Milestone

Emma is riding her bicycle without training wheels. This morning we went out for a little practice.

My fearless child

Emma started doing flips off the diving board today!

First Half

So, here are pics of the first half of our vacation. We were down at my mom and dad's for a week where the girls got to enjoy some good ole' southern fun!

Definitely not camera shy!

Had to do something to cool off!

Enjoying a nice picnic and then on to more swimming!

Emma (and Pawpaw) LOVES Bass Pro Shop, so we spent a little time there one day.

Enjoying target practice with Uncle Brad.

Pawpaw tried teaching Lili. She was more interested in pushing buttons and blinking lights though.

Um, I think a camping trip may be in our near future.

These are blurry, but it captured just how much fun these girls were having!

Vacation

After 2 weeks away, we finally made our way back home yesterday. It was bittersweet. I was sad to say goodbye to the beach and a vacation state-of-mind but it was nice to get back home and attempt to settle back into some sort of routine. For the first half of our vacation, the girls and I were at mom and dad's while Mike was in Haiti. We met him and then traveled south to the beach where his parents and brother and sister (along with their families) met us. I will post pics of our first half of vacation soon. Here are a few from our trip to Gulf Shores.

The first few days, the water was pretty clear. There wasn't any visible oil, but if you looked hard enought, you could see some iradescent drops on the surface which must've been trace amounts of oil.

The girls had alot of fun playing in the sand and surf.

The beach certainly is beautiful at 730 in the morning!

Mingled in with the silt there were a few "pebbles" that were actually sand mixed in with oil.

Here is a larger one that we found. It was 20 feet or so from the shore.

Needless to say, we spent alot of time at the pool.

Towards the later part of the week, the winds changed and brought oil back to the shore, as you can see below.

Bulldozers carried hundreds of trashbags full of sand and oil.

The yellow spot in this picture is actually people dressed in haz -mat suits to protect them while cleaning. News reports said workers were being sent to the hospital due to sickness from exposure to the oil.

Doing a little shopping.

What a fun place to eat!

Enjoying the sand!

Haiti

I just wanted to ask you to pray for my husband, Michael. He will be travelling to Haiti with a group from our church this Friday. They are going to help with relief efforts as well as serving in an orphanage. I know this will be an amazing experience, one that will no doubt have it's own set of challenges for those involved. Please pray that through their service the people of Haiti will see Christ's love for them as well as for physical strength for our team members.
We truly appreciate your prayers,
Amy

The book Radical by David Platt

I am reading this book Radical. It is a very challenging, eye-opening read. Please take a few minutes to watch this video.

Mother's Day

I've been thinking about my Mother's Day, and my thoughts are turning towards my mom and the sacrifices she has always made for me and our family. And this past weekend was no different. She travelled up to watch the girls so that I could spend the day working with Mike on our renovation. There's alot of things she could've been doing that day, but she put that all aside and came here.

She's always doing things like that, putting others before herself. She's been such an example to me of the type of mom I desire to be to my girls.

I love my mom, I'm so thankful for her everyday.

I read this during my morning devotion and wanted to pass it on to all of you.
"There is One who gave and who gives more than any mother. And how mothers need that which He has to give - for those times of weariness there is the gentleness of the Lord and the knowledge of His loving-kindness. For the sense of inadequacy there is His sufficiency, and for the joy of being a mother there is the delight of sharing it all with Him." Doris Aldrich