Camp Hargis Pumpkin Patch

Last week I got to go with Jacob and his class to the pumpkin patch.  The pumpkin patch is one of my favorite fall activities and we didn't get to go as a family, so I was excited to get to go with him.  We went to Camp Hargis, which I had never been to before, so that added to the fun!

Tractor hay- ride

The huge tractor that pulled us!  (mostly took this pic for Nathan!)

 After the hay ride we had campfires and cooked hot dogs and marshmallows.  Here are some of the kids waiting to eat!!

 After lunch, the girls played a sweet game of ring around the rosie...

 the boys of course opted for taking people to jail

 and wrestling each other to the ground!

 Here is Jacob's class- very sweet little bunch!

 choosing a pumpkin-

Jacob and his friend Will

Me and Jacob on the hay ride!

with Mrs. Darden- we just love her!!

Meet Colby

This is Colby... our family's new labradoodle puppy!

Colby is also our latest lesson in how God sometimes gives us what we want as well as what we need.

 Coming home from the HUMANE SOCIETY.  Yes, you read that correctly, we found this puppy at the humane society.  Our first choice in a type of puppy, but the one we thought we would never be able to afford.  Labradoodles are known for being great with children and also a great dog for allery sufferers.

Colby is also the fulfillment of a promise that Jay made to our sweet little girl about 3 years ago.  A promise that he foolishly thought she would forget!!  (she does have red streaks in her hair-we had just gotten home from the fall festival!)

 Colby is a great reason to get out and enjoy this beautiful weather we have been having!

 Colby loves to play fetch with balls, so he and Jacob have hit it off really well.!

 Playing together in the kitchen!

 Colby is also a good teaching tool.  We call this lesson- responsibility!!

We had been researching and exploring different dogs and stopped by the Humane Society to talk with them and get their opinion on dogs with children and allergies.  Guess who had just come available for adoption that very morning!  We were not at all expecting to find a dog.  He's 5 months old, already housetrained, and pretty much crate trained as far as sleeping throught the night.  He is more than we could have asked for or imagined.  October just happens to be the month that the HS waives all their adoption fees so all they asked was that we make a donation.  We also purchased our supplies for him from them.

I guess the best summary of Colby is that he is a gift!

I love this little boy...

This picture is a couple of months old now, but I just love it...

It captures so many things about my little buddy..

He LOVES his Uh-Oh and has since he was about 6 months old

He wants to be just like his big brother (which is why he chose the chocolate cupcakes- exactly like his brother's a month before-he even wanted the liners to be the same soccer ones and he couldn't care less about soccer or sports!)

He adores monster trucks- it was painful for me to buy "grave digger" monster truck plates for my 3 year old but that is what he was into!

He has the largest, darkest eyes and the sweetest little smile.

3 has been so much better than 2.  Whew!  I wasn't sure we were both going to make it through 2

see what i mean? those eyes...

Knoxville in October!

We headed back up to Knoxville to visit my family.

Stopped in Chattanooga at Sugars for dinner (some kind of yummy bbq!)

of course we saved our scraps to feed the goats!

Among other things this weekend, we headed back to Dollywood!

We are at such an unbelievably fun stage with our kids!

(despite his expression, Nathan really does LOVE to ride the rides!)





 This is Nathan's favorite, by far!  The old-timey cars that he can "drive" all by himself!

He laughs and giggles the whole time!

Angel Baby

would have been due yesterday, October 5, 2010.

Shortly after I found out I was pregnant one of my sweet friends gave me this bib with the "angel baby" on it as my first baby gift!  Neither of us had any idea at the time just how true and precious this gift was going to be.

I will be honest- this is has been a very long and emotional journey.  I have learned a lot about grief.  Maybe that is why this has been particularly difficult for me- loosing this baby is one of the the first real experiences with grief I've ever had. 

 Grief is messy and unpredictable- I never know when I'm going to be sad, or what particular thing is going to cause me to be weepy.  Also, grief cannot be reasoned with- I can tell myself everything I know to be true or practical about my situation, but at the end of the day, I am still just sad.  And that my friends, is where the Lord is so faithful to meet me- allowing Him to have my sadness and my lack of understanding, not rushing out of the valley, but staying there because I know He brought me to this place and He will walk through it with me.

The other thing I hate about grief is that there is no real end in sight.  It's not like I can look ahead and choose a day and say ok, on this particular date, I will no longer be sad.

I tell myself a lot- I know that God loves me.  I know that He has a perfect plan for my life and I trust Him and although this is NOT what I would have chosen for myself, He is Holy and Trustworthy and Good. 

I have spent a lot of time in Psalm 91 the past six months and they have become some of my favorite verses:

"He who dwells in the shelter of

the Most High will

rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

I will say of the Lord, 'He is my

refuge and my fortress, my God,

in whom I trust.'

He will cover you with his feathers

and under His wings you will find

refuge;

his faithfulness will be your shield

and rampart." 1,2, and 4

Under the wings of God

is where I find my strength to rise

Because I found favor in His eyes

something I could never earn

My shelter in this raging storm

But nothing can shake me

when I'm under the wings of God... Mandi Mapes

Whatever your storm may be, I hope to find you resting with me under His loving, strong wings.

Baytown

For Labor Day we went to Destin with Mimi and Gramps!  We had a great weekend with them.  One of our favorite parts was the night we hung out at Baytown.  We got there right as the sun was setting and it was AMAZING!!

The kids loved climbing the tree houses (abby thought she was Kit Kittredge!)

There are so many fun things to do at Baytown and so we let each of the kids choose one thing they would like to do.  Abby and Jacob both ended up doing the EuroBungy!  Basically a very bouncy, high trampoline!

It was hysterical to watch them- especially Jacob b/c he just barely slid in (he might have technically been a couple of pounds shy of the 40 but who's counting?...) and he looked tiny on it!

After several attempts, Abby completed a back flip!

here's Jacob (his hair was especially entertaining!)

Nathan didn't come close to making the cut, so he drove a race car on the carousel and loved every second of it!

On Monday morning before we headed home we met up with some of our favorite friends and went for a boat ride!  I don't know who enjoyed it more, the kids or Gramps!!

Beef O Brady's

In August, we headed over to Meridian to celebrate the grand opening of my little brother's restaraunt.  He and his wife just opened a franchise of Beef O Brady's.  The whole fam came out for this one, because it is a super huge big deal to be 30 and open your own restaraunt (can't say that I've ever done that!!)

Outside the store

Everyone was so excited to see each other- we had to have a BIG hug!

you'll notice that everyone appears to be looking in different directions, that's because there is something like 297 tvs in this place- it is amazing (maybe not 297, but close!)

Jason with our grandparents, Mamma and Pappa (they came all the way from Knoxville for a free meal!)

Jason with Mom and Dad! 

Mamma with two of her great grandaughters

Valerie (my precious sister in law) and JonWesley her 4 year old son!

Abby and Kayla

Can you even handle how cute and happy these kiddos are!

Nathan (3) Jacob (5) Jon Wesley (4) Abby (7) Kayla (6)

We are so excited that they are only 2 hours away now!!  More cousin time!

After a very fun and yummy dinner we went back to the hotel.  This was the first time that my kids can remember staying in a hotel (other than Disney and that's different) and they were GIDDY!  If you need some cheap entertainment, priceline yourself a room at a place with an indoor pool and free continental breakfast... they thought they were BIG stuff!

Sunday morning we all headed over to Jason and Val's for some family time and lunch!   It was a lot of fun and we could not be more proud of them!

Here we all are!  This one include baby Peyton!  Jason and Val's one year old daughter!

I just have to show you this one.  We took several of these and of course someone's eyes were closed in each one except this last one, but please look at my little Nathan!

if you know him that couldn't be more fitting could it?!!