Recent Pictures from Recent Events. . .

Stephen and baby Hope at camp in MO last week. This hat is just amazingly cute! :)


This is as the kids were coming in one morning. We love leading worship-through-song with the Smith Band at camp. What an honor and blessing for us!


This is right before Jackson's party on Sunday night. We had a double party with Jackson's buddy, Titus. He turned 3 last week, too, so his mom, Amber, and I thought this would be so fun. We had a Bob the Builder Party, and invited Titus and Jackson's friends from church (Daniel and Lauren; Kate, Ben, and Drew;Jackson J.; Campbell; Caleb and Hannah; Annalise) plus their parents and a few extra friends. Amber made the most wonderful appetizer veggie pizza, delicious cupcakes, and to-die-for cookie-dough cheese cake (from SCRATCH!!!). Stephen and I grilled hot dogs and hamburgers and had all the trimmings (including my friend Jamie's incredible spin art dip, a personal favorite). Though the weather didn't cooperate (it rained super hard in the late afternoon and left everything muddy and soggy), we still had a blast. .. just without the construction site (a.k.a. sand box) that was to have been a big hit of the party! Oh, well. . . the kids still had fun.


The 2 birthday boys at the big moment.


Stephen watching Jackson open his presents. . . a high lite of the party when you're a kid! :)


One of my favorite parts of the party was when the dads prayed for the birthday boys. I'm so thankful for the example of Stephen and other men (including Titus' dad, Vernon) who point the way to godliness for Jackson, my big 3-year old!

Jackson is 3 today!

I can't believe my little boy is three years old. He is so "big". I can remember so clearly the day that he was born. .my little dark-haired boy. We had those fearful first few moments when they decided he wasn't breathing well enough, and the nurses took him to the nursery right away. . we didn't get to hold him for several hours. . but when they finally brought him to us it was amazing. How can you love someone so much in just a few moments? And how amazing is it that we share a birthday? He was such a wonderful little baby. Now that he's three, I thought I'd make a list of words that come to mind to describe my Jack-Jack.

charming
smart
articulate (even without the "r's")
endearing
delightful
funny (He's into made-up "knock-knock" jokes.)
loyal (He loves his "sissy" and "my baby".)
playful (It's true that play is the work of a child--he's always playing!)
repetitive (He tells EVERYONE, "I have a train table.")
friendly
dramatic (He can turn it on--and off.)
loves books (He reads stacks of books every nap time and bed time, but he told me tonight that "these were too hard for him to read--he doesn't know these words"
tan (lots of swimming in Houston!)
sweet (He recently told baby Hope that "when she grows up she can be a fire fighter, or a police officer, or a trash truck driver" in the most gentle voice--like he was bestowing on her a great honor.)
adorable (His smile gets me every time!)
mine
ours
His

Jackson's first trip to Friendswood.

Little blue-eyed one after a bath. It think he's about 4-5 months old.

This was on a trip to the park at about 8-9 months old.

We're at the Houston zoo. He's 9 months old. Too cute!

May 2006 in the bluebonnets.

At his 2 year old party!

The Big Update

I'm feeling a bit regretful about my lack of blog updates lately! I'm going to follow my friend Amber's example and give you a quick list of thing going on. . .

1. I'm blogging from camp! We're at Camp Windermere in Roach, MO with The Smith Band! We love working with our band guys and with Student Life. . . so we're having a blast! We head home today (Wednesday). . from MO to Dallas to Houston

2. We had a great couple of days in Houston (Wed.- Fri.) before heading to MO. It was so great to be home for a few days--we packed in lots of good times. . . sitting on the back porch in the evening drinking coffee and watching the kids swim (in the inflatable pool). . . going to Gringos and having birthday cupcakes (Jackson now thinks he's 3 because he got a present from Mel and Nathan and we sang "Happy Birthday"). . . lunch at the Tea Room and getting to see Tara.

3. Last Friday night, Hope and I flew out to Tulsa with Aric (he's our awesome bass player). Hope just has to be the world's best baby! All of our kids have been amazing travelers, but she is just incredible! She made not a peep through 7 hours of traveling from Friendswood to Tulsa.

4. Jackson is officially POTTY TRAINED! I am thrilled (to say the least). He hasn't even had an accident in about 2 weeks!!! He even goes by himself, and you'll just hear the potty flush and he'll come out. . I have to say he looks so big and so cute in his Thomas the Train or Cars or Diego underwear! :)

5. Madison and Jackson are being spoiled beyond belief with my parents (pool, shopping, Kemah) and with Marsh (Moody Gardens--swimming, room service, etc.). I am so happy that they are so happy!

I'm going to add some new pics ASAP!

The week in review. .

I can't believe I haven't found a moment to post anything this week. . it's been a busy one. We had VBS this week, and all of us were involved Wed-Sat. Madison really enjoyed GAME DAY, and she got to take cheerleading the last hour of VBS each day. They're doing their cheer in church tomorrow, so that should be super-cute! I'll try to take some pictures. Jackson had a good time, mostly. It was a little bit hard for him to see Stephen and me at random times but have to stay with his class. I was really proud of him because for the first time, starting Wed., I sent him to church in his big-boy underwear! Wow! He did really well. He did have an accident Fri. morning, but hey, it's really OK! We're now wearing underwear all the time except for naps and at night! Hallelujah! Hope did great, of course. She's been smiling and cooing a lot this week, and it's just so fun to get her excited and talking.

In other news, I'm pretty sure I broke my toe today. . seriously. It's the 2nd toe on my right foot, and if it's not truly broken it is definitely cracked. A friend of ours who is an EMT looked at it and concurred. I decided not to go get an X-Ray because everyone says that all they'd do is tape it up. .. .which is what Phil did. It hurts SOOOOOOOOO bad. When I'm off of it, I can handle it.. but being up on it just hurts like CRAZY!!! Poor me!

Okay, well, that's about it. . .bless you at church tomorrow!

The Weekend

I'm always glad when the weekend comes. Sometimes I think this is a bit odd since I don't work a 9 - 5 job away from home, but somehow, when (Friday), Saturday, and Sunday roll around, the pace of the day is just a bit different. Some weekends are project oriented, some are about relaxing, some are busy and play-full, and some are a mixture of all three. This weekend we did projects (Stephen continued working on the new front-porch columns, I continued the never-ending clean-out-the-garage project), and we rested (took a huge nap this afternoon!). We also played outside a lot. The kids love playing in the new sand box with our neighbors and eating popsicles! Hope and I laid in the hammock and enjoyed ourselves immensely! So. . .here we are on Saturday night. . .ready for church tomorrow.. . asking God to work powerfully in the people of our church. . .to use us in His mercy. . and to speak to our hearts, especially our children. I'm praying in faith for Madison's salvation this summer. Jesus, call my girl's name, and let her respond to you!!

Sweet Madison. She had her first piano lesson on Friday and absolutely loved it! She can already play 2 songs! :)

Jackson was a big help to Stephen and Paw Paw on the

front porch columns! :) Is he cute, or what!?

Paw Paw with the kids on the new sand box.

The Sand Box of all Sand Boxes

Something wonderful happened yesterday. .. Paw Paw (Stephen's dad) came to town.. . . and he came with projects in mind. He and Stephen have accomplished more in the last 36 hours around our house than we have done in months! They started with the most important project on their to-do list. . . the sand box. For months now, Jackson spends much time in the backyard pushing his cars, trucks, and dump trucks around in his "construction site". Well, now he can play in style! And I might just join him more often! As you can see in the picture, this sand box is quite large and has a nice ledge around the perimeter for sitting and playing on. The kids had a blast helping build the sand box, and tonight we enjoyed the fruits of their labor. We sat outside and ate ice cream (Blue Bell peaches and cream for the adults--delicious!) and Popsicles for the kids (including Madison's friend). The kids played and played until it got dark. A pretty wonderful summer evening, if you ask me. Tune in tomorrow night to see what they do with their Friday!

Hope was worn out from her day!

Jackson playing in the front yard (last Saturday). This is

the awesome tree swing that Stephen put up for the kids.

Madison flying through the trees on the swing!

From the Hearth...