Soccer - Our Mission

Well we are in the middle of 2 full weeks of soccer camp right now. Which means practice every night for 2 1/2 hrs. Then we are going to Camp Cosby on Saturday and Sunday with the team for 2 days. We'll be doing ropes courses, swimming, having a talent show and some other team bonding stuff. It should be a lot of fun. This week we're with our U-16 team and then we're with the U-13 team next week. I am really looking forward to Camp Cosby. The girls are staying here. I love my girls dearly but after our week this past week, I am ready for a break:)

Please pray for Jon and I as we spend the weekend with these girls...that we would be a good witness to them and be able to minister to the girls who are not believers on the team (at least 3 or 4 girls). We are hoping that they will see Christ through us and the other girls who are believers on the team.

I truly believe that God has brought each of these girls to our team for a purpose, and over the years we have seen a huge change in some of the girls on the team which has been awesome. Jon & I truly feel like this is our mission field. We have always had a heart for missions and right now we feel like God has us right here in Birmingham, AL as coaches of Briarwood Soccer Club. This is our 6th year to coach:) We started out "just for fun" and "to see how we liked it" and we haven't been able to pull ourselves away from this team since. We love it!

Anyways, I know I'm rambling now, but like I said please keep us and these 16 girls in your prayers this weekend.

A Morning at the Zoo

The girls are finally feeling better, so I decided to take them to the zoo since we have been pretty much cooped up for 5 days now. We got there right when they opened so the weather wasn't too hot and it wasn't too crowded yet. We really had a great time!
Petting the baby goat

Then she puts her fingers straight in her mouth...lovely:)

Mia petting the goat...this is the 1st time she has ever been brave enough to actually touch it, so I was very proud of her:)

They thought this was so funny...

And of course Averi had to do it too because Mia did it:)

Watching the monkeys play


This is the first time we ever went in the Butterfly Exhibit and it was so cool. Both girls love it...





Waving "bye" to the butterfly's

Getting better...

Eating crushed ice together on the couch

A blue-eyed girl & a brown-eyed girl

We have taken MANY walks over the last few days...There's not much else you can do when you have kids with a stomach virus, right?:)

My Thoughts

Well, we haven't been able to shake this bug yet unfortunately. This is a brutal one! Both of the girls were great yesterday and seemed to be feeling lots better. Then lastnight Averi starting throwing up again and Mia had diarrhea a couple times during the night too. Jon & I were up and down all night and it was like musical rooms at our house:) It's one of those times where you just have to laugh because it's so crazy. I am going on 4 nights with very little sleep but yet I keep thinking "it could be worse"! I mean I haven't felt great the last few days, but I'm not throwing up yet so that is definitely a praise. I remember my mom used to never get sick either when we were sick. It's amazing how God gives us (moms) extra immunities to fight off these things so that we can be strong to care for our children. When I was little I swear I caught every stomach bug that ever entered anywhere within 30 miles of our house:) Yet now I have been thrown up all over for days and haven't caught it yet. So to that I say...

"Thank you GOD for protecting my body and keeping me strong this week".

"Mom, how did you do it for all those years? Thank you SO much for the MANY times you took care of me when I had this horrific virus. You're the best!"

Ready for "Night Night"

Averi went in her room after lunch and got her blanket & paci's (1 in mouth and 1 in hand-she only gets it for bedtime), came walking down the hallway and in her sweet little voice said "night, night":) Then she layed down on the floor in the living room. Poor thing! They have been so tired this week. Especially her since she decided to wake up at 5 am & play in her bed for an hour this morning before falling back asleep til 7.

Stomach Bug & Smashed Finger

Have you ever had a week where you just felt like you weren't gonna make it? Well, that has been me this week. Both girls have had a stomach virus. Averi started out with it Tuesday night and had diarrhea then started throwing up during the night but she bounced back like a champ the next morning (but I was exhausted from being up with her). Then Mia started throwing up around lunch time on Wednesday. I thought we were out of the woods by bedtime because she seemed to be doing a little better but then she proceeded to throw up 3 more times (through the night and in the morning). I have never done so much laundry and cleaned SO much in my life.

On top of that, right about when I was reaching my limit lastnight (Wednesday) and Jon was about 30 minutes from getting home from work, Mia closed Averi's finger in the door. And when I say closed, I mean the entire door was shut (in the part where the hinge is). I was putting more laundry in and I hear a blood curdling scream, came running and found Averi with her finger still in the door. When I opened the door it was a complete zigzag. I mean I have no idea how it could not be broken. So I call Jon crying at this point. He tells me to wait until he gets home, he's on his way. By the time he got there her finger was swollen and red but had straightened out a good bit. And she was running around playing like nothing had happened. Although she would not let us touch it.

So, pray for us this week if you think about it. I'm thinking things are about to hopefully start getting better. The good news is SO FAR Jon or I have not gotten it yet...We'll see if that lasts. I have been sanitizing like crazy:) And I need some sleep in a major way! Maybe tonight...

Reading books together on the couch...this is on Tuesday before they got sick.

Eating popsicles (this was the "fun" part of being sick) :)


Averi when she was starting to feel better!

This is poor Mia after the last time she threw up. She was exhausted!

Averi kept leaning down and patting and kissing Mia:) She was so worried about her.

My Blunt 3 Year Old

Conversation #1
Mia: "Hey mom, I want to wear my black dress today"
Me: What black dress...what does it look like?"
Mia: "It's a dress and it's black"
Point taken:) I ask a dumb question...I get a blunt/dumb answer!

Conversation #2
This morning we were about to go down the road to the library to return some DVD's (before they open) so I just throw on a t-shirt and shorts. As we're getting in to the car Mia says to me: "Mom please don't wear that. Please go change...it looks like your wearing jammies." Can't wait to see what she says about me as she (and I) gets older:)

Mia always says exactly what's on her mind and often times she's really not trying to be rude. She just speaks her mind (I wonder who she gets that from...not me). We're just working on how to say things perhaps a little more softly/nicely.

HOT Summer Days

I am forever trying to find something to do with the girls on these 95 degree days. With the heat index/humidity it has been over 100 lately. So I went to Wal-Mart and found this cute Elmo sprinkler that they love. Then I put their little slide next to it so they had lots of fun sliding down into the sprinkler.

Aldridge Gardens Pictures

I woke up this morning and decided to take the girls to Aldridge Gardens to play for a little while and walk around. As ya'll know I love to take pictures:) So anyways, here is a little slideshow (mostly) of pictures I took today. We had a good time...

It's Official

Yay...we received Mia's "letter of acceptance" into the Briarwood ballet program yesterday:) It's a pretty complicated process and tough to get in so I guess I should be relieved...after all I had to wait in line for almost an hour on registration day and then had to wait for 3 1/2 weeks to hear if she made it in:)

My aunt took Mia to the ballet store when we were in Huntsville last week and bought her costume for her. She looks so adorable in it! Here are some pictures of her showing it off...

Summit Live

We went to this event with some friends lastnight called Summit Live. It's a free concert & food at the Summit every Thursday night throughout the summer. Unfortunately it started raining about 45 minutes into it, but we still had a great time. The girls were dancing and putting on a show for the crowd:) Once the rain started they played in the rain...they had such a blast!

This lasted 2 seconds...

Dancing, dancing, dancing...





Mia, Micah, and Averi looking at the fountains...

Coloring

Mia loves to color & paint starting from when she was about a year old. Jon is very artistic and musical and Mia seems to have inherited a lot of that same interest & talent from him.

So I thought I would try to see what Averi did with it. It started out great but only lasted for about 30 seconds before she started eating the color and tearing up the paper:) We've already discussed how we think Averi will probably be the more athletic one while Mia will be the artistic/musical one. It's fun to see how their personalities unfold...




So...I got her some peaches and that seemed to be a little more up her alley:) She enjoyed eating instead & watching her sister color.