Thank God for RAIN in south Texas!

During the past few weeks, we've had more rain than we've had in the past 365 days!

The kids have loved it.

And I know we've needed it.

But TODAY the sun is out again.

And it's 80 instead of 100! Maybe fall is on it's way.

Here are some pics to remember the rain!

What a crew!

SHOTS of the kids.

20 w.e.e.k.s


f.o.u.r.


s.i.x.


e.i.g.h.t.


t.e.n.


ALL f.i.v.e.


(Thanks to my sis LYS for these shots!)

Labor Day weekend @ Lake LBJ

Finally going to catch up on some photo posting. Since I do better at that than actually writing something..... Labor Day weekend we were invited by some friends to Lake LBJ. We had a GREAT time! Thanks, Jeff & Tracy!

Thankful Thursday

SO thankful for......

......The hours that my kids spent building a tree fort these past few weeks. (It's still not done!)

......How my kiddos love their baby sister. (The newness still hasn't worn off. They want to hold & kiss her EVERY night before bed!)

......My sister-in-law and her party-throwing abilities, and all my sweet little nieces....

......Time @ the lake last weekend. And for friends who invited a family of 7 to join them. They were such a blessing to us.

......RAIN in south Texas. We've had more rain in the past 24 hours than we have had in the past 365 days!

......Fall soccer season that starts next week. It'll make my boys more tired in the evenings. yay! And they are a blast to watch on the field!

......And those are just to name a few that come to mind today.

Tiffany's 10 year old TRIP!!!!

The last week of August our 10 yr. old Tiffany had the privilege of going on a week long trip with her grandparents. My parents have said they want to do something like this when each grandchild turns 10. My dad has a lot of ministry trips and it's so neat that the kids will get a chance to see how/where Papa ministers.....and get special time with their grandparents!!!!

Tiffany has looked forward to it since hearing about her older cousin's trip last year! There were a few times we thought it wasn't going to work out, and we prayed and gave it all to the Lord. Even the day before they were supposed to leave something came up, and we put it all in HIS hands, once again......but when 4am on Sunday August 23rd rolled around, Tiffany was up & ready to head out to the airport with Grandma & Papa!!!!

(We sent along our old little digital camera, and Tiffany returned home with over 400 pictures!!! But I'll only post a "few"!)

Here she is on the plane headed for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania!

Their first stop in PA was:

Then Independence Hall

Then the site of THE Liberty Bell

They also visited Benjamin Franklin's house & burial site. The next day before heading to New Jersey for the Family Camp week at Harvey Cedars Camp they visited Valley Forge.

I remember going to this bridge when I was a kid!

In New Jersey the camp was right on the bay/beach.

Tiffany of course loved collecting seashells!

And visiting a lighthouse!

She also enjoyed the marine biology class she went to each morning.

One day they disected a starfish!

(I won't gross you with the other 20 pictures she took of the process! Ewwww!)

There were quite a few pictures taken of things like THIS:

Tiffany said she couldn't believe how GREEN it was up there!!!! (Yes, we feel a bit deprived of green down here in south Texas...we see brown a LOT!)

(my favorite scenic pic she took)

I also found pictures of these:

Tiffany had a wonderful time. And did amazingly well being away from us for 8 days! We missed her tremendously! Having skype/video chat sure helped so we could talk & see each other every day! And it helped that she was with such wonderful people!!! Thanks mom & dad for taking her & taking care of her! The memories she has will last a lifetime!!!!

She even got to go to one of my favorite restaurants!

Ruby's....not on the pier in HB, Calif....but hey, it was a Ruby's!