Happy 8th Birthday, Drew!

Yesterday, my sweet boy turned 8!  I'm pretty sure he had a good day, as it was filled will a lot of his favorite things.  After a morning of building his new Lego sets, we had his birthday party at Sports Connection.  He and 5 of his friends bowled, played laser tag and then ate cake.  Joshua and Stacy were able to stay so we ended the night with a dinner at Smashburger, at his request, and a sleepover with his best bud.  

I love that God gave Drew to us.  He is a gift for sure!  He has a servant's heart, a kind and loving spirit, and is a peacemaker amongst his siblings.  He is very creative, has a HUGE imagination, loves sports and Legos.  Every night he prays for those who are without food and homes that they will get those things.  He is a grateful kid and I am so grateful for him!

That's a wrap

That's a wrap of the 2014-2015 school year.  Cate is officially a graduate of Cotswold Elementary school!!  Wednesday was the 5th grade recognition ceremony followed by a reception in Claire's Garden.  Cate received an award for the IB character trait "Inquirer!"  After the reception, a group of 5th graders met at our pool for a pool party while the others were at school!  It was a fun celebration.  On Thursday, the official last day of school, the 5th graders have a dance in the gym with a DJ and photo booth!  A perfect way to end your elementary school career, enjoying your friends and teachers.  While an emotional week for sure, I felt all the of events provided good closure for both the 5th graders and parents…I'm at least speaking for Cate and me:)  Hard to believe that she is off to 6th grade in the fall!  

Drew and JR also had fun parties to celebrate the end of 1st grade and Kindergarten.  They are moving on up!

Welcome summer…we are ready for you, I hope!

Snapshots from last couple months

Here are a few snapshots from our last couple months….

Easter morning (while I was in bed post burns)- Jacob still took kids to church after only a couple hours of sleep!!  

Beach fun with the Hwangs during Spring Break

Drew's Christmas gift redeemed!  He played football with Panthers players Greg Olson and a couple other guys one afternoon on the Panthers practice fields.  A once in a lifetime experience benefiting children born with heart defects.

Even Sir Purr played!  Gabe was quite smitten.

A weekend visit with Hildebrands and getting to watch Grady play soccer in between rain storms.

Playing in the puddles…trying to make the most of all the rain.

I started swimming 3 mornings a week at 6am.  The bubble was taken off beginning of April but water still warm.  Just cold getting in/out when temps in 40's!!

Field day fun

What Mom's need….

Ann Voskamp wrote what I've been feeling much more beautifully and eloquently than I ever could have.  Here are some excerpts and the link to the whole blog post.  She expresses what I've struggled with this year more than ever and what God has been trying to teach me at the same time.  

"What you really wanted is to be extraordinarily, obviously, good at this. At this mothering thing.

You wanted to be the best at this.

You wanted to take the podium and gold medal in mothering — not take a million timeouts behind some locked bathroom door, turn on the water so no one hears you sobbing at what a mess this whole shebang is, and how you’d like to run away. Ask me how I know? 

Honest? You wanted to be more.

You wanted to be more patient — you wanted to never lose it, to always have it together, to keep calm and that is all, always, — and yeah take their tantrums with a grace-grain of salt instead of throwing one of yours that turned out to be a first class tsunami and a tad bit more dramatic than theirs. You wanted more flashes of wisdom in the heat of the moment when you had no bloody idea what was the best thing to do, when you flung up an SOS prayer, made The Call on the deal —- and the kid hated you for it and you crawled into bed feeling like a heel who always gets it wrong when everyone else gets it right……" 

But….

"What every mother wants, her most unspoken need —  is a truckload of Grace."

Read it all:   

http://www.aholyexperience.com/2015/05/the-most-life-changing-thing-every-mother-can-do-for-herself-this-mothers-day/

You don’t have to be awesome and do everything.
You simply have to believe that the One who is Awesome loves you through everything.
And when the mothers sat with that….

When the mothers sat with that, when they gave themselves that, when they opened up and unfolded all this Grace…

when they were given it … 

and when they let it completely enfold them — 

all these wounds healed in a thousand places. 

I'm hard headed and sometimes hard hearted, but I'm trying to believe these truths that even when I mess up, even in my darkest moments (some which I've experienced this year) and even when I fail my kids (which I do multiple times a day it seems), that God loves me still.  Such a beautiful and humbling truth.  That is all I need to know and claim this Mother's Day.  I am blessed beyond words with the children I get to be mom too.  I pray that they understand and know this grace and love of God in their own lives too. 

Atlanta and Sectionals

We went to Atlanta last weekend for the Eastern Sectional Age Group Championships at Georgia Tech. It was a fun weekend of swimming for Cate.  She swam 4 events between Friday and Sunday and got best times in 3 of 4 events. It was the site of the 1996 Summer Olympic games so what an honor to swim there.  It was a beautiful facility.  

While there, we also went on a tour of CNN, visited the MLK historical site including Ebenezer Baptist Church and the house he grew up in (powerful, historical places).  We also went to Piedmont Park when the sun finally came out.  Piedmont Park is a really big park on the edge of downtown…like Central Park in a way.  We played on the playground and watched the ducks.  We had a very special visit from Jennie, Jerry, Patrick and Marcella who drove from Birmingham to have lunch and see Cate swim!  Such a nice treat for us!!  We played soccer and football in Centennial square in our downtime, right outside of our hotel.  One of our last endeavors was riding the Atlanta Skyview.   One of the biggest highlights of the weekend, at least for the younger 3, was riding the elevator of the Embassy Suites and deciding who got to push the buttons each time!  Guess we know that to do for cheap entertainment now!  And, before leaving town, we had to make a stop for a meal at The Varsity.  Yum!