Here we go again...

A year and a half ago, our family was evacuated out of the house due to mold. We had been in Savannah because Myah, at nine months old, had surgery to open up her tear ducts. A week before that, we had the house tested for mold. We received a phone call, right before heading back to St. Simons. The mold was so bad that we were told that we couldn't go back to the house. The mold was saturated in the house, and EVERYTHING would have to be cleaned. The carpet would be ripped out, and a wall would be torn down to clean the mold that was in the wall that was connected to four rooms in our house. Not to mention the worst kind of mold, that is very harmful to children, was growing underneath our kitchen sink! I had to go in the house to get clothes, and anything that we saw as valuable, and were afraid might get lost in all the moving and boxing. But this time when I went in the house, I wore a mask and gloves to help lessen the exposure of more mold spores. Everything that I took out of the house had to be cleaned with a bleach solution. I'll never forget how crazy it felt to walk through my house, with a mask and gloves on, when only a couple days before we were living in it!!!
Both Noah and Myah had colds at two weeks old ,and I just couldn't figure out why they were getting sick so easily. We were home a lot, and the chances of them being exposed to outside germs were slim. But little did I know that it was all those mold spores in our house that they were breathing in, that was causing all that respiratory sickness. We were out of the house for 9 weeks!!! It felt like eternity!!! I wish I could say that when we moved back in, I could relax and enjoy my nice, clean, mold free house. But who could enjoy it when your house is full of boxes of your stuff that someone else packed for you! It was so hard having to put my house back together with my two year old and one year old. Not to mention the fact that Adam had already started summer camps and I was pretty much on my own.
But the Lord showed me a lot about my self. It is amazing to see just how transparent your heart becomes when you are placed in trials and tribulations. It really wouldn't have been a big deal at all, if I didn't have any kids. But the stress I saw them go through was so out of my control ,and very heart breaking. Not to mention we had to move three different times with in those nine weeks. From the very beginning though, I tried to take control and make things better, for my kids. When I should have prayed fervently, asking God to take control of my heart, mind and soul. Praying that He would be glorified in me. That my light and life would shine brighter through this dark time.
Today, I packed up my family and came to my parent's house. The floors in our living room and dining room had shown some water damage that was coming from underneath and behind the wall. As the flooring guys pulled up the floor today, the moldy musky smell filled the room. We have no idea how long the water has been leaking. And it was the same place where the water leak and mold had been before. We really don't know how bad ,or if it's bad, but I had to get the kids out of the house, because I just didn't want them breathing that moldy air again. It may only take a couple of days to clean it up, that's what I am praying for. Or it might take more than a couple of days. But one thing is for sure, before I packed the bags, Adam and I prayed that God would give us peace, and be glorified in our hearts, minds, and attitudes as we deal with the uncertainty of what is. I know that He is in control and that He is the one taking care of my family!!!

The Final Night

The final night, Myah out did her big brother by riding with her daddy in the go cart . This was no small track! It had a 3 level wooden track, that took them up to the top, where there was a big slope down to the bottom track. Myah's eyes and mouth were wide open every time they went down the big drop. Honestly, I was scared for her. I didn't know how she would react. Noah went the year before at age two as well, and apparently never forgot, because he absolutely refused to go! But Myah did great! Daddy was so proud of her!


And of course, they couldn't forget to soak up some more hugs and kisses from their sweet cousin Sawyer.



Although Noah did not man up to the go carts, he did ride the water bumper boats. The speed of the boat was just a little bit slower than the go carts. O.K. ... a lot slower :)

After every prayer...

After every prayer, when blessing the food, Noah and Myah say this at the end, " Help Noah and Myah to be able to ride a horsey." They came up with this one all on their own! Riding a horse is at the top of their list of favorite things to do!
Noah soaks up every moment and doesn't make much conversation.
Myah is fearless and mirrors her brother's example. So if he's not talking, neither is she.

This is my sister's boy Sawyer. Christy has given me this same look a thousand times before! I am so glad that I captured this look! He too was pretty quiet and soaking in the moment! It kind of felt like we should all take a moment of silence during their horseback riding. It was just too cool for words!

"The Watering Hole"

I know all of this happened three months ago, but I am posting for scrap booking purposes:)

Adam thrives on adventure and risks! Apparently, he thinks Noah does too at the age of 3!


But when Noah arrived back on the rocky shore, he told me," I don't want to do that again Momma!" Adam knows that he can convince Noah to try something new the first time, but if he doesn't like it, he has a memory like his momma, and won't try it again! I went tubing down the river and went down a couple of water falls. I flipped over once and bruised my leg from hitting some rocks. I don't have pictures, but I have the algae stains on my hat to prove it!

Myah stayed in the shallow waters.Her favorite thing was picking up the rocks and throwing them back into the water.

Leah enjoyed taking naps outside, and being soothed by the mountain breeze!

$5 Date!

Tonight has been long awaited, but not at all expected. Adam has been engulfed with work and school (5 seminary classes). Yes, I said five. Would you like to hear that number again? Just kidding! I am starting to sound like my friend Suzanne who has four children, yes four, and she constantly states that number so that everyone can feel the weight of it :)(all smiles for you Suz)
Surprisingly, Adam is sitting on the couch (not at his office) looking over his school work , and tells me I should go rent a movie. I am sitting across the room at the little closet with a built in desk with my lab top wide open, listening to David Platt's teaching on the Doctrine of the Holy Spirit. Theology you may say, a passionate heart I would say, who teaches through the Word in 1 hour with more scripture than any one I have ever heard and less inspirational points. It convicts my heart, brings me to repentance, and wants me to know more of God's Word than I ever have before. But more on that much later.
So back to this whole date thing. Adam tells me to go get a movie, and that he should be finished with his school work when I return. So off I go to the nearest Red Box, and then stop at McDonalds for a strawberry smoothie (me), small fry (me again), and what I thought to be a one apple pie (not me). But when I was pulling out of the parking lot, I reached down and realized that I had not one, but two apple pies. Then I remembered the story of my friend Kelly whose husband wanted to buy one apple pie for fifty cents. The lady behind the counter replied " I'm sorry sir, it's two for $1.'But I just want one, he said. "I can't ring it up that way, it's two for $1." --- I wonder how many people have gotten frustrated over this? I just think it is plain funny tonight!
So Adam and I will sit back, in the one weekend he had off this month, watch Iron Man 2 (no chick flicks were avaliable)and enjoy each others company. Who knows? I might eat the second apple pie! :)

"With a name like Noah, he has to love animals!"

Since this was an Exotic (meaning strikingly unusual ) Petting Zoo, Noah and Myah got to pick up and hold the baby goats. Of course, Myah needed a little help from Papa Dan.
Noah thought this was the coolest thing! He went up to EVERY goat, bent down if front of them and said," Hey there goat! What ya doing... huh? Seriously! Every one of them! He was so funny to watch. My mom says all the time," What do you expect? With a name like Noah, he has to love animals!" Indeed he does.

Adam was funny to watch too. He lead the way in feeding the animals, getting his hands and feet (because he wore flip flops:) drooled on by every animal in the zoo. I preferred to take the pictures.

I am pretty sure that Noah is looking in my direction in this pic and I yelled out," DON'T PICK UP THAT ONE!"


And as we entered into this exotic petting zoo, Leah had this look as if to say, "BRING EM ON!"

Sharks, Penquins, and Toddlers Oh My!

Here is a family pic of us at the Ripley's Aquarium in Pigeon Forge. For some reason we have chosen to take a family pic right outside the shark tank!?!
The Penguin Exhibit was my fave.
Here is Noah and Myah with my adoreable, crazy-energetic nephew! My sister would say the same thing about Noah! :)

This is how we rolled around town. Noah and Myah in the lead...

And baby Leah bringing up the caboose! It's rough being carried everywhere! :)

So Back to Remembering Vacation..

Adam LOVES the mountains! And his little butter bean (Noah) and sweet pea (Myah) are following in his footsteps! We planned a weekend getaway, in Pigeon Forge, before meeting up with the rest of my family in Wears Valley. Although it was challenging staying in a one bedroom condo with all 5 of us, it was worth it. The Resort had everything right there!
It took us 13 LONG HOURS to get to this place. We had one dilema after another. Everyone got to bed that night at 1a.m.! But we didn't have to drive anywhere to enjoy the great outdoors! This was the view from our balcony. Noah and Myah loved the cool playground!
And the coolest part, so I thought, was the awesome lazy river! The kids loved going around and around. But they were a little afraid of the waterfalls!
Leah enjoyed the lazy river too! This was her first time in the water and she loved it! All my babies love the water just like their mama!!!

Family time was great! Although I will say that it is really difficult to have a RELAXING vacation when you have such little ones! But the memories we hold, as we watch their faces light up, with every new encounter are priceless! The only thing I would have changed would be for Adam to be done with his summer semester classes. He worked on his school work while the kids slept. But at least we were all together!
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Kindred Spirits!

We've all had people in our lives come and go. We have all felt connections with people through school, church, or another area of community. Sometimes those friendships fade away. Either through moving away from the area, lack of interests, or conflicting interests. But then you have friendships that stick with you through time. And no matter how much time passes, you can always pick up where you left off. I met a girl name Jessica Stone when I was fifteen years old. I visited her hometown(Baxley,Ga.), worked on her daddy's tabaco farm (I don't like getting my hands dirty and she reminds me of that :),and visited her church and heard her pastor preach, who would become my father-in-law seven years later. She had become such an encouragement to me. She always spoke God's Word to me no matter what situation I faced. Oh how I longed for that! I needed God's truth and wanted it more than anything in my life! I didn't want to wallow in my self pity, pride, or selfishness. And she would let me know when I was focusing on my self and not on Christ. And that is why I valued my friendship with her and still do!
She is also married now and I had the privilege of seeing her this past Friday as her and her husband came to visit St. Simons. We had them over at our house Friday night and talked about all the things that God was doing in our lives. We encouraged one another with the Word of God and prayed over one another. Our conversation ended at one in the morning! It was SO refreshing!!! Jessica is a kindred spirit! I too desire to speak God's Word into EVERY area of my life as well as others! I do not want to live my life dwelling on my own selfish feelings and emotions! God's Word is the only thing that penetrates through all of it, the very core of our beings! I don't want people just to listen to me, cry with me, and tell me that they will be praying for me. I want people to speak God's truth to me, even when the Truth hurts!!!
Hebrews 4:12 For the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two- edged sword piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Hello Squirrel and Goodbye Pie!

Today was the day that Myah decided to give her "pie"(pacifier) to the squirrel. This is what Noah did with his, and so he has been encouraging her to do it for quite sometime. Today was the day she decided to take the next step in becoming a "big girl." We gave her a bowl full of peanuts and told her to put her pies in it. As you can see, she decided she would eat some of those peanuts.
Daddy and Noah are up in the front leading Myah up to the "Pie Altar", I mean to the fort of the swing set. As I am standing behind her, so many questions race through my mind," I wonder if she really knows what she is doing? I don't know if I am ready for her to give it up yet? I don't know if I am ready for my baby girl to take another step towards growing up? Why is this so hard for me? " Despite of the tug of war that I felt inside, I knew that this was a good thing. And that it was important for her to take this step in growing up. And the fact that she made this decision, upon her own free will, felt even better!
Noah and Myah made a little trail with the peanuts, to lead the squirrel to the bowl with the pies. Noah was excited and Myah was a little hesitant. But she left excited, as we set off to the house to get ready to celebrate her "big step" at Chick-Fil-A and some time at the park. This is what we did with Noah, so we had to keep the tradition going :)
After our celebration, we went back to the fort and found a empty bowl and some peanut crumbs. We rejoiced that the daddy squirrel had come and taken the "pies" and peanuts to his baby squirrel. Myah was convinced that the baby squirrel needed it more than her until it was nap time.
I have loved watching Myah over the past two years take steps of independence. But as her mommy, I also love her dependence upon me for things. But my greatest desire is that she will be a godly woman, who knows who she is in Christ, and will live her life fully dependent upon Him!

Oh to see through the eyes of my boy!

So yesterday I went to the grocery store with my three kiddos. Thankfully, it was a lot more enjoyable than last week. So we are standing in the check out of Walmart and my boy looks over at a People magazine and says," Momma, there's you and daddy right there." When I looked to see what he was talking about, I couldn't help but laugh and take in the moment of this amazing compliment that my boy was giving his father and I. My recollection of the names of many actors, actresses, or any kind of famous people is small to say the least. And I should have picked up the magazine to know the names of the people that my boy was comparing us to. But I do remember that small photo on the left side of the front cover of the issue, because Adam and I don't look anything like it! The picture was taken of a couple at the beach.The woman was in a dark purple bikini, which I don't have, and she had a body that, well, is the full curvy model type body that I don't have either. And the man, had on black swimming trunks, which Adam does have, and abs so well defined, well, I won't comment about Adam's abs :)
The only thing that resembled us was that the lady had long dark hair and the man was wearing black swimming trunks! Oh to see through the eyes of my boy!

Another day to celebrate!

This past Friday was Grady's 1yr. Birthday! Grady is Adam's sister's little boy. Poppy and MeMe came to celebrate Myah's Birthday as well, that was just two days before. Grady was so funny! He carried his little blue balloon wherever he went.
Myah loved all the gifts that she was given by her Poppy, MeMe and Aunt NaNa!
Poppy didn't even have time to bring Myah's new table and chairs in the house. The kids were ready to have a little picnic and play with it outside. I hope Adam can forgive me for posting a picture of his boy with a cowgirl hat on :)
We finally convinced them to bring it into the air conditioned house! And Mommy was so glad to know that it fit perfectly in the playroom!
It was another fun filled day and we are so glad Grady decided to celebrate his birthday with all of us!

Myah is Two!!

Myah woke up to this big surprise in her playroom and has played with it much today!

When I asked her what she wanted for her Birthday, her reply was,"Um... Cupcake!"

I chose the cupcakes with smiley faces because this girl has brought nothing but smiles to our family!
Myah also watched some Playhouse Disney on Mommy's computer today!
Papa Dan and Nana brought dinner over tonight and celebrated with us! And to finish the day, Noah and Myah read their Bedtime Prayers book.

*Our family was sick this past week and Adam spent the whole day in bed. We tried to make the most of the day. This girl never complained once about not being able to get out and do anything! Easy come and easy go for this girl! I love this little girl so much!!! After I had put Myah to bed, I heard her about thirty minutes later. I went in there to check on her, and she stood up in her bed and said, "I want to play with my kitchen mommy." How blessed to know that she loves her gift so!

The beginning of a long awaited vacation!

In the beginning of the vacation, Adam had Myah graduate to a big girl swing. A couple of days later, when Poppy and MeMe visit,Myah does a backwards flip out of the swing and slides across the ground scraping her chin. Adam was the one pushing her, and I was in mid conversation with Cindy, so thankfully I didn't see it happen. Otherwise, my heart would have done a back flip!
There was also lots of outside playtime with daddy on the trampoline. And to get the minivan ready for our out of town trip, we had to drop it off to get serviced. So we had to squeeze the three car seats into Adam's accord. Leah, by the look on her face and all the crying she made, was not happy at all with the arrangement. Because now her big brother and sister were in full reach of her! She seemed to be much more content once we moved them back to the minivan!

Daddy and his baby girl!

My sweet baby girl!

I asked Adam about a week ago to take some pics of me and my baby girl. No time to change clothes or refresh my makeup, but I didn't really care. I just wanted some pics of me and my baby. My favorite thing with Leah right now is her grabbing me by my face, and pulling me closer, as if to say "Pay attention to me momma!" How can I refuse! I am so glad that the Lord has blessed us with her!!!Who needs photo shop with a beauty like her!I could use some photo shop to conceal all of my freckles! My momma use to call them angel kisses!

Missionairies in Training!

Here is some pics of the kids helping Adam in the yard. I know it looks like a jungle! Every time he cuts down a banana tree, I think three grow back in it's place! The kids were eager to help as you can see!