Beth Moore

This weekend my girlfriend Dani and I headed to St. Louis to see/hear Beth Moore. We bought our tickets way back in March so we have been anticipating this for several months. I have participated in two of Beth Moore's Bible Studies and can't wait to do more in the future. God has really blessed her in a way to speak and teach the word and get others excited while doing so. Beth loves the scriptures so much that she is like a kid in a candy store when she teaches them. Listening to her and seeing her in person was definitely inspiring to me. We learned so much this weekend that I feel it will take me awhile to process it all. I only got a few pictures this weekend (something about my husband taking my little camera and me having to haul around our "big" camera that put a damper on picture taking), but I will have the memories forever.

I would love to go and do things like this more often. There is so much power in worshiping the Lord with such a large group of people. There were 7,500 women gathered this weekend so it was quite the crowd!

The Lord never ceases to amaze me at how powerful and wonderful He is! We learned alot about Imago Dei (image of God) this weekend. It is my prayer for myself (and other Christians) that we would remember that God did create us in His image and He has so much in store for us. As Beth said, we bear it to wear it! So go out and wear the image of Christ that He has beared to you!!

Dani and I about to head to the arena

LOTS of people!

Beth on the big screen (not the best lighting)

Here are a few pictures of my little cutie pie from this morning before we headed to church. I have only been away from Cole for about 24 hours in his entire 2 years of life. So, needless to say when I got home (after only being gone about 30 hours this weekend) he has been stuck to me like glue. I guess he does love me after all. :-)

Playing with is pez dispenser that Bryce and Kaitlyn brought him back from vacation

with Pawpaw

and Mawmaw

Thanks M.B. and Francis for watching Cole so Jonathan and I could get away (even though we weren't together)! We have had a great visit with you both so far and look forward to the next week together!

Dad's Day

We had a great Father's Day and even got to spend it with Jonathan's dad. His parents are in town visiting for a couple of weeks so it was great to actually have family to spend the day with.

We started the day off right by heading to church.

The best father/son duo ever! :-)

Cole with his mawmaw, pawpaw and daddy

I love this little boy to pieces!

After church Jonathan came home and smoked some ribs. They looked and tasted really good, but unfortunately we think something was not quite right with them. Jonathan, Cole and M.B. (Jonathan's dad) ate the ribs, while his mom and I had burgers. Well, all three of them were sick with stomach stuff, so we are thinking maybe they were undercooked or it was just bad meat. Let's just say it was not the best start to their visit. :-(

The culprit!

Cole feeding daddy his favorite dessert

I feel so blessed to have such a great husband who makes a great father to our child. If you know Cole, you know he absolutely adores his father and thinks he hung the moon. Thank you Jonathan for providing for our family and loving us unconditionally!

And of course thank you to our heavenly Father who has set the example for all of us to live by!

Haircut

Ever since Cole got his first haircut last October, Jonathan has been wanting to cut it himself. Finally after 8 months of getting a haircut every 3 or 4 weeks and spending $12 each time, I broke down and we bought some clippers. Cole does great getting his haircut (as long as he has a treat of course) so it was worth it to just let Jonathan cut it. Here they are Friday night getting geared up for the haircut! :-)

Ready to get this party started!

In progress

Playing with the clippers help to occupy too

Enjoying a Popsicle. It's all about compromise! :-)

All done. Great job daddy!

Jonathan did a great job and I'm glad he was brave enough to do this and do a good job at the same time. I wouldn't even attempt it. I am sure I would have Cole's hair all sorts of messed up. :-)

Pool Time!

It was a steamy 95 degrees here today so we figured what better way to spend the afternoon than at the pool! Cole is loving Nassif this year, just like I hoped he would. He climbs up the stairs and goes down the slide all by himself. I am telling you, this child is FEARLESS (which has its pros and cons)! We already have his 2nd birthday party booked here too so it should be fun!

Posin' with dad before heading into the water

Climbing the stairs

About to slide (he went down the slide no less than 100 times!)

Taking it all in

Heading for the tunnel

On another note, we picked our first tomatoes today! Not the best looking things, but hopefully the ones to come will get better looking. We are growing strawberries too and have already picked several of those as well as peppers and watermelons. Should be interesting to see if we actually get any watermelons. The gardening is all Jonathan so I let him have at it. :-)

Prayer Request

Saturday night I woke up from a bad dream around 2:00 a.m. and could not get back to sleep. Jonathan was flying and wouldn't be home until around 3:30 a.m., but I knew I couldn't go back to sleep until he was home. So, I grabbed my iPad and started doing some blog reading. One of my favorite blogs, Kelly's Korner, had posted a few prayer requests, one of them being the one below for a little guy named Cohen. Cohen was born with several serious heart defects. In his week of life he has undergone 6 surgeries and is still very critical. I feel I was drawn by the Lord that night to read that blog as I spent over an hour reading and praying (and crying) for this little guy. Although I do not know them personally, they are believers therefore, we are brothers and sisters in Christ. Please say a prayer for Cohen and check out there blog (inthiswonderfullife.com) if you feel so inclined. You will not be disappointed.

Also, take a second to give an extra hug or kiss to your little one(s) today. I often take for granted having a healthy little boy.

Thank you for your prayers and God Bless!

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guards your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:7

Brunch and Church Picnic

On Thursday morning a friend from church, Kelly, had our small group over for brunch. She likes to cook and entertain and boy did she do a good job. Cole and Isaiah had fun playing together too. The piano was a hit and Cole loved it, but I was apprehensive that he would tear it up so I didn't let him play too long.

I brought bubbles along because that always entertains Cole for a little bit.


She had everything set up so nice. We ate off of nice dishes and it now has me inspired to go to local antique shops for some nice dishes for myself. I would love to have a tea party.

Here is my plate. Strawberry cream cheese pancakes, bacon, eggs and apple strudel. I made the strudel and it turned out pretty good.

Cole ate his picnic style. I kid you not when I tell you he ate everything on his place. If you know Cole then this doesn't really surprise you. :-) I am just always amazed at how much this little guy can eat!

On Sunday we had our annual church picnic. It had rained some before the picnic started so it was pretty muddy and sticky, but that didn't stop us from having a great time. I love watching Cole play and enjoy himself. It is one of the joys of motherhood to me.

Splashing through the puddles on the way in

I just love how scenic this picture is

Heading out on our paddle boat ride

The lake we paddled on

Self portrait :-)


Swinging

Bouncing

A mess!

After the above picture Cole managed to jump into (bottom first) a big ole' mud puddle. Needless to say he walked around muddy and wet until it was time to go. Luckily kids could careless if they are dirty. :-)

Sunglasses

I recently bought Cole these stylish Spiderman sunglasses and he thinks he is one cool dude when he wears them!

This child constantly keeps me laughing! Gotta love toddlers and their carefree spirit!

Music and Movement

Cole and I went to a Music and Movement class on Monday hosted by a friend of mine, Joyce. She used to teach preschool, but since having a baby has decided to stay home and teach these classes on the side. Cole is still a little young for this class as he didn't want to sit still and didn't understand everything that we were doing. Nonetheless, we had fun and I captured a few shots of him in action.

Dancing before we headed out to class

Cole looking at Ashlin for directions

The big parachute was fun!

Dancing!

Being 2! Who knows what upset him! :-)

And speaking of dancing, a couple of weeks ago Cole's friend Kaden came over to play. Kaden brought with him a kid's Motown music CD he had gotten at Wendy's. The boys wanted to hear the CD so I put it in and this is was I got. These two are too funny!

Small children are definitely a constant source of entertainment! ;-)