Make a Smilebox slideshow

What a sweet, amazing blessing! We just enjoyed the best time together at Myrtle Beach The kids had a great, memorable time, and J.J and I completely enjoyed being away from Knoxville for a little while. Elaina Loved (and that would be an under-statement) the trip. She spent most of her free time in the large baby pool. She has become quite the swimmer. She did incredible in the car to and from. Thank you God for giving the wisdom to whoever invented the portable DVD players. She was in movie "heaven." Jack, on the other hand, :) didn't do as good. Why is it when you leave close to bedtime you don't get any sleepers and when you leave in the morning you get. . . sleepers? Let me explain. We thought it would be good to get a jump start on the traveling on Saturday evening close to their bedtime so maybe they would fall asleep and we could drive 3 or4 hours while they were sleeping. They didn't sleep at all! We stopped to sleep somewhere for the night and got up early the next morning to finish our drive. What did they do an hour into the drive? Fall asleep! It was only for 45 minutes but still. Another ironic thing is I wasn't tired driving at night either, but in the morning I had to fight to keep my eyes open. Why is this? Anyway, the trip felt short but we are so thankful that God allowed us this amazing opportunity. Around the first of July I started feeling a bit anxious b/c my summer was quickly coming to an end and I didn't feel like I had had much of a vacation. We hadn't done much as a family at all and that's always what I get so excited about for summer. Well since I took so much time (wonderful time) off for family leave after Jack, we just didn't have much in savings. I didn't want to share my disappointment with J.J right away because I didn't want him to feel bad or like he wasn't providing. Well I started praying for God to show opportunities and give me wisdom. I felt silly at first praying for a break and a time away, but I truly needed it. So, J.J came home the next week telling me about how he searched and searched placed to go for a short vacation and how there were strings he could pull to make it happen. I was tickled. It was so sweet hearing others excited for us too. We are truly blessed beyond measure! Lastly, God has spoken wonderful things to me through the book Shepherding a Child's Heart which I had time to finish during the trip. :) another God thing! I was recommended this book by a precious friend of mine and I am now wanting the world to read it. I can't say enough about this book. God has called us to do very specific things in regards to raising his children, and this book makes it easy to understand that raising a child isn't all about what our culture has made it. . . being positive all the time. . . not spanking. . . .making sure they feel good about themselves. . . telling them they need a good education so they can make lots of "MONEY" . . . .etc. Behavior comes from the heart. Proverbs 4:23 states it like this, "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." In other words, if we aren't dealing with the heart of our children then it is hard for them to know and understand who God is and why he sent his son. Reading this book parallelled with the Bible, has taught me so much about my own heart and God has graciously revealed many mistakes I have been making as a parent. I am so thankful my children are still so young. But it also talks about what to do if your children are older. It is a "must read!"