Celebrating Independence Day

Making smores

Celebrating the 4th!

My husband chilling.

Snipe Hunting

My sister, Kellie

Since we got rained out from our camping trip, we went and hung out at my sister's house.  Like all good Americans, we made smores, did some fireworks, and had a snipe hunt.  Poor Levi was scared of snipes at bedtime!

4th of July Camping Trip

Waving Their Stars and Stripes

I felt like Ma Ingles whenever I washed dishes in the bucket.  :o)

My patriotic chocolate chip cookie bars.

Carrington and her little buddy, Lily Kate

Cousins

Our very humble abode for 2 days.  It had rained the night before, hence the tarp.

This tent kept some of our food from baking in the sun.  :o)

Our tablescape.  :o)

Thank goodness for the car-top carrier!

Girly cousins.

Headed to the playground

Somebody was feeling very patriotic and decorated to the hilt!  I couldn't believe all of the decorations and flags they brought!

Lily Kate, the birthday girl turned 2 on July 6th

I knew Clayton would love camping!

We went camping with my sister and her family for the 4th of July weekend.  It was really hot, and we got rained on, but we had fun.  The campground was nice and thankfully we were really close to the bathrooms!  The campground had a nice big pool with 2 waterslides.  Our kids stayed on the waterslides pretty much the whole time.  I was amazed at the size of some of the campers!   They were quite snazzy!  Some people went all out with their 4th of July decorations.  We decided that our 2 tents were the "projects" of the campground compared to the millions of dollars worth of campers.  :o)  The second night of camping, it started lightning and thundering at 1:00 in the morning.  We had to tie tarps down over our tents while the lightning flashed.  I was really close to grabbing my 2 kids and heading for the bathrooms.  Thankfully it didn't last long and we didn't drown or get electrocuted!   We decided the next day to pack up and head to my sister Kellie's house and just hang out there.  (There was more rain in the forecast and the lightning had unnerved me.)  We were packing everything up when it started to rain,  Right when we got the last few things in our cars, we had a downpour!  I'm so glad we started packing up when we did!  It was a fun adventure and I'm sure my kids will have great memories of our first family camping trip ( even if it was for only 2 days!).   :o)

A Few Train Depot Pics and the Latest Book I'm Reading

I am definitely not a photographer, but I do like taking pictures of certain things......my kiddos, old buildings and old barns.  I love just about anything old.  This old train depot where I took these pictures has been fixed up and is so neat!

I love to post about good books I'm reading, so here is the latest........Tortured for Christ by Richard Wurmbrand.  It is a MUST read for every Christian!  It has really opened my eyes to the plight of our Christian brothers and sisters in other countries who are being tortured RIGHT NOW!  In the book, Richard Wurmbrand was a prisoner for 14 years in Communist Romania back in the 50's and 60's.  He talks a lot about how Christians in the West should be doing more to try to help the martyrs who are suffering around the world.  It is sooooo much more important than the stupid stuff we get consumed with in this country like nice cars, fancy vacations, the lastest technology gadgets, etc.  I'm as guilty as anybody else, by the way.  Christians are suffering in China, North Korea, North Vietnam, Cuba and some Arab countries.  Richard Wurmbrand started a great ministry called VOICE OF THE MARTYRS.  They do a lot to help these precious Christians.

A Visit to My Mom and Dad's House

A house in my favorite town, on the way to my Mom and Dad's house.

My Dad with Clayton.

I love old buildings!

Carrington

Clayton

Carrington, Clayton, and I went to my Mom and Dad's house yesterday, since we didn't see my Dad for Father's Day.  Carrington finished her testing on Wednesday afternoon (yay!!!), and we put her test in the mail on Thursday and  headed out of town.  I'll have to post more pics later. 

The Rebel's Guide to Joy - The Life of Horatio Spafford

I know most people have probably heard of this story about Horatio Spafford, but just in case, I thought that I would post it.  What a hero!  He had so much faith!  It makes my cries and complaints to God seem so trivial.  But I do know that God wants us to cry out to Him.  Hebrews 4:16 tells us, "Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."  That is definitely one of my favorite verses in the Bible.  It is so amazing to me that the God of the whole universe listens to my prayers!    :o)

The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry

Picture from http://www.amazon.com/.

I always love a good family-friendly movie!  I was very excited when my sister told me that this was a good one.   It's about a group of boys who become friends with an old, Christian man.  The old man, Jonathan Sperry, is played by Gavin McLeod (remember Captain Stubing from The Love Boat?).   Jonathan Sperry begins to have Bible studies with the boys and mentors them.  The boys become fired-up for God.  I watched the movie with my children and we loved it!  My son Clayton was very inspired.  His prayer at bedtime that night was so sweet.  The next morning he said, "I'm never gonna sin again."  I can assure you that he has sinned since then, but it is always neat to see my kids getting excited about the things of God.  This movie definitely gets a thumbs up from this Momma!  :o)

More Fun With Family

Water ballet ~ ha!!!

The baseball slide

Boys

My sister and her kids came to our house for a couple of days.  The kids had a great time at the pool.  Saying goodbye was not as sad for the kids this time, because we will be seeing them again soon!