I was able to attend the GFI National Conference in KY this past weekend.  It was a wonderful time of fellowship and teaching.  I'm sooooo glad I was able to go.  I was encouraged and challenged. 

One of the workshop sessions I went to was on building character in our children.  I'll share some highlights from that session. 

Of course, it always starts with us, the parents.  We must know the truth.  If we don't know God's Word, we can't teach it to our children.  Not only must we know but we must be imitators of it.  It does no good if we know it and teach it and then never actually do it.  The children pick up on that very quickly. 

I was reminded how easy it is to let attitude go when the child does what has been asked.  You know how it goes.  You ask a child to put away a laundry basket.  They do it but they either stomp their feet, sigh, roll their eyes, bang it on something as they carry it etc......  We often don't take on this attitude but we really must take on the attitude.  Attitude reflects the condition of the heart.  Why don't we take it on?  There are many reasons but just a few are because the job got done. 

The job did get done so why bother dealing with the attitude.   The laundry basket IS now where it belongs so why deal with the attitude?

We don't want to deal with it.  Yep, that's a big one.  We know it will take time to deal with it and we don't want to take that time right now so we put it off and it ends up never happening.

We make excuses.  The child is tired or hungry or young ... and the list can go on and on and on.  Hmmm I wonder how their bosses will react if they yell and scream about doing their job?  Will their employer say "John must be tired today"?  

We must train the virtue.  It's not any fun always being told what not to do.  We want and need to be told what to do.  Be pro-active -- have a plan.  Character training isn't going to just happen.  Sure we might get in something here and there w/out planning but it's not of lasting value.  We must make a plan and carry out that plan.  Work on one thing at a time.  We don't want to overwhelm our children with a list of character traits/issues that need to be worked on.  Work on one thing at a time and be certain to praise them when they are doing well in that area. 

Having a plan means planning a time in your day for character instruction.  The speakers of this workshop recommended one hour per child per week (depending on the child's age)   Planning the time that this will be worked on brings up outside activities.  We need to evaluate our activities out of the home.  There are countless good activities... countless.  In fact, we could be gone all day most every day with good activities.  Good isn't good enough.  We need to save our outside activities for best.   What are the best activities for our child in this season of his/her life?  This will look different in every family and often for each child.  The bottom line is that we can't train character if we aren't home to work on it. 

The Links have a great CD set titled Understanding Character Training.  One of my favorite resources is For Instruction in Righteousness.  I use this book ALL THE TIME.   It is a must in every home, in my opinion.  :-) 

We also want to be careful of what we are putting in our children by what they read and watch.  We don't want what they read and watch to go against the very virtues we are trying to instill. 

The 4th of July is a great day for us.  We celebrate Sam and Bethany Grace's spiritual birthday.  On Thursday we went to a local Christian bookstore so they could choose a gift.  On the 4th I baked a cake for them.  Sadly, I didn't get any pictures.  I don't know where my head was!!!!!  I'll have to snap a picture of them together this week and pretend it was on the 4th.  :-)   Sam and Bethany Grace are both growing so much in the Lord.  I have seen a big growth in Sam especially.  Bethany Grace is coming along as well but I've seen a really nice growth in Sam.  May the Lord continue to draw them to Him and may they each have a thirst for the Word that can never be quenched.

Later in the day Grandma and Grandpa came over for dinner and then we all headed downtown for the big fireworks display.  We were able to view it from the roof of the Wildhorse.  The view was GREAT!  This picture isn't very good but it gives an idea of our view.

Mark did NOT like the fireworks.  I was very surprised by this.  He has never re-acted this way about anything.  He was uncertain from the beginning when he heard us talk of being on the roof.  I tried to tell him it was like a balcony and he bought that until we got to the roof.  He was clinging to me BIG TIME.  He finally started getting more comfortable and was eating some watermelon etc...  At the end of performance of the person on stage, there was a big fireworks display that went off.  He grabbed a hold of me and stayed with me all night.  I think it was louder for us on the roof because the sound was "bouncing off" of the buildings behind us.  This is how Mark and I sat for the whole fireworks display (all 20+ minutes of it)

Here are Bekah and Sam enjoying the evening.

After the fireworks, we hung out on the roof a bit longer waiting for the crowds to thin out.  Once we were headed to our vehicle the sky was looking pretty cloudy.  Brooks commented that we might get wet and I assured him that as sweet as I am, I wouldn't melt (ha ha ha)  Not long after that conversation, the rain began and it was raining HARD.  We stopped beside a building for a few minutes hoping that the rain would pass.  Nope!  So we began walking again.  When we finally reached our vehicle, we were all soaked.  I was so proud of everyone for keeping a really great attitude though.  We laughed about it and had a great time walking in the rain.

We just love summer.  Thankfully it is warm here for many months out of the year and we very much enjoy every moment of it.  This weekend we did lots of bike riding, swimming and just playing in the yard.  The children love for Brooks to play ball with them.  While playing, I snapped a few pictures of the children.

Mark LOVES riding his bike.  You know, that makes him more like his big sisters and big brother.  We finally convinced him to start using this bike.  He had been riding a trike for a long time and he loved that trike.  We told him he would be able to go faster on this bigger bike.  Several weeks ago he finally decided to give the bigger bike a try and he loves it :-) 

Yes, he is wearing a baseball cap under his helmet.  Funny boy. 

Mommy, take my picture doing a silly face while I ride:

I just love the smile in this one:

Here is Bethany Grace enjoying riding her bike as well:

And here are just some pics I snapped of them in front of the flowers.  They kept saying "take a picture of me with ____" 

I have yet to get swimming pictures.  I need to make sure and get some of those. 

The limo arrived right on time on Thursday afternoon and we had an absolutely wonderful time!!!! 
Here are the children with us in front of the limo:

Poor Mark and his sensitive eyes.  The sun was too bright for him to look right at the camera. 

We arrived at the hotel and were greeted by hotel staff.  We were escorted to our room and given our itinerary.  Our time was busy and full and we didn't have much "down time" at all. 

Our room was wonderful.  We had a suite similar to what we stayed in last year with the children.

The picture on the left of the basket is of our children standing by our old car, Penelope.  It is one of Brooks' favorite pics and is in his office.  One of Brooks' managers got the picture and had it enlarged and framed as a suprise. 

This was on another table in the room. 

The awards banquet was Thursday night and it was simply wonderful.  I don't have a lot of pictures from the evening.  There was a professional photographer snapping pics all night long and they are givng us pics so I didn't bother with trying to get a lot.  Of course, I'll be posting some as soon as we get them.  I think they said it would be a couple of weeks.  Brooks did an amazing job on his speech.  I did snap a couple of Brooks giving his speech.

Yes, his eyes appear to be closed.  Oh well.  I'm sure the professional got much better pics. :-)

This picture Brooks is talking to/about the CEO (in glasses) and the GM (brown suit). 

On Friday morning, we had breakfast at the hotel.  Here is a picture of us at breakfast:

Then we were off for our tour of Nashville.  We went to the Country Music Hall of Fame, Cheekwood, The Loveless Cafe and The Bell Meade Plantation.  We arrived back at the hotel just in time to get ready for dinner that night at The Old Hickory in the hotel.  The food all weekend was AMAZING!!!! 

After dinner, we went for a boat ride through the Delta Gardens at the hotel.

I'm so very proud of Brooks.  I think I was also so proud of him because I know that his excellence at work doesn't stop there.  He is an excellent husband and father.  I am very blessed! 

We are looking forward to the rest of the reward for this award, which is a trip to the Gaylord National with our whole family. 

This weekend Bekah and I traveled to Knoxville to a suprise 40th birthday party for a dear friend of mine.  She was totally surprised.  Her husband did an excellent job of pulling off this event.  Valarie (referred to as Val by those that love her) is an amazing woman of God.  She has had many trials and tribulations and she always stands tall, praising the Lord through them all.  She is an amazing friend to many girls.  In fact, it was joked at the party that there were many women in the room that would call Val their best friend and then another one of those many stood up and said "and we can fight it out"  :-)  Val is loved by so many and yet our love for her could never match the love of Christ.  That is just amazing! 

I didn't get many pictures (busy talking, you know)  I did snap one right as she came in but the snaps of all the other cameras ended up making my picture not turn out.  Oh well. 

Here is Val hugging one of her son's, Connor.  When Connor spoke, one of the things he said was "I love you so much I could cry"  Isn't that so sweet!!!!

One of the many fun things Eric did was to have "little known facts about Val" sitting on the tables.  Throughout the evening people would read what their fact was.  One of them said "Val put the 'care' in caregroup"  Another fact that was echoed by many ppl there was Val is a great listener. 

I've been so blessed by Val's friendship.  I'm so honored God put her in my life 11 years ago and that the friendship has stayed strong.  (depsite her moving away) 

I'm glad the event went so well and glad that it's over.  I talk to Val several times a week and I was so scared I was going to let it slip and then having to lie about some little things here and there... whew, it's over and it was a huge success.  Love ya, Val!!!!

We arrived home from vacation just in time to unload the van, change clothes and get to the soccer field.  WHEW!  Bekah had a tournament at 6:00 pm.  They tied and ended up in a shoot out.  Their team lost in the shoot out :-(  Bekah had a great attitude though and she played great.  Here she is with her medal.

Sam's team ended up first in their division for the regular season so they had a bye the first round and didn't play until 7:45 pm.  They won that game and then played in the champonship game the following day at 9:30 am. 

Their team came in 2nd.  Sam played a great game too.

Here he is getting a big hug from his coach as his trophy is awarded:

Here he is looking at his trophy:

Here are Sam and Bethany later in the day. 

Mark is sick :-(  On Saturday afternoon, he fell asleep in the floor.  He NEVER does that so I knew he was not feeling well.

Soccer is now over.  In fact, we have NO outside activities for the next three months.  YAHOOO!!!!

Saturday morning was spent at the soccer field (big surprise)  All of  our teams lost.   Everyone played well and had a good time though.  Bekah is sick again (a fever w/ a cough)  We are hoping she is better very soon as we leave for vacation on Friday. 

I did get a good action shot of Mark on Saturday. 

All of the coaches loved their cards and brownies we made.  The children all have a make-up game to play on Thursday evening.  They are so excited to play one more time before we leave since they are missing their last game of the season on Saturday.   Sam and Bekah's divisions are having tournaments the weekend we return from vacation. 

I had a wonderful Mother's Day.  I had told Brooks not to spend any $$ for Mother's Day and we could just use that $$ for vacation.  He did not listen to me :-)  I must say I'm glad he didn't as he totally surprised me with a GPS.  Anyone that knows me knows that this will be a much used item.  My sense of direction is HORRIBLE.  Thankfully, the children seem to have a better sense of direction than I do and they often keep me on track and going the right direction when we are out and about.  The children all made me beautiful cards.  I love homemade cards!!!!!  The children, especially Sam, can't wait to use the GPS.  We have quite a lot of errands to run this week to get ready for vacation and Sam wants us to use the GPS for those errands.  Rebekah made breakfast for all of us yesterday.  At church we always have a fellowship meal after service.  Yesterday the church blessed us moms by providing the meal so we moms didn't have to cook.  It was a very nice day.

Here is a picture of me with the children:

Saturday we spent all day at the soccer field -- well almost all day.  Bekah's game was at 9:00 am  It was quite cold.  We all grabbed blankets and jackets and enjoyed the game.

Bekah almost scored a goal.  Had she kicked just an inch to the right, she would have scored.  It was sooooo close.  It was a good game.  I think the final score was 4-3.  (we lost)

Sam's game was at 11:00 am

He played goal keeper for one quarter and then varying other positions the rest of the game. No goals were scored while Sam was goal keeper.  Actually, the other team didn't score any goals at all.  It was a really good game.  It was 0 to 0 until the last couple of minutes and Sam's team scored a goal. 

Bethany's game was at Noon.  She played offense the first quarter and then they moved her to goal keeper the rest of the game.  She did a great job and no goals were scored while she was goal keeper!  Go Bethany!!!!!  Sadly, all the goals scored in the first quarter, cost us a win.  I can't remember the final score but our team lost.

Mark's game wasn't until 2:15.  They had to reschedule the U6 games because their fields were flooded.  We came home for lunch and Grandma and Grandpa invited the three older children to go with them to see an air show in their town.  The girls wanted to go but Sam wanted to stay with us.  So off the girls went with Grandma and Grandpa.  They had a great time. 

Mark did great at his game.  His team won (8-6)

It is hard to get an action shot of just Mark in this age group.  They are all almost always bunched together when running up and down the field.  This age group cracks me up and my husband is the most patient man I know.  There is no way I have the patience to coach this age group. 

Well the weekend was filled with rain.  Yes, it is rain we need but we're still tired of it.  :-)  The children were all disappointed that their soccer games were rained out.  On Friday evening we received an e-mail that Sam's game would not be played due to the opposing team not having enough players for Saturday.  He was soooooooo disappointed.  He LOVES playing soccer.  Then Saturday morning we got an e-mail that U6 and U8 games (Mark and Bethany's division) were cancelled due to flooding on the field.  So that left just Bekah playing.  We loaded up and went to the soccer field for her 11am game.  Upon arriving, they called off the current game and ended up cancelling Bekah's game.  Of course, this happened AFTER we had umbrellas and chairs etc... all out of the van and were seated and ready for the game.  So back home we went.  Bekah and Bethany had a birthday party to attend and the boys ran some errands w/ Brooks.  My sister had come to watch soccer games so we ended up going out for lunch.  It ended up being a great day -- despite all the rain.

Sunday -- more rain -- though not as much as on Saturday.  We went to church and didn't stay for lunch like we normally do.  Brooks had a few things he needed to take care of and he needed to get it done before this coming weekend as we have our church retreat this coming weekend.  Anyway, Brooks and I were able to go on a lunch date.  WHOOO HOOOO!!!!!!!!  It's been a long time since we've been on a date.  I always enjoy alone time with my husband. 

Sunday afternoon it had stopped raining and the children asked to go to a local park that we hadn't been to in a while so off we went.

Here is what my dh received in the mail yesterday:

Whooo hoooo!!!!  I'm so excited.  Brooks and I haven't been on a trip (just the two of us) in about 9 years. 

They began predicting this big snow storm on Thursday.  Oh the build up to this snow storm was huge.  The news was going on and on and on about this big snow storm.  They even said "it will be the biggest storm we have had in 5 years"  The "storm" arrived much later than they predicted and then we only got about 2", if that.  It worked out to my advantage that we didn't get a lot though as we had to go pick up Brooks at the airport in the a.m.  The children did enjoy a little play before it all melted.

On Friday we met a friend at Patterson Park.  Yep, we love that place.  I forgot my camera this time.  We had a great time and it was a great way to spend a chilly rainy day.  My sister came to spend Friday night with us.   She and I went out to dinner and to see a movie.  We had a wonderful time.  I also went by a friend's home to pick up my new Creative Memories Digitial Scrapbooking software.  I LOVE IT and there will be an entry on that very soon.  :-) 

My sweet sister was kind enough to accompany me grocery shopping on Saturday.  Saturday evening my sister went home and we went over to some friend's from church for dinner.  Another family from church was coming back from Liberia with their two new sons so we had plans to all go to the airport together to welcome them home (a tradition we have)  :-)  We had a wonderful time at our friend's home.  The children had a blast.  We kept watching the flight information on -line because the flight was delayed.  It was supposed to arrive at 7:45 pm.  It ended up arriving at 9:45 pm.  We laughed and laughed because we sat around the house waiting to leave and then we ended up almost missing them. 

It was such an honor and blessing to see this family come in with their new boys.  Oh they are so precious.  God is so good. 

Sunday was church followed by a great afternoon of playing outside and grilling out here at home.  We have been having some wonderful weather.  Today, Monday, is still great weather.  It is very windy but near 70 degrees!!!!!  Tomorrow all of that changes so the children are enjoying lots of outside play time today. 

My husband is soooo patient.  Oh, if I could have just a portion of the patience he does!!!!!  I am sooo blessed to be his wife.

This weekend was another hockey game.  He was going to take his father this time but his dad didn't want to go.  ALL of the children wanted to go so we put names in a hat and drew. Proverbs 18:18   Bethany Grace was the name drawn and so off they went.  The children love going to these games with him.

Saturday we had soccer evaluations for the Spring soccer season.  My wonderfully patient husband is going to be coaching a U6 team (this means all 4 and 5 year old boys)!!!!!!  Good thing he is patient.  He is going to coach Mark's team.  This will be Mark's first season to play.  He was sooooo excited about evaluations on Saturday.  When it was his turn, he ran the drill and was so happy about it.  He was not as happy to hear that that was all he was doing that day.  He kept saying "that's it?".  The children are all excited about soccer season.  I'm very thankful the soccer field is so close to our home as all the children are in different division.  It was so fun to hear the older three cheering for Mark as he ran his drill.  It was kind of funny and we definitely stood out as no one else was cheering for their child but Sam, Bekah and Bethany were cheering loudly for their brother as he ran the drill. 

I had narrowed down our choices of what we will use for History next year but I needed Brooks' input for a final decision.  He likes to do it this way.  I narrow down the choices and then he'll make a final decision.  I shared with him that the narrowing down was done but I needed him to read over some things in making his decision.  He said he would but he didn't want to read it on-line.  So I printed it out for him (all 11 pages) and he read through it all.     I'm so glad he is so patient.  :-)   He has made a decision and so we have our history plan. 

I love my very paitent husband and am so thankful for him. 

It was Mark's turn for the hockey game this weekend.  I was a little skeptical about him going and really enjoying it.  Thankfully I kept my doubts to myself.  He had a great time.  I don't know how much he cared about the game but he LOVED that special one on one time with Daddy.  He has talked and talked and talked about it since the game.  He even knew the score so maybe he did pay attention to the game.  :-)  His favorite things (aside from the time with Daddy) are the hat he got at the hockey game.  They gave out a hat to everyone there, and then stopping for ice cream on the way home. 

I had to laugh at all the pictures on the camera.  The person that took their picture had to take quite a few to get one with Mark's eyes open and him looking the right way.  It must have been a patient person. 

On Saturday night, Sam and Brooks went to a hockey game.  Sam was excited to go and they had a great time.  The game went into OT and we won so it was a great game!!!!

They gave away a free shirt to the first "x" number of people that arrived and that is what Sam is holding. 

On Sunday at church, Bekah had another migraine.  She tried to make it through all of service but she just couldn't.  Brooks decided that he would take us home and then go back to church.  Thankfully, we live close enough for that to be an option.  Brooks left Sam and Bethany at church and brought Mark along with us. 

While we were gone, they had communion and then prayer circles/groups.  During prayer circle, Sam requested prayer for Bekah and then when it was time to pray (the men all take turns praying over the requests) he prayed.  Brooks wasn't there.  I wasn't there.  He did all of this on his own without any prompting from us.  I'm soooo proud of him. 

What a young man he is becoming.

Bekah had a rather rough day including throwing up, which is normal with migraines, but is fine now.

On Friday, we attended a Mad Scientist field trip.  We really enjoy these.  The subject this time was electricity, water cycle and explosion.  The children had so much fun and learned a lot too.  I can only share one picture from class though as all the other pictures include other children. 

Here are Sam and Bethany Grace during part of the water cycle experiment.

Then as a special surprise and treat, we went to Rainforest Cafe for lunch.  This is Mark's favorite place to eat.  It is rare that we go here but always fun when we do. 

On Saturday, we celebrated Brooks' birthday.  I had a terrible earache most of the day so I didn't too well in the picture department.  He had to work Saturday morning but that worked out well as it gave the children time to decorate the house... and decorate they did!!!  There were balloons and posters everywhere.  Here is his cake that we baked and the children decorated.

I am so blessed to be his wife.  He is a wonderful husband and father.  We are currently leading a Middle Years class in our home on Monday nights.  Last Monday he shared something in class that I thought was very sweet and I didn't realize he felt this way.  He shared that he is jealous of the time our children spend with other children or people.  This is not in a control freak, weirdo kind of way :-)  It really made me think of our Heavenly Father.  I just thought it was a wonderful picture of an earthly father loving his children so much that he is jealous of their time and it made me think of our Heavenly Father. 

As I said, he is a great man of God. 

We did buy him a gift.  We typically don't do much in the way of presents for one another but there was some big CD exchanger thing he has been wanting, so I got that for him.  He was very surprised. 

This last week was Bekah's turn to go out with Brooks.  The children love these dates with him.  They, too, went to a hockey game and then out for dessert afterwards.  What great memories my wonderful hubby is building with our precious children. 

We have had a wonderful weekend.  Brooks' Aunt and Uncle are in town visiting from AZ.  Their son and his family have just moved here from TX and so we have more family close YIPPEEE!!!!  Such fun!!!! 

On Saturday we got together with the family and then Brooks and Bethany Grace headed off to a hockey game.  They had so much fun.    Our team won too!!!!

While they were gone to the hockey game, we went w/ Brooks' Aunt & Uncle, mom & dad and cousin and his family to Gaylord Opryland.  That place is always popular with out-of-town people, especially this time of year with all of the Christmas lights.  They start taking down the light tomorrow.  Anyway, we had fun just walking around the hotel and watching the water show.  It has been a while since I've seen the water show.  It is pretty neat.  I took a little video of it with my camera.  It's not the best but gives some idea of what it is like.  The show is about 15 min long but I only captured a small portion.  You can see it here. 

Tomorrow we start back to school and our regular routines. 

Brooks was blessed with some free tickets to the Radio City Rockettes last performance for this season.  The following is a conversation in the van with Mark on the way there:

Mark:  Will the Rockettes be loud?

Brooks:  (puzzled look) No, Mark, it won't be loud.

Mark:  Maybe we should take some headphones just in case the Rockettes are loud.

Brooks:  No, we won't need to take headphones.  They won't be that loud.  (still puzzled)

Mark:  But just in case they are too loud for my ears.  Rockettes can be loud sometimes, right, Daddy?

Kim:  Mark, we are going to see the RockETTES not Rockets :-)  The RockETTES are a performers.  They sing and dance.  They will do a show for us and we will watch.  They won't be using any fireworks or rockets. 

Mark:  Oh, okay.  Thank you, Mommy. 

Brooks:  Yes, thank you, Mommy. 

As I type that out, it's not nearly as funny but it was so funny in the van yesterday. 

The show was good and we all enjoyed it very much.