Life is but a Vapor

As I sit here I'm allowing my child to watch "Super WHY" so I can have a few moments alone. Yesterday i just couldn't get out of my head that life if really just a vapor. As I sat outside in the sun catching some Vitamin D I had my mister on. I watched the water come out and cool me off and give me much needed relief from the sun. As I enjoyed those water droplets it also dawned on me from God's word that life is just like this. We are here but for only a short time, to please God and make him "happy" (according to Piper). No for real, it is our calling and duty here on earth to worship God, the creator of everything. We are here for only a short time but while here that is our "job". I won't go into detail on ways we please and worship God right now, but you get what I'm saying.Our lives are so short, even though it seems at times that they are so long.

My Emily is almost 3 and I can't believe how fast she has grown up. The other night she wanted to sleep in her big girl bed, flush the pacifier and be a "big girl" as she said. I just started crying. I cried not for just sadness of watching my baby get bigger, but also of joy!!!! My little girl wants to grow up (in a sense). I just pray that I would have this same desire in my spiritual life, to grow in Christ more, instead of staying a baby in Him.

Yesterday we also found out my daddy got the results back from his prostate blood test and it doesn't look good. His PSA levels were higher than normal and he's being referred to an urologist. I trust God completely and know that it's nothing serious, but if it be I pray God will be glorified and remove anything harmful from his body. Life is a vapor...it hits home when you start thinking about your parents getting sick. It hits home when your little girl "grows" up a step. It also hits home when you are wanting another child and you just have to trust that God will provide everything in HIS timing. Sorry this is on a sadder note, but sometimes that is what we need to bring us to where God wants us!!!

Summer Fun

Well summer is for sure here, as we've been in a heat wave, indexes of almost 110. I haven't posted on all our fun, so I'll update pictures of our swimming trip last week, and our fun outside in the sun today.

Also our biggest news is Emily has given up her pacifier. I know she's old for it, but she has been addicted to it since she was 7 months old. Saturday night she decided she wanted to sleep in her big girl bed, but we told her she couldn't until she got rid of her paci. SO she said, "Ok I'll go flush it down the toliet." And flush it she did. She flushed one of them (she only had 2) but the other is put away for safe keeping. Today is day 3 without it and she's been fine. We've been praying she'd get rid of it without having a break down, and God has answered our prayers. She went to sleep Saturday night, and last night with no problems and slept all night and pretty late in the morning.

I hope you all have a great week leading up to the 4th of July. This is a picture also of Emily wearing the 4th of July dress I made her. She's such a cheese ball with that smile of hers. Have a great week.

Mission Serve

My cousin's son is here this week with his youth group from MS doing Mission Serve. Several churches in our area are participating as well as other groups from AL, NC, MD & MS. They've been here all week and I still can't believe that he's here. I also can't believe how he's growing up so fast. It really makes you feel old when you can vividly remember someone's birth and now they're in the youth group. Anyway, he plays the guitar and they had him and a couple of youth to play with the band last night after the worship service. I tried attach the video but it's too large, and I'm not smart on how to cut it down. Brennan, my cousin, is the one in the red shirt playing the electric guitar. He's doing really well at it.

We left Emily at home with Marsha Ann last night so we could go and we had us a night out. We ate Chick-fil-A before we went and were gone for 4 1/2 hours. It was nice to get away for a while. We'll have to do that more often.

Vacation is Over with Happy Father's Day

We got back from the mountains Saturday evening around 7:00. Yesterday was Father's day so we all just did alot of resting, especially after a long week of fun. We also arrived back to Macon with some severe heat!!! The heat index was 105 last night!!! We were just on the top of the mountains Saturday where the wind chill was in the low 60's. It's amazing how it can change that fast. They said it's been extremely hot here all week. I hear a thunderstorm moving up on us right now. Maybe we'll get some rain from it. The wind is really starting to pick up. We were just on the slip in slide after lunch trying to cool off.
Enjoy these pictures from the rest of our trip and of Father's day. The little dress Emily has on is one I got her at Lid'l Dolly's, in Pigeon Forge, a dress shop started by Dolly Parton. Hope you all have a great week.

Mid-Week Update from the Mountains

Today we went to Chimney Tops for our picnic and took Ms. Melba Oakley up with us. We met her last year, through moma and daddy. Her husband & his brother are some of the "founders" of the Gatlinburg area. We enjoyed meeting her and picnicking with her. These are a few pictures from today, and the above is a view from the "Homestead" village where the cabin is located in Wears Valley. Glenn, Brandy and I went hiking tonight in the neighborhood and hiked up steep hills for over an hour and half. I will post those pictures later. Enjoy the pictures below from today and most from yesterday at Dollywood.

Our group at Chimney Tops picnic area.

Talking with Ms. Oakley

Daddy riding the Busy Bees at Dollywood.

Mommy riding the little pigs at Dollywood

Emily's favorite the carousel

Emily fell asleep in her stroller around 4:00

Glenn, Brandy & Jason on the big roller coaster

I got some great shots with my big zoom lens...you can see them if you look in the middle.

Enjoying the favorite...ice cream

going from the right, Emily, Papaw, Mamaw, Rhonda & Jason

Our Group in front of the Dollywood Butterfly

Mountain Trip

Sorry the pictures are before the narration... I can't get them to move. Enjoy them all, then read all about them. Obviously this first one was suppose to be the last one...Emily tuckered after the days event!!!

We made it to the mountains on Friday evening and have been enjoying our trip so far. Today was day 3 and we went to Cades Cove. Let me back up before I tell about today's adventure, let me tell about Sunday. We went to First Baptist Church Wears Valley for worship and enjoyed it too. The people were very friendly and since they just finished their VBS we felt right at home. The kids sang "Because" from the VBS music and Emily loved it. She kept saying "Boomerang Press" after the theme song, "The Boomerang Express". After church we came back to the cabin and celebrated Rhonda's birthday. That afternoon my daddy, Glenn, me and Brandy went tubing in Townsend in the ICE COLD water. At first it was very COLD but we adjusted fast. My tube almost flipped once going through the "rapids", but we were all soaked to the skin by the time we finished.

Yesterday Emily fussed alot and complained about hurting, and I noticed she had a 100 temp. last night. This morning as we were getting ready to leave she started crying again that it hurt when she went tee tee. On the way up here she cried that her back was hurting, SO with the fever I suspected that she has UTI or kidney infection. She's been very irritable and going to the bathroom ALOT. She keeps saying she has to go, but can't go much. I called Dr. Jason and finally got them to call in an antibiotic. I hated to have to take her to a clinic up here, and am just glad they called in her medicine.

After being delayed for 2 hours, we decided to still go on to Cades Cove. I'm glad we did because we saw 7 bears!!! 3 of them were cubs. We saw 3 deer too, but not as many as years before (probably b/c there were more bears this year). We were actually stopped to make a picture of us in the valley, and while we were waiting for the self-timer to shoot, a man yelled at us and said, "Hey there's a bear behind you!". We kept asking "What...What...are you serious" and then we saw him. It was so FUNNY. He wasn't close, but he got close for sure...see the pictures for yourself. After making 100 photos of this one bear we were all run off by the park ranger (even though we weren't doing anything to him). After seeing this bear up close the others were farther away.

We are all still in shock that we saw this many bears. It has been YEARS since I've seen one up here...since I was 6 years old to be exact. Emily was so worn out that she fell asleep at 3:20 and I had to wake her up at 7:00 tonight. We're up a little late tonight with her, but will be going to bed soon because we're "planning" on doing Dollywood tomorrow! Hope you all have a great week. I'll post again soon.

VBS Day 4

Sorry I didn't post yesterday but I've come down with Emily's cold, and don't feel too good, especially today, but I thought I'd post real quick before Emily's nap. She's relaxing watching Curious George before her nap. I haven't felt good at all today, but we still had fun. Emily enjoyed her class a little better today, as I found out she has a little "boyfriend". His name is Hunter and the teachers said that they just play together, hug, hold hands and he checks on her all the time saying, "Are you all right Emily?" I went in and made their picture it was precious.

Tomorrow is the last day, and then we leave for TN on Saturday. I PRAY that this cold will be moved out by then. Emily seems to be doing better so maybe it's a short lived cold. Hope you all have a great rest of the week.