WE LOVE OUR MOM!!!!
I stopped by a local appliance store and humbly asked for an extra box. They were happy to part with it and the boys had days of indoor fun.... 
and then we have the faithful rope, this thing turned up out of nowhere and has been the best "toy" this entire Summer and Fall. Thank you Mr. Rope for entertaining my children.....
I have this great piece of paper on our refrigerator. I picked in up at the bank earlier this Summer. It's a helpful reminder of the endless ways we can turn everyday moments into fun learning opportunities. Try adding some of these to your regular routine:
Yesterday our sweet Baby turned 6 months old! Oh, we are so in love with her!! She brings great JOY to all of us, her Daddy and Mommy and her two big brothers! 
She is the apple of her Daddy's eye. I see God's love in the way Jake loves her. 
Secure. Confident. Assured. Safe.
"Let the beloved of the LORD rest secure in him,
looks like my husband....seriously, i was thrown for a loop! 
My dear friend and mentor Orpha treated Paisley & I to "high tea" at a local tea shop. It felt so good to get all dolled up and sit down to a quiet meal so elegantly served. 
Orpha held Paisley, kissing and hugging and cuddling her while I enjoyed every.single.bite and sip of my meal. Thank you Orpha for taking the time to make such sweet memories for me. Thank you also for giving me a break from the ordinary day-to-day life and making me feel like such a Lady! 
I am so blessed to have Godly, wise, real, integral, quality women in my life. It has always been important to me to have someone speaking into my life and that I am in turn speaking into someone else's life. On some days that "someone" may be my children, and on other days it may be a friend who needs a listening ear or a "shoulder to cry on." We all have someone in our life that we can give to, but do we have someone that gives to us? I encourage you today, that if you don't have someone you look up to, someone that builds you up and gives you sound counsel.....pray them into your life. God works through people, through relationships, through accountability and through cups of tea!
"Godly women~
may we be them,
may we know them,
may we raise them."
~unknown author~
They have never been the same and yet they have courageously continued living. What did not break them brought them closer together. I can say that I have watched in amazement at the unity that has taken place between she and her husband over the past four years. 
And He was....and He has.....not always in obvious ways, but there nonetheless. They felt abandoned, helpless and hopeless at times, God seeming so far away. So many of their hopes, plans and dreams came to a screeching halt. Those days were hard and foggy, I remember her using the word "nightmare" more then a time or two. I say this now, not because their life is perfect, but because it is healing....the wound isn't quite so exposed. The skin of time has formed a scab. But there is and always will be a scar, a remembrance of what was or could have been. He will never be forgotten or replaced. Even as I watch Tyler grow I think of him. He and Tyler were 6 months apart and I am sure they would both be tall like their Daddy's.
Over the past four years they have had two healthy, beautiful children. Maddie is 3 and Max is 4 months old. I see Logan in him.
"When you've been broken, broken to pieces.
My Baby Girl cut her first tooth today! Oh, the love of it all!! Poor Dear had 4 different fingers in her mouth at the dinner table tonight, to feel this new "breakthrough": Daddy, Mommy, Tyler and Luke.....
She brings such JOY to our lives!
"Laughter is like changing a baby’s diaper.
It doesn’t permanently solve any problems,
but it makes things more acceptable for a while."
~Unknown~
