J-O-Y- . . . Joy

As mentioned in the other post from today, LB is out of school. I have 4 kids here at the house today - 2 of my own and 2 that are like my own. When LB is here, those maternal instincts she has at 6 go into full gear!!! Usually that is a good thing, but sometimes it is not. While her heart is in the right place concerning our visitors, her actions toward her brother are not as good.
I had to have "a talk" with her today because she really hurt Carter's feelings while she was making sure our guests were having a good time. When we had our talk, I could tell it upset her because she began to cry. Out of somewhere, I taught her about JOY.

I asked her if she was happy right now to which she replied no. I told her God wanted her to be happy - to have JOY in all she did. I then told her God had a plan for her to follow to always have JOY. "J" stands for "Jesus" - who is always first and who we should always try to be like. "O" is for "others." They go next. We should do what is best for them and what would make them happy. "Y" is for "yourself" which is always last. When you put Jesus and others ahead of you, you will always have JOY. I had her repeat the plan and she said she would try to follow the plan. It was amazing how the attitudes changed after the JOY talk.

Before I became a parent, I was worried how I would handle situations and if I would be able to teach my children God's truths in every day life. Each day I pray that God will grant me the wisdom to handle situations and the wisdom to pass His truths on to my children. Isn't it amazing how He speaks to us and gives us the words we need at the just the right time? What a wonderful God we serve.

May you be filled with JOY this day and every day.

How to Get Your Kids to Sleep in . . . . .

Laura Beth does not have school today. So, Damon and I thought this would be a great morning to let the kids sleep in before visiting cousins this weekend in Nash-vegas. So, we thought, "What can we do to wear them out?" The answer: Let Carter play 3 out of 4 "halves" (as he called them) at his soccer game. He even ran the quarter he was not playing.
We took them down to FHU for the social club mixer. There they were able to see (and. as the picture shows, beat up) their favorite college kids. They ran around playing chase and all sorts of who knows what else with these college kids until 8:30 or so.

We got home, showered and watch the Braves win a game (to which we all did our celebratory dance - more energy put out). Therefore, it was 9:00 or so before we read our Bible story and books for the night. We said our prayers and were asleep in no time at all. I took a Benadryl and reset my alarm from 5:30 to 7:00. I stayed up reading the end of Sense and Sensibility. I just knew we would have a great night's sleep and see a later time on the clock in the morning. . . . .

Until Laura Beth popped into our room at 6:50 declaring her 2nd loose tooth would probably come out today because it feels just like the other one did the morning it came out!! AUUGGHHH!!!! Why can she get up bright and cheerful (and early) on a day she does not have to go to school, but I have to drag her out of bed on the days she does have school?

As for Carter, he walked into the den proudly at 7:16 declaring he had slept in and wasn't I proud of him?!!? Oh, well . . . Maybe they will sleep on the way to Nash-vegas.

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Carter's Birthday Lunch

On Tuesday, Mrs. "Quita" and Papa Whittle made Carter a wonderful birthday lunch. He was able to choose the menu, so we all dined on Poppyseed Chicken, macaroni and cheese and green beans.
Mrs. "Quita" bought Carter a baseball birthday cake and Cookies and Cream ice cream for us to have for desert.
Mrs. "Quita" has been a huge help to our family over the last many years. She has been coming at least once a week to clean Grandmama and Papa's house. Before Grandmama went to the nursing home she would come almost every day to help care for them when we could not be there. She is just part of our family and we all love her!!
Carter and Great Papa Whittle

A Big Day for a New 5 Year Old

In our county, when a child turns 5, he/she can receive a very important card. Carter had been telling everyone, "When I turn 5, I am going to have a baseball party and I will get my own library card!" So, needless to say, when we walked into the library Tuesday morning, that was one of the first things he told Mrs. Nancy (who was also celebrating her birthday on Tuesday). Carter signed his name on the line and proudly waited for Mrs. Nancy to hand him his new card. He immediately picked out his own 5 hardback books and 7 paperback books - because the could. He even got his own movie for the next two days. We talked about the importance of being responsible and what that means. Hopefully this will encourage him to read even more and to learn about being responsible in life. Congratulations, Carter!!!!

How Cool Would This Be?

I thought this would be a neat thing to do and thought others of you might feel the same way!! Go see Wendi for further information, but hurry!!! The last day to sign up is August 30.

God is Good!!!!

Photo by Starla Steward

For the past year, my Damon and I have been dealing with Laura Beth and problems with her blood count. we would go to the amazing Dr. C about every 2 months to see if her blood count was getting better. I am NO doctor by any means, so I can't give you the whole low down. However, her lymphocytes were being slightly elevated which is a sign of a chronic infection or something. You can only imagine the thoughts going through my head. Around here there have many too many children with life threatening diseases and I was trying not to think the worst. Anyways, the first of August brought us back to having her blood check and it was still elevated. Dr. C felt like we should see a specialist just to be sure. Therefore, we have been trying to find pediatric hemotologists in the Memphis and Nashville area. Once we found some, we came to find out that even those were specialized in certain areas (who knew?) and those we had found may not be able to help us. This morning, though, Dr. C went by to see Mom and told her the good news - Laura Beth's blood is fine!!! He talked to one of the specialized specialists and he saw no reason for her being brought in for further investigation!!! Praise God!! We have brought this to Him over and over for a year now, and He takes care of us, once again!


Thanks to all who have been praying for our dear LB and please take the time to thank our Heavenly Father for blessing us this day!

Jagger's Prayer

I have had the privilege of keeping Lawson and Jagger while their mommy is having baby #3 today. I have loved these boys like they are my own and have missed having them around all the time. Today at lunch I was reminded how much I have missed and how much I love them when Jagger took this prayer to God:

Dear God,

Please keep us safe.

Thank you for our food.

Please help us to be the good red Spiderman and not the bad black Spiderman.

In Jesus name,

Amen.

If we would all pray to be good . . . .

More for Mom?

I have never really had to watch what I eat - a blessing. However, now that I am living in the 30s, it is catching up with me and I have to watch a little bit more. I also have to watch what I eat because my son is deathly allergic to peanuts. This seriously cuts into what sweets I am allowed to eat!! The other day I was in Walgreens and decided to treat myself to a movie size box of Whoppers. It was just going to be one of those weeks and I wanted to be prepared!! I am happy to say I did not eat the whole box in one sitting - it took 2 sittings to eat them! Towards the end of the 2nd sitting, I turned the box over to reassure myself that these were Carter safe and saw . . . . 30% less fat. The first thing that popped into my head was, "Does this mean I can eat 30% more?" Is that bad? Needless to say I completely enjoyed the rest of the 2nd sitting and thought to myself . . .
I should have bought a second box!

Soccer Begins

Saturday began soccer season for Laura Beth and Carter. Laura Beth moved up a division and finds herself in her first nonneon uniform!!! Her field has almost tripled in size and they actually play "offense" and "defense" positions. LB is quick to tell anyone that she prefers to play defense. Here you see her in her Purple Fighting Dragon team uniform taking on the opponent! LB did play striker for part of the game and scored one of her teams 4 goals for the first win of the season! Carter is FINALLY getting to play soccer as well and is pumped because his uniform is Texas Longhorn orange!!! His team had named themselves the Lions, but Carter thought they should change it to the Longhorns! Carter is in the first level of soccer where you don't keep score and don't use a goalie. He is just excited that he is able to play on his own team this year!

Blessings for Bible Teachers Begins

As mentioned in an earlier post, I have been thinking about starting a blog for Bible teachers with Bible school ideas. My poll was answered with a definite "YES!" to see if this would even be worth the time. Therefore, I am pleased to let you know that Blessings for Bible Teachers has begun!! I hope you will find this to be a blessing to you and those precious souls you teach. Please feel free to browse and be patient as we begin to post ideas for you to use. Thanks for the encouragement!

Team Carter Birthday Time!

Carter looked out on the field and told me, "It's beautiful, Mom!" Later he declared this the best birthday ever!
He wanted all of his favorite teams represented so we had Texas Rangers napkins.
Atlanta Braves plates and Boston Red Sox forks
Chicago Cubs cups

Enjoying the Taste of a Ballpark

Being at the ball park required eating ball park food. As Team Carter arrived, we dined on hot dogs, chips and drinks. The team got to eat in the stands looking out on the ball field.


This is Coach Mac, FHU's head baseball coach. His sons are some of Carter's friends and he was so nice to allow us to have the party at the field.

Our All-Star Birthday Boy

Carter had been waiting for this moment - to go out on the Big Lions' Baseball Field - for a long time. He knew exactly what to do having seen the Big Lions' do it so many times. He took his baseball bag with all of his equipment out on the field and immediately took out his batting helmets and put them where they were suppose to go.
Showing off his skills

He wants to be a catcher and this is his catcher's gear for time being. He did get a REAL catcher's chest protector for this birthday so we can retire the Christian armour shield and suspenders as our chest protector.
This is Great Grandfather Whittle or Pop with Carter. Pop was the FHU baseball coach back in the 50's. He has loved seeing Carter fall in love with his favorite sport. I was surprised Pop did not show up in all white - what he use to play ball in!! I think this is a special picture.

Team Carter stops play for a team picture
Taking turns batting
Our amazing second basemen
The Young brothers waiting to bat
Laura Beth representing the girls!

Field of Dreams Birthday Cake

Thanks to Gran for the cake! It was a huge hit!

Blowing out the candles
Each child left with their own personal bat, wristband and soft baseball from Oriental Trading. Along with their Team Carter hat and Team Carter baseball card set.

A Sneak Peak at the Baseball Party

Carter's 5th birthday party is tonight and we are getting so excited. We are watching the Cubs - actually a rain delay - to get ourselves ready! I thought I would get a head start on showing you parts of the party. To go along with the baseball theme, we created baseball cards for each child that is attending the party. Each child will receive a "Team Carter" set of cards. Each set will include one card of each child attending the party as well as 4 extras of their special card. Here is the team set. I took pictures of each child, uploaded them to snapfish, added this baseball border and had them printed as wallets. I bought blank baseball cards from Oriental Trading. We glued the picture to the front of the cards as seen here (my two darling kids!).
For the back of each card, I made up "stats" for each child as well as some kind of statement that you might see at the bottom of real baseball cards.

Carter is super excited about this element of the baseball party. I thought they turned out pretty cute and hopefully all the kids will enjoy taking home their own "Team Carter" set of cards.

Carter's First Day of Preschool 2008

Here is Carter on his first day of preschool for this year. There were a lot of new things today - new year, new school, new teachers, new friends. However, this is my child who can take it in stride and be just fine. Along with all the new, there were some constants and one of the most important constant being Lawson!! Carter seemed to enjoy the day and I know he will have a great year!
Lawson and Carter after school today.
Carter with new friends Benjamin and Caleb.
Cecily and Carter - she missed him so much today!

A Baseball Birthday Invite . . . .

Carter is having a baseball birthday party. I know, big surprise!!! These are the invitations we made to send to family and friends who will be gathering for the party on Friday. I used a combination of Stampin' Up and Close to My Heart stamps to create the background paper. I used the CTMH "c" and "5" to stand for "Carter" and his turning "5." I stamped them on separate paper and then cut them out. I used my favorite stamping tool - mini glue dots - to adhere them to the front of the card. Inside the messgae reads:

Come to Carnes Field

(the FHU Lion baseball field by Lora Laycook Preschool)

on Friday, August 22, 2008,

to celebrate

Carter Welch's

5th Birthday!

The lineup will begin with eating supper at 6:00 as we watch the FHU

Lions finish practice.

Afterwards, we will have our own batting practice on the field.

The game will end at 7:30.

Please RSVP so we will have your spot in the line up saved.

Coach Damon and Coach Becky will be waiting to hear from you.

We are looking forward to the little All-Stars coming on Friday. We know a ball will be had by all!