When Brad and I were on Young Life Staff and we found out we were pregnant, all we could think about was how amazing it was going to be to raise our kids around Young Life...especially taking them to Young Life camps.  Then God changed our plans and sent us back to my hometown...which meant leaving YL Staff.  Thankfully, we have been able to continue doing ministry through YL, but now we are just volunteers.  Our kids know that Friday nights are usually going to be spent at a high school football game or basketball game (or some sort of sport). They know that there will always be highschoolers at our house.  And they know that Mommy and Daddy will be headed to YL club on Mondays to be with our high school friends.  So, not too much as changed between being on YL Staff and serving as a volunteer...except for the amount of time our kids get to spend at YL Camps.

Most YL staff kids get to spend a month of the summer at a YL Camp while their mom or dad is serving there.  Our kids just know that mommy and daddy will be leaving them for 10 days to take our high school friends to camp to hear the Gospel.  But this last weekend...we got to take Emma and Liam with us to camp!!! We took a group of our  high school friends to Sharptop Cove to serve on Work Crew (serving, cleaning, etc.), and Emma and Liam went with us.

It was such a blessing!  I can hardly even put it into words.  They had so much fun running around camp, playing on the playground and they both even hiked to the top of Sharptop Mountain with us.
But the most incredible blessing was having them serve with us.  Emma was amazing!! It meant so much to see her servant's heart all weekend.  She cleaned tables, set tables, vacuumed, anything she could help do.  And Liam did a great job, too.

Young Life has always been a huge part of Brad and mine's lives.  And we want our kids to be a part of that too.  Mostly, we want our kids to know what it means to put God first, to serve and love others and to follow Christ.  I think they both saw that this weekend.

Emma working so hard!

Liam setting tables

On top of Sharptop Mountain

The whole group

Prayers...sort of

Me: (as Liam is outside playing) "What are you yelling about out there?"
Liam: "I just asked God to get the toots out of me."

One proud mama!

Emma is now half-way through Kindergarten, and the tests have begun.  She brought home her first report card a while back.  It was exciting and terrifying all at once.  Thankfully, there are no grades given in K5.  Just S's and E's.  But now, Emma has weekly spelling tests.  She's done a great job.  And I've been very proud of her.  I know this is just the beginning of the next 12 years, but for now I'm one proud mama!

So smart...

So, my kids never answer the television.  What I mean is that when we are watching their shows, i.e. Dora, Mickey Mouse, they never answer any of the questions they are asked.
For example:
Dora: Which tool could we use to save Boots?
Kid at home: A rope.
But my kids have never answered.  Ever.

So, I recently asked Emma why she never answers anything the TV asks her and her response was,
"Mommy, they can't hear me."

LOVE it!

Quotes of the week...

Emma: "Mommy, I think I know why they call it pulled chicken." (said while eating BBQ)
Me: "Why's that?"
Emma: Because the chicken has been in the pool.

Me:"What are you doing in there, Liam?" (as he is jumping from couch to couch)
Liam: "Just my cool tricks."

Emma: "Where are you going, Mommy?"
Me: "To exercise."
Emma: "I thought only jolly people had to exercise."

6!!!

My sweet little girl turned 6 on Friday! I can still remember the days when I was pregnant just waiting for her to get here.  And then the joy when she finally did get here.  Watching her learn and grow....so many precious memories with this little girl, this daughter I have been blessed with!

Emma,
You make me smile every single day.  I am so thankful for you.  I am so glad that YOU are my daughter.  I am so proud of you, and I haved loved watching you grow into the amazing girl that you are.  I can't wait to see all that God has planned for your life.  Happy Birthday!

Emma's 2nd birthday!

 We had a "sleepover" party to celebrate.  Everyone wore PJs, ate pizza, played, watched a movie and had ice cream sundaes.  But no one actually "slept over".  I don't think we're quite ready for that yet.  But it was a great time celebrating Emma with all of her friends.

6 Things I Love about Emma on her 6th Birthday:

1) She loves her Daddy more than anything in this world...and he loves her.

2) She is brave.  She might be shy at times, but there is little she is afraid of.

3) She loves school and her teachers

4) She loves her friends

5) She loves to laugh

6) She makes us smile every single day

Disney!!

" Surprise! We're going to Disney World!!"

 Emma's favorite princess..Ariel.

Yep- we went to Disney World for Christmas!  It was amazing.  We packed so much fun into 5 days!  I can hardly put into words how much fun we had.  Just watching our kids sweet faces light up throughout the trip was priceless and we created memories we all will cherish.

My two favorite quotes for the week were:
"This is the best Christmas ever!" -said multiple times by both kids
"All of our dreams are coming true!"-Liam

What a blessing to get to do this as a family.  Thankful for grandparents who helped make it happen.
Hope your Christmas was as blessed as ours'.  And that you took some time to remember the reason we celebrate.