Family Vacation

This summer we planned our first "family vacation" to Seaside/Watercolor, Florida. We haven't ever taken a "restful" vacation as a family and decided that we needed to make that a priority. We have been anticipating this vacation for months and it was absolutely AMAZING! We felt like God has speaking to our family about this being a season of rest and this was the perfect way to start that out. We brought my parents along for a little help and stayed in the perfect home steps from the pool and beach.

Beautiful Halle Beth

Halle's first trip to the beach was a success. She enjoyed the beach thoroughly sitting with Champ. She took great naps along the pool and even slept great at night. She is such a JOY to each of us!

Port Robert

This kid gets more fun every day! He loved riding the waves, looking for crabs, swimming, riding bikes, and anything else we could come up with.

Ella Rose

Although she is not a big fan of HOT weather, she made the best of it:-) She loved playing in the sand, but you couldn't quite keep her buried. She loved sitting on the steps of the pool, but her favorite was the showers. She gets more beautiful everyday!

Haynes Cole

When we got to the beach Haynes just laid down like..."this is heaven!" My thoughts exactly!!! He is quite the little swimmer and became quite the diver by the end of our trip. Love him more every single day!

Love of my life

I love this man more every single day! He planned every single detail of our trip so that it would be perfect for us. It was the most restful vacation I have ever taken and I give him all the credit. He loves everyone of our kids individually well and me the best of all. I can't imagine walking through life with anyone else.

Memorial Day at the Lake

Our whole extended family meets at the lake for Memorial Day Weekend. It is so fun and AMAZING how many little ones there are!! All the daddies decided to play some basketball for our entertainment.

All the kids lined up to watch and cheer their daddies on...

These two girls didn't leave each others side much!

Ella has a new best friend...Bitty.

We love our cousins!

Last Day of School!

The boys have a fun Beach party on their last day of school. I had an appointment at Children's with Halle so Lolli took Ella to celebrate with the boys. Ella LOVES gingerbread and can't wait for her turn to go to school.

The boys favorite part of the beach party is the water balloon fight.

Brian and I surprised the boys and when we picked them up from school we took them to Kung Fu Panda with Dax and Crew! They were so excited!!

*Watching a movie with Port is really one of my favorite things to do! He delights in the entire process...finding a seat, getting a snack, previews, etc. Brian kept teasing him that we were going to leave before it starts and Port didn't think he was remotely funny. I felt like God gently said "that's how I feel about experiencing my JOY!" He wants us to delight in His presence and fight aggressively against anything that even teases us about stealing our joy!

After the tornado

Brian and I have dime great memories playing in the mud after storms at his parents house. Once we were clear of the tornado the kids quickly found the mud!


We had bets to see which kid was the dirtiest...I gave her my vote!


This guy won everyone else's votes!


Port didn't do too bad himself:-)


These kids were having the best time...


I love these crazy kids!

Tornado

The weather warned of HORRIBLE tornados all day long. Brian called around 2:00 and told me to go to his parents and spend the afternoon until he got home. I told the kids when I picked them up from school we were going to JuJu's they were THRILLED!

You wouldn't have known that we were preparing for a tornado it really looked more like a party. We just required that the kids stay close in case we needed to get in the raquetball court.

The rain and lightening came so we headed inside for a little bit. Aunt Kourtney was prepared with movies and snacks for the kids.

When the sirens went off we send the grandparents and kids into the "shelter" part of the courts. It was pretty chaotic, but we made lots of memories:-) This is one of my favorite moments when I looked over to see Papa playing cards with Ella. I think the final counts was around 70 people in our little shelter that night! Thank you Jesus for the protection!

Halle Beth

Pray for Halle Beth

We believe God for who He says He is and we believe He has protected and is completely healing Halle’s body. Please join us in praying the fullness of God for Halle – that any place the enemy comes to steal, kill or destroy (John 10:10) Jesus has came not only to give her life but ABUNDENT LIFE – and we claim those promises over her. Please join us in praying God’s word and promises over Halle!

This is an outline to pray because we believe when we agree and what we pray lines up with Heaven – Heaven comes to earth!

*God thank you that Halle is fearfully and wonderfully made and all the days ordained for her and the plans for her life you have already spoken into being! (Psalm 139:13-16)

*Thank you that Halle and her family dwell in the shelter of the Most High and rest in your shadow Almighty God; in you alone we entrust Halle to; and you cover her with your feathers and she will find refuge in you (Psalm 91:1-2; 4)

*Thank you that you have already paid for Halle’s complete healing (Is. 53:5)

*Lord thank you that Halle’s heart is strong and healthy – we declare it will remain that way in Jesus name. That the elastin will not decrease and she will have no issues with her heart or the flexibility of any tissue in her body. That the elastin in her body will be in perfect balance; not too loose or tight.

*That her blood calcium levels will be in proper levels

*Halle will have no feeding problems. That she will be able to eat, keep it down and her body will use all the nutrients and calories to grow and be healthy. We pray for increased weight gain and muscle strength in her neck, torso and limbs.

*We come against intestinal irritability and colic (especially in the next 6 months), reflux and vomiting. We pray the comfort of God and peace of God over her little body.

*Against any developmental delays in body or mind – thank you that Halle is on her own healthy growth curve and she will continue and even increase growth and milestones in this first year of life.

*Thank you that you are developing her little mind to grasp and process information. The neurons will fire and synapses will do their job and her vision and hearing perfect. Every organ will function as they were intended to.

Over Brian and Sarah –

Psalm 112:7 They will have no fear of bad news, their hearts are steadfast trusting in the Lord.

2 Timothy 1:7 They will not walk in fear, but Power, Love and Sound Mind.

Thunder Playoffs

Brian and I got to go to our last NBA playoff game in OKC. They handed out these fun banners that were crazy loud noise makers. We had a great time watching the series together! I knew nothing about the team walking into playoffs...Until next year's playoffs I'll turn in my NBA fan badge:-)