Lily's first birthday cake.
Today the entire family went down to Collinsville to have our family picture taken and to celebrate the 6 August birthdays in our family (John, Katherine, Sara, Brad, Lily and Jay). We try to take a family picture every other year, and this was the year. Haury, the photographer, does a great job getting all 14 of us to look good in the pictures. The kids did great during the session, but when they tried to get shots of the 3 kids, Lily was too tired. Jay will take some of them on another day.
After the photo shoot, we all headed to Bart’s for lunch and birthday cake. Grandma Nell and Laurie had a great lunch ready for us, and of course we had birthday cake. The birthday people opened their presents, and Grandma Nell and Laurie even had gifts for Elijah and Josiah. Thanks Laurie and Grandma for thinking of them. After Lily’s nap, we ate cake, and she had her very own since she is turning 1. She enjoyed the icing very much, as you can see by the picture! Thanks Bart and Laurie for hosting us all.
Jimmy, Glenda, Jessie, Kelsey and Aunt Betty came over, and it was great to get to see the Vickers. They are only here once a year, so it was fantastic that we got to see them. Lily really enjoyed JImmy. He had her laughing so hard that she got the hiccups!
It was a great day, and we had a good time. It is always fun to get together with Bart and Laurie, and even better when both Brad and Donny are there too! Elijah and Josiah love to hang out with Donny. He plays video games with them, so he is definitely at the top of their list!
Jay and Katherine have sold their house and are moving in the middle of August. They will be moving to a 3 bedroom ranch on the west side of town. It is in great shape and has an in-ground pool! The back yard is completely fenced in, and it is quite large with beautiful landscaping. They should not have to do anything to the house before they move in. We are very excited for them.
Last week, Ryan, Sara, Elijah, Josiah, Lily and I went to the revival at Morningstar Ministries in South Carolina. We left Monday afternoon, and came home early Sunday morning. We split the drive down there into 2 days, so it was not too bad. We arrived at the hotel/conference center about 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday. The revival started at 7:30, so we got unpacked as quick as we could.
Each evening service started with Worship, and I think that was my favorite part. They had a live band (Molly Skaggs was one of the singers), and they were good and LOUD! There is nothing that makes me feel closer to God than singing praise to Him. After Worship, there was a speaker, and then they went into the Ministry time. Rick Joyner spoke the first night we were there, and it was pretty cool to listen to him. I have read some of his books, but I had never seen him in person. Each night during the Ministry time, the band played again, and people prayed for anyone that asked. It was pretty different for me, and I saw some things that were a little weird to me. As in anything, there are always people on the outside fringe of “normal”, but that does not mean that they are not sincere. I have yet to feel the presence of God in the ways that my kids do, but I know that every night I felt something.
On Wednesday night, one of the girls from the kids camp that was there prayed for my back. It was really hurting me from the drive down and the day at the water park. As she prayed, it started to feel better until the pain was gone. My back has not felt that good in quite a while, and it felt great the rest of the trip. Thank you Lord!
We went to a water/theme park on Wednesday and Thursday, and we really enjoyed ourselves. We went to the water park the first day, and it was great. They had a great area for kids, and Lily crawled around in the water. Elijah went down a water slide, and Ryan and I went down a very tall, fast, dark water slide. The next day we went back and rode the rides. We rode the log ride first (standing in line for about an hour). After that we went to the kids area, and the boys had a blast. Elijah and I rode the roller coaster, and he loved it. As soon as we stopped, he said, “I want to ride another roller coaster!” A good friend of Sara’s lives down there, and she kept Lily while we went to the theme park. Thanks Lindsay!
We left Saturday morning planning to stop in Tennesse and spend the night, but Ryan felt like making the entire trip that day. It was a long day, but it sure was good to be home. It gave us all day Sunday to just hang out.
All in all, it was a great trip. The kids were great, we had fun, and it was my first revival!