6 months old!

Yesterday our baby was 6 months old! I truely can not believe it!! She has grown up so fast and keeps growing every day! Where oh where has the days and months gone? All this to say, my time with her is short so I want to do my best to invest in her as much as possible. I want to spend time with her, love her, read to her, and make the most of every minute with her. Before I know it she will be crawling, walking, talking, starting school, finishing school, getting married, having children....whoa!!! Deuteronomy 6 :7 tells me "You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up." That is what I have been called to do as Joanna's mother and that is my goal everyday. I want her to know Jesus, to follow Jesus and to "Love the Lord her God with all her heart, all her soul, all her mind and all her strength". I love this little girl, but oh how much more God loves her!!! Happy 6th month birthday, Joanna Ruth!! Thought I would post a few pictures of her over the past couple of months. I am sure I will be posting about her crawling soon...she is close!

Coldwater Creek

On our last day in Alabama we got to spend some time with a lady that is very dear to us. Mrs. Shirley and her husband were members of West Park Heights. He was homebound and Bryan took Isaac with him when he would go visit Mr. Tommy Joe. Isaac built a sweet friendship with Mr. Tommy Joe. As a family we would go and visit them and would have some of the best time with them, just precious! The summer of 2009 Mr. Tommy Joe passed away and we continued to visit with and love on Mrs. Shirley. I called her while we were in Alabama and let her know we wanted to see her and spend some time with her. She suggested Coldwater Creek. We had never been there before so I really didn't know what to expect, I was thinking a crowd of people. We arrived there and there was NO one else there and it was soooo nice! We got to really spend time with Mrs. Shirley and the kids loved playing in the creek. We took a picnic and ate sandwiches for lunch. We so enjoyed this time!! Great Memories!!


Mrs. Shirley and Isaac

I thought Elijah would never get in, but he finally did and liked playing.

Sarah enjoying the scenery.

Mrs. Shirley palying with Elijah and Timothy

Timothy had the most fun! He LOVED it!

Thank you Mrs. Shirley!

Me and Joanna

Mrs. Shirely even remembered Isaac's favorite kind of chips and brought those for us to enjoy with our sandwiches.

My mom and dad joined us for the picnic.

So glad to be home!

I don't know who was more glad for us to be home, me and the kids or Bryan! On Thursday my parents took us to meet Bryan. So we said our good-byes and then loaded up in our van and headed home. Bryan got a lot done on his doctoral project while we were gone, which was really good and meant that he could breathe for a couple of days. On Friday we took the kids to see Cars 2 and then to get ice cream. The kids did a great job of helping clean the house before we left for Alabama and they had memorized scripture and the little boys learned to sing "Jesus Loves Me" and we wanted to reward them for a job well done! It was so nice to spend some time together as a family and be with Bryan. I just love it when we are together as a family, when we are not it just doesn't seem right!

Cars 2 was an OK movie. I think the first one is better by far! So glad we didn't pay full price to see it, we went to an early movie.

We LOVE ice cream! Bryan treated us to ice cream from the "Marble Slab". That was soooo good!

Time with Family, The Howell's

Happy 4th of July!!

Paw and Maw with Joanna

My kiddos enjoyed every second at Paw and Maw's

Who is that?

Guess Who!?

Lovely....I think!? :)

Too cute.....but who is it?

The BIG fisherman!

Isaac went fishing with Paw

I think we wore them out!!!

We arrived at my mom and dad's last Saturday. Bryan ate supper with us and then he had to head back home, but the kids and I had plans on staying at my parents til Thursday! We enjoyed being with them soooo much! My dad was off work that week with it being the 4th and my mother had taken off so we really got to enjoy being with them. On Tuesday afternoon we went swimming at the Thrasher's. They are a very dear couple to our family. The Thrasher's were at West Park Heights when we were there. Wayne and Bryan would go visiting together and became really close. Mrs. Nancy was Isaac's Sunday school teacher when we left and she is one of the sweetest ladies. Our family has many memories of our realtionship with Wayne and Nancy and the many ways they have been a blessing to us! Thank you so very much Mr. Wayne and Mrs. Nancy for letting us come over and go swimming. We enjoyed getting to see you two and visiting with you. On Tuesday and Wednesday my dad took Isaac fishing and Isaac LOVED it! Wednesday Isaac caught a stripe and he was so excited! On Wednesday morning my mom, the other kiddos and I went and ran a few errands. We also realized why the kids and I don't go many places, when Joanna is ready for her nap she LOVES to be in her bed (or play pen). She cried the majority of the time we were gone that day (just a few hours). Wednesday night the kids and I went to church at West Park Heights and was so glad to see some of the others that are very dear to us. Mrs. Pat was right there to help me get the kids out of the van and to their classes and then she also helped us get back in the van. Mrs. Pat and Mr. Jim are another couple that was always a blessing and encouragement to us. Sarah had a special relationship with them, matter of fact they were her Sunday school teachers when we left. Thank you Mrs. Pat for helping out on Wednesday night! It was so good to see you and Mr. Jim. We saw many others and it was such a sweet time of fellowship. Sarah was glad to see two of her friends from WPH, Hannah and Lauren. I was also just as glad to get to visit with their mom. Sharon has always been a source of encouragement to me as a homeschooling mother and wife. Thanks Sharon for the time you took to spend a few moments with me. Much love to our friends at WPH!! WOW! We had a great time with my parents and the others we got to see. And the funny glasses, we found them at my mom's and I just had to get pictures of some of us in them. The kids thought they were so funny and the pictures I took....even funnier! :)

Time with Family, The Roughton's

The children

This month Leah and Sarah will celebrate birthdays!

Ella and Sarah had the best time together! Reminds Dodey and I of when we were little girls!

Shooting Fireworks!

So thankful for Dodey!

These little ones were real good about putting on "shows" for the rest of us!

Dodey and I with our kiddos!

One of the main reasons we went to Alabama was for us to get to visit with my cousin and her family. Dodey lives in Montgomery so we don't get to see each other often. She has never seen Joanna so we decided to meet at our Nanny's and my parents. Bryan, the kids and I arrived at my parents house late Saturday afternoon and had a wonderful time being together with family. The sweetest thing was when we pulled up Sarah and Ella (Dodey's oldest daughter) went running to each other for a big hug and that was so much like Dodey and I when we were little girls and we would see each other....brought back so many memories! :) We got to spend Sunday and half day on Monday with them before they had to head back to their home. It was such a great time for the kids to be together and enjoy playing with each other. Those girls could have spent every minute together! I loved being able to spend some time with Dodey, Charles and their girls. So glad we got to get pictures of the kids together. We are already looking forward to getting together again....hopefully sooner than later!

Time with Family, The Camp's

A fun game of match!

Isaac and Sarah love reading Gigi's books!

Sarah took this picture of me and Joanna.

Isaac and Sarah swam so much in Pop and Gigi's pool.

Sarah and Isaac played in the pool all day on Friday! I think they were in the pool by 9 a.m.

Bryan and Timothy taking a break from the water and sun!

Elijah liked the water but not near as much as the two big kids!

So glad these two have each other to play with! I so desire for them to be close now and always.

We love homemade ice cream and Gigi makes the best!

Elijah helped Gigi make the ice cream so he thought he could have the most and he did!

Her ice cream is like a frosty!!

ALL my kids loved being outside and enjoying Gigi's ice cream.

Bryan thought that Joanna needed a bite of ice cream too.

These two are so funny!

We got to Bryan's mom and dad's on Thursday (June 30th) night and the kids got in the pool not long after we arrived. Then we got to spend all day Friday there and half a day on Saturday. Bryan's mom fixed some wonderful meals and desserts....yummy! We also got to see Bryan's brothers and their families. Bryan's baby brother has a new baby and we got to meet him for the first time, so sweet! We were so thankful to get to visit and spend time with Bryan's family. I loved being able to get in the pool and swim with the kids, we had so much fun!