Thanks Syd for taking these pictures for us!

A Fan Favorite

This has got to be one of the funniest video clips EVER! (From YouTube - Just under 1 min) Ladies, if you need to cheer up your sports fan hubby, let him watch this.

Football Mascot Fight
(click this link)

I'm smiling just thinking about it. Enjoy.

Hiking Princess

Justin and I took another hiking date. We didn't see all the beautiful leaves on the trees, but we did get to see them all on the ground covering all the rocks and roots on the path. That was fine with me because I usually spend a lot of my time looking at my feet anyway...so I don't fall off a cliff or something. It was still a beautiful hike and waterfall. (Henwallow Trail 2.2mi)

Set the camera on a log.

Our church had activities for the kids. All the girls were princesses (daughters of our King and loved very much) and the boys were pirates (full of strength and courage that comes from God). The kids were super cute. Olivia made a tiara and got a "worth wand". Then when she came home, she went next door to the neighbors house. She wanted to stay and help pass out candy. Justin went back later to pick her up. Her first "choice" babysitting! Isaac had a rough day of teething and went to bed early. There was no dressing up for him. Next year.

Walk? or Crawl?

Here's a picture of Isaac on his hands and knees. He is still trying to figure out if he wants to crawl or not. He's starting to pull up too, usually on me and his crib. We lowered his crib one notch today just in case he figures out he could actually pull up all the way...and then out.

This particular time Isaac was in his walker, he was moving around all over the place and running into anything and everything. This is just a small portion of the stuff he was doing. It was really cracking me up.

I Need A Blower...Whooo....Whooo

So I'm out sweeping the curbs and walks with Olivia after Tami mowed the day before. After about 15 minutes of work, I tell Olivia; "I need a blower." She responds with puckered lips, "Whooo, whooo," in the direction of the clippings. What a helper. Had to share.

H:12:5 Huh?

For a long time I've (Justin) strongly believed that God reveals Himself in very real ways through our daily life experiences. He as proved that belief over and over again to me. Whether you see it and benefit from that or not depends only on your willingness to look and see it, but it's there. I have NO doubt in that.

My 2-1/2 yr old daughter Olivia has been potty trained for awhile now and during our bedtime routine, we take one last trip to the potty before laying down to sleep. After a successful potty and saying our good-nights, the lights were out and I was downstairs with Tami. After 5 or so minutes, Olivia comes out of her room and says, "I have to go potty."

Immediately, I remember the night before when the exact same thing happened. I told her she just went, but we sat on the potty just in case. Nothing. So we ended up sitting face to face on her bed having a talk about telling the truth that ended in an apology and forgiveness.

So, before even trying to potty this time, I told her she just went and that she needed to go back to bed. After hearing my command, she stated with a little desperation-whine a second time, "Daddy, I have to go potty." So I climbed the stairs and before even heading to the potty, we had a talk on the top step about honesty, telling the truth, and I gave her a quick reminder of what happened the previous night. In our conversation, I stated that she would get a spanking if she didn't go potty this time. I followed the statement of discipline with a couple questions that, I hoped, would get her to fess up before it led to the spanking. No luck. So, we walked to the potty and sat.....and sat......and sat. During this time, I said a quick prayer of desperation in my head, "Lord, PLEASE let her go potty. I don't want to spank her."

After the ordeal was over, Hebrews 12:5 became more real to me . Talks about 'God disciplining those he loves.' After Olivia finally went potty after about 4 minutes of sitting (Thank you Lord!), I came back downstairs to Tami and stated to her how thankful I was that she went because I really did not want to spank her. She brought the incident back up the next day and said that's probably how God thinks when we are in the midst of temptation or sin. Because His love is SO much greater than we offer our own kids, how much more then does He not 'want' to punish us, rather, so wants us to do right. Unfortunately, like Olivia, loving discipline is just what we need at times to bring us back to a life of righteousness and blessing. What a good and loving God we have anxious to have relationship with us.

Are you living your life looking for God to reveal Himself to you? He wants to be found by you every day.

Wanna Hear A Joke?

Louie was shipwrecked and lived alone on a desert island for years until he was finally rescued. Before leaving the island, he gave the rescue party a tour. "I built myself a house. That's it there. Here's the barn, and over there is the church I worshipped in." A rescuer asked, "What's that building over there?" Louie sneered. "That's the church I used to belong to."
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We should have a way of telling people they have bad breath without hurting their feelings: "Well, I'm bored. Let's go brush our teeth." Or, "I've got to make a phone call. Here, hold this gum in your mouth."