Gazing on the Beauty of the Lord

"One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple."  Psalm 27:4

We just got back from vacation.  The beach was as beautiful as I remember it being last year.  I am so thankful that we get to take a time out to enjoy God's creation every year.  This year was a little different. Anna Claire was so excited about going.  She talked about it constantly.  Baby girl enjoyed every minute of our time there.  She swam in the ocean, played in the sand, and found sea shells.  We brought the shells home in a hot dog bun bag...  They are still on my kitchen counter. 



Paxton enjoyed it too, but he would rather spend his vacation in the condo sitting on the balcony eating. 



Michael and I are blessed beyond measure with both of our families.  I can't even begin to describe the support and encouragement that we get from them.  We are in the middle of making some decisions that are weighing heavy on us.  It is so nice to have an awesome support system that goes beyond just Michael and I.  That is one reason we were so grateful to be able to get away for a few days to be in prayer for our upcoming decisions. 

And to have some fun....








































I wish I could put all 165 pictures on here, but I would do that to y'all.  :)  I will just get them developed and look at them over and over again. 

We took the kids to the zoo again this year.  This was Paxton's first time at the zoo ever.  He loved it!  We bought them both a cup of zoo puffs so they could feed the animals. Anna Claire understood the concept of feeding the ANIMALS the puffs, but not Paxton.  Bless his heart, he thought that it was a snack for him.  I dug puffs out of his mouth all afternoon. 

















Until next time, beach.  It was wonderful!


Last Friday night, my cousin Amy graduated high school.  I am so proud of her.  She was Salutatorian and got accepted into the MSU Veterinarian school. 






I hope everyone has a great weekend! 

Rest is For the Birds

Rest?  What is that?  That is certainly NOT in my vocabulary lately.  I feel like I have been on a fair ride... And to be honest.... I have enjoyed it :)  Starting last week, there has been something going on every single night.  I went from bible study, to a girl's night out, to church, to Sam's to get supplies for the fish fry, and then Friday night we set everything up at the church for our (In) Courage Webcast... And Saturday! Oh man!  It was a very long and exhausting day, but boy did we have a good time.  I enjoyed Saturday morning so much with all the ladies. Some I didn't know, and some I did.  But that was the whole point of this, wasn't it?  To build community among women that you don't know. 






I so wish I would have taken pictures when everyone got there, but I was enjoying it so much that I didn't even think about it.  It's nice to know that I am not the only woman who doesn't have it all together and probably never will.  :) 

Thank goodness that Monday was a holiday for me. Michael and I spent the morning together.  It was nice.  We were doing so much last week that I rarely had any time to talk to him.  We got the kids a small happy and got them from school a little early to enjoy the rest of the day with us.
























This week has been a little slower.  Wednesday, Anna Claire's school had their Field Day.  She was on the green team.  I remember field day from a long time ago... a long long time ago.  I took a long lunch and went to visit her for a little while. 











That baby right there was WORN out.  She went to bed at 6:20 Wednesday night and slept until I woke her up at 7 on Thursday... God bless her. 

We are leaving next Saturday for Orange Beach.  Yes!  Anna Claire has been counting the weeks down.  I woke her up this morning and said, "Good Morning! Do you know what today is?"  I was thinking she would say Friday... No, she said "1 week."  She knows!  haha!  I think we are all looking forward to vacation this year. 

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!  In our Proverbs 31 bible study, we just talked about being Smart and Strong.  How you should work, BUT you should also rest... like God rested when he was done creating the entire world.  Even the best of us need Rest! And I plan to start making it a point to do that every week. 

I will leave you with this song...



And a couple more pictures:



"So we must not get tired of doing what is good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don't give up."  Galations 6:9