Lately.....

I haven't really had anything to blog about lately so I'll catch you up on the last week. Jonathan had vacation Bible School last week and the picture of the glasses he made is all I got. I forgot the camera everyday. VBS was the power lab this year and Jonathan had a blast. I was excited that the music included some old hymns that I grew up singing. Not enough good hymns sung in church anymore. This generation doesn't know what it is missing.

Crazy power lab glasses.

The boys decided to have a birthday party for bear. This is the party with all of bears friends.

This is bear with his birthday cake. He had a Henry the train cake.

Jonathan decided to make a tent this morning. This is him in his sleeping bag because you have to have sleeping bags in a tent.

Loved

You know most of the time as a mom you really wonder if your kids even like you much less love you. Being a mom is hard work, and it seems I only see the fruit of my labor every once in awhile. I guess that is God's way of saying keep going your doing it. Most of the time I don't feel like I'm doing it well. Between the arguing, fighting over toys, sibling rivalry, cooking, cleaning, laundry, baths, and did I mention cooking, I don't like to cook, anyway at the end of most days I feel like I've been through a war zone. This week has been different though. Yes we have had everything that I've mentioned above, but God has changed my mindset. He has truly been showing me how blessed I am to have two wonderful boys. All I can say is that I just love them and I'm so very proud of them.

This morning I was playing in the floor with them. We were looking for treasure with a treasure map and hoping the dragon didn't find us first. I don't know how we got on this subject, but I was holding and talking to Jonathan and I said " Who takes care of Jonathan?" His reply, "Jesus and mommy" Nicholas said "Jesus and what about Grammy?" And that my dear friends makes everything I do for them worth it. They love me just as much as I love them. And they know that they are loved by the Almighty and He takes care of them. I wished I had known that when I was their age.

Know with all that said I must go break up a fight between those two wonderful boys who are loved by their mommy and Jesus. I did just say it was all worth it didn't I?

Father's Day

I know I'm a day late, but Happy Father's Day, Dad. We love you.

Aunt Sylvia, Dad, Jonathan & Nicholas

Gone Fishing

Jonathan wants to go fishing extremely bad. So our hopes are to get in a fishing trip this summer. Summer is moving by very fast though. Anyway so we watch fishing shows and pretend to fish. This morning we were pretend fishing, and it was a great opportunity to get in a Bible story. We talked about how the fishermen had been fishing all day and hadn't caught anything, and Jesus walked by and told them to cast their nets on the other side. They did, and there catch was so big that their net began to break. Isn't this true in life. Things aren't going the way we had hoped or planned, and Jesus comes along and says cast your net on the other side. Follow me and be obedient to what I want you to do. If we do that our cup runs over and we are blessed so much that our nets break. But you now what is the greatest joy of listening and following Jesus is that we get to bless others.

I guess you could say at 32 I didn't want to go back to school. It's not a lot of fun studying for tests and writing papers and working and raising two wonderful boys. Well raising the boys is fun. It's hard work. But when our lives fell apart Jesus walked by picked us up and said now cast your net on the other side. We did, and we have been blessed. And there are days when I sit in class or go to bed and it's been an awful day, attitudes have been bad and all we have done is fuss and fight, and I don't know if I can do it. But Jesus keeps asking me to take this journey with him and so I keep on moving forward. And everyday I stand in amazement of his mercy, forgiveness and grace.

So maybe when our day isn't going as we had hoped or planned, we just need to cast our net on the other side of the boat and go fishing.

Wednesday

So today was the nature center and the Jr. Naturalists kick off all about insects. Sorry no pictures, we were running late this morning, and I forgot the camera. Jonathan had a blast. And Nicholas just had fun playing in the nature center. We went for a hike and saw a lot of insects, frogs, polliwogs, and tadpoles. We saw ladybugs and a snake. I could have done without seeing that, but it was on a rock in the bushes so it wasn't too close to us. Jonathan got to play games and make a bug mobile that told the stages of the ladybug. So now we are working on our Jr. Naturalists badge. Not only is it a lot of work for Jonathan but also mommy. Anyway I've finally found something that Jonathan enjoys, nature.

What's on the list for tomorrow? Shopping! That's more for mom than them.

Our Week So Far....

Yesterday we went to the zoo. It's really hot when it's 95 degrees. We went with a group from our church and had a lot of fun.

My hot and sweaty kids.

Can you see the monkey?

Waiting patiently to go in the tunnel to see the meerkats.

Looking at some ducks. Nicholas is wondering how to get in the water. He was telling Jonathan he could swim to the ducks.

Today, they went swimming with their Grammy. I got to the pool to take pictures, and they were getting out to leave. So I didn't get many pictures.

Tomorrow is the nature center. Jonathan is trying to earn a Jr. Naturalist's badge. Nicholas and I just hope to not see anymore snakes while we are there. Hope to get more pictures up later.

Movie Night

So we decided to have a movie night last night. And the boys wanted to pull out the sofa bed. We had a choice between National Treasure and Finding Nemo because that was on TV. We started off with National Treasure and ended watching Finding Nemo. Most of the night Jonathan watched the movie while Nicholas played. I don't know what Jonathan is looking at that he has that expression on his face. Anyway we decided to sleep on the sofa bed. The boys sleep great. I did not so at 4:30 I went and got into my own bed. The boys did sleep to 6:30 maybe I should let them sleep on the sofa bed more often.

Monkeying Around

The boys had fun at the Monkey Treehouse today.

Two very handsome boys.

Nicholas is an engineer.

Jonathan is a bus driver with a captain's hat on.