Circle M City & Scotty McCreery

Birthday Boy (6) & Birthday Girl (5)

Birthday Friends (minus Aubrey & Jacob)

Sheriff Marsh doing rope tricks around Noah

Watching the Sheriff make our Circle M brands

Wagon Ride

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY SWEET BABIES!

Waiting for Scotty McCreery to sign our cd!

Signing the cd

Soo.... both my babies have October birthdays...YAY! We celebrate together so this year we went to the Circle M City Western Town in Sanford. OH MY GOODNESS. We had so much fun. Tim & Michelle Marsh put on an awesome show being the Sheriff & "Crazy Kate". He did a rope show, Bullwhip, Gun tricks, Wagon Ride, Branding Activity. Crazy Kate was a crowd favorite! If you are looking for any event for any age person we highly recommend this place! They have Bluegrass on Monday nights, will do church functions etc... So reasonably priced and so neat. The kids had a blast! Their party was in the Saloon! More info? www.circlemcity.com

Also, Noah has always loved Scotty McCreery since he was on American Idol (me too) ;). Nana heard he was going to be at a signing nearby & guess who got to meet him? Oh yes, Noah did! Scotty was SO super nice & warm to everyone he meet. Very nice guy. Since it was Noah's birthday, he personalized his signature to say "Happy Birthday Noah". Noah was thrilled.

Big weekend! Fun time & memories. Thanks to all who made it happen! We are so grateful.

Another one bites the dust! **warning-graphic hunting photo**



It's killin' season

So, first hunting outing.....yielded a pesky female coyote.
They have a great story of how they got it. John's been wanting these coyotes off the farm b/c they kill the calves & they got one. To say they were excited would be an understament of the universe.



5!

My Sweet 5 Year Olds

Laurels Edible Arrangement that Nana & Poppy sent to her on her birthday....... let's just say it was ALL gone

She wanted a strawberry cake with marshmallows & sprinkles. She got her wish.

I got to bring cupcakes to her preschool class

Laurel just had her 5th birthday! Since both of my kids have their birthdays in October, we are having a bigger combined party later in the month but we still had a cake  & some presents for Miss Lucy Loo on her birthday. I got to take cupcakes to her preschool class and celebrate there. They were so good to her. When I got there she had an apron & a crown!! She was pretty happy but did get embarrassed when everyone sang to her. She was pretty specific about her cake so she and I made her pink birthday cake with marshmallows & sprinkles. She is getting so big & I'm so proud of her. Her birthday brought some pretty deep questions from her such as "what does a birthday mean" and some others about her heritage so we went through them the best we could. She's a smart little thing and we can't imagine life w/out her!!!

So, for a few weeks I have 2 Five Years Olds. My sister and I are also 11 1/2 months apart and it used to be this was with us as well. I remember telling my mother that she was crazy for  having us that close together. HAAAAHHAAAA!!  I'm convinced the Lord has a sense of humor. I wouldn't trade it for the world!

Mental Health Day

Baby Duncan can make anyone smile :)

How do you like Laurel's interpretation of an Amish horse & Buggy? I was pretty impressed!

Nothing like the comfort of Cookies & Hot Chocolate

Never underestimate the  power of a Mental Health Day. I had already made the decision to have one after the business of this past week. Hard things, mentally exhausting things, serious sicknesses, a death in the family,  ( you know.... things that everyone is going through) but God threw in some wonderful nuggets!! One of my best friends who has been gone gone for several years is moving home!!! God may have answered another "desire of my heart". etc. etc.  Mike & I had the privilege to teach the teen class at our church Sunday. It was on divorce and how it affects the kids. HEAVY STUFF. These kids were open and honest and once again it was the exact lesson that was needed that week. God refreshed me with the praise & worship as well. How wonderful it is to me to think that one day we get to sing to Him forever! I'm so looking forward to that. He is so good to us. He does want us to praise Him during these storms of our lives. He promises he does care. He says He is near to the brokenhearted! Those are promises we can bank on!

On another note: Good thing I'd "penciled in" a mental health day b/c both babies woke up sick :) Oh well.

South Cackylacky

Noah, Laurel & Grandat

Love this picture....she's holding on to him b/c she's afraid he'll fall in!

I wish I could sleep like that

Family Resemblance?

Michelle, Nait, Dusie&Grandat,Mike,Martha, Noah & Laurel oh and don't forget AJ (dog)!

The scariest ropes course ever!!! But we did it!

Out of Africa she's not

We had a wonderful trip this past weekend to SC to see Grandat & Dusie. It had been a while since we saw them and it was nice to catch up. I'm sorry NC, but SC has you beat HANDS DOWN in BBQ!! So yummy! While there, we visited the Columbia Zoo. If you are ever in that area don't miss it. Everything is so close and nice and the kids LOVE it. We also did a really scary ropes course (all but the highest level). For some reason it was much scarier than ziplining! Thanks Grandat & Dusie for a great time.

Been a bit of an emotional rollercoaster here the last week. As I put in a previous post, a dear church friend found out she had probably stage 3 lung cancer. The prognosis was not good. However, we are praising God tonight because it is NOT lung cancer but reacurring breast cancer which has a much more straightforward treatment and a much better prognosis! Praising our great God. Please pray also for their son Brian who has found out he most likely has Thyroid Cancer and will have it out in October. On another note, my Aunt has found out that her cancer has spread to her brain. She is undergoing radiation to attempt to shrink it. She did tell me yesterday that "It is well with my soul" but oh so hard to watch!! 
All of this heartache has driven me to the Scriptures and especially the Psalms which are always a comfort to me. 
Psalm 90:10 - "Seventy years are given to us! Some even live to eighty. But even the best years are filled with pain and trouble; soon they disappear,and we fly away!"
12:  Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom.

Psalm 112:7  They do not fear bad news; they confidently trust the Lord to care for them.

Oh that is my prayer!! I do not want to fear what's around the corner for myself and those I love. I want to truly understand how Paul could say "To live is Christ and to die is GAIN!" I'm not there yet, but I want to be. I praise the Lord that He "keeps me from all harm and watches over my life". He keeps watch over me as I come and go, both now and forever." Psalm 121:7-8

He gives and takes away. My heart will CHOOSE to say..... Blessed be the Name of the Lord.