His Great Name

Ian's child-like faith is one I admire and am often in awe of. His precious little spirit has not yet been tainted by the enemy or with the harsh realities of the world. And even at just four years old, when he speaks of his God, he does it with a deep sincerity; a belief that is so solid that he can't fathom someone not believing what he believes. I marvel at that sometimes and I pray his relationship with his Savior is one he cherishes for a lifetime.

Anna is not old enough to fully understand, but God has already planted a seed of faith in her. She takes great joy in participating in meal-time or bedtime prayers and has taken to saying her own prayer after her and I say the bedtime prayer together. It is pretty precious to here here thank God for everyone (and everything) that comes to mind. Tonight she thanked God for the usual...Daddy, Mommy, Ian (Ee-uhh as she says Ian's name), Coal, and all her family...but she changed it up a bit and also added one of her own...Pingu (the little cartoon she enjoys). Too funny. But she puts a unique Anna-style twist into all her prayers...she insists on growling, yes growling, her Amen at the end. She is one joyful, silly little girl.

That's why this song by Natalie Grant is so powerful to me right now. It's called "Your Great Name" and it is amazingly arranged. It reminds me that no matter what we have been through in the past or are going through in the present, what we doubt or what we think we believe, Jesus is the only truth. It is a truly Great Name with such unimaginable power.

This song is one I will look forward to putting on the surround sound in the living room as loud as I can stand it (the drums/background is amazing) while the kids are at school this fall and I'm cleaning house. :)

Take a break from the day and enjoy a moment with a live performance by Natalie Grant at Saddleback Church.
And check out the full version via Playlist with the awesome accompaniment.

Have a blessed week!

July 4th Celebrations

Independence Day was pretty fun this year. Our entire family ventured out to the parade early this morning and were lucky enough to get up-front seats for all eleven of us at our favorite spot along the parade route. The kids were so excited to see all of the excitement. Anna must have danced and clapped through three-quarters of the parade and she LOVED seeing the horses and had a particular fascination for the vintage cars with their odd horns as well as the drums in the school marching bands. And the older boys got so excited when "soldiers" or motorcycles or anything with loud sounds came by. Anna and Braden loved to get up and dance together when the school marching bands went by, too.




















Our local parade and July 4th festivities has been rated one of the top ten best in the nation. This year they really outdid themselves. It was TWO HOURS long and there were 100 floats.

Anna loved the old cars.

Ian's attention was taken by the "soldiers".

Following the parade, Mark grilled tasty burgers and hot dogs and the entire crew enjoyed a potluck lunch indoors because the temperature was over 100 degrees...again. After naps Ian enjoyed playing in the paddling pool and attempting the new slip-n-slide. He didn't really have the momentum to go the length of the slide but he tried. I had to get my bathing suit on and show him how it was done...no photos taken of that sad sight, thank goodness! Ian, Mark and I enjoyed being silly together in the yard. When Anna woke up she decided to play in the pool for a bit and then blow bubbles.

All of the kids enjoyed the huge group
of Boy Scouts holding up an American flag
that spanned the width of the four-lane road.

By mid-day the kids were very ready for a nap.

Ian's downhill attempt...on his bottom.

The fireworks shows throughout our state have been in jeopardy due to a burn ban because of high temperatures and drought conditions. But it was safe enough to have the show and we got to enjoy it from the comfort of our air conditioned sunroom. Unfortunately, a large Elm tree in our backyard died and we had it removed last week. We lost a lot of shade and green in our yard but the positive of that is now we have a huge clearing in the back where we can see the fireworks show without any obstructions. We've been able to watch the show from our backyard in years' past but the trees have blocked the view a bit. Not this year. We had a clear view of the entire show. We promised to wake Ian  up for the fireworks and he loved it. We didn't wake Anna and thankfully she slept through it all and slept in until 8:30 the next morning. It was a good holiday weekend!

We called these "crazy" fireworks
because they'd scatter all different directions.

Videos to enjoy...

Anna and Braden dance to the marching band.

Anna follows the high school girls' dance routine.

Anna dances to the high school marching band.

Braden and Anna enjoy a square-dancing float

and show them their own moves.



Kids' Safety Challenge

Earlier this month Ian attended a two-day Safety Challenge through our local fire department, along with his cousin and numerous other kids.

Kids pose on the back of the engine.

As we drove home from the first day of his "class" I quickly realized just how closely he had paid attention.

As I entered a left turn lane, I drove over the yellow stripes to get around a super long line of cars who were all going straight and waiting at a red light. From the back seat I hear my son announce to me that I had made a mistake driving. He continued to explain that if I want to make a turn, I need to wait patiently next time in the line of cars and not drive over the yellow stripes because it is dangerous and against the rules.

So I admitted my "bad choice" and told him thank you for correcting me and that I'd wait patiently next time. Of course, inside part of me was chuckling at the idea that my 4-1/2 year old son was giving me driving advice from the third row of the van - where he has a perfect view of the road ahead because his seat is centered. I call him my Captain and I swear he will be the safest sixteen year old on the road someday because he already knows so much about traffic safety.

Ian getting out of his "fire truck" near the
hydrant at the Safety Challenge course.

 

The boys put out the fire in the safety village.

The safety program was so neat and Ian is already asking when he can take it again. The second day they invited the kids' family up to see them "graduate" the program. They had several rescue vehicles, including the ever-popular fire truck, on display for family and siblings to explore. And he even got his own navy blue FD t-shirt to wear.

A few days later they had all of the participants return to the safety village for a special event for the kids' families. We got to see him go through an obstacle course where his safety knowledge was put to the test - literally. He loved getting to wear the bunker gear! He actually told the Major that he didn't want to take it off after he completed the course - despite the near 100 degree temperature outside.

Ian's latest career choices for when he gets older is to be a rancher, a zookeeper, a policeman, a fireman, and a teacher. He will be one busy boy. Ha!

Ian wanted to keep the jacket!

The gang gets to
feed Cheerios to the gold fish in
the safety village pond.

Father's Day

For Father's Day this year we started the weekend by making Mark's favorite cookies, white chocolate chip macadamia nut, on Friday afternoon. Saturday evening the kids went to see Nana and Papa for a bit so Mark and I went to dinner together at our favorite Japanese steakhouse. It was delicious and oh-so filling, as usual!

On Sunday morning the kids and I let Mark sleep in a bit. Okay, so he really can't sleep in (he's always been an early bird) but he enjoyed a bit of quiet time pretending to sleep while we all slipped out of the room to go start breakfast. The kids and I made him breakfast burritos and Mark really liked them. And before we ate breakfast we gave Mark his gifts. Ian had picked out a card with a big transformer on the front and he colored and wrote his name inside along with an "I love you". And the preschool where Ian attends actually sent Mark a card in the mail from Ian that he made back in the spring. He had colored a picture on the front and a list of answers to some questions about his Daddy were inside. It was a really cute surprise for Mark.

The kids were real troopers for my crafty gift ideas this year. I almost didn't think we'd pull it off but they came through and the results were pretty cool. I saw these two ideas online and thought I'd give them a try.

First I painted large wooden letters red. Then we headed out to the yard to take some shots of the kids holding the letters. It was...interesting. So after printing the photos, we put them in a large frame with three openings so each opening contains a letter - spelling out DAD all together.

Our second project was even more adventurous than the first. While the kids napped I painted a large brown tree on a canvas. Once it was dry I had Ian choose his two colors - he chose red and orange. I painted the palm of his hand and had him place his hand on the tree several places. Then it was Anna's turn. She wasn't too happy about me painting her hand (she wanted to paint mine instead) but she finally cooperated after I told her she could paint on her papers afterwards. So the end result is a canvas print of the kids' hands as the leaves on a tree.

Sunday evening we met up at Aunt Laura's house for some poolside fun and a cookout dinner with Mark's parents as well. Ian really enjoyed the pool and he was quite brave to swim out to the deep end with no one holding on to him (he has a life jacket float he wears though). The older boys had lots of fun splashing each other. And the younger cousins enjoyed the baby pool Laura had filled with toys.

It was a really nice weekend as a family and I think the kids made Daddy feel very loved.