Busy Bees

We have been having so much fun this summer and I thought I would share some of my favorite pics from the last few weeks. First of all Happy Way Late Father's Day to all you Daddy's out there! We had so much fun celebrating with Chris. He truly is the epitome of a wonderful Father and my sons are so blessed to have him. I got to spend the day with my precious Daddy too and so it was just that much more sweet for me! They both love boating so that is just what we did!

My Dad and Chris                  Grady loving on his little sister!

Somehow in every picture I take of these two, Davis always looks older than Grady. Thankfully Grady still has about an inch on him in height but D has surpassed him in weight even trailing in age by 27 months! Craziness! I teach Grady the old adage, "We all come in different shapes and sizes," everyday.

We have been spending a lot of time at the pool and the boys have turned into little water sharks for sure! Papa has been practicing their balance with them and Grady has definitely got it down pat.

Grady had his first spend the night a few weekends ago with his cousin. They are only 6 months apart and are absolutely insane when together, but have nothing short of a blast!! We ate dinner at the pool and cruised around in our "Redneck Riviera," jacked up, kick-behind golf cart that Chris got for us.

Those faces right there pretty much say it all!

We headed down to Tybee for a few hours and enjoyed watching people play half rubber in honor of our brother-in-law's late father who passed away from pancreatic cancer. It was a beautiful day and lots of fun!

I braved the beach by myself with the boys a week ago and met up with a whole slew of folks and it was more fun than the law allows. I paid for it though with some crazy foot pain the whole night from carrying so much stuff and being out in the heat 34 weeks pregnant. Oooops! Look at these faces though, it was worth it! :)

My mom, my aunts and I threw a bridal shower last Saturday for my cousin who is getting married in August. She was a bridesmaid in my wedding 8 years ago. I just can't believe how fast time flies!! So excited for her and the adventure she is about to embark on.

Mom, Aunt Sally, Sarah Helen, Aunt Beth, Me and Gwyn :)

Last but not least my best friends threw a little "shower" for me on Thursday night. It was so much fun and I just had to share my favorite present yet! My sister in law is talented beyond measure and she hand painted this canvas to hang over Gwyn's crib. I absolutely love it! Just cannot imagine being able to do something like this for someone. Thank you, thank you, thank you Stacy!

Well, I think that pretty much gets me up to speed! Whew, I need to get with it. Once little miss makes her grand debut, I have a feeling I will always be a little behind the eight ball at least for a while anyway. Hope everyone is having a blessed summer and getting some much needed relaxation and family time!

Denial

In my last post, I mentioned this little word denial. It means quite a bit to me right now as it is what I am currently living in! I went to the doctor last Tuesday and had an ultrasound. Those are always my favorite appointments. She is looking a lot like Davis' ultrasound pictures, but only measuring in the 42nd percentile which is much more like Grady. The tech said she doesn't look like she has much hair at all and seeing as how I was bald until about 18 months, I definitely wasn't surprised. Here is a picture of her smooshed little face that I got a peek at last week. I can't wait to kiss those little lips and cheeks!

My precious Sunday School class threw a baby shower for me and my friend who is also having a little girl. Oh, did i say is...I meant was. That's right, she had her baby Saturday, and granted she was a few weeks early and I am never early, still I need to get with it! I haven't washed ANYTHING or even began to disinfect all the gear that babies entail. I am determined to buckle down this week and get some prep done so at least I'm ready just in case the unexpected should happen. Now as for the denial, I think I will probably just remain that way until I'm holding her in my arms even if it does look like there is an alien moving around in my tummy! :)

When God Makes Us WAIT

As I was walking a few mornings ago, I was struck by the magnitude of living in limbo. I felt waves of anxiety and anger sweep over me and then I took a step back and began to think about all the times throughout our lives that we are called to WAIT. Right now, we are waiting to meet our daughter in less than six weeks and transition from a family of 4 to a clan of 5 (actually we are in denial but that is for another post!)

 We have looked at all the houses that are currently on the market in our desired areas and there is nothing that feels like home, so we are waiting for someone else to move and a house to come on the market.
I then thought about my uncle who is battling cancer and has been for about 21 months now and as he puts it, he is waiting for his "walking papers." Now that puts waiting into perspective!

I have a friend who is struggling with her health and the unknown of what is wrong and she is waiting on test and doctors to figure out a diagnosis. I have another friend who has completed her first round of chemo and is waiting to see the results of her pet scan before moving forward with radiation all while caring for her two young sons. Again...perspective!
Sometimes once the waiting is over, it seems it was worth each second. I know a couple who had been waiting 3 years for a baby and just this past week was blessed with a little girl to adopt into their family. My precious cousin and her fiance are currently counting down the days until they say "I Do" and I know they will love and enjoy the gift that marriage is.

As I really thought about waiting and how absurdly aggravating and at times completely saddening it can be to me and the ones I love, I remembered that it is not about my timing, it is about His. God, in His infinite wisdom, brings each of us to WAIT so that we are reminded of our need for Him. So much good can come during these times if we remember to keep looking up and asking for help. I am so thankful that it is not my job to understand these periods of waiting, and I am telling myself everyday that I must cling to the Lord and have faith in His promises.
Psalm 5:3 "In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly."
Isaiah 30:18 "Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!"

Summer time and the livin' is easy!

Oh how I do love that old song!! Summer is in full swing around here, and it is fun and exhausting all wrapped into one! Little boys are such a blessing BUT they have a TON of energy and without school in the mornings it is darn near impossible to wear them out! Davis has been having a really hard time sleeping so we have let him drop his nap. The hardest part about this is not having ANY break in my day. This would be hard for anyone keeping my constant motion boy, but it proves especially challenging for an almost 32 weeks pregnant woman. Grady dropped his nap about this same age, but would willingly stay in his room for 2 hours and "rest" while self-entertaining. Today, I attempted for them to "rest" 30 minutes together playing in one of their rooms and 30 minutes separate. Davis is just simply NOT a self-entertaining kiddo so the whole separate thing is proving to be very difficult for him. I am hoping that after a few weeks, I can actually enjoy the hour instead of standing guard in the hall like an old schoolmarm ready to swat whoever tries to escape. :) We are loving the cottage life and praying for God to show us our next step. Other than my half-human canine not being here and the lack of a dishwasher, we are truly in "Shangri-La."

Enjoying chocolate chip cookies in their new farm hats from Papa!

Now that school is out, the boys and I finally got to go up to the farm again and visit Mooma. The boys had a blast and were literally wallowing in the mud, every boys dream!

Started out calm enough..

 But quickly turned double dirty when water entered the picture! They loved it!!!

Gotta love 3 year old faces when told to smile!

I could just eat him up sometimes!

We have been to the Isle of Hope pool and had fun there too and today was really rainy so I did the unthinkable and took them to nasty Flying Frogs that they have been begging to enter for about a year now. I hope I tided them over for about another year. :) Anyway, hope you all are having a great week. In church Sunday, my preacher mentioned the Parable of the Sower in Mark chapter 4. I will leave you with these wonderful verses and hope that we can all fight against the thorns life will throw at us so that God's light in us is not choked out, but instead produces a crop fit for the King of Kings!
Mark 4:18-20 "Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.”