I am fascinated by the way things work out! I went to my Mom and Dad's house with the intention to swim with the kids in spite of the fact that neither of my parents were going to be home . As soon as we were all swim-suited up to swim, it started to rain with an insane amount of thunder and lightning, although there had not been a single cloud in the sky all day long. We waited a few minutes for it to slow down disappointed about the anti-climatic turn of events, then got in the car with the intent to drive back home and run a few errands. I went a certain way in spite of the fact that I really needed to go the other way, then almost made it to my turn off for the last stretch home and saw a little boy on a bike flagging down cars. I stopped, turned around and rolled down the window to see if he was okay. Through very polite, choked sobs he explained that he had gotten turned around and couldn't find his way back to his Grandpa's house. He had been riding for two-three hours in the hot sun with the occasional bout of rain falling on him, trying to flag down whatever cars he saw and talk to construction workers to find someone to help him. The workers ignored him and the people kept driving by, smiling and waving at him as he moved positioning up and down the road, mistaking his flailing arms for friendliness. He was understandably upset and was at the point where he'd had just about enough. I don't know if he prayed for help or what kind of family he is growing up in (although they seemed great). I know that his need was heard whether verbalized to our father in Heaven or not and that help was sent so that he could return home safely.

We called his Mom, got in touch with his Grandpa and got him home safely. He kept saying with very sincere gratitude, "Thank you so much for stopping."

I am in awe at the seemingly insignificant things that the Lord set in motion so much earlier in my day that sent me in that particular direction b/c he knew that one of his beloved children would be lost and would need the help. It is evidence to me of our Heavenly Father and Savior, Jesus Christs love for each and every one of us. Great or small...

He was one little boy on a bike in the middle of nowhere on a back country road. He was led...and I was led. Unspoken prayers I have in my heart were answered as well...

...I had an impression I should clear out the back of my car before I left my house and didn't do it. We were still able to fit the bike in the car, but it was a much tighter fit and caused a broken leg or two on my antique high chair which is a comparatively small price to teach me to the importance of listening to my promptings.

Kinda cool...

We've been having some very serious moments with Brayden lately. We haven't known what to do about it and we've talked to him a bunch and tried to reassure him and help him and get to the bottom of what is going on.

Bobby was just putting him to bed and their conversation went a little something like this.

Brayden, you know you're Mom loves you?"
"Yea."
"You know she's always gonna love you and worry about you...even when you're grown up and move out and have a family of your own."
"Yea."
"Do you know why?"
"Yea."
"Why?"
Cause I'm her son."
"That's right..."

Brayden said. "I'm gonna tell you something you don't know."
Bobby said, "What?"

Brayden sat up very seriously to look at him...

These were the profound words that came from his mouth.

"Monkey's don't really squirt bananas out like this." (He made a hand motion and a squish sound like you'd see on a cartoon.) ...
He went on to tell Bobby how Monkey's really eat their banana's as Bobby tried not to crack up before coming straight to tell me.

Glad to know in the big scheme of things, his priorities are still in place:)

Look how sweet they are!

Auntie Lauren the day before she left for Hawaii again.

TV magic.

Snow day:) Fun!!!!

Our kids woke us up at 6:30am yesterday morning and we were all pretty fired up about the seven inches of snow we had gotten. We all bundled up and decided to go to a school that is across from our neighborhood that has some good hills to sled down. We live in Memphis. We don't have a sled. But we do have the top of our turtle sandbox, so we decided to try that out instead. After rolling down a few snowy hills and figuring out that the top of a turtle sandbox did not make the most effective sled, we loaded back up into the truck and Bobby flailed us around for a few minutes doing doughnuts on ice, which we were all encouraging.

There was one last hope for sledding. At the front of the school there is a grassy drainage ditch that is pretty much a straight shot down. Brayden decided he wanted to try it out, so Bobby and Kailey Grace stayed in the car, I guess to go for help if we needed it, and Brayden and I trecked through the snow which ended up being up to my knees in more than one place. I looked at Brayden and said, "You sure you want to do this?" He said, "Why?! Is it gonna be scary?!" I said, "Nope." as I grabbed him around the waist and threw him onto the turtle. I had been trying to balance on top of the snow by sitting down with my legs around the turtle shell, because if I moved at all and broke the little ledge I was sitting on I would be chest high in snow. He held on tight and we both looked down the ten foot drop one last time before I pushed him over the edge.

For a minute all of the sledding excitement that had been building up hit an all time high. He was flying down the hill for a split second, but about four feet down, when the incline started to curve, he stopped. Here we were, me, the non-coordinated pregnant lady perched on top of a giant ditch hoping not to bury myself in the snow with any sudden movements, and him, a daring five year old who had just had the tiny (I mean split second) thrill of his life, and was now stuck half way down the ditch on the back of a sandbox turtle.

I, in a vision of grace, lept into action and as I had feared, was buried by the sudden movement on the snow. I managed an awkward forward kick into the back of Brayden's sled in an attempt to get him all the way down to the bottom of the hill. Instead of moving him closer to the bottom of the hill, I buried his entire upper torso in snow. Thinking he would freak out any minute I jumped head first down the hill to uncover him, looking like some kind of snow creature from the beyond leaping out of the snow. (Keep in mind, my sweet husband and three year old were watching all of this safely from the car.)

I did a series of moves that must have looked something like an 80's dance propelling myself to the bottom of the hill. I walked the forty feet to the other side of the ditch holding a turtle shell, a dirty snow covered blanket that had been our cushioning and very little of my dignity:)

Brayden had fun though;)

Watch the sarcasm.

So yesterday Brayden asked where we were going multiple times before I had a chance to answer so I said, I'm going to drop you off at a strangers house...

Kailey who had been silent for a while started crying hysterically all of the sudden and I said shocked, "what's wrong?!" Through hysterical tears she explained that she didn't want me to drop her brother off at a strangers house and she was very upset with me, she didn't let it go.

Brayden was even a little shocked at her saying, "Kailey, she was just joking. I'm not going to a strangers house..."

Bobby said lots of kind words of comfort.

I tried explaining myself and thought I gave a pretty convincing argument of reassurance.

This morning one of the first things she said was, "Mom, I don't want you dropping my brother off at a strangers house." In a very authoratative, scolding tone:)

Moral of the story? Don't be sarcastic with your kids. Their little hearts can't handle it.

Okay, so no update on the house progress yet because honestly, I haven't taken any pictures and I'm too lazy at this early hour of the morning to do so, but I will tell you that although LOTS of progress has been made, our house still leaves a little something to be desired;) We're getting there though.

Instead, I thought you might enjoy seeing how talented my little musical prodigy is. I was sitting at the computer and Guns and Roses came on (don't ask:) and I looked up to see this. It went on for several minutes, but I won't inflict that kind of torture on any of our loved ones who might feel obligated to actually sit and watch the whole five minute clip.

Our little leak

Before we tore it all up to let it dry.

So- there's been a water spot in our hallway intermittently for a while. It didn't smell like a toilet:) and I couldn't figure out where it was coming from after trying several times, so when it disappeared for a while I thought it was miraculously fixed. Not so...Friday I noticed a small patch of water by our TV shelf. After investigating further we found out that we had water, not just in the hallway, but also under our TV shelf (which is probably 8 feet long) and also along Brayden entire wall behind his toy box and some furniture. The insurance guy came and gave us money to clean the carpet and replace some things, so we have been up to our ears in tile and concrete board this weekend. We're still not done, but I thought I'd post some pictures of the destruction so you can appreciate how pretty it is after we're done:)