Tuesday, August 28, 2012

New Orleans 2012

With all the focus on Hurricane Isaac heading straight towards New Orleans, it's so different for me, now that I have actually visited New Orleans. I've walked those streets, seen those buildings and most importantly met some of those people. My prayers are with them during this time and the days to come.
As sort of a tribute to this city, I figured I'd finally do a post on our trip.

In June, Steven, Caleb, Asher and I drove to New Yorleans(as Caleb says it!) for the Southern Baptist Convention.
This convention was historic because Southern Baptists elected the first African American President, Fred Luter. He is a native of New Orleans and pastors Franklin Avenue Baptist. Their church was completely destroyed when Katrina hit and my heart is so concerned for them now. But I've heard his wife's testimony of how God raised the church after Katrina and I have no doubt He can do it again!
On the day of the election, the convention hall was absolutely packed, it was standing room only. You could feel the excitement in the air. Since the election was uncontested, the current President didn't want to take away the privilege from the delegates to actually cast their vote. So he asked the delegates in favor of Pastor Fred Luter to please raise their ballots in the air. The crowd not only raised their ballots but everyone stood and began cheering and clapping! It was something I won't soon forget. It still gives me chills as I type this over 2 months later.
As we were on the way out of the convention center that day, an older man took Steven by the arm and said, "let me tell you something young man." This stranger, with tears in his eyes said, "I was at this convention, in this very same city, back in the 60's. And if you would've told me on that day, what would be happening today, I would've told you you were crazy. But this is proof that God changes hearts." It was a priceless moment.

 
The day after the election, my friend Robin & I were walking into the convention bookstore area & we saw Pastor Luter walking out. I pointed him out to my friend & then I said to her, let's just go say hi to him, so we did. He was so gracious & I let him know that he won my vote for President of the SBC because of his wife. He laughed & agreed with me that she is an amazing, godly woman.
It was a convention that I will remember for a long time.
 
I'm going to continue this later!
 
Let's be praying for everyone in the path of this storm.
 
Love ya'll dearly!
 


Monday, August 27, 2012

SQUIRREL!!


Ever since seeing the movie, UP, yelling "SQUIRREL" at random times has become something that we do in our family. Emma seems to have a knack for yelling it at just the right time. Well, the other day, the scene from this movie played out right before my very eyes!

We had been given a small table and some chairs for our 'classroom'. We were unloading them from the back of the truck and I asked Caleb and Asher to take a chair inside. Asher was slowly dragging his across the driveway and I was walking behind him carrying the other chairs. He's almost to the garage when he looks out into the yard and yells, "LOOK, A SQUIRREL!" He immediately drops the chair and runs off to catch the squirrel.

That boy!

Dougie wasn't home when this happened, so when I was retelling him the story, he asked, "do you teach him to be so funny?"

Nope, it's just comes natural, like a dog chasing a squirrel!

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

We've reached a milestone!

With school starting this year, our kids all hit a milestone. Emma started high school, Dougie started middle school and Caleb started Kindergarten. If you throw Asher in there as a preschooler, even though he's not actually going to a preschool, we have a child in every age department. Holy guacamole!

 We're homeschooling Caleb this year, so here's a picture of him with his new teacher. =)
We've converted our dining room into a classroom. We've never used it as a dining room, so it was the perfect place.
 We are trying to find a small table so we don't have to go back and forth to the kitchen table.
 A friend of mine was getting rid of the wooden entertainment center, so I bought it from her for $20. Score! It's the perfect divider between the classroom and the playroom.
 A closer look at our calendar.
Counting to 100 and learning place value.
 
Caleb's first day of school drawing. Love it!


This verse is my prayer when it comes to homeschooling.

Love y'all dearly!