We're Back...

   We just got back into town late Thursday night after several fun-filled, educational, memory making days in Savannah, Georgia. Lee had a business meeting to go to so we all went down together a few days before his meeting and stayed later. This was the first "real" vacation we have had in a few years! We are planning another vacation for next spring so we used this one as a "practice run" before then. Everyone did really well even though we wore them out nearly every day trudging in the heat from one end of historic Savannah to another, up and down beaches and on the search for diapers...but I get ahead of myself ;).
A lot of our pictures are on Lee's camera, the old fashioned kind that stretches you in the area of patience because you must (gasp!) wait for them to be developed, but which also takes much better pictures. I do have some to share though.
We got there pretty late in the afternoon on the first day but we wasted little time in dropping our things off at the hotel and driving on to the beach. We were kind of unsure about the sort of company we might find at the beach so we were prepared to leave if need be but we were pleasantly surprised to find that it was really very quiet and for long stretches there would be no one at all. It was so beautiful! We've been to Charleston several times since we've been married but the beaches there are nothing like in Savannah! I went to Florida once as a teenager and they had the most beautiful beaches there and this beach was very, very similar! Light colored sand, beautiful colors in the shells, just gorgeous! I am extremely uncomfortable around large bodies of water but even I can greatly appreciate the creativity of God in the beauty of the oceans. This was Andrew's first time at the beach and he seemed to enjoy it at first but by the time we left he had had enough. He would run any time he saw approaching waves, he was complaining about the sand on his little hands and feet, and he much preferred to just be held. 

 

 The rest of us greatly enjoyed it though!!!

 

 The beach we went to was at Tybee Island. Did I mention that I am extremely uncomfortable around large bodies of water? Thankfully I wasn't aware that we were on an island, let alone an island off of an island until after we left for the last time. Yes, I realize this makes me look extremely unobservant but I don't like bridges either and there are bridges everywhere down there so I paid as little attention as possible when we were hovering over any amount of water... Anyway, Lee took a beautiful picture of the lighthouse with the sun peeking through the clouds over it that I will share sometime. It was a beautiful illustration to me of the smallness of man and the omnipotence of our great God and Creator.
During one bit of excitement Bethani fell while we were wading at the edge of the water and Bri threw all of the shoes she was carrying...into the ocean...and ran for Bethani. Lee and I ran for Bethani as well, looking longingly after our shoes ;). When Lee saw I was going to get to her first he went after the shoes and happily he was able to retrieve them all. I am thankful that Bri thought more about her sister than about our shoes. I am also greatful that we didn't have to go shopping for shoes "shoeless" ;). Bethani talked about it all the way to the car when we left, "I felled in the waters and Daddy came to get me and Mother came to get me and I got wet...."
On the way back to the hotel that evening, or the Inn as Tori referred to it, Bethani revealed her whiny side. Now, Bethani has a bit of a temper but all in all she is a really sweet little girl and she never complains. Well, apparently she has been saving it all up for that one trip back to the hotel. "I'm tired, I'm hungry, I'm wet, I felled in the waters..." over and over again. It was so hard not to go into fits of giggles because it was so completely out of character for her :)! Lee stopped on the way back to the hotel and picked up some pizzas for our supper so that perked her up a little bit, sort of.
While down there we toured the Andrew Low House. Coincidentally this was also the married home of Juliette Gordon Low, founder of the Scouts, but that isn't why we went. I was a Scout growing up but scouts have gotten a bit too "girl power" in recent years. It was a beautiful house and it was sooo funny to watch Andrew look the tour guide over every time she said his name as if she shouldn't be privy to such information. We saw huge books that weighed 50 pounds each, a brooch that was a gift from Robert E. Lee and his wife to Andrew Low's second wife at their marriage, a set of amethyst jewels that had belonged to Napoleon's wife (I think it was?) and much more of interest. The tour guide was very sweet and truly enjoyed what she was doing. Here is a picture of the children on the steps at the Andrew Low house...

Much of what we did while we were down there cost little or nothing. Well, we seemed to have to pay for parking everywhere. We walked River Street and went into River Street Sweets where we got to watch them making the candies, watching the machine pulling the taffy could become mesmerizing! Lee treated us to a bowl of ice cream there and some pralines and taffy to take back to the hotel. I've already tried to recreate the pralines here at home because Lee loved them but they weren't quite right, I think I'll have to try another recipe. We also stopped in a little country gift shop and found a cute little pansy pull chain for our living room fan (you may remember from this post that our living room is decorated in pansies). We didn't stay long at River Street though because it just wasn't very "family friendly". In fact, Savannah itself didn't come across as overly family friendly. We saw just a handful of children the entire time we were there. At Cracker Barrel the second evening our children made up more than 50% of the children for the entire time we were there! I felt very self conscious as Andrew is our loudest baby yet even, and maybe especially, when he's happy and he was really happy that evening ;). About half-way through our meal though a couple came over and commented on our "sweet and well-behaved children". I wonder if the people who stayed next to us in the hotel would second that ;). Later on Bri made the observation that nobody seemed to have children but everyone seemed to have a dog.
We could have spent days and days just roaming the squares and looking at the houses. We went to Forsyth park where we saw a fountain that is over 150 years old...

 

 We went to Colonial Park Cemetery and one grave that seemed particularly meaningful to us was one of a physician who lost his life by tending to others during the first yellow fever epidemic. The grave mentions his burial as a tribute of the love of his sister and while many stones seem neglected this one had a plaque placed on it by a descendant in 2000 that "translated" what the faded etching on the stone once said. Perhaps the influence of a sister's love is what gave this physician the strength to give his life for others and perhaps that same influence is working through the descendants of this same family as seems to be suggested by the care taken to preserve the memory of their ancestors. It's a beautiful thought. In this same cemetery we also saw a memorial to Button Gwinnett, one of the Georgian signers of the Declaration of Independence. Button Gwinnett was killed in a duel (held at his request) by Lachlan McIntosh, McIntosh is buried just across the way in this same cemetery. Interesting, I thought.

Sugarless Toothpaste

Becoming fluent in reading opens up a whole new world to a five year old. Now is a great time to be teaching her how to read labels because she is constantly doing it anyway, from the back of shampoo bottles to the back of the ketchup bottle, I might as well tell her what she should be looking for ;). Last night as I was starting the diapers in the wash Tori came to me with the toothpaste tube in one hand, her toothbrush in the other and a very "Ah-ha" moment look in her eyes. "I know why we don't like our toothpaste now!!!", she says to me. "Mmmm, why is that?" I asked. "Because it has baking soda in it...and no sugar!!!".

Three Very Good Reasons to Move?

1. The bullet in the back of the neighbor's house.
2. The Black Widow who was living in the garage up until Lee discovered it the day before yesterday...

3. The Velvet Ant (aka Cow Killer) that Tori and I found guarding the front door when we came home from the grocery store last night...

And alas, no moving prospects on the horizon.



Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. ~Philippians 4:11

I suppose that includes even the "state" of South Carolina, huh?
I'm working on it ;)...

10 Months...

   We've reached the double digits as of yesterday. My baby is growing up so fast! He is walking and talking, sometimes both at the same time ;). He loves to practice his walking skills between Lee and I and every time he reaches one of us he flings his little arms out and falls at us and then nuzzles in our lap saying, "I luh ya". Oh. my. goodness. Toooooo cute for words. I never thought a boy would end up being my most snuggley yet. I am so spoiled to have been given such a special treasure. Our Father certainly knows how to give good gifts, doesn't He?!







Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. ~James 1:17

Prayer Request

Update: Well, last we've heard the cops have no real idea what is going on but everyone seems to agree that it is some odd fluke of some sort or other. I was feeling pretty nervous about it all yesterday but I'm much calmer now and can feel God's peace over us. He can always protect us no matter what, right? It does appear that our neighbors closing went with hardly a hitch because the new folks have already been by their new home. We are going to miss our old neighbors terribly, they were such sweet people, the girls are already looking forward to their first visit back. I do hope we can be a blessing to our new neighbors in some way! Thank you for your prayers!!!
Here's a funny... last night after putting the children to bed I flopped down beside Lee on the couch and told him that I couldn't figure out why but I felt really stressed. He looked at me and said, "Oh, I don't know...could it be the bullet in the back of the neighbor's house?!". Oh ya, that ;).

Wow, here's an odd one for you.
Our next door neighbors (the same neighbor who taught Bri to knit, tag-teamed it with Cheryl to watch the girls during Andrew's birth and helped me learn to read a sewing pattern proficiently) have felt led to sell their home and move up to Michigan to be near their family. Their home sold remarkably quickly and was all set to close tomorrow morning. They came home from being gone for the weekend and when Lee went over to tell them good-bye this morning and take over a card we had all prepared for them they found a bullet in their wall! We live in a nice, relatively new subdivision folks. The cops say it was shot from a gun but from all appearances it doesn't seem to have been shot into their home but rather manually pushed (!?), or possibly shot from a slingshot, from the outside. Needless to say there is a very good chance that this could affect their closing tomorrow morning and on top of that I would really like to know what is going on because the bullet was "pushed", or whatever, into their home just across from our daughters bedroom. We never saw anything suspicious but we were gone all day Saturday until pretty late at night, the cops are there now. I would just really appreciate your prayers! That, if it is God's will, this will not affect their closing, that would be really hard for them, they have already moved out and they are supposed to be up in Michigan closing on their new house Wednesday afternoon! That the police would be granted wisdom and insight to figure out what in the world has gone on here. And lastly that God would put a hedge of protection around our home and family to protect not only our physical selves but also our peace in Him.
Thank you friends!

Our Independence Day Celebrations ~Part 3

The evening of July 5th we held our own little family celebration and did all of those traditional little things that make these sort of celebrations special. We set off a very few small fireworks and the girls got to do a few more sparklers but the crowning moment of the night was making and eating our own homemade ice cream. The girls talk about it for days before hand!





And it is always fun when you have a baby to share it with ;)...
Here are way too many pictures of Andrew eating his first ice cream cone...









More ice cream? Please mom? Can I have yours?



It was a precious night :).
As with everything we have a reason for celebrating the Fourth Of July with our children. We do have a lot of fun and make precious memories but the whole time we are using this as a way to have an on-going, days-long conversation about the providence of God in their lives. Lee explained to the girls how blessed they are to live in America. How blessed they are to live somewhere where they can worship God openly, own a Bible and have plenty to eat, among other things. God determined exactly when and where we would live and we feel it is very important for our children to understand the times in our world today as well as to see how God has protected His people throughout HIStory, from Genesis 1:1 to the birth of our nation to the present day. So, while we do have a lot of fun, it's not all about fun. It's about being grateful to a mighty God who has set us here in this time and in this place for a reason. How we pray that America would abandon her liberal walk down the broad path and turn back to the straight and narrow along which blossom the blessings of God, and may God continue to bless our nation.

God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; and hath made of one all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. ~Acts 17:24-28

Our Independence Day Celebrations ~Part 2

The Fourth of July was spent pretty quietly by all of us except Lee, he was biting the bit for sunset ;). We read a couple of chapters out of The Light and the Glory For Children by Peter Marshall and David Manuel and a few letters written by Abigail Adams before and during the War of Independence. Early that evening we left to meet Lee's employee's and their families for a nice dinner, redeeming the time spent in the car by reading aloud the Declaration of Independence. Lee and his store won $2,000 last Christmas for a store party and they had not had the opportunity to actually do much with it yet so they kind of decided at the last minute to go out for a nice meal on the fourth and then go back to someone's home to shoot off some fireworks. The meal was nice and afterwards we met at Erika's home. Her parents had graciously offered their land as our gathering place. We set out lawn chairs and laid down blankets for the littles and sat back to enjoy the show.
Some pictures...
Cheryl, on the left, is the very same Cheryl made famous for watching our children on again and off again during my on again and off again labor with Andrew.

Lee actually played match-maker with the following couple, Erika and Matt, and it appears to be working out :). Erika is a homeschool graduate and she has seven brothers and sisters, isn't that neat :). It was kind of odd to see several little Erika's running around, I had never met any of them before.

Ethel and her hubby David are next, Andrew actually went to her for a few moments without getting upset! Ethel is so sweet and she has really helped Lee out a lot, even offering to come back from her vacation many states away when she had to leave before Andrew was born, who, if you will remember, was taking his time ;). 

Lee, ready for action ;)...

Some littles enjoying the action...these weren't quite as loud so Andrew warmed up to them much more quickly though he still felt awfully stiff in our laps ;)...

Some of us got a little wound up...

One of Erika's sisters gave thegirls some glow in the dark bracelets which they thought were pretty neat. We all had fun and there is still so much money left over that we are planning a trip to the Biltmore Estate in the fall, fun :)!!!