All roads lead to Rome!

What a week! We had backyard Bible club at our house this week and the theme was the underground church in Rome and Paul's letters to them. I had a lot of fun and I hope have planted a lot of seeds for salvation of young hearts. Another lady and I hosted the backyard Bible club at my home and we had 9 children from the neighborhood and several kids from our church. Most of the kids said they were Christians (or were 4 yrs old and not clear on how to answer the question), but 2 are asking questions about salvation. One of these 2 does not come from a Christian family, I don't think. I'm not sure of some of the others who said they are Christians, but they did hear the gospel this week and know they can't just be "good" in order to be saved. I will continue to pray for these kids as they are precious to God.





At nighttime VBS during the same week, I was asked to "just do snacks"! There is no such thing as "just" when snacks are involved!! My partner and I were able to serve some "authentic" Italian dishes! Well at least they were tasty!! It was a treat to get to see all the children come through, and a challenge to not kill the children who have allergy concerns!! Yes, my feet are very sore as I am starting this blog, but I am sure I will forget all about my sore feet by the time I am asked to help in VBS next year!!

I do love VBS and BYBC and plan to do it as long as I can. I remember my Grandad did the snacks at his church's VBS when he was in his late 80's and early 90's! I hope I can continue to help in VBS when I am that old, even if it is "just" to do snacks :)

Duh, Dad!

We were driving across 526 the other day and Nathan noticed a big ship in the river and started asking if it was as big as the Titanic. After some discussion about the size of the ship, he then started telling us the "true" story of 2 guys on the Titanic who were "lucky" because they were in the swimming pool when it got hit and were already in the swimsuits and didn't have to get their real clothes wet. (Not sure where this story came from!) I mentioned that since the water was so cold that they probably would have been better off with clothes on. This led Dave to say that most people died because the water was so cold. After I mentioned the fact that the lifeboats didn't return either, Dave had an epiphany. He stated that if the water had not been cold, not many people would have died. I didn't think too much about this statement, but Nathan in a moment of, Dad, duh, said that if the water had not been cold then noone would have died because there would have been no iceberg! Dave did not have a answer for this :)

My Father's Feet

Since it is Father's Day this weekend, I thought I would write about my Father's feet! I had challenged myself to accept a writing assignment I found in the paper about my Mother's hands, and I did this for Mother's Day. There was no topic about dad's in this article, so I figured I would come up with my own.

My dad's feet are very interesting and the topic of discussion and humor in our family. My dad is 6'1"ish and wears about a size 8.5-smaller than what you would expect for a man his height! They are also very wide; in fact, if he puts them together, they form somewhat of a square! When my sister was little, she had to have shoes with wedges in them and they had to come from Kassis Brothers in Charleston, SC. If you are not familiar with this store, they pride themselves in fitting any foot. They have forms of grotesque, huge, misshapen feet in their store to show what kind of feet they can fit. Well, when we were there one time for my sister, my dad decided to get a pair of shoes that fit for a change. One of the Mr. Kassis' came out to measure his foot, and left muttering an apology that he could not fit my dad's feet!!

So his feet are definitely something to write about! And even though it may be amazing that he can stand on his two feet, seeing how small they are in length, he does stand. And that is something I admire about my dad! He stands for what he believes in. Because of his beliefs, he uses his feet to take him to the fire station every month for teaching Sunday School. He also uses his feet to take him off to work to support his family. And he uses his feet to stand in the kitchen or out by the grill cooking up good food! And he uses his feet to play football with Nathan and his friends in the yard-this use is really taxing :)

Although I am glad I did not inherit my father's feet (sorry Jenn!), I am certainly glad he uses his to show love and support for his family! Thanks Dad, and happy Father's Day!

Mud Island Storm!!

This past weekend I heard my first tornado sirens! We had taken a trip to Mud Island in Memphis, TN on Friday, June 12. It seemed like a good day; hot with just a few clouds in the sky!



The kids were having fun playing in the "Mississippi" and the water felt good on a hot day, but then the thunder and lightening started! We made everyone get out of the water but allowed them to continue walking beside the Mississippi replica to the end. I waited with Camden, and Jennifer (my sister) started walking across with Josiah to go pick up Rob from work.


Then the rain started, just a little at first; then a lot; then the wind came! I was fairly safe, but Dave and the 3 older kids had to run back to the snack bar area, dodging flying trash cans and keeping Declan from flying away himself! Jennifer apparently had trouble not flying off the walkway herself!


After the power went out and the storm kept getting worse, they made us leave the glass enclosed snack area and go inside the museum and wait away from the windows! It was a long wait (maybe about an hour, but with impatient, wet, and sometimes scared kids, it seemed forever!), but finally they took us on the tram across the real river back to downtown Memphis! That was free for us who didn't pay to ride the tram to begin with! What an exciting adventure!! And I got to hear tornado sirens!!

The Naked Cowboy!

I have now decided that no matter what Nathan and Camden may say about what they want to be when they grow up, they both are secretly aspiring to be the naked cowboy! I wonder how much that job pays?



When Nathan was 3, he received a pair of cowboy boots from Dave's dad (a man who always wears cowboy boots!). Nathan loved to wear them! But Camden is even more obsessed with his boots! They are froggie boots, not cowboy, but every time I tell him to get his shoes, he says "want to wear my boots" as he is running to get them! He can even put them on by himself, which he does quite frequently!



At least they can be happy together if they both choose the career path of the naked cowboy!!

Swimsuit shopping!

I think that shopping for a swimsuit is the cruelest thing that a women has to do! I felt like "Kathy" tonight when I took a ton of swimsuits into the fitting room and took all of them back out as not acceptable! Either the suit was too low cut (I have to take 2 boys to the pool regularly and my 2 yr old tends to grab at my suit! Don't need anything falling out!) or it doesn't give the right support (very important for a 38 yr old body!) or it is too athletic looking (these suits are good for not having parts falling out at the pool, but make me look like a straight board!). After changing stores, I finally found one that seems to hide the right spots! And I am even branching out into a different color this year! Chocolate brown and with blues in the stripes! Cute! But no pictures for this blog :)