Hunting Easter Eggs at Grandma and Grandpa's House

After an inspiring Easter Sunday service at church, we headed to Middleton to celebrate Easter with Mitch's family. We ate a great lunch and then went outside to hide eggs so the grandkids could hunt them.

Kirsten, Wesley, and Alec are RARING to go!

Easter Portraits

Every Easter, I try to get the kids in their Easter finery and take their pictures. They don't even complain anymore, cause they know, it just won't work with me. I will take pictures!!

Nehemiah 5K

April 16 was a great day for a race. Alec wanted to run in Pontotoc in the Nehemiah 5K. This race was organized to raise money for a missions team. Many Spartans ran this race and it was fun to see them all run their hardest.

There was a pretty good turnout for this race. Alec time was 25:57 and we were very happy with his effort and finishing time.

Alec's Birthday Party

Alec's COOL birthday cake! On April 12, we celebrated Alec's birthday with a NERF party. WE had a great time and so did all the boys! About 25 boys showed up to do battle on our hillside. They all came armed with Nerf guns and bullets and were raring to go. Some of the boys had marked the time to the party, from about a month out.

Boys, boys everywhere!

We found bullets EVERYWHERE!

The moms hang out visiting while the boys were shooting each other.

All the boys gathered around Alec as he opened his presents.

Alec blows out his candles, so that we could dive into this delicious cake, lovingly made by Sherrie Thomas. She always turns a cake into a masterpiece.

Several girls came to run with Kirsten and visit while their brothers were having fun.

We even bought Camo face paint so they could feel like "real soldiers."

After hotdogs and chips, cake and ice cream, the boys headed back to the field for more shooting fun.

Alec loads up one of his new guns, while Parker looks on.

Andrew Jackson 5K, Half-Marathon, Full Marathon Weekend

On April 8, Kirsten and I traveled to Jackson, TN, so she could run in the Andrew Jackson 5K and so that we could watch some dear friends run their first full marathon. It was a great weekend for me, but all of the runners really struggled due to extremely hot temperatures -- actually they were called RECORD breaking temps. We missed the start of the full marathon but arrived to see several of our friends start the half marathon.

There were over 300 participants in this year's half marathon. Kirsten, Hannah, Sarah, and Julie stretch before the start of the 5K.

I don't know how many runners ran this race, but it was not a large race.

The runners head off down the beautiful Union University Campus.

Kirsten struggled a lot in this race. The temperature was almost 90 and she was not ready to run in this warm weather.

After the end of the 5K, we all watched the finishers of the half marathon, while waiting on the finishers of the full marathon.

The girls hold up a BIG banner cheering for Roan and Lynn.

These women are so impressive! It was a very difficult race to finish, they did not achieve their goal, but were still able to raise their arms and be excited about their accomplishment.

A Sermon in a Picture

My precious friends, Aaron and Susanna, sang their newborn son home to Heaven. This is the true picture of faith in God. The song they sang was called "How Sweet To Die."

"Farewell, vain world I'm going home, My Savior bids me come,

Sweet angels beckon from on high, Then, O how sweet to die.

I'm glad that I am born to die, From grief my soul shall fly

Sweet angels beckon from on high, Then, O how sweet to die.

I'll praise my Savior while I've breath, I'll praise Him after death,

I'll praise His matchless name on high, Then, O how sweet to die.

I soon shall pass this vale of death, When I shall lose my breath,

And then my happy soul shall fly, Then, O how sweet to die."

Their heartbreaking story began last Monday. Susanna delivered a very healthy baby boy named Jackson Emmett. About four hours later, he suddenly stopped breathing. Even today, they still have no medical explanation for what happened in his precious body. Six days he stayed at The Med in Memphis, while doctors did so experimental treatments on him and his tiny brain. But yesterday, they made the excruciating decision to remove the ventilator and sing him home to our merciful Heavenly Father. These two precious people, even in extreme grief, clung to His promises to never leave us or forsake us and praised God as He took their firstborn home to be with Him. The above picture should leave no on unaffected. The grief on their faces is so evident and yet they sang "How Sweet to Die." Jack's young, brief life affected me and thousands of others in ways that few sermons can do, and my life will forever be changed by the testimony of his family's faith in trial.

March Update

March has been filled with lots of activities, lots of working, lots of school, and lots of pretty weather (until today) - it is YUCKY out there! Alec finished all of his "official" school requirements on Thursday evening and Kirsten will be done with all of hers today. So that is ONE big accomplishment for us. We will take a week off and then start on some extra school things that will supplement our school year. One thing I want us to focus on is penmanship and writing. I am not a creative writer, but I hope that with a little encouragement that the children can learn to be better than I am.

Another thing that is keeping us busy is Cross-Country practice. We started meeting once a week this month and will continue until sometime in May. The kids are supposed to run at least three days a week and also have a cross-training day. They are enjoying it and I am staying active along with them. I am running two to three days a week, myself, and walking many of the other days.

Last Saturday, we drove to Pontotoc so the kids could run a race that they have run several times before. It is a challenging course, but one that they enjoy.

Alec, Brandon, Claire, and Kirsten act silly before the start of the race. The girls were trying to have their "game" faces on and the boys were just being goofy.

The race was a little smaller this year, but the kids were raring to go.

Preston stood on the fire truck while we were waiting for the kids to finish.

Brandon ran a flying fast race and finished in 22:47 and won 3rd place in the male 10-14 division. He just turned 10 and entered a new level of competition - a tougher one!

Alec ran a very good race and finished with a time of 26:56. He was disappointed that he didn't medal, but it was a very good time for him.

Kirsten sprinted up hill to finish with a time of 30:30 and was so excited -- she also placed 3rd in the 10-14 female division.

Claire was more focused on encouraging the other runners than running a fast race. Several people told her after the race that they were happy with the sweet way she encouraged them. She finished with a respectable time of 31:42 and was very happy with her time.

Alec won this camo hat as a door prize.

Kirsten is so happy with her medal.

Brandon is also happy with his medal.

That evening, our family drove to Tupelo to eat at Chili's to celebrate Alec's birthday and our anniversary. Both of these were on Sunday, but we decided to celebrate the night before.

18 YEARS!!! Hard to believe!

YUM!!

DOUBLE YUM!!

Alec was so excited about his birthday that he woke up at 4:15 and finally got me to crawl out of bed by 5:30. He said he couldn't wait any longer.

This LEGO set was what he requested and he couldn't wait to put it together.

On Sunday afternoon, we had a small gathering for cake and ice cream and 4-square. A girl from our church is 1 hour older than Alec and I invited her family over to play and eat cake. Alec also asked two other boys to come after church, so a small party turned into a bigger one. We had a great time and are looking forward to Alec's party in April. He has asked to have a NERF war party with a bunch of boys from cross-country. More pictures will come from that day, but maybe that catches everyone up on our family for now.

February Update

We have been pretty busy this month. We are trying to finish school in the month of March. At my job, two girls will be going on maternity leave very soon, so I have the possibility of working extra hours. The kids have really buckled down and are doing a good job at their schoolwork. We have been doing "double days" for a month now and can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I do not recommend this as a regular school day, however, it is only for this semester and we will be done. I do not plan to let them be idle until July. I am looking at writing and history books that will interest them and that they can accomplish something every day while I am working extra hours. We will be done with all of our "official" school work hopefully in the next two or three weeks.

We have been doing a little extra housecleaning as well -- spring cleaning!! The weather has been so pretty the last two weeks and we have opened the windows and turned up the stereo and cleaned, cleaned, cleaned. We had company this past weekend, so I did have a goal in mind while cleaning. Since we don't have company coming this week, I have let a few things go, but I hope to get them caught back up on Saturday.

Cross-country practice is getting ready to start back up and the kids and I have been trying to follow their schedule of running and workouts. I was trying to exercise every day, but have had a little trouble with my back and have not been as faithful as I had been before. All three of us want to run the Coca-Cola 10K race in Corinth on May 7 so we have a lot of miles to put in between now and then.