David A

Go David A!!!

David Archuleta has an incredible voice and I just want to pinch his cheeks!

Jay and I have been rooting for him all the way!

99 Balloons

Oh my goodness...this link was sent to me by a friend and you must watch this 6 minute video...and grab your kleenex!

Video of 99 Balloons

Fishing

One of my husband's favorite things to do in the spring/summer is to go fishing. Lately at the Lemonds' house, he will go out on our lake, fish for a couple of hours, come home and clean them and we will cook and eat them for dinner that night. The first time we did it, Karis and Brayden watched their daddy "clean" the fish on the back porch and you could tell Karis was completely disturbed by the whole process. She got down in the fish's face and said, "It is ok fishy...I know you miss your friends." She promised she would not eat those gross things but did and loved it...they both beg for fish now...even though Brayden still calls it "shicken." We had fish for dinner last night in fact! They have liked it so much that just this week we have gone to let the kids pick out their own fishing poles (Superman for Brayden and a princess for Karis...is that possible...to have a princess fishing pole???). Anyway that is Brayden's new toy (he calls it his bee pole).

However today I just had the urge to do something fun with my husband and wanted to go out on the boat and go fishing with him tonight. Although he thought that was sweet, we decided against it and to go vote (I know...how romantic) and then we went to dinner (kids are at Lolli's house tonight). But how ironic that I happened to read tonight in John 21 when the disciples were fishing and caught nothing until Jesus told them to throw their nets on the other side and they caught a bunch! I will let the scriptures speak for themselves....

1Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Tiberias.^[a] It happened this way: 2Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. 3"I'm going out to fish," Simon Peter told them, and they said, "We'll go with you." So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

4Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.

5He called out to them, "Friends, haven't you any fish?"
"No," they answered.

6He said, "Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some." When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.

7Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, "It is the Lord," he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. 8The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards.^[b] 9When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.

10Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish you have just caught."

11Simon Peter climbed aboard and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. 12Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." None of the disciples dared ask him, "Who are you?" They knew it was the Lord. 13Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. 14This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.

Two things I have pondered as I read this:
1)The first thing is something that we discussed in women's Bible study at church last Wednesday (sorry ladies if you are reading this)....but why 153 fish? Why not 125 or 152? I looked it up and this is what I found:

c. Full of large fish, one hundred and fifty-three: Why 153 fish? This number has been a field day for speculative interpretations of the Bible since the early church.
i. 153 is the sum of numbers 1 to 17. Some (like Augustine) say that it is a number representing the number of commandments (10) added to the sevenfold gifts of the Spirit.
ii. 153 is the added numerical value of the Greek words “Peter” and “fish.”
iii. Some ancient writers (such as Jerome) held that there were 153 different types of fish in the world; this represents a “full harvest” of all of the world.
iv. Some (like Cyril of Alexandria) say that 100 stands for the Gentiles, 50 for Israel and 3 for the Trinity.
v. The truth is that all we know for certain is that 153 stands for the number of fish that they caught! We must always be careful of manufacturing “hidden meanings” in the Word of God.

2)The second is why did Peter put on his cloak when he saw Jesus and jump in the water? I found out that Jews regarded a greeting as a religious act that could be done only when one was clothed. Peter may have been preparing himself to greet our Lord.

If you were to look on the shore while doing your "job" tomorrow and saw Jesus himself waiting to dine with you, would you prepare to greet him by placing your cloak on and jumping in as Peter did or would you have to make arrangements to clean up your life before dining?

Mother's Day at Nonnie's house

We went to Nonnie's (Jay's moms house) on Mothers Day and it was a quick day of fun. Brayden loves trains so we went to the local train station and he got to climb on one which he enjoyed....until he heard a train coming close by and got scared. He kept saying, "Ah...train....BIG TRAIN!"

Brayden playing in the bird bath

The kids swinging with Nonnie on the front porch swing

We love you Nonnie and Pop-Pop!

Why do I love going to my Lolli's house? (in the eyes of my children)

In the eyes of my children (Karis and Brayden), I love going to my Lolli's for many reasons listed below:

1)I get to be really messy and play with sticks

2)Jump in the blow-up jumper

3)Play in the mud all I want...

4)Take my pants off and go "all natur-al"

5)AND MY DIAPER...

6)Play in pink sand

7)Go fishin'....

8)Eat popsicles...

9)Dress myself (oh my!)...

10)Don't have to take a nap (and the look says it all...)

We love you Lolli!

Memphis' Favorite Mom

My mom was nominated by a friend for "Memphis' Favorite Mom" and won the grand prize!!! There were over 400 contestants and she won it! As most of you know my parents have done foster work since I was little and have had over 60 children in our home, some for days, some for years. Some she still takes in several times a year when their parents need a break. My mom also would take anyone in her home if they needed it and is always volunteering her childcare services with a smile. She is appreciated by many and I am glad to call her my mom. She truly deserves the award!

This is after we SURPRISED her to get her to the florist so that they could present her with the award. She won a package of gift certificates, some random gifts and a flower arrangement delivered to her door every month of the year!

This is my family after she received the award (excluding my brother Matt who couldn't be there)

The Lemonds family

This is my mom's friend Rachel who nominated her for the award. What a great friend!

We love you mom! Happy Mother's Day!

A dear friend

How do I explain the emotions I am feeling right now? As I was reading this morning, the Lord brought me to a very familiar passage to me in the last couple of months...Psalms 116:15, "How precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints." The Lord brought me to this passage on January 22, 2008 after I found out that my best friend had been killed in a car wreck. To fill some of you in the history here, Amber Donovan Mathenia has been my best friend since college, a sorority sister, my roommate, and matron of honor in my wedding. She was full of life, adventure, a woman who sought the Lord with everything she was, and shared everyday what the Lord was doing in her life. She was a wife, mother to 2 beautiful adopted children and her and her husband were missionaries to Ethiopia. The Lord allowed me to spend the whole day with her and her children just 24 hours before she was killed and I am so thankful that He was gracious to me. The Lord has used her in my life probably more than anyone else and for that, I will be ever grateful that I had the opportunity to know her. There are so many things she taught me about being a child of God, a wife, mother and friend that I am applying to my life every day. Every day is different and some days I honestly rejoice at all the Lord has done but there are others when my heart just hurts and today is one of those. I honestly just miss her really bad today and want to just pick up the phone to call her. My heart aches for her family knowing that Mother's Day is just around the corner and how bitter-sweet it must be. The Lord has definitely received glory from her life and death and for that I know His will is perfect. But is it ok for my heart to hurt???

How much more must have the disciples felt as they spent so much time with Jesus then to see him tortured and crucified all for the sake of us? Remember what your savior has done for you today and like every day, hug those that you love and focus on the things that are most important.

Memphis Zoo

Today the kids and I decided to enjoy the beautiful weather and went to the zoo. Going to the zoo is always an adventure and Brayden is liking it more every time he goes. He used to think everything is a dog but now is making connections and remembering previous visits. Here are a few pics from our visit (as always there are more here):

Brayden in the eggs near the petting zoo

The kids and I at the petting zoo

Brayden on the playground

The kids just had to put their feet in that fountain water...

Karis posing by the big elephant outside the zoo

Brayden eating grape icee

Mom and Karis

Karis playing by the monkeys

So if you look at all the pictures, Brayden is nearly crying in all of them. The reason why??? These chickens below. We were in the petting zoo and he was already scared of the donkey about 10 feet away and wanting me to hold him. I put him down near the fence and he turned around to these chickens by his feet eating crackers out of his stroller seat. He got scared and turned quickly around to see the donkey sneezing right in his face. He trembled from head to toe, later followed by a screeching cry. He was afraid of all the animals the rest of the day.

This was post-chicken incident and you can even see him saying, "HOLD JU!"

Mom and Brayden at the polar bear exhibit

Me and the kids looking at the polar bears

A little sleepy???

So we happened to see a friend of mine, Rachel, at the zoo. I used to work with her at EPMS and today was her daughter's 2nd birthday. Chloe also has a little brother that I got to meet that is 4 weeks old!

Karis and Chloe

Priceless...

First of all, excuse how rough I look. I had just gotten out of the shower (hair wet, no make-up on, robe on) ...however something happened that I just had to capture. At 6:30 this morning I was spending time in the word and Karis was sitting next to me. She got up for a minute and said, "I will be right back mom." She went and got her Bible and her coffee cup from her room and then came back and sat on the couch next to me. I didn't realize what she was doing for a minute until she said, "Mom, I am going to do my bible study with you." I almost wanted to cry!!!

Recent pics and Ethan's birthday party

Today we went to Ethan Pott's 3rd birthday party and as you know it was about 60 degrees, wind blowing and they still played on the slip and slide. I didn't know we would be in the water so Brayden didn't have a swim suit. Do you think that stopped him????

Ethan opening gifts

Ellie, Mari-Morgan and Karis swinging

Brayden satisfied on the slide with his balloon

The gang collecting bugs

The birthday boy Ethan "Batman"

Karis with the kittens we found under our shed this weekend

Brayden playing basketball

Karis teaching her brother how to climb out

Brayden got these new flip-flops on Friday (the first ones we have found to fit him). After he put them on, I said, "Brayden let me see your new shoes," and he replied, "I koot!" (I cute)