Hannah Montana....No More!!

This week we heard about the photos of Miley Cyrus taken for Vanity Fair. I am just disgusted and appalled. Now, I would agree with everyone else that the picture itself is actually very beautiful and a form of art, my children are my own art on camera BUT Miley is only 15 years old AND she is watched by Kindergarteners. My best friend has decided that Miley Cyrus is not allowed in their home anymore and I think I completely agree with it. I don't want to be one of those parents that just because one christian family doesn't do something then we shouldn't do it either but we as a society have conditioned ourselves to accept this kind of thing. One thing happens and we say "AAgggghhh, I'm so disgusted" and we make a big protest, for example, Carls Jr, and then the more we see it the more we get used to it and then we say "well it will be over in a minute" and then we find ourselves eventually laughing and accepting it as normal. This is not OK or normal. I wish that these young teenage girls that are being watched would realize that they are being watched by young girls. Is Miley the next Brittney Spears or Lindsey Lohan??? I've always hoped that she would be better then that considering who her dad is but I'm afraid she might not be immune.

This is just my spout at society today. I wish we would open our eyes and see that this is NOT OK!!!!! Now that I've done my soap box for the day, have a grand day!

More Tulips....

More pictures of the Tulip Festival. I have to tell you that I did start out with 435 photos of the day but I was able to narrow it down to 150. Enjoy the few that I was able to upload.

Wooden Shoe

We went to the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival in Woodburn this weekend. This place is gorgeous and lots of fun. It's really nice because there isn't an overwhelming amount of stuff to do but there is enough that we all had fun. John had to work this weekend so Mom & I took the kids up there and had a blast in the warm sun smelling beautiful flowers and of course, taking gorgeous pictures. I love creating art out of my children and I think Emma is taking up a liking of photography also. She had her camera around her neck for most of the time (except when I was being serious about art and wanted it off of her) taking all kinds of pictures. She was giving instructions to us all of what pose to have and which way to be looking. She actually might be pretty good at this. It was a very nice day to just relax and look at the beauty that God created around us. You have to imagine about 40 acres of rows and rows of tulips amongst the back drop of the Cascades. Emma had a blast on this bungee trampoline thing. It was quite intense but looked like a blast. Riah decided that she wanted to do the normal bounce house, I guess 4 year olds aren't ready for the intensity of bungee jumping. OK, let me clarify, Emma did NOT go bungee jumping!!! She jumped on a trampoline with a harness on her while suspending in the air. It looked like a blast! The Tulip Festival is an event we try to go to every year and is highly recommended to all.

Speaking of Dolphins....

If you have never met Riah, what a treat it is to know her. She is a riot and keeps us on our toes. She said to John last night "Speaking of Dolphins....". Keep in mind that no one was speaking of dolphins she just came up with this in her crazy 4 year old mind. I'll go on, "What if a dolphin was still alive and went up to heaven and killed Jesus?". What do you say to that???? "Well honey, no one can kill Jesus, besides, how does a dolphin that is still alive get to heaven?" Out of the mouths of babes!

No Slumbering....

OK So, yes at 33 Mom's can still have slumber parties! This weekend I went to one with about 100 other women who all love Jesus. What a precious time it was to see all kinds of women, all generations, all colors, all sizes, all having one thing in common, our love of Jesus. God taught me something this weekend that I can't share about yet. I feel like God is holding me back of sharing it until I fully understand it and I have fully submitted to it. I am so excited to share it with you when God allows but right now is not the time. God's change is like fire in us when God wants us to change He blazes this fire in us that we can't ignore. His change is humbling but so exciting when you can share it.

Back to the slumber party, I have some pictures posted on Shutterfly, if you would like to take a look at them please send me an email and I will forward it to you. Imagine 100 women around a campfire worshipping Jesus, then having an ice cream social, watching movies, doing crafts, doing pedicures, and just good old fashioned fellowshipping. What fun it was. Unfortunately one beautiful saint said that I am turning into a legend, I tend to be the last one to go to bed every time. This time we slept on the concrete floor of our new building and in case you were unaware, there is NO give in concrete! After 2 hours of tossing around, at about 4:30, I remembered the beloved couch in the Family Room. It was like sleeping on air BUT 6AM came and the lovely coffee cart ladies came strolling in and it was downhill from there. My best friend at that point was my White Chocolate Hazelnut Mocha with Soy (the best coffee ever) that the faithful coffee gals delightfully made for me. Oh and I forgot to mention the food, WOW!! We have some incredible cooks in our fellowship! They definitely know how to keep the belly full!

I will always return to women's events and I wish I could do it more often.
PRAISE JESUS!

Humor

Future Swimmer??

In the midst of all that has happened in the last few days with mom I had to put some humor in our day. For anyone who doesn't know, Mom was in the hospital over the weekend with Congestive Heart Failure. She is home now but may possibly be having heart surgery in the next few weeks. Thank you Jesus that we can still have humor and joy in times of stress and trouble!

8:00AM

8:00AM is the time they are ALLOWED out of bed. Boy do I rejoice for that time for myself. This doesn't mean that I get extra sleep though. No, I have to get up BEFORE the crack of dawn (5:00) to get my swimming in but that means that I have 3 hours to myself in the morning. How precious they are but 8AM hits and it's go from then on. If I don't make them wait until 8:00 then they would be up at 6:30 or 7:00 and mama can't handle that. A friend of mine gave me some wisdom that these precious little lambs of ours WILL go back to sleep or just get more rest if we make it a rule. They have to stay in their beds, this is their time to look at/read their Bibles or other books. I am so thankful that we homeschool and we can wait until 8:00 for them to get up. We are not rushing around at the crack of dawn to get everyone out the door. Sweet Silence!

Who needs a bed when you have a floor?

Aahh, rest!

Sweetness

What a good big sister!

Determination breeds success!

Emma has never been the coordinated one of the bunch but today she had her day of glory. She just kept trying and trying and working as hard as she could and she finally made it. What a joy it is to watch your child finally succeed at something. She was so elated the rest of the night, grinning ear to ear. It is so neat when you can finally teach them a life lesson that will stick with them forever, I think this one will. Maybe daddy will finally get his WNBA star after all :)

It went in!!!


SCORE!!!

Isn't she beautiful!