See this sweet, sleeping baby?

Overnight she exploded into this great big girl!  (Who is still very sweet, by the way!)

Dear sweet Rae . . . I’m so thankful that you are my daughter.

You’ve brought so much joy into our lives.

You are loved, sweet girl!

I can see the special things that the Lord has blessed you with . . . a sweet spirit, a sensitive heart, smarts . . . .

. . . And I know that the Lord will continue to show you how these things will be used for His Glory.

He will continue to grow you into a godly woman.  So that the next generation (your children!) will praise His name.

Happy Birthday to my baby girl turned beautiful young lady.

We love you!!!!

AnnaBeth got to spend the day with Lauren and the bridesmaids.

She even got to ride in the limo!

The girls.

The boys.

The gorgeous bride and her groom.

Her cake.

His cake.

I love this face!!

Thank you for allowing us to be part of your special day, Lauren and Nate. We pray the Lord will be the center of your marriage and that His gospel will shine because of your love for each other. We love you!

**I stole all of these pictures from Lori’s facebook page! (Lauren’s mom) **

We brought the firemen healthy snacks and made them a giant sign to say thank you for their service to our community.

It was fun for the moms, kids, and maybe even a little bit for the firemen too!

This Spring marked our very first women’s retreat for the gals at CityView.  It was short, just a Friday evening and Saturday, but full of good things: worship together, teaching times, yummy food, laughter, morning coffee on the porch & late night card playing!  It was good to spend time with the women the Lord has sent our way!

We focused on Titus 2, where we started with the gospel, centered around the gospel, and ended with the gospel: Our Blessed Hope.

Titus 2:11-14, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.”

We can’t be the women God wants us to be without Him working in us.  Our only hope to being the wives, moms, sisters, friends, or daughters that brings Him glory is through His blood and his contining faithfulness.  And how good that faithfulness is!

I can’t blog about the retreat without mentioning what happened to Kerri (pictured above on the left).  She went to bed that night not feeling well (no card playing for her!)  She still felt ill the next morning, but like a trooper stayed during the first session of the day.  Later, in tears, she confessed that she was having horrible pains in her side.  Fortunately our hostess is a Physicians Assistant and was able to coax Kerri into letting her take her in to the ER where she works.  Good thing, since Kerri had appendicitis!  Her surgery was that night, and all went well.  Isn’t it a great ‘coincidence’ that we happened to be at Laura’s, who happens to work at the ER, and Kerri just happened to get sick at the right time?    I love how God works!

I’m already ready to do it all again!!

All photos are courtesy of Jennifer Vargha, jjphoto@hotmail.com.  Thanks Jen!!

** This is my 100th post to this blog!!! **

The morning of Aidan’s birthday, Lizzie and Lainie came over to play.

Sweet friends!  They were way too busy to stand still and look at me so I could get a picture!

Just because it’s your birthday doesn’t mean you can get away with squirting your momma!  Ok . . maybe just a little.

I put the little girls to work watering my flowers.

Which they kinda did.

That evening we went to Chili’s and had dinner with friends — including Malia, Aidan’s bestest bud and fellow birthday-person.

The cupcakes are topped with little lightsabers.

Happy Birthday, buddy.  I am blessed to be your mom.  I look forward to watching you grow into the man God created you to be.  I love you, son!!

I was also able to go with both girls to each of their field trips. (Being a stay-at-home mom has lots of perks!)

Raegan’s field trip was to the Fort Worth Bureau of Engraving and Printing, one of only two facilities in the US where money is printed (DC is the other location.)

Believe it or not, we all had a great time — and I was especially glad that it was free and located only 10 minutes from our house!  We found out that all money made in Ft Worth is marked with a tiny FW (look for it!!). We got to see the new $100 bills and find out all of its cool features (due out in April 2011.)  Best of all, I got to hang out with Rae and her buddies all morning.  No pictures any of us though . . .  firearms, cell phones, and cameras were not permitted!

The next day Aidan, Juliet and I got to accompany AnnaBeth’s class to the zoo.

We got there a little before the buses did.  Juliet: As long as there are snacks, who cares if we have to wait?

Unless someone tries to take my food!!!!

Aidan and I were trying to decide . . .

. . . Is this gorilla reading a book or updating his blog?

And then later . . . What’s wilder,  the kids or the animals?

The kids.  Definitely the kids.

Getting up close and personal with the white tiger.

It was crowded, and the class was short on chaperones, so I was so glad to be there.

Except maybe when I had to be this close to a snake!

Honorary first grader!

AnnaBeth’s teacher, Mrs Burt, is the blond holding the blond.  This is the same Mrs Burt that was Rae’s 2nd grade teacher.  She moved to 1st grade last year and this coming fall she’s moving back to second, so there is a possibility AB could have her again.  She may never be rid of us! 

David kept saying, “AnnaBeth’s mom! Take my picture!!”  Honestly, how could I resist?! 

After AB and her class left, Aidan, Juliet and I stayed for another hour or so, and practically had the zoo to ourselves.  We also gulped down some big old Icees — yummy!

But this season was especially meaningful . . . we almost lost one of our own.  Bailey, team manager and shortstop, was hit in the head with a baseball during the second game of a double-header.

God’s Providence is Good though. One of the teammates is a doctor who assessed him, called for the ambulance & made sure he was taken to the best hospital for brain injuries.

While the team prayed and waited in the ER, his wife spoke words of encouragement to the men. Bailey had surgery that night where several plates were inserted to put his skull back together.

Renee, Denise (her hubby is the doc), and Bailey’s wife Lindsey (with a little baby girl growing in her tummy.)

Two weeks later he was back to managing the team again. Miraculous.

Bailey in the dugout.  “Here’s where I had a piece of skull pushing on my brain.”

I love our men. I love our people. I love this church. But mostly I love the God we worship!

All of these pictures are from a very cold April night a couple of weeks after the accident.  The kids entertained themselves that evening by taking these.  Here’s the crowd (aka wives and the kiddos) watching the game. Sort of.

Me, in a borrowed jacket.  We were dressed for summer and all of a sudden it turned COLD!!

Posing . . . also in something borrowed (and something blue!)

Crazy kid!  

Ms Vivi keeping the books.

Super-cute Gavin and his mommy, Jen.

Aidan holding a puppy’s snacks.  “No son, you can’t have one!”

Thanks for sharing your blankie, Gavin!

They love cheering on the team. Go CityView!

Shannon brought her camera to the park one day and got so many great pictures.  These are some of my very favorites!

Our favorite part of this particular park are the super fun tire swings!

I really thought this was a sweet picture.  Aidan is kissing on Macy.  Ahhhh.

Then Shannon let me know that he is actually trying to turn her around.  He was telling her what to do, she wasn’t listening, so he is taking matters into his own hands!

Sweet sissies!

Sweet cousins! (Juliet, by the way, is STILL on the tire swing!)

Time to go!

. . . is that they are such great friends!