Dollywood 2009

A few months ago Andrew, my brother, called and said that he had some free tickets to Dollywood that he would like to share with us. They live very close to the park, so it was a perfect opportunity to spend some time with them!

We had such a wonderful time! We ended up leaving on a Sunday night after church, so we got there, put the girls in bed, and rested up so that we could spend Monday at Dollywood.

Emmy was SO excited and I think overwhelmed when we first got there. When she got the hang of everything and understood that this day was pretty much for her since the babies didn't really know what was going on, she was PUMPED!

That child was FEARLESS and ended up riding a ride that took her up very high and slowly made her go up and down, one of those round rafts that carry about 6 people and take you down a rough river and get you SOAKING wet, and the ferris wheel. Some other things she road were the carousel, flying elephants, train (she actually thinks she road that twice because the trolley from the parking lot to the main entrance was a train to her :-}), and the antique cars.

Addy and Brayden also did very well. They just sat in their strollers and enjoyed everything that was going on. After lunch, they both fell asleep and slept through many things without making a sound!

All in all, we had an AWESOME time and are already planning to go back soon. Thanks Andrew, Valerie and Brayden for your generosity and love that you showed us while we were there!

Addy and Brayden taking it all in.

Daddy holding up Emmy and Andrew on a boat trying to squirt me while I'm on dry land.

Addy loves to give hugs. She says "aww" while she's doing it. SOO sweet!

The Daddy's and babies on the carousel.

Emmy and Valerie. Emmy LOVED getting to spend time with Val that day. Every time I would try to hold her hand while walking at the park, Emmy would say "No! I want to hold Valerwie's hand!"

Mommy and Emmy about to ride Dumbo. I couldn't believe how high and fast that thing went!


Addy snoozin'

Brayden snoozin'


Emmy playing a little game. She won a frog!

I just love this picture! Andrew is such a good Daddy!

Emmy and Tim on the antique cars. She said that this was her favorite thing at Dollywood! lol

I just had to share this recent picture of the girls. Addy can't quite walk without help yet, but she's almost there. I look at this picture and I can't help but thank God for my little girls. They are so precious to me! Raising them isn't easy by any means, but seeing them smile and play brings me so much joy and makes it so worth the difficult times! I love being their Mommy:-)!

4th of July and Life These Days

First of all, let me just say...God is SO good!

I think the last time I updated, we were waiting on the vote for the church that we were hoping God would call us to. Well, they voted us in almost unanimously and we have now been there for a little over a month. The people in this church have been such a blessing to us. They have welcomed us with opened arms and encourage and love on us like we've been there for years and years. Things have been very busy, but we like to say it's a good kind of busy! :-)

Anyway, besides the new church, we have had a few other things go on. On June 20th Emmy was in a wedding in Mississippi. Her job was to run down the aisle with a Mississippi State cowbell yelling "The bride is coming! The bride is coming!" If you know Emmy at all, you know how perfect of a job this was for her! The wedding was at 8 PM, 9 PM our time. She did exactly what she was supposed to with the exception of her tripping right when she got to the front of the sanctuary and then deciding that she was done standing on the platform after about 2 minutes and wandering around the church until she found Tim. It was a lot of activity for just a few days, but we had a great time and we were very honored that Whitney, the bride, wanted our little girl to be a part of her big day.

Emmy taking directions at the rehearsal

And...there she goes! We don't have any of the front of her in the wedding. She was too fast! (Someone else got some, though :-})

The beautiful bride! She looked like a brunette Barbie doll!

Right when we got home from MS, Tim literally un-packed and re-packed his suitcase to go with our new pastor to Louisville, KY for the Southern Baptist Convention. He was gone from Sunday-Thursday leaving me at home all week by myself. On top of that, I was puppy-sitting my in law's new puppy. I was so worried about not being able to handle the girls, the dog and whatnot, but I made it and am actually very proud of myself! I hear that now I'm a youth ministers' wife I need to get used to my hubby being away a lot during the summer. I guess it was good that I got some practice before next summer comes around!

Addy with Annie-the puppy were baby-sat. Emmy was an AWESOME helper, too! Every time it was time to take her potty Emmy would pick her up and we'd all go outside. When Annie was done, she would pick her up and bring her in. Emmy is becoming such a big girl! So is Addy :-{!

We celebrated July 4th a little differently this year. Every year our new church does an outreach at a park right near the church. Tim was there from 8AM-4PM handing out flyers about our VBS while some other members painted faces, handed out balloons and offered free waters to the people enjoying the festivities. That night we all went over to my aunts house to enjoy a cookout and then Tim, the girls and I all went back to the park we had spent the day at and watch some beautiful fireworks. Emmy LOVED it and so did Addy, surprisingly. One of our friends that met us for the fireworks brought Emmy some glow sticks. During the display, she started throwing them up in the air and cheering. I got onto her because I didn't want her to be a distraction. She then said, "Mommy, I'm making fireworks!" It was too cute, to I didn't make her stop! We ended up not getting home until about 11, but it was worth it! We all had an awesome time!

Our little family before we left for the fireworks. Look closely, and you can see a big butterfly painted on Emmy's face. She was so sad when we had to wash it off!

Emmy's new BFF's from church. They are a little older than her, but it's actually making he act a little older when she's with them. This is a bittersweet thing!

Vacation Bible School is going on this week. I am working with 4 and 5 year olds and we have had at least 10 each night, so far. Tim has planned out an awesome week for the youth. They are calling it Youth Camp and the theme is "Planted". They have averaged over thirty kids(6th-12th grades) every night. 3 have accepted Christ as their personal Savior and several others have re-dedicated their lives to the Lord and joined the church. We are so amazed and humbled to see the way God is moving and how He is using us. I'm getting chill bumps just typing this!

To say the least, these past few weeks have been overwhelming from one extreme to another. However, in ALL honesty, God's goodness has exceeded my expectations of anything I could have ever thought up and I don't think that saying "thank you" to Him would do any justice for all He is doing for us.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Ephesians 3:20-21