The Lord is merciful...

We have never really experienced a true trauma or crisis with any of our children and I know in my head what a blessing that is. However, the past two weeks we have had three incidents with Nathan where I have clearly seen and been reminded in my heart of the Lord's grace and mercy on us. Three that were not so bad, but could have been. I have been much more aware of His daily mercy and sovereignty and so very very thankful!

A picture probably says it all...

for all the grandparents reading this- he is fine!!!

Nathan's birthday celebration!

We went to Mimi and Gramps' house to celebrate Nathan's birthday!

Mimi, of course, made Nathan a very fun birthday cake! He LOVED his cake!

don't you love the hat! (Jay chose the theme of the cake for Nathan and my only request was that he be a friendly snake- I think she really pulled it off!)

he burst into tears when we lit the candles and started singing

don't worry, he recovered quickly...

and helped himself to quite a bit of yummy snake cake!

sweet big brother loving on the birthday boy!!

We headed to one of our favorite spots - The Memphis Children's Museum (it is a reciprocal membership with the McWane center) and it is so much fun! Here are a few pics of some of our favorite parts...

co-pilots in the cockpit of a real jet!

Nathan and Gramps driving a firetruck

the boys' favorite part of the museum- the rescue vehicle section!

Abby's favorite part- the real-life grocery store!

loving him some firetruck fun!

I can hardly even write it... two!

Two years ago today, Nathan James became a part of our family!!

last night we were thanking God for him- this tiny little boy with the big brown eyes and the very big personality!

he's so much like the man he was named after. Nathan. the man God sent to confront David after his series of poor choices. lying, adultery, murder- it takes a strong, confident man for a task such as that.



Prayerfully, we are seeing glimpses of a young boy who will one day be a man that stands up for what is right. Who uses his passion, strong will, and zeal to honor the Lord

for now, he doesn't get much sweeter than this!

he loves his daddy! "daddy do it" is one of his favorite phrases right now. (mommy is also a fan of this phrase, especially early in the morning!)

he also loves to run up to us and say "what doing?" he has the sweetest little staccato in his voice!

peek-a-boo!

catch me if you can...
A couple of recent favorites...
one of our boys favorite things to do is ride these things in fast circles through the house! This particular time he swiped Jacob's hat and kept going!!
he loves to color!! he's especially fond of drawing snakes!!

Happy birthday, sweet one! We love you!!

More beach fun!!!

My mom and I took the kids to the beach for a week in July and we had a great time together! Nana spoiled us all with our favorite cookies and homemade ice cream cookie sandwiches. We had fabulous weather!! Here are a few of my favorite pictures of the week!

She loved fishing with these nets. One day she caught a fish and Nana caught 4 fish and a crab!

he would have spent ALL day in this inflatable boat!

on the dolphin cruise!

more swimming fun!

The resort where we were staying offered a free dolphin cruise so we went one morning! We all had a great time! We saw at least 20 dolphins!!

fun in the sand!these 3 spent a ton of time riding the waves!

sweet brothers

Jacob loves to play football on the beach!

I love this pic of him. How dare you interrupt my snack for a picture? My mom introduced him to baked cheetos this week and he is a HUGE fan!!