First Braves Game

We took Joshua and Anna Bell to their very first Atlanta Braves game on Monday night. Some friends gave us 4 great tickets and we thought it was worth a try. And they LOVED it!!!! They loved stopping at Quick Trip for hot dogs and gigantic drinks on the way there, they loved playing in the kid zone area, they loved getting to pick out yummy snacks while there (cotton candy and birthday cake ice cream...talk about a sugar rush!)....the only part of the experience that they weren't too crazy about was actually watching the game! HA! Oh well, I guess that was to be expected...I mean, let's be honest, I go for the snacks and people watching:) All in all, it was a really fun experience. It made Fred and I realize that our kiddos are growing up really fast. We expected such an outing to be somewhat chaotic and stressful, but it was pretty relaxing. Thankfully, our friends Robby and Cort watched Caleb...otherwise I'm quite confident it would have been a little crazy.

sweet little zemma leigh

At the end of May, my family welcomed a precious new addition to our family. My niece, Zemma Leigh finally came home. We have been fervently praying and anticipating her arrival for what seems like forever. And her homecoming was sweet, beautiful, and something that I'll never forget...and will forever be grateful that I got to be a part of. It worked out that the kids and I were able to be in St. Louis when Luke, Laura and Zemma walked off of the airplane. It was so cool- we had a whole crowd of people there celebrating with Luke and Laura. I don't think that there was a dry eye in that terminal as we all stood around adoring this little girl. MiMi (Luke's mom) got to hold Zemma first (that was very gracious of you mom-- I know that it took everything in you to not scoop Zemma right up!:)) And then my mom held her, followed by us Aunts and then the Grandpas. She was so sweet and cuddly with all of us. (Except for when she popped Aunt Becca in the nose with a big smile on her face...and Luke quickly said "She's waking up!!!!") I got to spend a few days in Bolivar getting to know my little niece before I left the kids with mom and flew back to GA to go to our student camp. It was so fun-- Oh how I love that little girl!!!! And wow- adoption is such a beautiful and amazing thing. I've been reading a book by Russell D. Moore: Adopted For Life. It is a great read- one that has caused me to stop mid-sentence and just praise God for His adoptive redemption for me. Anyways- here is our Zemma- who has finally come home- who we all love so much- who is such a beautiful picture of what our loving Father does for those who confess Christ as Lord and Savior: He has placed us in a family and called us His own. AMEN!!!!!

Latest Craftiness

So...I don't know about anyone else- but I definitely go through stages of tackling projects. Here are some of my latest cheap creations:

Our house is around 25 years old- which is actually a pretty fun age for a house- because while things aren't in terrible shape, you really don't have that much to loose in taking risks on refinishing things. I decided to paint our master bath cabinets a couple of weekends ago- I went with blue because everything else in the room seemed kind of boring. It was a really easy and affordable project: around $10 for the paint and I found a package of knobs on clearance for under $8!!! Not bad for a completely new-looking vanity!

This is my first completely pattern-free sewing project. I made a patch-work skirt for both Maddie Grace and Zemma from this amazingly cute fabric that I found at a local fabric store. I actually bought what's called a charm pack of fabric- that's typically used for quilting. I had all of these coordinating fabrics in 6" by 6" squares. I like how it turned out, but it was a little too time consuming to make many more of them!

There's nothing that special about this next project...except for the cost. I found these frames for $1.50 at Michael's and used scrapbook paper and spray paint to make a pretty fun decoration that pulled some brighter colors into our living room. I like how they turned out. I'm going to do a couple for the kids' rooms as well.

I went through a fairly long stage where any furniture I refinished was done in black...and now I'm kind of bored with it. I used the same spray paint as the frames and redid this end table that was in Fred's house growing up. I like how it turned out. I need to redrill holes for a new pull, but other than that, it's done and probably only took a total of 30 minutes to complete.