.5-6.5 oz of milk six times a day! I have to use two bibs at each feeding because you are so messy! You have out grown much of you sister's baby cloths and I'm afraid you will catch up with her at some point.

You love to talk to your mom and dad and will babble at us when we speak to you. You also try and laugh out loud but right now you make a loud sucking in sound that scares your cat, Cruz:) You bat at your toys and can even grasp things and hold them in your hand. For the past 2 weeks you have been fascinated with your hands and concentrate very hard to get them in your mouth. Most of the time you end up crying because you can't quite get the hang of it.

Your big sister is taking more of an interest in you and you now give her big smiles and watch her as she plays. This has helped to make her feel special and to like being around you more:) Way to go Lydia! I remind Bethany that one day you and her will be best friends.

I enjoy you more with each day and count my blessings because I am able to stay at home with you and your sister every day and watch you grow and learn. Know that I daily ask God for wisdom on how to raise you girls and prepare you to be Godly women.

You were 3 months old this week and you have gotten very big.

As you can see, it's hard for me to get a good picture of you and your sister. I hardly have ANY picture of the two of you and it's been 3 months!

You and Brice have become friends. Your sister is best friends with Brice's big brother, Lucas!

You will only sit in your bumbo for short amounts of time or you end up like this!

On Mother's Day you were dedicated at Church. The pastor prayed for you and gave you letter that you are to open when you are 12 yrs old. The Church members also recited a prayer and pledged to help you grow into a spiritually strong person. Your friend Brantley Carter and Kaleb Sperry were dedicated with you.

Mommy felt very blessed on Mother's Day to have such a wonderful family.

I might be the luckiest woman in the world....

How far is Heaven???

Bethany and I singing Father Abraham.....

Me: I use to sing this song when I was a little girl

Bethany: With your mommy?

Me: Yes, me and my mommy would sing that song. I miss my mommy...

Bethany: (Big smile like she just thought of something really good) You can see your mommy when you get to heaven!

Me: (Tears) Yes, I'll get to see my mommy when I get to heaven.

Bethany: I'll get to see her, too, when I go to heaven. And daddy and Lydia will go to.


This was just what I needed to be reminded of today of all days and it's a bonus God delivered his comfort through the mouth of my 3 year old daughter! My sweet Nanny passed away early this morning and her journey to heaven these last few weeks have taken me back to my mom when she was near the end. So, I've had a couple of rough days watching Nanny grow sicker and taking me back to those awful weeks before my mom passed. I couldn't help but be happy for Nanny. She was a Christian and I have no doubt she stepped through the gates of glory. I wondered what she would see first and who would be their to usher her in. I thought of all the people that have preceded her and knew my mom would be there waiting to give her a big hug. Life is so fleeting and time passes by more quickly each day. I pray that I don't take this life for granted and each day is lived bringing others closer to the Creator of it all.

Bethany and Nanny at Thanksgiving Dinner 2009



Nanny meeting and holding Lydia for the first time. I'm so grateful she was able to meet Lydia and see Bethany one last time. What a blessing.

" Since you call on a Father who judges each man's work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear.

For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish ore defect.

He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.

Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God."

1 Peter 1:17-21