Buzz about South Georgia

So Nora and I spent a week in Pinehurst, GA last week. My Mema (grandmother), dad, his wife Marcia, her son Noah, uncle Johnny, cousin Rachel, two aunt Beth's, and cousin Haley all live in South GA. It is a different life there. My Pop was a farmer so now my uncle Johnny and dad have taken over the farm. They grow cotton and peanuts. It has been a hard year for all the farmers in their area because they never get any rain. Pinehurst is a very small town that has nothing. But it is one of my favorite places in all the world! I was born in Cordelle GA which is 30 min. south of Pinehurst and I lived in Pinehurst until I was 3 years old. Then my mom and dad moved to Atlanta. Even though I have lived here practically all my life Pinehurst is still home in my heart. There is a child like excitement that I get when we get off the exit at Unadilla, Pinehurst and drive through the small towns. And my heart beats in my chest as the car enters the drive way of Mema's house. And every time the car exit the driveway to go back home I still have to fight back the tears 27 years later. Now I can also see this same excitement and same tears in my own daughter. She loves to go to Mema's house. And she cries when we leave. It's quite, it's small, it's nothing like Atlanta but it is home to our hearts.

Yesterday was our 1st day back and I was cleaning house and missing my Mema very bad. I imagine she was missing us the same too. But I am so thankful for the time we had this past week and can't wait to return.

My Cousin Rachel is in the pictures above and she is awesome! We had so much fun hanging out with her! She is so good with Nora and so much fun to be around. I hate that we live so far away but I am so glad that she is my cousin. She is extremely talented! She is in tumbling, she takes voice, basketball, acting and she is an honor roll student. She is good at it all. She is a social butterfly. One cool thing that she does with her mom is they have started a peppermint club. What they do is visit elderly people on their birthday's and bring them peppermints. What a fun idea! I just love that they do that together! I can't wait until next summer when hopefully she will save a week in her busy agenda to visit us at our house.

We had a great time in Pinehurst, Georgia!

onething...

I went to some of the onething conference this weekend with some friends. It was awesome! I am sure that you know but if you don't this conference is done by IHOP (International House Of Prayer). The conference was free and was held at Victory World Church. They had awesome worship at each session that was an hour long and the speakers were great! This conference focuses on being intimate with God. Having God fill that God shaped hole in us. Being in constant worship to Jesus. That we were created to have intimacy with God. The long worship times really help you focus in on that intimacy and really make you search your heart towards God. It was so refreshing.

One of the scriptures they focused on was Psalm 27:4 "One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in His temple."

It was exactly what I needed. I needed to be reminded of the Lords beauty.
If you want to check them out go to ww.IHOP.org/onething

I am off to South Georgia to visit my family so I will not be blogging for a whole week:(

Friday Favorite

I am starting a new theme for my blog on Fridays. Friday will be the day that I blog about my new favorite things. Let's see how well that goes.

Anyway, this first Friday favorite is dedicated to the Family Fun website. It is my new favorite place to browse. Not only do I get daily emails from them with awesome craft ideas but now I have discovered something even better! Month of Meals, that is what I love so much!!! Family Fun takes the entire month and plans out meals for each day. They are fun because they have a theme each night, they are easy and they are pretty healthy. Oh, I forgot to tell you the best part...they are FREE. It gives you the recipe, the shopping list everything. No more "I don't know what to make for dinner tonight." Now I have some more creative idea to choose from that are not difficult to make. So, if you are in a dinner rut and need a pick me up visit Familyfun.com. It just might become your new favorite too!

Wordless Wednesday

It's been a hard days night...

Ok, so people have warned me that 3 is a harder age then the terrible 2's. I just didn't believe them until Nora turned 3. Wow, they were not kidding. Today has been a nightmare. It all started when she woke up this morning. She was bound and determined to buck the system. She totally acts like she is a teenager. She ignores me when I speak to her, she yells and whines at me, she stomps her feet, she tells me no, she talks in this annoying baby talk all the time, she pouts when you try to do something fun. Some days I could just scream and pull my hair out! There are some days that I say I do not like being a parent. Parenting is so hard. Like today Jason was off so we were going to go to the zoo but Nora was so out of control we had to lay down the law and say NO. It was so hard to say we are not going because we wanted to do something fun together today but we had no choice. So we stayed home and she cleaned up all her toys in the living room, playroom and her bedroom. Even still she was being so defiant. But Jason and I stayed on her the whole day and even this evening. I felt like the Big Bad Wolf. I love Nora so very much and I wouldn't trade her for the world but sometimes I wish I could just choose to be her friend and not her mommy. This is such a hard stage. I know we will get through it because we have survived the other stages. Jason says "we just got to nip it in the bud." So that is what we are working towards. If you have a 3 year old or you will have a 3 year old in the future here are some words of encouragement. Must not give in! Must keep going! Must stand strong! Tomorrow is a new day!

The Buzz about a Family Fun Weekend

So this weekend we had some quality family fun together. Friday night we went to the Laser Show at Stone Mountain Park. We packed a picnic dinner, blanket and some games and headed on our way. The weather was so nice, it was over cast and cool. The park was also not crowded so that was awesome. After we ate our yummy food it was time for the activities. First we played a memory game together and Nora won. She really did beat us, she was remembering where every match was. She totally amazed us. Next we played pick up sticks and that didn't go as well. She doesn't really understand this game yet. After our games we made finger puppets! I found the cutest animal finger puppets at the family fun website. Nora loved the puppets so much. In fact it looks like they are in every picture. It was time for the show to start so we got comfortable. Nora loved the show. She loved the music and she loved the fireworks. The fireworks were her favorite part. She kept asking where are the fireworks? One of the songs that they do is "The Devil went down to Georgia." Nora did not like this song because of the devil in it. After the show she kept saying remember that Goliath, I don't like that Goliath. It is so funny that she relates the devil to Goliath. She was still talking about him the next day. The show ended about 10pm and Nora said "Lets go home and go to sleep guys." We had a really relaxed time together .









Saturday morning we got up and went to Krispy Kreme for breakfast. Yummy!!! We never go there so it was a very special treat:) After our mouth watering doughnuts we visited the butterfly festival at the Chattahoochee Nature Center. It was a little rainy that day but that didn't stop us. Nora wore one of my butterfly t-shirts and her purple butterfly wings. When we first got there we saw a friend of ours, Mrs. Ramona. Jason has known her since he was little. She was volunteering at the craft booths so she grabbed Nora and took her to her table and helped her make a butterfly. She was so sweet to Nora. After we made some cute crafts Nora wanted to get her face painted. Nora was so serious as the girl painted a butterfly on her face. It was now time for the Butterfly launch. They had 115 Monarch butterflies in a glass box that they released into the nature center. It was so pretty. The butterflies were flying and landing all around us. Jason took some really pretty pictures of the butterflies. God is so amazing how he makes everything so different and so detailed. They totally make me say God you are awesome! We really enjoyed the butterfly festival. And we also had so much fun together this weekend!

My Girls

This is the M&M girls. They are so cute! Daneli was the home sick one,can you tell? They loved teaching me Spanish words the whole week. I think they just liked laughing at me. Maria said "Now Mr.Jason will not be able to understand you". Funny thing is that I can't remember any of the words they taught me. Oh, well.

Jason has the magic touch!

Jason is the man! Some how he got the memory card to work just long enough to get the pictures off!!! So here are the pictures from the all girls night. Our activity that night was a world showcase. The camp version of Epcot-HA! Each cabin visited a differnt country and learned some about it. The girls made masks so as they traveled the made or got an item to attach to their mask. There was also a prayer focus for each group, so the girls spent time praying for China, Columbia, Afghanistan, and Libera. It was a really fun night! I know you'll love the pictures of Kristen! All the leaders did a great job on their country.

The Buzz about Camp Rocks! 2007

So it's another year of camp behind us. Yikes! I can't believe that this year's camp is over and done with. It is bitter sweet.

I love camp for so many reasons:
The kids, being in God's creation, a chance to be creative, teaching kids to spend time with God and his Word, the friendships, the songs, the camp out night, the campfires, s'mores, and this year "the food" complements to Rooster and Ovenbird, and the chance to hangout with Jason's family from out of town.

I am glad when it is done for other reasons:
the kids, to many bug bites, my creativity is gone, not enough sleep, I miss my bed and my shower, I miss Nora, I just need 5 minutes alone!

But when it is all said and done I do really miss all the fun and precious times we shared and I can't wait until the next year. In fact I start planning what I want to do next year.


This year we were extremely short staffed and Jason and I both had to be counselors. It had been 5 years since I had been a counselor. We also did not decide that I would be a counselor until 2 days before camp. So naturally, I panicked! I could not remember all the things I needed to get ready just for my cabin of girls. Let's see there was decorations for our cabin, little gifts for each girl, cabin time activities, a blanket for bible ex and morning watch, plan bible ex, evening devotions, cabin rules, cabin capers, it felt like the list went on and on. Not only this list but the list for 2 classes and 2 messages. I know that I wasn't the only one who was in this same predicament. I think most of us that went to camp felt this same way. Lord, Help Me! I'll never get it all together! And guess what He did help. Some how it all came together.


So I was totally nervous about having my own cabin, but of course it was fun. I had one who was terribly homesick and stayed that way until Thursday. Another who was a handful to say the least, and one who was extremely s-l-o-w. The other 3 were just peachy. Taking all these different dynamics and putting them into one small room was a challenge but we all survived. I think my favorite part of our cabin was at night when all the girls would be in their beds and I would read to them. I brought 2 really cool books, one was stories of Jesus with children and each story told you to close your eyes and imagine the story, the other was a book about how God is Awesome and it also answered questions about God. The girls loved both books and every night they couldn't wait to hear a new story. It was such a sweet quiet time with the girls and the Lord. I believe that we could all feel his presence as we rested ourselves in for the night. I think this was my favorite part of camp. It was a blessing spending some close family time with a few of the girls in our apartment ministry. I know that our relationship will be stronger just from that one week. That is another favorite part of camp!

So I had a few pictures of my girls and of our girls night activity and just as I am going to insert pictures I find out that there is something wrong with my memory card:( I think I could just cry. Even the camera will not read it. My pictures are gone:( I even had pictures of Egg (Kristen) dressed as a china doll. I can't believe my pictures are gone. Well, I know this post would have been more interesting with my pics. Sorry!

It was a good year at Camp Rocks!