MSU Soccer Camp

Today was Owen's first day of soccer camp at Mississippi State. Wow! It was hot but he had a great time. I dropped him off and then had some alone time browsing in Stark-Vegas (Starkville) and then returned early to watch a little while. I was sweating just sitting in the shade watching him for an hour. He was out in the direct sun for 3 hours. I know he had to be hot! They were really good about keeping the kids hydrated. There were three pop up tents where they had the gatorade and water, so they were provided shade also. He got a MSU soccer ball and a MSU soccer shirt. He had a great time and said he made some new friends too!

Roswell Spray Park

Lettie had a play date with one of her friends this afternoon. Owen and Ella and I set out to do something fun too. First we went to Chick-fil-A and had some lunch. Of course we did not leave with out ice cream and parfaits. Then we headed out to the Roswell Spray Park. We had heard about it and had been meaning to go but just had not made it yet. Today was a perfect day for it. You can't beat the cost. Only $1 per person. WOW! It is an area with water shooting out of the ground in lots of different places. There are also large mushrooms with water pouring out of the tops. There are pipes that shoot water up into the air. Lots of stuff of that nature.

Ella loved it! It was just perfect for her age. She could have stayed there all day and been perfectly happy. Owen was not real impressed. However, as you can see in the pictures he enjoyed just layingin the shade. He was so sweet to be so patient with her and let her stay and play without complaining. It was a great way to cool off on a hot day.

Dance

I took the girls to get fitted for all of their dance needs today. Lettie is so glad that she will soon be dancing again. She has missed it soo much. Ella is also thrilled that she is finallly old enough to take ballet and a little bit of tap. She thought she was so big today getting tap shoes like her sissy. Lettie is excited too because she gets to take Jazz this year! Wow, my baby is growing up. How does that happen so fast?

Tubing in Helen

The kids and I met my cousin Karen and her family in Helen Georgia on Saturday. Jason could not join us because he has been a little under the weather. We missed him being with us! He is feeling much better now. We drove up on Saturday morning. I was so shocked to go north on 400 and see that this huge interstate-ish highway just turns into a small road with red lights & and the speed limit stays at 65mph. I thought that was crazy!
Anyway it was a beautiful drive up the mountain and the kids had lots of fun showing me all the different places that they had worked at Family On Mission Camp! This is the city where their camp was. They went with their Daddy a few weeks ago and had a BLAST! Helen is really a great little village. Reminded me alot of a small version of Gatlinburg,TN. We didn't do any window shopping. We went straight to the cabin that my cousin had rented. They were in Helen all weekend. We all put on our bathing suites and headed to the tubing company to tube down the Chattahoochee!
I was a little nervous about Ella at first because I just didn't know how deep or rough the water would be. Karen assured me that she would be fine. Her family had gone the day before and were now going again with me and my kids. All the kids were fitted with life jackets so that made me feel much better.
The water was COLD to say the least but strangely enough I got used to it. We were able to strap all of our tubes together and that made me feel alot safer. Owen was a huge help! He jumped out of his tube whenever needed and steered us around rocks or other obstacles. He loves stuff like that. Ella was not to sure about it at first but grew to really love it. She especially loved the more rapid dips around rocks etc. She is a real adventure seeker! Lettie is definitely my girly girl. She had a great time but was very diligent to make sure everyone was accounted for and staying together-she is going to be a great mother one day! She lost one of her favorite green crocs. That really upset her but hopefully we can find another pair to replace it.
Over all it was a really fun day. It rained for maybe 5 minutes while we were on the river and I thought it was going to be bad because the kids got really cold during the rain. However the sun came back out and warmed us right up. Hopefully we will go back soon with our Daddy. We are really looking forward to that!
Sorry that I do not have any pictures to post. I could not take my camera or it would have been drenched. I was so sad, because there were some really great "Kodak Moments"!

Things are good at the Barber House these days. We are enjoying some days at home this week and next. My good friend Jessica and her boys came up on Saturday and spent the night and went to church with us on Sunday. It was fun having them here. So glad to be closer to them.
I think we are finally done with everyone's dr. visits. Lettie had her spacer put in yesterday at the dentist. The day we left for Mississippi, the big kids had check-ups at a new Dr. office. We all loved him. He was so great with the kids. So refreshing that we did not wait an hour just to get to the exam room. That was quite the routine in Danville. So, we are very excited about the Pediatrician here in Roswell.
We are still praying daily that God will sell our house in Danville. We cannot feel totally at home her in Roswell until we are done with the house in Danville. Thank you for your prayers concerning the house.
Hard to believe it is already the middle of July. The kids start back to school @ FBC Woodstock next month. Ella is very excited about her dance class. Lettie will also be taking Ballet and Tap/Jazz. She is also taking a class called "Just For Girls." Sounds fun! They will be learning things just for little girls like manners, etc. Owen is taking a science class, P.E., and "Just For Boys." I am really thankful for the Timothy Ministry at FBC Woodstock. We love it!
Hope that you all enjoy what's left of summertime.

His Ways...

Funny how God has a way of putting things in perspective. Those things you think are important just seem not to matter anymore. God has some really uncomfortable ways of showing me this truth. There are so many things that in the scope of eternity are really unimportant, and seem down right silly when you look at them incomparison to the REAL important stuff. Thank you Lord for reminding me of this even though your ways of doing so are quite unattractive to me. Your ways are not my ways, I know this truth very well, and yet I will choose to give You praise.

Trip to Mississippi

The kids and I just returned from Mississippi. We had a great trip! My brother flew in from overseas and proposed to his girlfriend. Lots of excitement!

We had a party at my Uncle Chris and Aunt Mary's house. We all got to meet Laurie's family. It was decorated beautifully and the food was great. My kids are so excited that they are going to have an Aunt Laurie. They love her!

The next day was the 4th of July. Granny cooked her ever famous and delicious chicken and dumplings. Oh! so good! Then we all went to the Mississippi Braves baseball game. It was lots of fun and at the end of the game there were fireworks. The kids really loved it! It was close to midnight by the time we got back to Granny's house.

On Monday, we had lunch with some of my aunts and cousins and family friends. It was fun to see some of them that I haven't seen in about 4years. Some of them had never met Ella! The last time I saw them was at Nana's funeral. It was 4 years ago to the day, actually. July 3rd she has been gone 4 years and then her funeral was the 5th. Man, I sure do miss her! Wish she could have been here to be a part of all of the celebrations.

We headback to Mississippi one more time this summer for Owen to attend soccer camp at Mississippi State at th end of July.