I have a first grader!!!

Abby started first grade yesterday, I can't believe how brave she was and that she is gone all day now. It is such a huge leap from 2.5 hours a day to 6.5 hours a day but she handled it like a champ.



Here she is with her good friends Regan and Elizabeth, we took a picture exactly like this last year, it is so cute to see how they have grown.

Abby was a little nervous leading up to the start of school because she was worried about being at school so long. Once we got to school though she found her friends and was literally pulled into the building by them, she was smiling the whole time.

I can't believe she is such a big girl. I always hear don't wish away those baby years because you will never get them back. Yet in the midst of having two small children I remember looking forward to the day when they would be able to go to pre-school so I could have a little break. I think you are so overwhelmed sometimes when your children are little that even though you know you shouldn't wish them to get older, sometimes you can't help it. Now as I ponder her going into first grade I tear up at the fact that she won't be little again. I look ahead and instead of wishing her more independent I want her to stay right where she is at. I am so thankful for this little girl and all the joy she brings to my life. I pray for wisdom to guide her to be a daughter of Christ and to always cherish the blessings each day with her brings. Thank you for this gift Lord.

What I'll miss about summer

Well the weather the past few days has definitely made me think about the end of summer. Also the fact that school starts tuesday really lets me know that fall is around the corner. Here our a few things I will miss about this past summer.

LAKE ERIE



CORN ON THE COB



THE POOL



MY HUBBY DOING SOME HEAVY DUTY YARD WORK



Even though I will miss summer and all it's fun I am definitely ready for my favorite season of fall. Looking forward to all it has to offer. Go Bucks!!!

Adversity and Prosperity

There is in every true woman's heart a spark of heavenly fire,
which lies dormant in the broad daylight of prosperity; but which
kindles up and beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity.

-Washington Irving

I came across the above quote at this blog. The woman behind this blog has definitely seen her share of adversity but chooses to reveal the prosperity she finds as well. Please visit her blog if you get the chance.

This quote provided much encouragement and fear at the same time. While I know that God can do the impossible in impossible situations, the fear of having to go through adversity to light the flame with in is a little unsettling. As I pondered this quote I knew that there had to be some bible verses that provided the inspiration. Here are a few scriptures that I came across:

1 Peter 1:6-7 ...though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith- of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by the fire- may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus is revealed.

Ecclesiastes 7:14 When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider: God has made the one as well as the other.

Job 1:21 The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.

Lastly I found this quote by Anne Bradstreet: If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcomed.

So if you be in adversity or prosperity right now may we always know that God is in control of both and is with us in and through both. Isn't interesting that when things are going well we take the credit and when they are going poorly we can often blame God. Thank you Lord for the blessings in my life and promising to walk with me through it all.

Show us your life-vacation

I have been blessed to be going to Sanibel Island for the past 10 years, it has been wonderful. Sanibel is so family friendly and very relaxed.

Besides the beautiful beach and ocean, there is a pool that keeps the kids entertained.


Of course it is a great time for family as well, our kids have so many great memories and traditions that have been developed there.

Lastly it is a great vacation spot because we have grandparents with us who love to help and so graciously let us stay with them.
I look forward to many more vacations there as well. I also look forward to new vacation spots. In October my parents, brothers, sister-in-law, nephew and my little family are headed to Disney World, I know that will be a special vacation as well.

Get organized!!

I am trying to get things more organized around here. I am getting tired of looking for my son's transformers for the 100th time. I have been inspired by Real Simple magazine who has provided some great ideas and products. I am going through all the kids toys a bin at a time and tossing what they don't use(although I have to do this without the kids looking) and organizing by type of toy. This will be a long process but if I think about all the time we spend searching for toys I know I will come out way ahead in the long run. I wanted to share a website that I found called theorganizedparent.com. I specifically like the wally wall organizer(corky) and plan on ordering it. I saw this in Real Simple but found it cheaper at this website. It also has alot of great ideas for organizing in general. I also got the idea to get 5 magazine files and label them Monday-Friday and placed them in my laundry room. This will help with notes to school, homework and library books. I got my magazine files from Ikea, 2 for 2.99. I decided to use my laundry room as my organizing center because we go through it to get to the garage. Hopefully I can keep up my motivation. Clutter is something I have always struggled with. I wish I could go through the mail each day and then toss the junk and read through the catalogs that day. Oh well, it's a process and sometimes there are more important things(two cute ones at that) to spend my time on. Let me know if you have any great ideas about organizing.

What encourages me

A new site has been launched today, please check it out. Twenty different woman, many known throughout the blogging world are involved in this effort to provide encouragement to all women. They are asking the question "What encourages you?". I find encourgagement is this verse: Phillippians 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ who strengthened me". My mom recited this verse to me in High School and it has gotten me through many uncertain situations. I also find encouragement in simple blessings that God reveals throughout the day. How can I not be encouraged by a God who allows laughter to follow tears and a hug to follow a child's disobedience. The encouragement is always there, it just has to be on our radar. I also find encouragement in the strength that God provides to myself and others. Now the real task is to take the encouragement I recieve and pass it along to others.

Need Answers?

Have you ever wondered why bad things happen to good people? Check out this blog by a Pastor in Arkansas, I have been following his daughters blog(www.kellyskornerblog.com) for a while and was lucky enough to come across her dad's as well. Hope this provides comfort to those in the midst of suffering and prepares the rest of us for when our time comes.

Free background

Just wanted to pass along a cute free desktop background calendar. It was easy to set up and looks really cute. Visit leeloublogs.blogspot.com and check out her August 2nd post, happy backgrounding!!!

Irish Festival 2009

This past weekend was the Dublin Irish Festival. It is attended by close to 100,000 people and is an event we attend every year we can. This year we took Abby and Will on Saturday afternoon and then came back without the kids for Saturday evening.

Here Abby and Will are doing some type of Irish jig to the tune of the hokey pokey


Here Abby and Will are flying high, I am glad they enjoyed it as we waited 45 minutes to an hour to get to do it.

Abby and Will jumped and climbed on all sorts of things and had a blast. I will try and post some video of them on the climbing wall.

We heard some great music that night and we were able to enjoy the evening with some great friends as well. I recommend checking out celtic-tenors.com and brigidscross.com.

Pool Day!!

This past Friday night Mike met us at the pool for an evening swim. Mike has been really wanting to take the kids swimming so I took them Friday @ 4pm and he met us there @6pm. We had a great time, Abby passed the swim test which was very difficult as she had to swim against a current. She was so proud of herself as was I. Here are some picture of our evening. Abby and me, Mike and Abby on the tube slide and Will eating his PB&J. It was a beautiful evening and a great time of family bonding. I am looking forward to many more of these fun family events. Thank you Lord for the blessing of my family. For children who love to laugh and a husband who wants to be there for them at all times. I am truly grateful.