I was able to snap a few pictures of Mark at his game this weekend.  He and Sam almost always play at the same time.  Between trying to watch both games, cheer for both boys, video both games and snap pictures -- well, I don't do a very good job of getting all that done.  :-)

Mark and Jackson

I took this picture to show the green on Mark's face.  He had very much enjoyed the snack of a fruit roll-up thing.  The green doesn't show as much in the picture.

I love this hymn.  It is one of my favorite if not my very favorite.  We sang this in church this morning and I'm reminded and humbled at God's faithfulness.  His love is never ending and there is no greater love than the love of Christ.

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father;
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be.

Refrain

Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

Summer and winter and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

Refrain

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide; 
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!

Refrain

Conversation with Mark Sunday morning:

Mark:  I'm hungry.  May I have a waffle?

Me:  Bekah is ready for church so she will get it for you.  I need to take a shower.

Mark:  Okay.  Thanks Bekah.  Mommy you don't need a shower.

Me:  Mommy does need a shower.  You don't want a stinky mommy going to church.

Mark:  Yes, I would like you to go to church stinky.

Me:  You would?

Mark:  Yes, because then no one would want to be around you and I could have you all to myself. 

Me  Laughing (and making a mental note to fill his love tank) 

My mother's employer recently had employee appreciation day where they give you free tickets to a local carnival.  The children had a great time spending the day with Nana and enjoying the rides.  It was very hot but lots of fun.  I think the heat kept a lot of people away which worked to our advantage.  The children didn't have to wait in any lines.  They could get off a ride and right back on. 

I didn't get lots of pictures but did snap a few.

Bethany Grace had on shorts and the seat was very hot and burned her legs so she didn't do this ride.  I'm so thankful for the love and kindness the older three show Mark.  They weren't negative at all about what some would call "baby rides"  They made a big deal about them and joined in with Mark.  They never said "that rides not very fun"  If Mark enjoyed it, they enjoyed it.  I praised each one of them later that evening for how they honored God by honoring their little brother. 

The bumper cars were their favorite. 

Bekah and Mark:

Sam:

Bethany:

Mark was thrilled beyond words when he was able to drive a bumper car all by himself.  I didn't think it would be allowed but the operator of this ride was so kind.  He told me that Mark was tall enough and so we would see how he did.  He really watched out for Mark and made sure he got this one certain car each time. 

On Friday, May 22nd, we attended a beautiful wedding.   The wedding was outdoors and was simply beautiful.  It honored God, their parents, and was a blessing to each person that attended.   The bride and groom are two very special people to me.  I have been friends with the groom's family for 12 years.  In fact, his mother is my dear, dear friend and mentor.  I have known the young man since he was 9 years old.  I have known the bride's family for 9 years but been very close to them for the last 4 years.  When I found out they were marrying I said that it couldn't get any better -- my two favorite families uniting in holy matrimony.   

The wedding reminded me to be much more diligent than I have been about praying for the future spouse of each of our children.  I pray about that but not nearly as often as I should. 

Here are the bride and groom in their first dance as husband and wife:

And here is my beautiful crew:

Sam (10), Bethany (10), Bekah (12) Mark (5 -- watery eyes because he just received a hug and was poked in the eye) 

The boys:

The girls:

The reception that followed the wedding was filled with wonderful fellowship time.  The children (and adults) had a great time dancing and talking with one another.  It was a beautiful night.  I would even say it was perfect.

Here are some pictures of my kiddos dancing the night away.  :-)

We were so blessed to be a part of this wedding.  I'm thankful for the example these two families have set.  I'm thankful they are a big part of my life.  I'm thankful (and heeding) the reminder to pray diligently for spouses. 

Our Spring soccer season has ended.  We had more rain-outs than actual games.  It has been a very wet Spring for us.  Our lessons in soccer this season weren't at all what I thought they would be.  Our biggest lessons were in accepting the authority above us -- even when that authority makes poor calls.  We saw more poor calling this season than we have ever experienced.  The children noticed it and we had lots of conversations about it.  They also noticed that the poor calling went both ways.  It never appeared to be against any one team.  It was simply a poor job by the ref. all the way around.  I was pleased the children were able to recognize that. 

At Mark's last game of the season there was a scheduling issue with game times and fields.  I'll spare you the long story but the short of it is that the person in charge came over and told the coaches that we had to end our game at half time.  Of course no one was happy with this especially since we haven't been able to play that many games.  The opposing coach started making a huge deal out of it and was trying to get the parents of his team to "rise up" against this.  I said that we would accept the authority that is above us.  Bekah was sitting beside me so we began chatting about God's word on this subject.  When we were done discussing it, I turned to talk to a parent and the mom sitting beside Bekah said "What does the bible have to do with soccer?"  I didn't hear it and she wasn't asking Bekah.  According to Bekah, she was making a comment and laughing about our conversation.  Bekah shared this with us on the way home. 

Needless to say, we had WONDERFUL conversation about this comment.  We talked about how the bible has everything to do with EVERYTHING.  While it may be silent on the mechanics of soccer,  we can and should apply the bible to every aspect of our life.  Sadly, for many people the Bible is for Sunday morning and that's it.  We talked about how we should consider the Word of God in all we do and that means ALL we do:  what we read, what we watch, what we say, what we think, how we treat others etc...  It was a wonderful conversation.  While I'm sad that the mom that made the comment doesn't see the connection, I'm thankful the Lord placed her in our path that day. 

We have had beautiful weather here and we are enjoying every moment of it.  Saturday the children all had soccer games.  I didn't do great with getting pictures.  Bekah's team had to forfeit the game because they didn't have enough players. 

Sam's team lost but he had lots of fun and played a good game.

Bethany Grace played goalie for the first half of the game.  She didn't let any goals in!  She played both offense and defense during the 2nd half. 

Mark's game overlapped with Bethany's game so I didn't get any pictures of him and only caught the last couple of minutes of his game. 

After games we were off to our church retreat.  The children were so excited about it.   We love our church family and had the most wonderful time with them this weekend. 

Here is Bekah with one of her friend's.

And another one of Bekah on a little hike we took.

Bethany enjoying her bike:

And Sam on his:

I just now realized I didn't get any pictures of Mark.    He enjoyed his bike and also did a great job sharing his bike with the other children. 

We are thankful for a wonderful weekend.  We continue to marvel at God and all His creation.   What a Mighty God We Serve!!!

Saturday was another fun-filled day at the soccer field.  It was also picture day, which added a bit of chaos but it's all good.  :-)

Bethany is not supposed to have that watch on while playing.  She forgot about it and she started out playing goalie so it was covered by the goalie shirt.  Then once out of goalie position, no one noticed and she didn't remember until after the game. 

Mark and Jackson hanging out watching Bethany's game:

I think Mark enjoys talking more than he enjoys playing soccer.  This is what you'll see him doing during most of his soccer game:

I have certainly neglected my blog for a bit.  Time for catch-up.  :-)

Bethany Grace is enjoying being able to hear and being showered with all the gifts she has been receiving. 

She continues to rest quite a lot

We go back to the ENT this Friday, 17th. 

We enjoyed soccer games two weeks ago.  This last week we were on Spring break from soccer.  The timing of that worked out well as Bethany only has to miss one soccer game even though she has no activity for two weeks. 

Obviously, Bekah does not get her legs from me. 

We finished our school week last week.   

We will enjoy taking a few weeks off and then get going with it again. 

Really bad storms came through TN on Friday.  I was reminded once again of what an amazing church family we have.  The news reported funnel cloud activity in our town.  We were out to lunch and mall with my sister for the day so I was clueless about all the weather.  My cell phone began ringing off the hook with church family and friends calling to check on us.  We love our amazing church family so much.  Once we returned home, I had lots of messages there as well.  Thankfully we had no damage from the storm but many homes were lost in a nearby town.

We had a wonderful Resurrection Day yesterday remembering all that Christ has done for us!

We had a wonderful (and busy) first weekend of soccer.  Sam's game was at 8am and it was COLD.  There was frost on the field and 10 minutes into the game, the toe of his cleats were covered in frost.    The batteries in my camera were low, which I didn't discover until we were already at the field.  I only got one picture of each child. 

Sam played a great game.  He didn't play goalie any and I think he was happy for the change.  His team name is "Red Hawks"

Bekah had the next game.  Her division is being done differently this season.  They didn't have enough girls for U13 to make full-size teams so they have 4 teams of 4 girls each and they are playing 3v3 (tournament style).  It's different and is going to take some getting used to but we think it is going to be great and really help with skills.  Her team is the Neon Sharks.  Bekah scored a goal in her game.

Bethany's game was next.  She has the same uniform she had her first season of soccer.  Her team is called "Strickers"  You can tell she still isn't feeling well.  She didn't run hard and play aggressive like she normally does.  The second half she was goalie and she did great as goalie.  She had 4 saves and no scores on her!

Mark had the last game of the day.  His team is called "Tigers"  I didn't get to see all of his game because Bethany's game over-lapped his game.  He had a great time and is so glad that his friend, Jackson, is on his team. 

Here are Mark and Jackson after the game:

Last night was Bekah's turn to go to the hockey game with Brooks.  We played the Red Wings.  They had a wonderful father/daughter time.  Brooks so enjoys this time with each of the children.  Last night he came home and said "Bekah was a wonderful date tonight"  I'm so thankful for the amazing father he is. 

She was really excited because they arrived early and she got to see the Preds practice.  As they were coming off the ice, many of the players touched her hand either with their gloved hand or their hockey stick. 

The Preds beat the Red Wings 8 - 0 so that made her night even better. 

You know how some days in our parenting journey we can get overwhelmed by all that we still need to do.  More teaching, more training, more correcting, more encouraging, more discipleship that needs to be done and the list goes on and on and on.  Some days we find ourselves asking "is any of this really working" -- at least, I know I have those days.  God is so good to give us a glimpse of the fruit here and there along the way to remind us to not grow weary

"And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart." Gal. 6:9

Yesterday our loving Father, gave me one of those glimpses.  Bethany Grace didn't feel like attending church (still suffering with ear infections... next ENT appointment today at 2pm).  Brooks stayed home with her (and Mark) and I took Bekah and Sam to church.  I think I have shared before that our church does communion every Sunday.  The fathers lead their families in communion.  It is a beautiful thing.  With Brooks not there, Sam lead our family in communion.  He did a wonderful job and it was so refreshing to see him grow and really "step up to the plate" and lead our family with his Daddy absent.  He talked about the message that had been delivered.   Here was Sam's prayer:

"Father, thank you for this family.  Thank you for choosing us.  Thank you for this gift of communion with you.  Help us to be like Abraham.  Help us to be considered righteous because we believe.  Help us to follow as you lead."

I was so thankful for this glimpse of fruit.  So very thankful for the reminder of Gal. 6:9.  Everything we are doing is worth it.  It does matter.  Yes, it takes time and is so very draining but the alternative -- well, there is no alternative.  Some days we get so caught up in "will he/she ever understand these irregular verbs" and yesterday was a wonderful reminder that what matters most is Christ.  If my children can understand every English concept known to man, but don't know Christ, then I have failed.  Teaching His ways, and His words each and every day is our top priority. 

Certainly, I'm not saying that English concepts aren't important.  We must teach academics.  I'm sure most of you understand my point here but I put this disclaimer here for those that will e-mail me about academics being important. 

We took Bethany to the doctor we've been seeing for the ear infection on Monday.  He was puzzled that she is still in pain, ears still infected etc...  He said he would prescribe another antibiotic and more ear drops.  I interrupted him and told him I thought we needed to see an ENT.  He didn't feel it was necessary but after more conversation, he gave us the referral to the doctor I wanted. 

We were able to get in for Friday.  We were very pleased with the ENT.  He was very nice and obviously knowledgeable.  It was such a relief to be seeing a doctor that was confident and knowledgeable.  He said that he is of the opinion that it started as a sinus infection and then went to her ears.  He gave us two options.

1.  surgery and put short-lived tubes in

or

2. a very strong antibiotic for the next month.  If that doesn't clear it up, then we'll have to do tubes.  

He said that we should know within a week if the antibiotic is going to work.  If it does, she'll remain on it for 3 more weeks.  If it doesn't, then we'll schedule the tubes and she'll be on an antibiotic for a month.

We chose the antibiotic and go back in on 2/2 to see how things are looking.   

Bekah's piano recital was yesterday afternoon.  She did such a good job. 

Here is a picture of her posing after the recital:

I took video of it so let me see if I can upload it properly :-)  She played 4 songs and I took 3 sep. videos of it because I wasn't sure how long my camera would record video and we didn't have the camcorder with us.

Side note.... To turn off the music that plays on my blog so you can hear her playing LOL scroll down and on the right hand side you'll see "fine tunes"  Just click the square and that will stop it playing so you can hear her play. 

 I did get it to work.  I had to upload the second two videos at YouTube because of the size.  Photobucket will only accept a certain size and my file was above that size.    If it doesn't work for you, please let me know.   

On Saturday evening we went over to a friend's home for the evening.  We love this family so much.  They are such a joy to be around.  Not only do I love spending time with the wife, Shelly, but Brooks really enjoys his time with Rick, her husband.  It's so hard and rare to find friends where both the husband and wife "click".  Shelly is an amazing host.  Each time we are over I'm always amazed at all she has put together and how beautiful everything looks.  No doubt when they are at our place, it's totally for the fellowship because I do not "measure up" to Shelly's hosting skills.  :-)  Our children adore their daughter, Marissa.  She is such a beautiful girl and is such a joy to be around.  The children were beyond thrilled when I told them we were going over Saturday. 

Here are Marissa, Mark and Bethany.  They stopped playing for a moment so I could snap a picture.

This photo isn't the best.  I needed to re-take it with the flash but my battery on my camera was dying and I could only take one picture and then shut it off for a while.  LOL  Marissa and Bethany do such a good job of including Mark in their play.  They are such a blessing to him.

Another big hit at their home is the Wii.  Bekah and Sam had tons of fun playing it.  Of course, I didn't get a picture of them.   Here are Bethany and Marissa playing.  Mark is in the middle and Bekah watching on from behind.

And I was able to snap a picture of the men:

We are so thankful for good friends like Rick and Shelly. God is so good to bless us with friendships that are more like family than friends. 

Saturday we only had two soccer games because Sam and Bethany had soccer games during the week.  Mark and Bekah played Saturday and their teams both won.  I didn't take any pictures because I decided to video instead.  I've been bad about not getting that done.  Our weather was just beautiful here Saturday and we had a lovely day.  Saturday evening Brooks & Bekah went to a hockey game and the Preds won!  They had a wonderful time.

Sunday Bethany Grace woke up sick.  Last week was not her week (hurt hand in soccer, scoliosis and then sick)  It just happened that I had ordered Thieves oil from a friend that is a distributor for Young Living Oils.  I put the Thieves on her last night.  This morning she still wasn't feeling great, so I treated her with Thieves again this morning and this afternoon.  I'm thrilled to report that at now 5:10 pm she is almost completely well.  I'm sold on the Thieves!!!!!  We are slowly (very slowly) building our oil supply.  It's good, but expensive, stuff. 

This week is a crazy week for us.  We have school (of course), music, chiropractor appointment, orthodontist appointment, soccer tournaments and practice, and GKGW class.  Oh and Saturday night is Mark's turn to go to the hockey game with Brooks.  Somewhere in all of that we would really like to help a friend that is running for State Senate.  I have been doing some phone bank stuff for them but they need people to help this week and next for election. 

Saturday was another fun-filled day at the soccer field.  The children really enjoy playing but I'm enjoying the life lessons and teachable moments it is affording us.  Okay.  Maybe I'm not enjoying it but I'm thankful for it as I know it's what God has for our family and that I have two options 1.  teaching in those moments or 2.  not teaching.   Teaching, walking through, digging deep in God's Word is so much work and, honestly, my flesh would rather not deal with it. 

I've been encouraged by a book a friend loaned me recently.  It is titled Duties of Parents by J.C. Ryle.  This a little but mighty book.  It's very encouraging to be reminded of what we should be doing. 

So now onto the pictures.  :-)  Mark's team lost but he totally doesn't care.  He just likes playing.

I did not get a picture of Bethany this week.  (terrible mother I am)  I don't like when two children play at the same time.  It's so hard to keep up with both games.  Bethany's team tied (0-0). 

Bekah's team also tied (2-2).  Her team decided to add a little decoration to their faces for the game.

Sam's team won.  I don't remember the score but I know he could tell me.  :-)

I'm not looking forward to Saturday's games because between 9 and 10 three children play.  The girls each play at 9:00.  Mark plays at 9:30 and then Sam at 10:00.  I have a hard enough time watching two games, much less THREE. 

It's so hard to believe that Bekah is now 12.  She is certainly a lovely young lady and I'm so blessed to be her mom.  The morning of her birthday she and Sam both had soccer practice.  We told her she had the option of skipping practice since it was her birthday but NO WAY.   She wanted to practice.  :-) 

Bekah was so excited because this year her two cousins from Texas were able to be here for her birthday.  What a special treat this is.  We usually get to see them once a year but they are rarely here for Bekah's birthday.  They had a wonderful time.  They played from about 2:00 pm until 7:00 pm.  They were all dirty and tired but had a great time.  It's such a joy to see them all playing and enjoying one another. 

Here is Bekah with Morgan (far left) and Taylor (middle).  She was very excited and happy about the gift they gave her.... a new Webkinz!

Grandma gave her a beautiful bracelet that Bekah had picked out.  I'll have to get a picture of that later.

From us she received a new bike:

some new movies and new music CDs.  We got her two Stephen Curtis Chapman CDs and Cindy Morgan's newest CD.  This CD is Cindy's best, IMO.  If you haven't done so, check it out. 

We also told her that the next night we would be taking her to a Cindy Morgan concert.  So last night we all went to hear Cindy Morgan.  My friend, Val, is good friends with Cindy and told Cindy we would be coming.  I had seen Cindy recently at Val's 40th Birthday surprise party.  It worked out that Bekah and I sat with Cindy and her family that night .  Anyway, Cindy told Val that she would sing Happy Birthday to Bekah at the concert!  I did not tell Bekah about this.  Last night at the concert, Cindy did sing Happy Birthday to Bekah.  Bekah was sooooooo surprised and she handled it wonderfully.  I was so proud of her.  She was totally caught off-guard and she handled it lovely.  She stood right up, answered the questions and enjoyed being sung to. 

Here is Cindy singing:

A wonderful surprise was that Ginny Owens was there last night and ended up singing a song.  Here's a picture of Ginny singing.

And then a picture of Bekah and Cindy.

Bekah has told us many times "thank you for a wonderful birthday".  She is a precious young lady that is living for the Lord more and more each day.  We are so blessed!!!!!

Every year our orthodontist has a "back to school" bowling party.  It is something the children look forward to each year.  This year it was even more fun because two families from church use this same orthodontist.  We were able to get lanes beside one another and had a great time. 

Bekah gets her phase 2 of braces on Tuesday. 

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.