Thursday, June 21, 2012

Summer of Service-Week 3


We are continuing to do our Summer of Service with one service project a week. My prayer is to instill a servant's heart in my boys. Today we made goody baskets for the kids in the pediatric floor at Baptist East. They only had four kids today so it worked out perfectly, the kids each got to do one basket, I did one and then we left an extra basket full of goodies for the nurses to pass out when t...hey have new admissions. We went to the store and they picked out what they put in their baskets. We included coloring books, crayons, bubbles, bible stories, glow sticks, flash cards and toys. The kids had a great time filling up their baskets! Before we went into the hospital we prayed for the kids that would be receiving these baskets. We hope these baskets help brighten their day and they learn more about Christ's love through them. I didn't get many pictures because I was too busy herding 3 kids! Ha! So excited cousin Cooper joined us!
 

 

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Summer of Service-Week 2

I'm really loving doing this Summer of Service with my boys! It's so neat to see John Parker get so excited about serving others. Today we decided to go to our church and take doughnuts to our church staff. No, not every project we will do will envolve food. ha! I know from experience that working on church staff is not the easiest job in the world. It's hard to make every church member happy. Although I think our church staff does a pretty awesome job at it!

John Parker was so cute! He insisted he wear the Krispy Kreme hat and he wanted to deliver a doughnut to every office. He would tell each person "Thank you for working so hard for us!" It was the cutest thing. We talked alot today about how hard our church staff works so that more people can learn about the Lord. We are so grateful for our church staff!

 

Thursday, May 31, 2012

Summer of Service!

This summer I thought it would be neat to do one service project a week with the boys. I absolutely LOVE serving people and I hope to instill a servant heart in my children. I pray everyday that my boys will be used to do great things for the Lord when they grow up!

Our first Summer of Service Project was taking cupcakes to the fire station near our house. The boys love driving by there every morning and waving to the firemen. John Parker also colored a picture of a firetruck (with mommy's help) for the firemen. The picture had the bible verse "Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God" Philippians 1:3 on it. We want to share the love of Christ with everyone we serve this summer. The firemen were so excited to see the boys and to get cupcakes! They gave us a tour of the firetruck and took lots of pictures. After I talked with John Parker about how important it is to serve others and share the love of Christ with them. I'm super excited to see what this summer has in store for us!



John Parker in his firesuit with the firemen!

"Oh Wow!"

He finally warmed up!

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

I Never Want to Forget

Well I've tried to keep this blog pretty private or as private as a public blog can be. But the Lord has been at work on me and I can't keep it "private" We are less than a week from moving from Huntsville back to Montgomery. Am I excited? Yes. Am I sad? Yes. And everything in between. I'm waiting for someone to pinch me and tell me its all a dream. Before we get back to Montgomery I wanted to write down a few things I never want to forget from this moving experience. The Lord had to pull me from home and put me in Huntsville to teach me some hard lessons. He has completely opened doors to us back home and every single detail has fallen exactly into place for us to move including we already sold our house here in a week and a half! We are going home but we are coming back changed. I pray my experience here will allow us to go home and reach out to those in Montgomery who are in the same place I was when I arrived here!





I Never Want to Forget...






  • What it was like to come to Huntsville not knowing anyone.



  • What it was like to complete paperwork for John Parker's school and when asked for a name and number of an emergency contact I had to leave it blank because I didn't know anyone



  • What it was like to go from a calendar full of things to do to a calendar completely empty. Made me realize how too busy I was back home.



  • What it was like to have a newborn, post partum and new town all within a few month of each other



  • What it was like to put on a mask that "everything is wonderful" for my family back home when I was a complete disaster.



  • What it was like to have strangers from church show up at my door each night with meals after Jake was born...talk about humbling. Never before our move would I have ever made a meal for someone I didn't know.



  • What it was like to have neighbors drop off goodies to welcome us to the neighborhood.



  • What it was like to take walks around the neighborhood with John Parker and make tons of friends because he talked to everyone



  • What it was like to make one sweet friend Holly who literally pulled me out of my house and made me join her at biblestudy and become involved. She even got me in a cooking club now you know that's definitely out of my comfort zone.



  • What it was like to take hours to locate a post office and car wash.



  • What it was like to learn I could make a friend in the grocery store.



  • What it was like to take John Parker to his first birthday party here and not even know who the birthday boy was.



  • What it was like when the highlight of my day was to pick up John Parker from school because I was able to talk to people, they didn't know they were my only friends.



  • What it was like to hire a babysitter. Amy you will never know how much your friendship and trust meant to us!



  • What it was like to sit on my stairs and cry and pray for hours "Lord please get us home!"



  • What it was like to have a baby who screamed every day for for four months 23 1/2 hours a day.



  • What it was like to have a pediatrician who wanted to help Jake as much as I did.



  • What it was like to be the "visitor" at a church



  • What it was like to not have family at John Parker's 1st t-ball game, soccer game and school programs. My family would have been there if they could weekday events didn't make it easy for them to attend.



  • What it was like to leave my children with strangers in a church nursery.



  • What it was like to miss birthday parties of our friend's children back home but their sweet invitations meant the world to us!



  • What it was like to be so selfish for months and not allow the Lord to use me where he placed me



  • What it was like to have my prayers slowly change from "Lord please get us home" to "Lord thank you for our home!"



  • What it was like to go eat lunch with strangers and feel so comfortable.



  • What it was like to realize the Lord had to put me here because I was too comfortable in Montgomery



  • What it was like to finally let the Lord take me and use me



  • What it was like to let my guard down and form friendships



  • What it was like to see all the special friendships the Lord placed in our life-I wish I could list every single one of them but the list is too long!



  • What it was like to have neighbors who literally became family-The Davidsons and The Clarks are truly the best neighbors ever!



  • What it was like to have a husband who stood next to me in all of my selfishness, uglyness, and bitterness. A husband who has been an amazing provider, father and best friend!


  • What it was like to serve a Lord that never left me nor forsaked me. When I was all alone He was the only here with me all the time.

Huntsville we will miss you! We will miss all of our sweet friends who have become our family! We will never forget lessons learned and family formed in this great town!


"Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; He will never leave nor forsake you." Deuteronomy 31:6

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Beach Boys












I decided I'd better update the blog with pictures of our first beach trip to Destin this year before we head out on our next one soon! We had a great trip in April with my sis, brother-in-law and nephew. We went down a few days early and they came shortly after. The boys had the best time. John Parker still says "Mommy I miss the beach!" John Parker was totally into the sand castle building he didn't really go in the ocean alot. The water was still super cold. Jake loved the sand! He thought it was fun to eat! Oh he was such a mess! The beach was actually easier than going to the pool. Jake pretty much stayed away from the ocean and at the pool he just thought he could swim and not be in his infant float. Another favorite of John Parker's was going to play putt-putt. That boys loves some golf! We of course ate some yummy food. Some dinners were better than others. Eating in restaurants is so hard right now with Jake. ha! I absolutely love the beach! Nothing better than spending all day on the beach having good quality family time! Can't wait for our next trip with the Bowmans!





































































































Monday, May 9, 2011

Mother's Day 2011

We had a great Mother's Day just our family of four! Yes I'm on a roll...two holidays actually staying in Huntsville. I had a wonderful Mother's day! I did miss seeing my mom and Glenn's mom. Glenn got up early with the boys and cooked breakfast and then we went off to church. I must have been an extra special mommy this year because I got two sets of flowers(roses from Glenn and spring flowers from the boys) along with some sweet cards and patio furniture. We were in desperate need of patio furniture. We left our old furniture in Montgomery at the old house and haven't bought any since we moved here. Glenn picked it out all by himself and he did a great job. Even bought some cute pillows! We ended the day with steak on the grill. Yum! Jake did have a rough little Mother's Day he's been screaming the last few days. We are praying it's not another scream phase for him. Whew! I can say honestly Jake has made me work hard for my mother's day this year! ha! I love my boys more than anything in this world! Before I had children I had "plans" of what I wanted to be and do when I grew up. Ha! Then becoming a mother changed everything. Everyday I just live for the simple moments with my children. Nothing else matters in this world but my family. I will take the title of mommy any day over any corporate title. I now know what I want to be when I grow up...a mommy!


Friday, April 22, 2011

Days I Live For....

The sweetest moments with my boys are doing the most simple things...like baking pizza!