VBS Monday

We averaged about 15 per class but in reality, there were 20 first graders who showed up today. We just invited a few more. The kids were pretty good. Some boys were moved up to 2nd grade so that made my day quieter than I expected. Thanks for all the prayers. I was not nervous like I was on Sunday. Casey, my youth helper, was awesome and did a lot of paperwork today so I could focus on teaching. Jamie's favorite part was rec - the polar ice plunge - Running back and forth with ice cube trays full of water. My favorite is always the music. More to come.

Caribous

Our class will be the caribous. Jamie sang all the songs to my mom and she liked the funny part about a caribou staring back at you. ha ha

VBS Kickoff

The VBS kickoff for Arctic Edge was a huge success. We had a great prayer walk around the classrooms and prayed for the teachers. Tons of kids signed up and had lots of fun playing a variety of icy games and eating ice cream. I spent a lot of time decorating but cannot compare to the awesome fellowship hall and sanctuary. Please continue to pray for me as I teach 1st graders this week. Found out tonight that I will have another adult teacher - one prayer answered!

Train

Three of Angie's kids came over today: Julia, Donnie and Brandon. They put the remote control train together that we normally pull out at Christmas. We had a crazy day and too much candy. They made window stickers and we watched the Incredibles.

ASAP

I saw this and had to share it. Have you ever wondered about the abbreviation A.S.A.P.? Generally we think of it in terms of even more hurry and stress in our lives. Maybe if we think of this abbreviation in a different manner, we will begin to find a new way to deal with those rough days along the way.
So when.......
There's work to do, deadlines to meet;
You've got no time to spare,
But as you hurry and scurry-
ASAP - ALWAYS SAY A PRAYER

In the midst of family chaos,
"Quality time" is rare.
Do your best; let God do the rest-
ASAP - ALWAYS SAY A PRAYER.

It may seem like your worries
Are more than you can bear.
Slow down and take a breather-
ASAP - ALWAYS SAY A PRAYER

God knows how stressful life is;
He wants to ease our cares,
And He'll respond to all your needs
A.S.A.P. - ALWAYS SAY A PRAYER.

VBS is coming

For those who pray, please remember our church volunteers as we study our VBS lessons for next week. And pray for all the children who come to be open to learning about God. We are doing the Arctic Edge theme this year - Where Adventure Meets Courage. I need courage to teach right now. Will be busy next week but hope to post a few pictures of the fun events. This is what we have been looking forward to all summer.

Explore Portsmouth

We walked downtown yesterday to continue working on our explore Portsmouth patch. It was a little rainy and humid but we did it. We started out at the Lightship Portsmouth on London. Jamie colored a lightship named Watkins Light to hang on the ship's wall. Then on to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Museum. We ended up at the Children's Museum. She still enjoys it. Shadow dancing is one of our favorites.

In June we rode the Carrie B for a 3-hour history tour. I have ridden the Carrie B on several occasions - my 10th birthday and my high school graduation dance party. Jamie danced on our trip all by herself.

Your vacation

A friend had questions on her blog and I thought I would try it.

What was your best vacation?

What was your worst vacation?

Where would you like to go on your next vacation (reality and/or dream)?

Berenstein Bears Worst Family Vacation

(Just a note: Even though I do not enjoy camping, Jamie was so excited to try it and wants to go back.) I had read this book about the bears to Jamie and we remembered it while driving back from our crazy camping trip. I said someday we will laugh at this. Little did I know how soon it would be . . . everyone I told about the train shaking the ground that I slept on every hour and made me feel like I was being run over laughed so hard they had to put their hand over their mouths. What is so funny about that? When I couldn't sleep tonight, I pictured myself as the helpless lady tied to the train tracks crying for help. (Imagine that the train goes over you and keeps coming back every hour.) Good grief. I felt like I had hit rock bottom but my sister reminded me that now will be my breakthrough (or in other words the only way now is up). I hope so! Both our churches talked about spiritual growth today. Time to refocus.
I read the first 5 chapters of Daniel to Jamie and we prayed together. It's a start.

The Worst Family Vacation

Yogi Bear not only took the picnic basket; he took our sleep.
Jellystone National Park in the mountains has great reviews.
We should have gone there instead of trying the one in Emporia in the middle of nowhere; don't believe the website. Thought it was closer but after all the driving back and forth to Richmond we could have gone on to the mountains. We would not recommend it to anyone in a tent. We were so hot and the fan we took gave little relief. The worse part was the train runs behind it every hour. Felt like we were on an airplane runway. RVs came and went all night right beside us. We got up at 3 am for a run to the comfort station and watched the lightning in the sky. Jamie went back to sleep in the tent at 4 am. I stayed in the van and slept off and on for about 3 hours sometimes watching the rain. They closed the pool for the day. Jamie slept until 9:30 and James woke her up and packed the van and we headed home. She was disappointed to miss the chocolate lovers' weekend but we had chocolate ice cream when we got home for snack and smores after dinner. They don't have anything on our chocolate memories! I'm so glad to be home again.

Dogs and Driving

Yesterday we loaded our 2 golden retrievers in the van and drove to see the cousins. They offered to watch them while we go camping (since we watched their dogs for a month). It was a long drive with too much dog hair. The kids now have 5 dogs to watch for the weekend who bark constantly. Nick, our boy dog/escape artist, figured out how to get out of the kennel within the first 30 minutes. Sigh. So chains and padlocks were doubled. Sha was babysitting and the poor kid had not had a nap by noon. He was rubbing his ears and eyes. So I ordered all dogs out of the room and within 5 minutes had rocked him to sleep.

On the way home, we stopped at the rest stop and Jamie stepped in bubble gum wearing flip flops and somehow it ended up wrapped all around her foot. Eww! (A long bath with lots of scrubbing took care of it last night.)

To top it off the air quit working in the van on the way home so James dropped it off at the auto mechanic's this morning to get the fluids checked. All our camping stuff is at the front door . . . waiting to see if the van will make it or not. Hoping for cooler temps this weekend. Otherwise, I'm living in the pool the whole time! More details to follow . . .

Balloon art

Our friends Jessica and Jillian came over last night and we had fun watching them pump up balloons and create all kinds of shapes. They were so excited how easy it was to make twisty dogs and flowers. After the second one popped, Jamie hid in my room while they twisted them.

James' garden

James spent months working on his garden and now we are reaping some results. He has his own corn field in a corner of the yard. He ate his first ear of corn last week. He was so proud. He lost his corn field in Texas many years ago to a flood and now the Lord has blessed him with corn even in the VA humidity. Even Jamie's bean plant has done great; we have gotten over a dozen string beans from it. Monday night we had one squash for dinner. We each only get a few bites but it's fun to say it came from our garden. A friend had the bowl in front of him and didn't want to give it up.

Peach Orchard

Today we took a long drive to Knotts Island (past Pungo) and found Martin's Farm in NC.
Angie from Moms in touch had told me about it. Here is the website: http://knottsislandonline.com/farms/martins/martinsfarm.htm
Jamie wants to go again. There is always something different to pick - today was peaches. James couldn't resist and tried one. They should be ripe in a day or two. We saw apple trees and grape vines for another day. Made a good memory.

Christmas in July

We celebrate Christmas in July. To get us started my mom Dee Dee sent us a letter filled with Santa pictures. We sent it on to cousin Lucas for fun. Grandma Jacky and Aunt Teresa sent us a box of goodies yesterday. Lots of fun - Black Beauty book and coloring books. Also a beautiful white shawl for Jamie to wear to church. Brought back good memories - my sisters and I all had white shawls when we were kids.

Last year in July we watched Polar Express. And we wrapped and filled boxes for Operation Christmas Child.

James has a weeklong vacation but 1/2 of it will be doing errands and the other 1/2 camping.
Jamie and James had dentist appts this morning. While waiting for her dad, she wiggled her tooth and asked if she could stay up for the tooth fairy to see if she was real. I waited to see what else she would say I wonder if it's the dentist people who come and collect the teeth. ha ha

Gymnastics

Jamie wanted to take gymnastics this summer. Every Saturday morning for the last 6 weeks from 9-10 she tumbled and jumped around Ocean Tumblers. She loves it.

Books

This summer I joined the adult reading program at the library. I won the first week's prize. Just a little journal to write about my favorite books with a few recipes scattered in it.
I discovered a Christian author named Lori Wick. I can't get enough of her books. I end up reading all night to finish. Last night I was up til 2 am. I'm tired now.
Jamie and I have been listening to books on CD and tape and she is filling up her reading cards fast. But she still doesn't want to read to me very often. So far her prizes have been a free ice cream and free pizza as well as stickers and pencils. At the end of the summer, they give out books.

7/11 Good News Bible Club continued

Twins - Julia (Angie's oldest girl) and Jamie had matching patterns on their bathing suits!
We had over 40 kids today. It was really hot.
My mom told us that for 7-11's 79th birthday they were giving out FREE slurpees if you wish them a Happy Birthday. So we did that right after bible club. YUM!!

7/11 Good News Bible Club

We had 36 kids our first day of the 5-day Good News Bible Club. The kids really enjoyed the water games. The brownies were gone in a flash. Julia and I passed out lemonade. Jamie invited Kaylee and Tommy to come.

7/7 Motivation

My high school friend Beth invited us over to scrapbook and swim on Saturday 7/8.
This motivated me to print out pictures for Jamie to make a summer adventure album.
Our next date to scrapbook is July 14th with our church group. Hopefully, we will get some pages done this month!! Yeah!
Update - It was a beautiful day so we swam a lot. Hope to scrapbook another day.

Movies and Music

We watch lots of movies in the summertime.
When we first moved into the house, we were given Mary Kate and Ashley adventures by the cousins. We were snowed in shortly afterwards and we had a movie marathon. We had lots of theme parties with Sami based on them - sleepover party, ice cream party, dress up party, etc. We made lots of good memories. We miss Sami now that she has moved to Idaho.
Last summer, the teacher recommended Read between the lions videos and we found them in the library along with the Magic School Bus with lots of fun science experiments. This year, my book club recommended the Magic Tree House adventures and we have listened to many books on cd while driving back and forth to Williamsburg and Richmond. And the cousins let us borrow their Shirley Temple and Elvis collections. I've watched one Elvis to her 10 Shirleys. She sings lots of the songs throughout the day. Last night we went to hear the VBS songs and we were given the words and a CD. We stayed up singing and dancing for an hour after church last night. Just what we needed!

7/4 July 4th

We wore our flag shirts. Ate red, white and blue foods off our flag plates. Made root beer floats.
Friends invited us over to swim and James even got to come for a little while during his break. He works a lot of overtime. Jamie ran thru the sprinkler with the dogs. It was a hot day! Jamie had decorated the house with blue crepe paper and balloons.

7/3 Girl Scout situpon

Jamie and I worked most of the afternoon on our situpons for Girl Scouts.
Measuring, cutting, sewing, stuffing, and more sewing. Making memories.

7/3

Sha and Michelle enjoyed looking thru the album given to celebrate Michelle's 21st birthday in June. Dee Dee had given each of us albums with highlights thru the years on our 21st birthdays. Passing it on! Everyone enjoyed gathering photos to surprise Michelle.

7/2 Water Country

It was a hot one at Water Country today. We went on the lazy river and the Hubba Hubba Highway again just like on June 21st Michelle's birthday. We enjoyed the divers and gymnasts - from the Olympic teams - USA and Russia - as well as other places.

Busch Gardens

David (from Austin, TX), Jamie, and Sha at Busch Gardens in front of the jukebox.

7/1/06

We are now officially bloggers :-)
This is James and Melanie at Busch Gardens in front of the jukebox after the show. We met here 8 years ago. Spent Sunday 6/25 showing Sha and David around the park for Sha's 20th birthday. Jamie is in "love" with David.