Our Beautiful Dancing Girl

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful.  I know that full well." 
Psalm 139:13-14

"Then maidens will dance and be glad, young men and old as well. I will turn their mourning into gladness; I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow." 
Jeremiah 31:13

"Let them praise His name in the dance: let them sing praises unto Him with the timbrel and harp."  

Psalm 149:3

 

"They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance."  

Job 21:11

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: ... a time to dance and a time to laugh." 
Ecclesiastes 3:1, parts of 3:4

Every Day Life - Spring Pictures #2

Mattie and her cousin, Caleb.  She loves playing with Caleb!

Girl talk after a long day at Dollywood.

Mattie's favorite ride at Dollywood this year!  Check out the little half-pint on the left with his hands up just like his mama.  :)  That's Logan, my 2 1/2 year old nephew.  

(We got some season passes for Christmas this year from my parents and have already gotten to go 5 times this season!  It's the gift that keeps on giving for sure!)

 More Dollywood fun with friends!

Jacob carrying the rubber chicken all the way to the end at field day!

Jacob and his wonderful piano teacher, Miss Andrea.  She is sent straight from heaven, I believe!  She has done a great job with Jacob this year helping him develop his musical abilities.  She is in tune enough to buy him a Star Wars book to keep him motivated.  :)  That's a sign of a great teacher!  She loves him for his quirks, and for this I'm so thankful!

  

Mattie got her first manicure at a birthday party.  :)

 Too sleepy to take out the pigtails...

Spring school!!!

Every Day Life - Spring Pictures

 So, you can tell it's been busy here since I go into blogging hibernation.  :)  Honestly, after Luke 14 is over, I end up in this overwhelmed funk and it takes my brain a few weeks to recover and feel like I have anything creative to give.  This year was better than before, except that I committed to teach at a Disability Ministry Conference a month later.  I know a month is a long time in between, but add a few things out of my control in there and it's just been crazy for too long!  So anyway, here are two posts with some pictures of this spring.

 

 My boy turned 9!!  It's so hard to believe.  Some days he just still seems like he still needs so much direction, and then on other days I send him to ride his bike or walk the dog around the block alone and he seems so big! 

He is teaching me so much... about myself, about my relationship with the Lord, about life.  He is so much like I was as a kid, like I am now.  He helps me understand myself, really.  But that helps me understand him too.  For that I'm thankful!

My parents came down for Luke 14 and Jacob's birthday.  I am trying really hard to take pictures of every day things so I don't find out I've missed my chance.  I don't have enough pictures of my kids with their grandparents.

 

Mattie and our neighbor getting a few quiet minutes without the older boys in the mix.

 

Mattie moving her stumps (home of several imaginary friends) to a safer place in the yard) with Daddy's help.  (I could watch my man work on big boy toys all day long!) 

These precious feet I struggle to keep clean in the warmer months.  My barefoot girl who loves to wear dresses and dig for worms...

Enjoying a good read like Mommy... 

 Chatting on her phone like Mommy...

 

Dancing... totally not like Mommy! 

Luke 14 2011

 

Luke 14 was a huge success this year!  This was the first year we did two nights - one night for children with disabilities and their families, one night for adults with disabilities and their families or caregivers.  It was a blessing to be able to honor almost 300 friends with disabilities this year!!

If you're not sure what Luke 14 is, see more about it here.   

You can see photos and stories of other Luke 14 years there too!

Hope was our speaker for this year. She was born after a failed abortion and was subsequently adopted by Christian parents. Hope loves to laugh and is a joy to be around!  Her story of life, victory and hope is simply amazing!

 Our worship pastor was playing dinner music and happened to start Amazing Grace.  This sweet guest walked right up, confidently took the microphone and started singing for us! 

The petting zoo is a huge hit every year, and this was no exception!  (My Jacob got to get in on the snakes before he was put to work!)

This sweet little man wasn't even performing with this group, but just came right on up to join in!  (We have a photo of him doing this a year or two ago too!)

It was nice to see some familiar faces at the popcorn booth!  My 5yo, Mattie helped my mom keep everyone stocked up on the popcorn.  This was truly a labor of love for that little girl.. She loves popcorn, but is allergic to dairy, so she served this all night without being able to have even one bite.  :)

We tried to have more take home booths this year.  We had barrettes for the girls and women to make, bird houses to be painted, cookies to decorate and flowers to plant.  This little guy was pretty psyched about his flower!

 

Bubbles and donkey pulled wagon rides were only a small part of the outside fun!

I can't close without telling you about this major story of the first night.  We had tornado warnings in our county and all of those surrounding us.  We welcomed people amidst rolls of thunder.   About 2 hours in, we were told there were tornadoes spotted in a neighboring county.  We called the National Weather Service in our area, and they assured us we were still okay to keep partying!  The skies were certainly foreboding, and we had no idea how much the Lord was protecting us.  In every county north, south, east and west of ours, there were severe thunderstorms.  Some of us watched on the radar while a very severe storm with golf ball sized hail headed our direction, took a turn north and came back south again after it passed over our location... less than one mile away there were severe downpours and hail damage!  Yet we partied in sunshine through the entire event.  If that's not God smiling on this big party of His, I don't know what is.