July And August Photo Dump

4th of July with the Hernandez Family

We said goodbye to Noel as she heads back to her Alma Mater 

as the women's soccer assistant coach!

Homestar and his sister came back into our lives!

Pool cookout and swimming in the rain with the Stanton's

And...back to school!

First day of 5th, 5th and 2nd

Daddy's first day teaching at SEBTS

We found the COOLEST used bookstore called

"Dogeared Books"

Jude has mastered the art of making coffee for his tired Daddy on Sunday afternoons:)

Cai Turns The Big 1-0

I'd say I'm super behind on capturing Cai's 10th birthday, but with my track record I'm actually right on time, lol!  Especially since he hasn't even had his birthday outing with a friend yet.  We have a 6 month birthday buffer in this house, haha!

Cai, 
what can I say, you are hardly ever still enough for me to capture any good photos.  You are the class clown, but thankfully your teacher said you are respectful enough to know when to stop...most of the time!  "You got Cai-ed" was a phrase birthed from you frequent practical jokes on all of us. I love how you laugh.  And your questions, OH the questions! Keep asking questions sweet boy, just maybe ask some other people sometimes cuz this mama has reached her question-answering max this year, ha!  I love how you love littles and how you try to make them laugh.  I love your artistic bent and your creativity.  I LOVE your love for soccer, and MAN are you good at it!  You are determined and work hard on that craft.  I can't wait to see you play in the coming years.

Micaiah Joel, I love you to the moon and back.
Happy Belated Birthday buddy!
Love, Mom

Third Annual Granite Acres VBS

This year was the best yet!

Our MC got to spearhead the story and craft time which was so fun.

My highlight was the moment I sharing about growing in our faith by reading the Bible.

One of the girls raised her hand and asked,

"What is a Bible?"

Well, from that moment on we had a mission to get her and

a handful of her friends their own personal Bible.

After snack time I asked if they wanted to come over and learn about

WHAT the Bible is, how it is set up and how to read it.

It was the COOLEST thing!

They were SO excited!

I was so excited!

I told them to go home and read through a passage other own and then 

bring their Bible's the next night to talk about those verses they read 

and we'd find some more verses together.

And wouldn't you know, as soon as I pulled up the following evening they came running

to the car with Bibles in hand anxious to dive in!

Generation Students Retreat

Not even a month after being in the Pigeon Forge area with my family,

we packed up our things and just Josh and I headed back to that same area

to lead for the Generation Student's Summer Retreat.

We had a sweet little cabin by a roaring creek.

The students sang their hearts out.

The Holy Spirit was tangible.

It was a great get-away and refresher in the midst of a very busy summer.

Jude asked if I'd bring Boo so I could remember him:)

A little mid-trip yoga stretch stop in the mountains, lol

Zeke's Rite Of Passage Ceremony

Zeke is literally surrounded by godly men

so it wasn't hard to come up with a plan for his rite of passage ceremony!

And just like Rainy's ceremony, Josh was in charge of the whole thing.

The main theme was the definition of a godly man who:

Rejects Passivity

Accepts Responsibility

Leads Courageously

and

Lives for the Greater Reward - God's Reward

Celebrating 50 Years

My parents celebrated 50 years of marriage.  No small feat!  We all went to Pigeon Forge, TN to celebrate at Black Bear Lodge.  What sweet memories we made over those three days.


The weather was beautiful, the scenery was absolutely gorgeous and the sunsets were stunning.

The cabin we stayed in had so many fun things.

Even Nonnie got competitive at the air hockey table, lol.

We went to the Pirates Voyage dinner theatre

Us siblings got together and gifted them with a book full of 

memories from friends and families.

and then my dad gifted each of us with a blessing.

It was such a beautiful and sweet evening I will not soon forget.