A visit to Grandma's house

Ice cold swimming pool

Carrington is always happy to have a baby in her arms.

Malachi and Clayton

Mighty warriors.

We just got home from a trip to my Mom and Dad's house.  We met my sister Marcy and her children there so we could help Malachi celebrate his 4th birthday, swim, and do some laundry and cleaning for my Mom and Dad.  It was definitely the last swim of the summer.  Even though it is still very hot here, the water was icy cold!  The kids didn't let it stop them however.  They swam anyway.  It was fun for us to get to watch "19 Kids and Counting" together with Marcy and her kids and my Mom.  We all love the Duggars!
We are getting ready to start a small group Bible study with our church, and we will be reading the book, Radical by David Platt.  I've only read the 1st chapter and I already love it!  It basically talks about how Christianity here in America oftentimes looks so different from what it looked like in the New Testament.  It also looks very different here than it does in countries where you can be killed for being a Christian.  In our day, Christians expect to go to a comfortable, air-conditioned church and be entertained the whole time.  Jesus certainly didn't offer that type of "Christianity" to the rich young ruler.  He told him to sell everything he had and give it to the poor.  It has already opened my eyes to how "easy" our lives are here, but is that really a good thing?  Maybe not.  I can't wait to read more.
I had to include a picture of this movie that my children and I watched on Netflix.  It was such a sweet but sad movie.  It's based on a true story about a boy who had Cancer and how he had such a strong faith in God that he inspired those around him.  I knew it would be sad, but I certainly didn't expect to be crying buckets!