Extra special pictures:)

I sure do love this guy! He even looks good in waders:)




You have to love the helpers! Chandler and Michael were in the baptistry before we even got there. They uncovered the baptistry and covered it back...





And they hung around to show Daniel support....love love love good brothers (infact and inChrist)!



John was there to help out too!!



And Sarah and Paden took him to Subway to talk and eat (lol..two of Daniels favorite things...he is definitely his momma's son!!).

A Child Of God....

Tonight Daniel was baptized. A HUGE blessing!!

Daniel has wanted to for a while. He and Scott have been talking. As it our usual practice we wait a bit. If our child, in this case Daniel, continues to talk and ask and study, then we make plans. I think so often people wait for that "perfect" time to put on Christ. Much like waiting for the "perfect" time to have children...there is NO perfect time. Granted, there are better times than others, but it is so individual.

In their study they have talked much, but this afternoon as Daniel was talking to Scott for the last time he asked Daniel, "Why? Why do you want to be baptized?" Daniel said, "To wash away my sins." Scott said, "You have sinned??" Daniel said, "Well, yeah." Scott talked before he took Daniel's confession about the people today who did not understand they were living in sin. He talked about the gift it was to have a child who knew they needed Christ.

Scott talked about adoption and that we are adopted by God. He said, rightly so, that many of our children understood adoption and understood the gift of family through adoption. Now, Daniel was adopted by God, given a tremendous church family and the gift of eternal life. Scott asked Daniel to look to his left, middle and right, he told Daniel that "all the people you see are your family!". Such love. We have such a gift in Christ!

The last question Scott asked Daniel this afternoon was, "Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God?" Daniel's reply was, "Who doesn't believe that???" Alas, we live such a sheltered life! I don't personally know any atheist in our community, in our town. We live in a God fearing place, with so many Christians. The very naive answer Daniel gave is proof to that. And I LOVE IT!!

So many people question small town living. So many people seek big cities and big living. Just give me Christ and a small place that loves him!! How my Lord has blessed our family and especially on this day....my Daniel:)

"Slap yo momma"

Tonight we made up a recipe. Lita helped me and we created these little cheese rolls. We did this.....

Used plain canned biscuits....


Flattened them......


Used shredded cheese......


Sprinkled it on the dough......




Rolled it up and put it on a cookie sheet....


Drizzled butter on it.....


Baked them on 375....and out they came!



Seth, who has been watching way too much Tim Hawkins, looked like this.....


He then looked up and me and oh so seriously said, "Momma you better just wait in the car!"

Goofy Kid! I guess the whole story was the say ....I think the kids liked them with the spaghetti! This is the video that inspired him:

CYC

I loved Bo's church bulletin message from this week. I don't think he will mind me sharing it (as he did write it to share). He had this picture of his beautiful wife (our Chelsea in the middle) and two of his youth group girls....

His byline, which I LOVE, is "Straight from Bo’s Pew"...a very neat play on his last name Pugh!

We are gone to Challenge Youth Conference this weekend in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. The theme for the weekend is “Challenge to Choose”. The idea behind the weekend is to focus on our choices and how they can shape us in both good and bad ways. There is a big problem that often arises when it comes to making choices. We sit down, begin to weigh the options, and both directions look like good. The key is to look at the REAL direction that our decisions will lead us. The first path often looks very appealing but is filled with problems down the road while the other path looks more difficult but offers so much more in the long run. Proverbs 14:12 says, ”There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.” With every choice you make, be sure that it’s not the path that “seems right” but the path that IS right.

Chelsea and Bo are so about the RIGHT WAY and I am so very proud of them both!!!

catching up....

John, Mercedez and Rosie all packed up to go with out youth group skiing this weekend. They were all ready to go!! They have texted their fun:) I have watched here and it's neat to actually be able to "see" skiers!



Sarah sent me this picture of the "cabin" she and Paden are staying at with the Lexington Youth Group this weekend.

I'm sure they are enjoying the conference!!



Last night we all (well, the "all" we had) went to a watch our high school girls in the Regional Tournament. It was neat to have Doug home for dinner and tagging along with us to the game! What a wonderful game with a strong ending...we won:)





This morning Tori had a basketball game. I love Saturday morning games so so so so much better than evening games! She scored 4 points and her team won by a tad bit more than 20 points.





Last but not least...this week while cleaning I found this sweet baby book. This book I bought 23 years ago for Chelsea! I took this picture and texted it to Chels...I will be passing it to her for my somedaywhoknowswhenbutinthefuture grandchildren:)

Times a flying!!

Time is flying by! I took this picture yesterday of Jacob. I am gathering pictures for the church Seniors video and decided I need a couple of "good" current ones. I have not sat John down yet...but soon!

John tried out today for the Senior Play. He will know how that went tomorrow. John has HOSA competitions next week.

John, Rosie and Mercedez leave early tomorrow to go skiing with the youth group. A first for Rosie and Mercedez...they are very excited!

Sarah is headed to CYC with Paden and the Lexington church. I am thinking this weekend is going to perhaps be a bit quiet:)

New Do

I love it! Sarah has a brand new, as of yesterday, hair do:) I think it has been a LOT of years since her hair has been short.

She is so funny. I wish I could share all the pre-school funnies she comes home telling. But, I somehow doubt thier parents would want me sharing it all. lol:)

Sarah continues to take my elementary school kids to eat at McDonalds every Thursday morning. She sends silly pictures. This morning she sent this picture and the message below:

I promote childhood obesity!! Milkshakes and cinamelts every thurs morning! Haha they said hi!!!

BIG kids...

I talk about my "BIG kids" and am usually just meaning they are BIG and mine. Last night I watched the emphasis change a little. I had some of my big KIDS being silly...big people acting like KIDS....I laughed and laughed.




I often wonder what this world would be like without plain old silliness? It wouldn't be silly:) And I sure would miss it!! Last night the boys (John, Jacob, Ryan B, and Preston) and one girl(Sarah) told some of the funniest stories, they said the funniest things, and laughed so very much! John, Ryan and Jacob spent a long time trying to maker their hair look bad. I would say they accomplished their goal..lol! I do believe these next two fall into a "face only a mother could love" category. BOYS! Glad I have a bunch of them!!



This is not a "silly" picture...this a a neat neat picture. I love to walk in my backdoor to have this funny guy tickling the ivories!! God sure blessed him with some pretty awesome talent!!

Imagination..

I love kids with BIG imaginations. They think outside the box, and inside the box and all around the box!

Yesterday I had to smile at my "babies", Tori and Seth, as they worked really hard on inventions. Not so much their very own inventions, but re-invented inventions.

Seth worked a long time on this catapult (with one my kitchen spoons no less!!). He taped it to the end of the board and spent a long time flipping balls of paper over the sprite can. It never really worked as well as he wanted. I think he was envisioning ROCKS, but I am glad that the paper worked better:)






Tori worked on a Kite all weekend, it is still a work in progress. Or a flight that simply hovers above the ground. She was really creative and I loved watching her!

Hooked

My little sister Sandy is hooked on the Pioneer Woman. I admit to liking her blog very much too. It is slightly overwhelming to me as I do not have time to really keep up with it all. If I said did you read ______'s blog today you would say yes or no. I can look at Pioneer Woman and feel like I have not even seen it at all. No doubt about it...she rocks on the blogging:)

I bought and read her new book:




I liked it. I would comment further, but had rather not type a spoiler. Tomorrow I will be passing this book to my sister so she can enjoy it too:) Then I will have someone to talk to about the book!

A nice long weekend.

We have had lots going on this long weekend. So much GOOD! Scott's parents Bill and Nancy (aka...Grannie and Pa) were here this weekend. I LOVE having them here. Both incredible people who are a true JOY to be around!


Stuart and Hannah were here this weekend. Big kids are always fun:) Stuart bought tickets for momma Mia in Louisville Ky. So on Saturday they spent the day in Louisville and enjoyed MommaMia that night before making the long drive home.


We had lots of running around,laying around, sitting around, hanging around, playing around going on....














Carlton was home for the long weekend. He has grown another couple of inches! Not yest as tall as Jacob, but almost there:)




Weekends are always pretty neat. My funny of the day was Ryan and Jacob:

Jacob is selling his sidekick (above) and had it parked by the road.

Ryan: Jacob is going to be just like Doug, he's selling another car.

Jacob: Doug is just like ME, I've had two more cars than HIM:)

I had to think about that one. Doug will be happy to know that no one can tease him about cars anymore...Jacob is apparently "worst/better/crazier" than him:)