LIFE MORE ABUNDANT.

Belly pic

2012-02-07T15:05:00.000-05:00

Here is an official belly pic update. Here I am with baby unknown at 32 weeks and 6 days. Please ignore the folded laundry in the background, at least it is folded right!!!

This is me with Isaiah about 34 weeks i think. Looks pretty similar!

Mighty 8th Air Force Museum

2012-02-06T15:54:00.000-05:00

We took a trip after church yesterday to the Mighty 8th Air Force Museum for the free Museum weekend here. The kids really liked the airplanes!

Checking out a roly poly!

Daddy and Isaiah checking out the plane outside. Savannah said she was too scared (read intimidated by the size of the plane)

She then decided she did want to go, notice how far away from the plane she is (in the pink shirt to the left)

They had a beautiful chapel there and as Tom and Savannah walked down the aisle, he said this is like when you are going to get married, daddy walking you down the aisel. I was almost sick right there. Ohh how glad I am that that is 20+ years off!

Flowers in bloom!

This is what happens when isaiah doesn't nap for two days in a row, he just laid in the grass. He wasn't asleep, just relaxing!

I wasn't going to put this picture but I wanted to document that I was there as well. Let's just say my belly has gotten pretty big lately and I am getting LOTS and LOTS of comments from people about being ready to pop. Well since I still have at least 7 weeks to go we won't be doing any popping around here anytime soon! I will try to put a proper belly picture up soon, yikes!

It's a good day to.....

2012-02-01T22:17:00.000-05:00

Do some painting! Well these are from last week but we did some painting outside and here are some pictures.

Eat dinner outside! Please ignore how rough I look, not sure I showered or did my hair or put any makeup on that day!

Do some baking! Here the kids were helping me wash dishes, they were a HUGE help!!

They actually did a great job and everything was clean!

Go to the beach! We also went to the beach today and the weather was BEAUTIFUL! My good friend Emily sent me a text this morning asking if we wanted to go and we packed up and left. We spent 3+ hours there and had a blast. The kids even went to be at 7 tonight because they were so tired!

Let me tell you how much these two love each other! Now that they are sleeping in the same room they spend almost 24 hours a day and LOVE to be around each other. They wanted to hold hands and did so for quite a while, I love seeing their relationship grow and their bond strengthen. I am so thankful to the Lord for these two blessings and look forward to blessing #3 in 8 short weeks!!!

Our weekend update..

2012-01-30T14:35:00.000-05:00

Well unfortunately we don't have pictures as we were too busy enjoying the outside! It was beautiful here with sunny skies and 70 degrees. It has been a really mild winter so far (as in maybe 2 days where the high for the day was under 50). We are hoping it stays that way for Feb. as some plants are starting to bud and I would hate for them to freeze! We enjoyed a baseballl game (SCAD) on Saturday at the stadium up the street from us and we spent the entire afternoon outside Sunday after church. Tom got to play soccer and the kids just ran and played. I am so thankful our entire family loves to be outside! Well that's it. Sorry for the short pictureless update but hopefully we will take some this week and have a better update soon!

A weekend away.....

2012-01-18T16:13:00.001-05:00

Well ok not really we just had a great staycation weekend here for Martin Luther King Jr. weekend! We stayed in on Saturday as it was chilly and we got some great family time playing, enjoying some good books and just lovin' on each other. Monday was Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday and we spent the day together since Tom had the day off.

We went to the MLK parade which we all enjoyed!

Our own little band started up following the parade. Everyone wanted to play and instrument and march around the yard. It was adorable.

The Stephens family band having a parade!

Monday afternoon we went to Fort Pulaski for free National Parks weekend!

We toured the fort then went on the trail out to the lighthouse

Check out Savannah's face. She was afraid of being on top of the fort since there wasn't a wall on one side.

Daddy and the kids all the way out near the lighthouse.

Look at this beautiful view. What amazing things God has created!!!

A family picture!

Daddy playing with the camera while the kids played with oyster shells.

Savannah's great photography skills captured this one!

And this one

Savannah really like this cool tree and wanted us to take her picture on it.

Look at this boy's locks flowing in the wind as he runs. I thought this picture was hillarious!

Let me brag for a minute.... or two

2012-01-14T22:02:00.000-05:00

So Tom ALWAYS does awesome things for my birthday and I am truly blessed to be his wife. For my recent birthday he made this for me...

An awesome picnic table with benches. We love to be outside and now we can do it much more! It only took him a few nights of work after he came home from work! I was so surprised and he did a great job. I think we are going to paint it red!!

He also LOVES our kids more than I could have ever imagined a daddy can love his kids. He comes home each day for lunch just to see us and is ready to play and do whatever the kids are interested in when he comes in the door. He has taken on some of the daily responsiblities like bathing the kids as well since it is getting harder and harder for this mama to bend over and squat for long periods of time.

I love watching him play with Savannah and Isaiah!

I also love knowing that each day he is praying for our kids and seeking God's guidance and direction for their lives. He pleads on their behalf for their salvation and for their spirits to be true worshippers of the one and only God! So thankful for him! Oh and tonight Isaiah was coming down the stairs to outside and tripped. Daddy was there and caught him just in time before he fell face first down concrete steps. I know the Lord put him there at that moment to protect our son. Savannah told him he was like a "hero" and yes daddy you are our hero. You are a strong, smart, loving, compassionate, patient Jesus loving hero and I love you!!

Celebrate good times

2012-01-07T21:24:00.000-05:00

Well here it is a week into January and we haven't even blogged about the end of December..... Well let me catch you up. We have had a great time celebrating all that the end of one year brings while a new year starts.

Grammy Walker (Sue's mom) came down a few days after Christmas to see us and we had a great time! We rarely get pictures when others visit because we so busy showing off the kids and the city.... sorry mom! Fortunately Grammy stayed an extra day so we could go out on a much needed birthday date. We've rarely paid for babysitters as it isn't in our budget so when our free babysitters graduated and moved our dates ceased to exist- that was May! December 31st is Sue's birthday so we got to go out for her birthday and even made it home by 9! We enjoyed some great dinner, walked around Historic Savannah watching the revelers then had dessert at LuLu's Chocolate Bar which was awesome! They even brought me a chocolate covered strawberry since it was my birthday. When asked what was next on our New Year's Eve/Birthday celebration Sue said..."probably bed". So much for staying up until midnight.

Tom and the kids made signs for my birthday, so sweet, I loved them!

We spent the last week catching up on things around the house and jumping back into Cross Culture with a 2012 Kickoff Concert featuring a few of our friends who are local Christian rappers! It was great and we had a big crowd come out! It is amazing to see how God can transform someone's life and redeem it for his glory and to their great gain as well.

Nazarene and his sweet daughter performing together, it was awesome!

This guy's name is Okirike and he was awesome! He has an album coming out soon, check him out here.

This is Certified Truth (CT) a good friend who has a true heart for the gospel! We love him and his family. We had another friend named Nazarene perform but we couldn't get a video of him as our memory card space ran out! Check out Naz's myspace page here Nazarene.

Finally, we have also been spending lots of time outside just enjoying one another and the weather as the past few days have been around 70 degrees and beautiful. Tom came home from Cross Culture Thursday and said "I love winter in Savannah" We went to the park today and took some pictures of the kids (read: attempted). Grandma and Grandpa sent them matching shirts and we got some pictures of them in their shirts!

Now you know why I said attempted. Savannah wasn't upset she was just not excited to take pictures for so long (it was 10-15 minutes)

Of course our kids decided to have a race

Whoa belly!

I guess it's time for a belly picture then. Here we are at 28 1/2 weeks. All is well with baby and we are looking forward to the next 3 months preparing..... What a maginficent blessing!!!

A Georgia Christmas videos

2011-12-27T15:44:00.000-05:00

Here are some short videos from our Christmas weekend.

Savannah doing her Luke 2 with daddy

Gingerbread house

Opening their big box

Christmas lights display

A Georgia Christmas in pictures

2011-12-27T14:38:00.000-05:00

After traveling to Indiana in September and North Carolina and Pennsylvania in November we decided to stay put for Christmas this year. It is the first time we have done this and not traveled to see family. We definately missed everyone a lot but I think overall it was a great Stephens family Christmas. We tried to spend the weeks before Christmas preparing and enjoying time together. The week before Christmas we did something fun together every night as a family from going out for frozen yogurt to making cooking to pass out to our neighbors and eating cookies while looking at Christmas lights (we did this several nights)! Here are some pictures of our Christmas.

We hit up the park several days in the week before Christmas as it was around 70 and sunny. The kids even played in the fountain and had a blast!

They did a lot of running so all the pictures of them are mainly action shots.

Notice her shirt says let it snow. That didn't happen this year (or has it ever happened here!)

Off to the BIG Christmas light display in town. They have 5-6 songs that the lights are synchronized to, the kids loved it!

On Christmas Eve daddy was off and we decorated a gingerbread house. The kids love it!

They really wanted to eat all the candy but opted for sticking it to the house instead after much persuasion!

Isaiah was caught red handed a few times eating the icing.

Savannah showing off her piping skills.

The final product, it is beautiful!

On Christmas Eve night we went to church (which was awesome) and then came home and had country ham and biscuits. Great choice by my awesome husband! We then sent the kids to bed and decorated our house for a birthday. Our kids LOVE to decorate for people's birthdays (namely balloons and streamers). We had tons of balloons and streamers for Jesus' birthday.

Savannah woke up around 7:30 and came into the living room by herself and sat on the couch and just giggled. She was then excited to go get Isaiah and play with the balloons, it was awesome!

I put this picture in here because of Isaiah's shirt. I am not sure if you can tell but he somehow unbuttoned a few buttons of his shirt and didn't want us to do it back. He liked going bare chest. Too funny

We went upstairs to do our Jesse Tree for the final ornament. The kids have loved reading all the different Bible stories leading up to Jesus and learning about the history of God's people. Savannah has also done a great job of memorizing most of Luke 2 (check out the video in the next post)

We ate breakfast and then the kids opened some presents. They enjoyed checking out each precious gift and we are so thankful for our family we sent great toys, games and books for our kids to enjoy.

I asked isaiah to hold up this new shirt but he didn't do it. Grandma and Grandpa sent a shirt for all 3 kids with their picture and the words "We love Grandma and Grandpa", it was so sweet!

The kids also got an indoor basketball hoop from Grandma and Grandpa, they enjoyed the box and daddy has enjoyed playing basketball (ok so the kids have too but we all know it is hard for daddy's to resist basketball hoops in the house!!!)

On the 26th we headed out to Tybee for a meeting Tom had and then headed to the beach for a few minutes. We got there around 5 and it was pretty chilly with the wind.

Stay tuned for some videos of our Chirstmas. We are so blessed to be able to have the freedom to celebrate Jesus' birth, death and resurrection freely in this country. Thank you Lord for that priviledge and honor!

Who will you worship???

2011-12-19T15:33:00.001-05:00

As we prepare for Christmas just consider who or what you worship. Look at your family budget (where is your money spent?). Look at your time plan for the week (where is your time spent?) What have you been thinking about today? As you read the Christmas story in Luke 2 (if you haven't read it yet this year I suggest going ahead and reading it) what was the angels response? What did the shepherds do with haste? They worshipped Jesus this child born so that death shall no longer have a hold on us. What then shall our response be. We should worship. As our pastor stated yesterday, God CHOSE to allow his ONLY Son to be born for the express purpose of being CRUSHED for the sins of people who could care less. We are sinful broken people and our goal of being a good person to try to bridge the gap with the Father is no more than filthy rags in His eyes. He is perfect and Holy and we are not. God's love for us compelled Him to bridge that gap on His own. He sent Jesus as a baby to be born so that he might die. (He is the only person in history whose sole purpose was to die. God created us with the purpose of creating life.) If we believe this, place our faith in God for the forgiveness of our sins and ask God to be the Lord of our lives our eternity is sealed in Heaven. So what is your response? It should be to worship the Almighty, Holy, Perfect, Loving God who loved you first. Don't get lost in the Christmas rush to remember our first love.....

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree..

2011-12-08T15:37:00.001-05:00

We officially put up the Stephens family Christmas tree and the kids were soooo excited. We put our little artificial tree upstairs as our "Jesse tree". The kids have enjoyed sitting by it each night, reading the verses corresponding to the day and thinking about how the ENTIRE Bible points to a Savior. We are really enjoying our family time this Christmas. We made Christmas cookies last night and then drove around looking at Christmas lights. We plan on doing this quite a bit before Christmas since Isaiah just says "Ohhhohhh" over and over at each light we see. It is adorable.

We also went downtown to the lighted Christmas parade. This is how Isaiah started the parade...

After a few cars and trucks came by with lights all over them he turned into this...

By the end he was sitting in the stroller saying "more, ohhhh"

Here are a few pictures from our cookie making excitement.

Savannah rolling out the dough (side note, look at that belly growing, wow!)

Isaiah kept picking up little pieces of dough and saying oohhhh to hand to us as if they were cookies, it was sweet!

The first batch all decorated

Daddy getting in on the action

He LOVED shaking sprinkles alllll over the cookies and cookie sheet

Savannah on the other hand was more precise and detailed. I love the concentration on her face!

We will be sure to keep you up to date on Christmas season excitement soon!

Thanksgiving across 6 states.....

2011-12-03T15:33:00.001-05:00

Well, we are home and finally back to a regular schedule. We have been traveling quite a bit the last few weeks and topped it off with a whirl wind trip for Thanksgiving. We stopped in NC to visit with my family for Thanksgiving day then headed out to Indiana, PA to see Tom's extended family. We haven't been back there since Savannah was about 8 months old so it was great to see family again. We spent a lot of time in the car but it was worth it to have some precious time with lots of great Stephens/Rising family members! We even got our first real Christmas tree from Grandpa's tree farm in Pennsylvania. We loaded it on the car, drove it home and put it up. We love it and it is an awesome family memory for the kids! Just FYI, I took only a few of the pictures below, Andrea Stephens was a photographer for the weekend, thanks Andrea!!!

Here are some pictures from our long weekend....

Thanksgiving dinner, it was delicious!

This is what happens when you put a child in his car seat for too long. He took his arm out of the shirt and thought it was quite funny!

"Working" at their desk

Once we got to PA we headed down to Grandpa's tree farm to pick out our first ever real Christmas tree. We all rode down the hill in Grandpa's truck as we didn't want too many vehicles to scare the deer (or for our van to get stuck!)

Daddy helping to scout out the deer...

And we found it...

Grandpa cutting down the tree.

Savannah liked the tree that was just her size!

Umm, is that going to fit Grandpa???

Savannah with Isaiah and Joshua, what a great picture this turned out to be!

We had the priviledge of staying with Tom's Aunt Carol and Uncle Larry! We had such a great time at their house and they were fabulous hosts!!!

Joshua looking cute as always...

Larry playing with all the kids

Grandpa reading to Savannah, Isaiah and Ben

Savannah was really excited to meet all the cows out at Pap Pap and Uncle John's farm. Turns out they are pretty intimidating up close.....

Isaiah was not a fan

Just enjoying the farm, the weather was pretty good, we are thankful for that!

Pap Pap, I must admit I didn't take any of these pictures, they are all taken by Andrea and she did a great job getting a great smile from Pap Pap

The Stephens family with Pap Pap at the Rising family Thanksgiving shindig!

Pap Pap with all his grandchildren, grandchildren in law and great grand children (minus Tina & Dave and Steve)

We tend to take over a place when we show up!

The grandchildren with Grandma and Grandpa

The Stephens men

We had a great time visiting family and look forward to seeing everyone again soon!

ATL on the cheap

2011-11-23T00:20:00.002-05:00

Thanks to some really great friends (thanks Durkin fam) we were able to have a great 3 day family vacation. We had a complimentary two night stay at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Atlanta, four passes to the World of Coca-Cola, and four passes to Zoo Atlanta (not to mention a trusty restaurant.com gift certificate for Baja Fresh while in Atlanta). So for the price of gas and three dinners out we had a fantastic pre-holidays vacation.

The "Red Room" with thousands of original Coke signs

Watching the bottle works in action

The World of Coke of course has memorabilia from around the world like this truck

and this commerative Keady Court bottle from Purdue (and the whole German national team on cans)

The coolest part was "Taste It". The unending supply of product samples from continents around the world. Latin America was muy delicioso, especially the sour apple flavors.

Africa was, as they say in Zimbabwe, blah. Everything seemed a little bitter tasting.

Asia had a few really odd tastes sponsored by anime looking characters.

I think everyone enjoyed the taste testing. Savannah and Isaiah really loved the fruity flavors. Not so much the few colas they tried.

Another big hit were the 3D glasses. Unfortunately the 4D movie experience was a bit overwhelming.

After the World of Coke we played in Centennial Olympic Park for a while before heading to dinner.

For the kids, the highlight of every family trip we take always is the hotel. They love sleeping in their own beds and waking up to morning cartoons together. Of course the like snuggling before bed together too.

On Saturday we got out early and headed for the Zoo in Grant Park, which both the park and the neighborhood by the same name are worth a visit on their own. The zoo is not overly large for what might be expected of a city Atlanta's size. However, the November crowd was no problem at all and we spent a good 4-5 hours at the zoo at a casual pace including lunch.

Zoo Atlanta is widely known as one of the few U.S. homes of Giant Pandas. Hence the Chinese doorway.

Isaiah's favorite was the giraffes (and Lily the baby)

Savannah really liked the meerkats. So much so that we joined their family.

The parakeet house was really cool and a must see. It was a fairly small space with up close and personal contact with the birds. Especially when they all started flying and swooping through the house past our heads.

The tigers received lots of attention. Everyone enjoyed the family cuddle and watching the cubs wrestle together (kind of like a couple kids we know).

Savannah also enjoyed petting and brushing the goats and sheep and did a great job.

After the zoo we drove through Grant Park and headed north towards Piedmont Park in midtown Atlanta. This gave enough time for nap time in the car and a fueled a second wind once we got to the park. We of course found a playground and since the weather was so great we spent the rest of the afternoon there.

Savannah was trying to smile until the Muscovy duck started walking down the pier towards her (she's seen some aggressive geese at our local parks). With no where to run Daddy set a pick so she and Mommy could get back to solid ground.

Sunday morning we woke up to breakfast in our room before heading a short distance to worship at Blueprint Church. While working through Psalm 73 I love that the pastor stated, "All of our emotions are theological statements". It certainly was true of Asaph who wrote of his envy and bitterness. At first his envy seems directed towards the ungodly, but in fact it was revealed that his bitter attitude was towards God. In the end he remembers that God is faithful to his people and there is nothing on earth that we should desire above God. Now that is something worth remembering this week.

All in all we had a great trip and cannot thank the Durkins enough for letting us get out of town for the weekend. Happy Thanksgiving!

Here comes the flower girl......

2011-11-14T16:05:00.000-05:00

Maybe I should have titled this post "Here ALMOST comes the flower girl..." Savannah was the flower girl in some good friend's wedding this past weekend and at the last second she decided she didn't want to walk down the aisle and drop flowers. Well, let me back up and say that at the rehearsal Friday night she didn't want to do it and said she would do it if everyone wasn't looking at her. After lots of convincing and bribing (daddy was a groomsman and had doughnut holes at the front of the church waiting for her if she came down the aisle) she decided she couldn't do it. The bride even asked her if she wanted to walk down the aisle with her and Savannah said no. Let's just say I am really happy we borrowed her dress and didn't buy it!

At the rehearsal

Miles (the ring bearer) and Isaiah, they are good friends

Savannah as we left for the church

Savannah and Madeleine (the bride) at the rehearsal dinner

Madeleine's mom braided Savannah's hair. It was so cute.

Savannah and the bride

Daddy looked handsome in his suit and bowtie

At this point I really thought she was going to do it. She even looked at me and asked if it was time for her to go. She then broke out into tears and hid behind my leg.

Mr. and Mrs. Jimmy Adkins!!!!

Savannah loves to be around the bride. We have been to several weddings in the past few months and all the brides have been very patient with Savannah and not minded her being around them. Here she was a little bit in the way as you can see!

Isaiah was in desperate need of a nap. Of course all he needs is daddy and he is out like a light!

Savannah was very excited about the bubbles! She had a great time at the reception and overall I think she was excited to be a flowergirl so she could wear the pretty white dress and dance her shoes off at the reception...

It's a ........

2011-11-11T15:11:00.000-05:00

Baby! That's right for those of you who don't know yet we are expecting again! We are so happy and excited for this new addition to our family. We decided to opt out of finding out the sex of the baby so for now we are having a SURPRISE! We had our 20 week ultrasound and everything looks great, which is amazing! We are so thankful for the health of another beautiful child that the Lord has blessed us with. We are not worthy of these blessings, but we are sooo thankful for them! All Glory be to our Father in Heaven!

For most of the ultrasoun today, the baby sat with his/her hands and feet over his/her head. It was really sweet to see! We are due at the end of March and can't wait!!!

The Race

2011-11-07T16:23:00.000-05:00

We had a fun weekend celebrating running accomplishments around here. Tom ran in the inagural Savannah Rock and Roll Marathon/Half Marathon (he did the half this year). It was a great race with over 23,000 runners. Our really good friend Erica from Minneapolis also flew down and ran in the half marathon as well. Tom and I first met Erica when we were on Summer project in Louisville, KY back in the summer of 2002. Tom and I of course got married and Erica and I have kept in close touch ever since! We love Erica dearly and were very excited she was going to come down here.

Tom did really well and finished with a time of 1:39:54. His PR was 1:39:03 from back in 2003I think he wanted to beat that time but felt really good and was happy with his results. Last year he ran with me and we ran a 2:01ish. Let's just say I slowed him down last year! Our friend Erica finished this year with a 2:01 (faster than she was expecting) and she did awesome! The kids and I walked down about 3/4ths of a mile to the course to see them and we got to see daddy twice at around mile 10 and mile 12.

The kids came home wanting to play race. Savannah found some paper, wrote the number 106 on it and got some tape out to fasten it to her shirt. She wanted to run a half marathon in our front yard and of course daddy was up for another race! Isaiah even got in on the action, well kinda....

Running the final (and only) lap around the driveway.

The winner with her metal.

First place (Savannah) and Second place (daddy)

This paper is what Isaiah wanted taped to his shirt for his number. It was Savannah's pumpkin coloring sheet from a few weeks ago, he is so funny!

On your mark, get set, go...... (or just Mark, Set, Go as Isaiah says)

We had a great weekend with our good friend Erica and I am sad I didn't get more pictures! Congratulations on a great race Tom, Erica, Savannah and Isaiah.

Our home is the best place

2011-11-02T02:22:00.001-04:00

We are back from a wonderful but long weekend trip to Tallahassee, Florida. Sue's grandmother Nana lives in Florida now and we wanted to get down there and see her. We also were fortunate to stay with Jayne (aka Great Jayne) and Jon Ingram. We left after work on Friday evening for the long drive. We took our friend Terry from church with us so Sue sat in the back of the van with the kids. Terry was riding with us because he loves Florida State and dreams of playing college football in a couple years. Since the men were going to the Florida State v. NC State football game on Saturday Terry came along. We're glad he did.

The drive took the expected five hours and by 10:00 at night we were all tired. That is until Savannah and Isaiah found all the new toys to play with at Great Jayne's house. After their second wind we finally got to bed and were ready for a busy weekend in Tallahassee.

Pregame festivities at Doak Campbell Stadium

No FSU fans in our house but Chief Osceola and his horse (Renegade?) are pretty cool

Terry and Jon enjoying the game.

For some reason I was the only one in the alumni section wearing NC State gear

Terry in front of a statue of some old guy who used to be a coach I think

Halloween costume? Nope, just playing dress up in the toy closet

Savannah loved having Great Aunt Jayne read to here.

During the game Saturday the kids and ladies spent the afternoon with Nana. They went to Chick-fil-a were there was much excitement (a fire truck open for tours) and much anxiety (a giant cow mascot). But everyone had a great time on Saturday. Sunday we went to church with Jayne and Jon at Thomasville Road Baptist Church in town before seeing Nana again in the afternoon. Then it was time for the long drive back to Savannah again (which seemed very long by the time we got home due to missed naps).

Before we left Sunday Great Jayne was able to take some nice family pictures for us which you can see below. By the time we finally got back to Savannah, dropped Terry off at his house and then made it to our house we were all very tired and ready for bed. As I tucked Savannah in we talked about how great of a weekend it was and how fun it was to travel and see everybody. Savannah agreed and told me about her favorite parts of the weekend (the Narnia toy closet and Nana's little friend). Then as we said goodnight she added, "Daddy, our home is the best place." I couldn't have agreed more. It was nice to be back home in bed.

Oh the pumpkin....

2011-10-26T22:13:00.001-04:00

Well we bought a few pumpkins a while ago ($2.50 each at Home Depot) just to help us feel like it was fall. We have been talking about the letter P this week and the difference between pumpkins and jack-o-lanterns. We don't really celebrate Halloween (I don't see the point of it and I want to be sure to encourage our kids with celebrating things that honor God and have a solid Gospel meaning). We do love carving pumpkins though and carved one into a jack-o-lantern with Savannah to enjoy some family time and do something fun. We only carved Savannah's pumpkin as Isaiah said he preferred to have his left plain. We had fun cleaning out the insides and picking out a pattern. Savannah chose a cat. A great time was had by all....

Isaiah was very proud of himself and his pumpkin.

Here is the finished product. Now I must say we had some drama getting to this point. Apparently Tom and I are not that observant because our pumpkins have been sitting on our porch for a few weeks. We went outside to get the pumpkins only to discover they were gone. We think they have been gone for a few days and we just didn't notice. Savannah was so upset that someone would steal our pumpkins. She hypothesized that whoever stole the pumpkins also stole their bubble guns off the porch. Mommy proceeded to head to Home Depot for some more $2.50 pumpkins only to discover they were out. I ended up at Kroger getting $5 pumpkins and some pumpkin ice cream. When daddy finished Savannah's pumpkin it took some convincing to get her to put the pumpkin out on the front porch. She wanted to make sure people knew it was her pumpkin so she had daddy put her name on it. She then turned the name to the street hoping that people would see it was her pumpkin and not take it. Goodness knows what will happen if these pumpkins end up gone. Let's just hope that doesn't happen...

Oh the joys of living in the inner city!!!

Sin like a stomach bug.....

2011-10-17T21:54:00.000-04:00

So things have been pretty quiet around here as we have taken the last week or so to recover from the stomach bug (no pictures involved). I started not feeling well Saturday morning and then was okay on Sunday and better by Monday. Tom came home from work Monday and said he didn't feel well. He then proceeded to be sick ALLL night long and we ended up going to the ER around 2am to get him some fluids and medicine. He was extrememly dehydrated and he wasn't able to hydrate himself on his own at all. Our first ever ER trip together!

As I sat on the couch praying for him most of the night I realized that his stomah bug is like sin. Let me explain.

At first most of us don't see (or choose not to see) the sin in our lives because it seems so small. We couldn't see the stomach virus that made us sick and had no idea what was coming. Then it happens and it hits us hard. Sin leads to separation from God. The result of that is BAD and I mean BAD. We start to become hardened to our sin and start to think we can do this life on our own. It's possible to be alive without God but its impossible to really live without him. We lose fellowship with our Creator, the one who knit us together in our mother's wombs (Psalm 139).
That small virus we couldn't even see and that small sin we allow to creep in all lead to big problems. What should our natural response be? Should we allow it to continue and grow into a life destroying issue or should we desire it gone and do whatever it takes to get rid of it. Believe me if you have had a bad stomach bug you know all your body wants to do is get rid of the problem. It takes whatever means necessary to accomplish that. Is that our response to God? Do we pray, seek His grace and wisdom and ask for forgiveness? Do we get rid of the things in our lives that lead us back into the sin? Do we repent and turn from our sinful ways? Do we dive into His Word to know His heart and desires for us? We should. If you are a believer in Christ your first priority in life is to worship the God who created you and seek His glory. After all that is all we will do for eternity.... worshiping and marveling at God's glory (Revelation 4-5). God is Holy and perfect and He cannot exist where sin is. That means our relationship and fellowship with Him is broken.

What did I do once I saw my husband so sick and in pain? I sought help. I took him to the hospital and got immediate help. They gave him fluid (water) and medicine (help for his body). Jesus tells us that he is the living water. He says that His word is life and breath for our body. We are so used to having a tangible fix to our problems. We want to go to a spiritual ER and get a quick fix so we can come back home and get back to "normal". Well if normal means back to ignoring sin, ignoring God, and living life as we chose we need a new normal. God wants us to take a turn on the way home. He wants us to turn off of our normal path and find the path to life. God hates sin so much that he decided the only fix was to send Jesus to take all our sin on Him and conquer it FOREVER. If we truly believe this and believe that Jesus is the One who came to redeem us from our penalty of sin and free us into eternal life than our new path home is set for us. We can just take the Jesus path and find life. Does this mean we won't sin again, absolutely not, but it means we will know when sin is in our life. It means that our sin is washed as white as snow and God will forgive us and say it is no more. Without Jesus there to cleanse us we are still filthy, covered in sin. Jesus gives life. Jesus cleanses our sins. Jesus redeemed us.

Did Tom get better from the ER? Yes. Has he been able to eat regularly and run this week? Not too well. There is lingering consequences of the stomach bug and our sin, but at least we know we are forgiven. Oh and God is really good and answered my main prayer while Tom was sick. I prayed that Tom would take all the sickness of our family on himself and that our kids would be protected. Well, Tom was crazy sick and neither kid got sick. It might sound like a crazy prayer and you might think my husband would be upset with me. He wasn't. He has a heart of a servant and said whatever the Lord's will is, let it be. It turns out that Jesus prayed the very same thing in the Garden, 'Lord if possible take this cup from me, but not my will, yours be done'. Jesus didn't want the penalty of sin just like Tom didn't want to be sick. But Jesus knew it was the only way to get God's people back in right relationship. He submitted to the Father and willingly went to the cross. He took all the sins of God's children and washed them white as snow.

Want to find out for yourself..... just pick up the Bible, start with John. It's that easy.

Enjoying our fall

2011-10-10T14:47:00.001-04:00

We spent most of last week at the park enjoying the weather. We picked up some leaves at Forsyth Park one day to do school projects with the rest of the week. It was actually pretty chilly when we got there but pretty warm when we left. Just wanted to share some pictures of the kids.

It is a true joy for me to be able to spend every day with these precious little ones. The hardest of days are still more than worth it when you see these sweet smiles, take the time to cuddle and read with them and just plain listen and play with them. I pray the Lord is using me to help disciple their souls and point their hearts to Him. Enjoy the beginning of your week!

Hilton Head for the day

2011-10-09T09:21:00.000-04:00

We ventured over to Hilton Head on Thursday to enjoy the children's museum with some friends. Emily had some groupons that were going to expire and graciously allowed us to use them for free admission! The kids had a great time and enjoyed doing some new things.

My friend Emily and her sweet son Mcree!

Gressett, Emily, Mcree and Savannah

Savannah as the co-pilot and Gressett as the pilot, they love playing together!

Savannah was really excited about a chef's hat to wear!

After we left the Children's Museum, we headed over to visit our friend Jessie who works at a Barber Shop. That's right we got the kids hair cut! Isaiah was super tired and sat in my lap with a pacifer and his blanket the whole time. Savannah loves having Mimi cut her hair and she did great! I didn't get any pictures of Isaiah getting his hair cut as I was holding him but here are a few after shots.....

We just trimmed Savannah's hair (it has been 15 months since her last haircut) but still left it pretty long.

Just to compare the picture below was his hair the other day. We still left it long but trimmed it up pretty good!

Overall, we had a great day at Hilton Head!

A little camping in October

2011-10-02T22:10:00.000-04:00

It's October, you know what that means...... all things Fall! Pumpkins, apples, crisp cool weather, camping and other outdoor fun! Well, here in Georgia we get a few of those things, namely pumpkins and apples. Our weather finally broke this weekend (read left the 90's) and we had 80's and even a little bit of 70's!! Crazy I know. Tom and Savannah decided to take advantage of this by doing some camping (in our backyard). They worked Saturday morning to set up the tent and then Saturday night Savannah and Tom spent the whole night camping in our backyard. Savannah loved it and loved sleeping in a sleeping bag. She was very afraid of bears at first but after a little assurance from daddy that they don't have bears in the city she was fine. Isaiah and mommy decided to enjoy our beds inside.

After setting up the tent we just played outside (again not something we have done in a while due to heat and mosquitos). We don't have much of a yard but once you get out a ball you have a fan in Isaiah!

The funny thing about these pictures is that Isaiah highly dislike not having clothes on (unless it is naked runner time right before bath). He spilled some water on his shirt and said his shirt was "icky" and he needed a new one. He then proceeded to get distracted and played without a shirt on for a while. It was cute!

Look at those flowing locks ( yes we still haven't cut his hair, we have talked about it for 6 months but I just love it!)

A little story time in the tent, it was great!

The final set up! I didn't get any pictures of the campers last night but they were snug! One perk of camping in the city is how close you are to your neighbors. Tom said at 1:30am he heard the tv of the guy behind us and heard the Ball St. score. 62-6, ouch! Let's just say fun was had by all but everyone is tired tonight and went to bed early! Our weather should be awesome this week so it looks like fall might just have arrived! Thank you God for gorgeous weather!

Dance, Dance, Dance

2011-09-24T22:34:00.001-04:00

Friends from church got married out at beautiful Isle of Hope Saturday night. We all got gussied up and were excited to celebrate God bringing Ben and Abby together. Savannah was especially excited to see Abby's dress and the flowergirl (although there wasn't one). It was a really warm and humid day but the evening reception on the dock at the Isle of Hope Marina was very nice. Ben and Abby both graduated from Savannah College of Art and Design and all the college friends had a blast dancing. As you will see, Isaiah found his own spot on the dock to dance. No, he did not have any wine, he was just a two year old feeling the music, the island vibe, and the sleepy eyes.

Beautiful Bluff Drive in Isle of Hope

Enjoying the reception and Louisiana fare from Second Line restaurant

Isaiah was checking out the water and boats

And Isaiah breaking it down (and falling down)

Yearly check ups

2011-09-23T15:10:00.000-04:00

I have to first apologize for no picture, we just haven't had the camera out lately. I promise that will change! We did take the kids (I should say I) to their 2 and 4 year check ups this week and they are doing great! Savannah was 45 1/2 inches tall and 46 pounds. Isaiah was 35 inches tall and 28 pounds. Isaiah is right on track in the 50th-75 percentile for everything while Savannah at 4 years and 2 months is in the 50th percentile for height and weight for a 6-7 year old. Hillarious really. She is so thin and perfect we forget how big she is compared to other kids her age. They both did have to get shots which let me tell you I won't be going alone anymore. Savannah screamed, kicked and cried for a while, then had a small potty accident because she was so upset. She was a terrible mess. Isaiah just stood next to me while she screamed with his hands over his ears crying because she was so loud. She only had to get 2 since she isn't in school but she really needed 4.... yikes. We survived though and have been able to recover this week. We have been spending our time, enjoying our fall weather (85-92ish) and just getting into our school routines. I hope everyone is having a great first day of fall and go eat something pumpkin!!

Cuz Fest 2011

2011-09-14T14:37:00.001-04:00

Here are some long overdue pictures from our trip to Indiana... we stopped in Knoxville to spend the night the first night and hung out a bit with Tom's friend Andy N. from college and his wife Abby. Of course we forgot to take a picture. We stopped in downtown Louisville for lunch Saturday. We then headed to Indianapolis and met Tom's former roommates for dinner at the good old Cracker Barrell. It is the first time Tom, Billy, Matt and Joe have gotten together since they graduated in 2004. Of course we didn't get a picture.........

Savannah and Isaiah on our picnic table. This is the table we sat on when we were on project in Louisville back in 2002 when Tom first told me he was interested in pursuing a relationship with me.....

Well 9 years, a few babies and several moves later here we are!

We miss Louisville a lot...

Then we headed to Tom's parent's for Cousin Fest 2011. Both of Tom's brothers and their families came to his parents house for the long Labor Day weekend and we had a great time seeing everyone. We haven't seen Dave and Jackie and their son Ben in a year. Yikes! Grandma and Grandpa had a great time as well. I didn't take any pictures at all the whole weekend!........ Wait don't panic, Grandma, Andrea and Jackie made up for it with over 700 pictures. These are all their's I borrowed!

Jim, Joshua and Grandma

Grandpa showing everyone his deer antlers. One of my favorite questions from Savannah came the first night when she asked why Grandpa didn't like deer. She assumed that since grandpa shoots deer he must not like them. I let Granpa handle the response to those questions!

Joshua and Isaiah are about 6 months apart (Isaiah being older) and they got along really well. I see a great friendship in the future!

Enjoying the nice weather, it was nice to experience fall for a few days

The boys laughing and playing in their closets. We found out a few minutes later that apparently they decided that the closets were their poop spots as they had both gone in there to fill their diapers at the same time. Hillarious!

Grandpa, Savannah and Joshua

Joshua jamming on the drums at church.

Jackie, Ben and Dave

This was while we were praying for our cookout dinner, so cute!

Before we left for Indiana I asked Savannah if there was anything she wanted to eat special at grandma and grandpa's house. Her response was hotdogs and marshmellows. We had a cookout last year on Grandpa's new fire pit so I think this is now a yearly tradition!

The kids loved the tractor/train rides from Grandpa

We all headed to the zoo monday and had a great time. Savannah even fed the giraffe!

Our not so successful attempt at a group cousin shot. Savannah was trying so hard to get them to be happy. Maybe next year....

Not much better

The Stephens family Sept. 2011

Isaiah was so happy at Grandma and Granpas that he didn't nap much. This is the result. Asleep at the table as we all sat and ate around him. I thought it was so funny.

On the way back home we stopped in Asheville, NC and spent some time with Tom's cousin Tina and her husband Dave. I DID get a picture with them! Well, that's progress right!!!!!

We had a great trip and it has taken a few days to gather ourselves at home. We came home to a super busy Sunday for all of us at church and jumped right back into the week! It was lots of fun to travel but good to be home as well. I guess I should unpack now huh??

Just a few sweet pictures of our little girl

2011-08-25T16:35:00.001-04:00

We have been trying to settle into some routines here lately. We started doing homeschool (Pre-K) this week and we are all trying to get some order and structure to our lives. Savannah has been playing a lot lately and really learning and growing. Here are a few quick pics....

Daddy daughter date, they were so precious and had a great time together!

She wanted to get all dressed up for daddy and put a bow in her hair!

Just a few quick updates from us. We are glad Irene avoided GA this time but we are praying for the entire East Coast, yikes!

So long Lil' Civ

2011-08-18T07:21:00.001-04:00

There is a time for everything under the sun.

A time for the small sedan and a time for the family minivan.

A time for cruising a college campus and a time for carrying kids car seats.

A time for roadtrips to see your fiance and a time for roadtrips to show off the grandkids.

It is time for Sue's Civic, aka Lil' Civ, to go to another girl just getting started in college. After getting the minivan, cleaning out the Civic, and finally putting the car online for sale it took all of about 10 minutes for the first caller to ask about it. Five callers the first day asked to see it. The first inquirer looked at the car, drove the car, and thirty minutes later paid cash for the car.

Sue may have had a small tear in the corner of her eye. It was nice knowing ya Lil Civ as the Sue Walker and Stephens Family car.

2001-2011

Love-Hate Relationships

2011-08-14T15:51:00.002-04:00

Savannah and Isaiah have had an ongoing love-hate relationship with hats. The last couple week it has been all love. Isaiah has especially loved wearing hats anytime that Daddy has a hat. He really likes the Ball State hat and Ball State shirt, mostly because the shirt says "ball". Savannah has been loving her costume hats and her baseball hat (Sue's pink St. Louis hat).

We went to another Sand Gnats game this week and it wasn't even Dollar Monday. Saturday night was St. Joseph's/Candler school supply night though so we got free tickets for bringing school supplies. We had talked about going to the game Saturday morning when driving by the stadium. Isaiah was a little upset since we didn't go right then because he really wanted to see "Gnate Gnat". We had to tell him Gnate was still sleeping from the game on Friday night. Now when we go by the stadium he says "shhhhh....Gnate Gnat" to make sure we don't wake him up. Isaiah loves watching Gnate at the baseball games although we found out that too is a love-hate relationship. He loves the large bug from a safe distance but up close he gets pretty intimidated.

And when Gnate hugs him Isaiah gets down right terrified. Granted it does kind of look like Gnate the Gnat might be coming to eat Isaiah.

The Saturday night games start an hour earlier than Monday games so we were hoping to make it to the ninth inning for the first time. Unfortunately the rain delays did not allow that to happen. At least we still got to see the post-game fireworks from our front porch.

Savannah's Birthday (party)

2011-08-10T15:51:00.000-04:00

Savannah has had trouble this year with understanding the use of the words "birthday" and "birthday party". The problem lies in the fact that she understands the word "birthday" to mean when your friends come over to play and celebrate your birthday. She finally got that her Birthday was Sunday and her Party was Monday. I have been watching several friend's little ones (4 additional kids)all week this week so we invited a few other ones over and had a party! Savannah just wanted to play, swing, read, eat and enjoy her friends so that is exactly what we did. Tom took a little extra time for lunch and we had a good ole' party!!!

Of course there had to be balloons involved. She woke up Sunday morning and told me "Now daddy can go buy me some balloons", looks like we have a new birthday ritual!

We headed outside to play and do some swinging. Unfortunately we only have one swing and there were 8 kids!

Our attempt at a group shot, let's just say it is hard to get everyone to look.....

Storytime with Ms. Rachel (my great helper for the week)!

Nothing says party like pizza, fruit, pretzels and cupcakes!

After all of our friends left and we napped (all of us) Savannah wanted to build a fort in the living room (why not?)

We then decided to venture out in a storm for some buy 1 get 1 frozen yogurt via the library reading program! Let's just say the kids thoroughly enjoyed themselves! We were going to be busy almost every other night this week so we wanted to celebrate our special 4 year old just one more time!

Sampling the German Chocolate cake (she went with this along with chocolate chips covered in sprinkles, whipped cream and a cherry on top). I let her get more than her usual amount (she got about 4 oz because it was 45 calories an ounce, awesome!)

And loved it.....

The two men shared some (read Isaiah didn't eat much so daddy enjoyed the chocolate/vanilla swirl with cookie dough)

He wanted to wear daddy's hat all night it was so adorable with his shaggy hair!

We are so blessed with a handsome 2 year old and a beautiful 4 year old! Praise God for His many blessings!!!

Best of friends, new ride and birthday teaser....

2011-08-07T22:58:00.001-04:00

Savannah and Isaiah have really been loving spending time and playing with each other lately. They will go off by themselves and come up with a game to play or color or find something else to play with. I love to see how much they love spending time together, what a blessing that I pray continues.

They love to play baseball with each other, it is so cute!

Put me in coach....

I am just too cute!

We went over to a friend's house last week to swim and Savannah did really well in the water. She loves playing with her friends and they were a good influence because they are both great swimmers!

We have a new addition to the Stephens family........ a minivan

They insisted we go for a ride last night after we got it so we loaded up fresh from the bathtub and in our jammies to take it for a spin.....

Dixie of course loves it because she has room now (previously her spot in the car was on Tom's lap in the front seat, it made for a long trip if we left town)

I don't have a picture of the outside but we found a great deal. It is a 2001 with only 27,000 miles on it. It's crazy, apparently it was a one owner vehicle and grandma just drove it a few places very seldomly. We are so excited about the space it brings us especially since we are heading to IN soon! We praise God for meeting our needs!

Savannah turned 4 today (I know crazy) so hopefully we will update soon with some pics. We are having her birthday party with friends tomorrow so we are all looking forward to it! We will put a few up of today, Grandma Stephens made Savannah some new big girl (read twin size) bedding for her new bed. It is awesome and even has matching curtains! What a blessed little girl she is.....

Take me out to the ball game

2011-08-02T00:33:00.000-04:00

Yay! Ba Gall!!! (with both arms raised high in the air)

According to Isaiah this is the appropriate way to cheer for the Sand Gnats baseball team. Translation: "Yeah, baseball!" There are three 'Dollar Mondays' in August and we plan to make use of all of them. Both of the kids were really excited to go tonight and did a great job watching the game and cheering whenever the crowd cheered. They also cheer for anyone who hits the ball home team or visiting Green Jackets.

Cheering as the Gnats take the field

Happy and focused baseball fans

Savannah and Isaiah had a great time together at the game and really wanted to sit together. They sat like this for quite some time. After Isaiah would slide off he would say, "More Nannah", and climb right back into Savannah's lap. Savannah is a great big sister and Isaiah loves "my Nannah" as he calls her. So now Nana Walker can say there is a grandchild named after her too!

I've been playing with the camera settings, hence the black, white and green photos.

Let's do the math

2011-07-30T21:02:00.000-04:00

You may remember a few weeks ago when we went down to Summer waves in Jekyll Island using a groupon and got STORMED out! Well we got two free tickets to return. We headed down there today because as of next Sunday Savannah would have required a $15.95 ticket (if she grows 3-4 more inches she would have needed the regular adult ticket of $19.95, yes it is based on height and she is 44 inches currently. They consider anyone over 48 inches big enough for all the water slides!). We had a great time and I even got a few pictures and videos (emphasis on few). We didn't want to keep our camera with us because we were wet and we didn't want to put it down and have it lost or stolen. There were a lot of people there today so it was a good thing we got there right when they opened. We even all rode the big family water slides several times with hardly any line. Most of the day included time at the kiddie play area with the kids slides. Isaiah's word of the day was "more".

On the lookout from the Jekyll Island visitor center

We headed over to St. Simon to hang out for a bit this afternoon, Isaiah was so tired from all the fun at the water park, he fell asleep within a few minutes of being in the car!

Daddy even shared his coke float with Savannah!

Savannah on the waterslide

So let's do the math:

4 adults admission tickets= $79.80

4 adult admission tickets using our groupon (including the two free passes)=$18

4 free kids admissions because went before Savannah turned 4= free

Fun had by all.......

Priceless

Terribly Terrific Two

2011-07-29T16:33:00.001-04:00

So people usually refer to the two year old stage as the terrible two's. I understand the reason for it, they have trouble communicating, they are becoming more self sufficient (or at least they want to be more self sufficient), they get upset easily and the have a weird emotional range. The trouble is I don't think any of what I just described is terrible. Hard, yes, but terrible, never! We were at a store the other day and the cashier tried to talk to Isaiah and he said "no" and turned away. The cashier then asked "Is he mean?" Mean, really??? He is a two year old that isn't sure of strangers, I am thankful for that. I was so surprised that he thought he was mean....... Anyway, here are some more pictures of our terribly terrific two year old!

You can' have a birthday without balloons!!

or flowers from our neighbor friends, so sweet

Gotta love juice boxes for our birthday dinner

I love this sweet picture of Isaiah

We did a pizza birthday party for Isaiah at church since it was our regularly scheduled reading night with the kids at Cross Culture. I think it was fun for him, although he really isn't sure what it was all about.

Daddy with the cupcakes for everyone, Savannah helped decorate with her new decorating skills from her Aunt Jayne!

Yep, not even paying attention to the cupcake on fire.

Tasting it, well the sprinkles are ok......

Then I licked the frosting once or twice (after dropping it on the floor a few times...

Then I headed for the trash can (on a side note, as everyone was singing Happy Birthday to him, he found a piece of trash and headed to the trash can to throw it away, not really understanding that people were singing to him!)

Yep, right into the trash......

Big sister Savannah loved picking out his decorations, party hats and cupcakes. Good thing her birthday is coming up, she LOVES birthdays!!

Not sure about the party hat....

When we got home it was time to open a few presents sent from some great family members! Too bad he wanted to eat another piece of pizza before opening them, this child loves to eat!

He got some fun toys including a tool box and a great fire truck (see previous video of him opening it), he is very blessed by such sweet loving family members!

Then we went upstairs to see the table daddy built for Isaiah to run his cars and trains on. Daddy is going to paint a good race track/railroad scene on it soon! Yeah daddy!

Overall, Isaiah had a great day and Savannah is very much looking forward to her birthday next weekend! We are so thankful to the Lord for this sweet blessing he gave us two years ago!!!

Isaiah's Birthday...... the video edition

2011-07-27T09:06:00.000-04:00

Here are two videos from Isaiah's 2nd birthday yesterday. It is so hard to believe he is TWO!!! What a sweet little boy we have been blessed with!

This is a pretty long video but Grandma and Grandpa Stephens will appreciate it! Thanks for the firetruck, he loves it!!!

NC visit

2011-07-25T15:22:00.001-04:00

The kids and I went up to NC this past week (as Tom said). We got to spend some great quality time with my parents, my sister and her husband and their little boy Harrison. We were all sad to leave Harrison, he is such a sweet little boy! The kids had so much fun playing together! We also went to the zoo, played with my good friend Shanna (from HS and college) as well as her two little boys. On the way out of town we also stopped to see another friend from college and her little girl and boy (unfortunately I didn't get any pics of the kids there, sorry Dana!). It was a fun filled week with some pics to show it all....

Nothing like some rice krispie treats at grandma's, notice they all have aprons on....

Savannah and Isaiah love to read and they especially loved having Poppie read to them

Let's just say Deacon (my parents dog) was really tired after having kids there all week!

Over at Shanna's house. Savannah is almost 4, Isaiah and Addison are both almost 2 and Harrison is almost 3, what a crowd!

Playing in a spray tree at the zoo!

It was so hot, close to 100 without the heat index, notice how sweaty all the kids are! They still enjoyed themselves on the merry-go-round!

Savannah and Grammy

We had some cupcakes to celebrate the little ones birthdays, Isaiah turns 2 tomorrow, Savannah turns 4 in almost two weeks and Harrison turns 3 in the beginning of September. I love this picture because Isaiah isn't paying too much attention to the candle but Jason sure is working to blow it out!!!

Let's just say daddy was super excited to have us home. Here are a few pictures for Tom's parents. The kids are both holding stuffed animals that they have gotten from Pap Pap (Tom's grandfather). They love their Pap Pap animals!!

Sweeeet!

2011-07-22T00:11:00.000-04:00

Potatoes.

Sue and the kids have been in North Carolina for the week so there hasn't been a whole lot to report from here and Sue has the camera anyway. Plus, it would seem a little self absorbed to take pictures of myself and post them on the blog while everyone else is away.

However, there are development in our garden boxes to report. The banana boxes have worked out well with sweet potatoes...or are they yams?...and they are delicious. Tomatoes are still producing as well but its pretty hoy for them now. On the watermelon front we are not having much luck. They started off well but have stalled out recently. At least we don't have to worry about our watermelons being stolen like several of the community gardens around town that I'm familiar with.

7 years and 4 rounds of putt-putt

2011-07-17T23:31:00.000-04:00

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! To us of course. Sue and I are celebrating 7 years of wonderful marriage. Thankfully our friends, the newly married Moles, were willing and able to babysit for the whole afternoon. Its been a long time since we have had a six hours of time without the kids so it was nice to get away, and nothing says "I love you" like a friendly competition.

Apparently we have never been to a putt-putt golf course in our married lives. On Saturday we headed out to lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant followed by Island Mini Golf and finishing up with dessert at La'Berry downtown (thanks Groupon and restaurant.com).

We had a blast together but quickly realized your mini golf skills get rusty after 7 years.

The wind really drove this shot into the trees.

Is it possible to hit at from here? Why yes it is.

Sue had much better form and a softer approach from the tee

Amazingly, our golf game truly represented that "two shall become one". It was eerie how often our shots ended up at exactly the same place - typically in a trap somewhere.

After the first round of golf we realized that we should take a break before hitting the links again. Sue really showed that softball is just like riding a bike.

After our rounds in the batting cages we challenged ourselves to another round of golf. The second time around was much improved. We each scored a hole in one and cut our scores by about 15 strokes (seriously).

Finally, after church on Sunday Savannah started to cry because she wanted to go out for our anniversary. She thought that our anniversary should be celebrated by a daddy-daughter date to Krispy Kreme. We didn't do that but after watching the Women's World Cup final together the whole family headed downtown for more frozen yogurt (this time at Fruzen Twist, La'Berry's down the street competition).

Savannah was also very sweet and made a "cake" for us to enjoy. She carried it to the table and "lit candles" for us to blow out.

Savannah sings while we blow out our candles - and Isaiah finds a better seat.

Praise God for sweet kids and 7 years of marriage. Here's to 77 more (give or take).

Picture update

2011-07-12T14:40:00.000-04:00

Here are a few pictures from the past weeks or so. We went to CFA for some free food last Friday. It was lots of fun for everyone.

Savannah let me play with her hair the other day which was fun since it is so rare! Her hair is getting so long (it has been a year since we cut it...)

Savannah and daddy went out for a daddy daughter date recently (with a free coupon for pancakes at McDonalds). Let's just say she had a great time and ate every bit of her pancakes...

Here is a picture of Isaiah helping me make some pizza dough today..

Thank you Jesus for our precious blessings....

A little of this and a little of that......

2011-07-08T14:29:00.001-04:00

Tom had July 4th off so we took the opportunity to celebrate a little together as a family. We got a park pass (from the library) and headed off to Skidaway park on Monday night. We got to swim for a bit together Monday morning for the 1st day of Savannah's swim lessons. We had a great time playing and enjoying the outdoors.

We even took Dixie with us. she loved being able to go somewhere with us. She doesn't get to go that often anymore. We stopped on our way home to catch the fireworks at the park up the street from us. Savannah was hesitant but ended up thinking they were pretty cool. Isaiah sat in my lap with his head buried in my chest. When we asked him if he liked them he said yes but didn't move. He doesn't really like loud noises.

We are gearing up for Cow Appreciation Day at CFA tonight so hopefully we will put some pics up soon of our outfits. We have been doing Dave Ramsey lately so you know we are jumping at the chance to get free food!!!

Here are a few other pictures of the kids lately. They have both been loving to read so we just sit (sometimes for hours) each day and read with them. I love it! My prayer is that our kids will love and desire to read God's Word as they get older. AWESOME!!!

Swimming....

2011-07-06T14:21:00.000-04:00

Savannah has been doing swim lessons this week with a good friend of ours from church. She likes the water but has not been a fan of putting her face in the water AT ALL. Most of the kids in her class are 5 or almost 6. She has had a meltdown the past few days when they have put her in the water and asked her to put her face in the water. Today she told me she wanted to leave. I told her we couldn't leave and she needed to go back to her class. She did and look what happened. I am so proud of her. Listen to those giggles.......

Lord I lift your name on high.......

2011-06-30T23:00:00.000-04:00

Here is a quick video from our 1st ever field trip with Cross Culture (the ministry Tom leads at our church). It was awesome not because of anything we did planning or preparing but because God is AWESOME. We went out to Tybee Island and enjoyed the beauty of God's perfect creation. I don't know how anyone goes to the beach and thinks anything other than "God you are SOOO BIG, SOOOO GOOD and SOOO AMAZING". Worshipping the Creator is exactly what we were made for.....Awestruck.....

Staycation for a day

2011-06-24T15:23:00.001-04:00

Here are a few pictures from our family staycation yesterday. About a month ago we got a groupon for Summer Waves, the waterpark on Jekyll Island about 1 1/2 half hours south of here. We grabbed up two tickets for $9 each (usually 19.95). Kids 3 and under are free so both kids were free!!! We left after getting up yesterday morning and the kids did great on the ride there. Savannah was so excited about the water park.

Here is where mommy's picture taking failed big time. We don't actually have any pictures from the park, I know I am sorry.... We did the lazy river first, then the wave pool (Savannah did great), then the kids area including two kiddie water slides. One was a slight incline with water spraying around it as you slowing slid down (unless you get a running start like Savannah ended up doing). The other was an actual tube type slide (Isaiah actually loved this one). It was awesome to see our almost 2 year old with a HUGE smile on his face coming around the curve with daddy waiting at the bottom (I really wish we had gotten our camera out of the locker for this one..). It was awesome. We then made our way to the picnic area where we found a family of raccoons waiting for every drop of food we had, they were not scared of people at all it was crazy. Right before lunch Savannah went on a BIG slide with daddy. They had several slides for families where you could take your kids with you. She loved it! After lunch we ventured to the same BIG slide and we all took a trip down. Daddy even did the big tube slide with a large straight drop! We explored the spray ground and the HUGE bucket that dumped an insane amount of water on your head and headed back to the kiddie area to do the slides over and over. Isaiah would come off the end of the slide point to the top and say "more, more". It was adorable.

Here is where our day turned crazy pretty fast. It thundered several times and then one of the lifeguards saw lighting and they cleared all the water activities (well that is the whole park). There were lots of people trying to cram under the locker shelter so we just got under a covering with some lawn chairs as it started raining. There were only a few people there. We were in the middle of the park not close to any building. In a matter of minutes the rain was hard and blowing sideways. It was near 100 that day but all of a sudden it was really cold. I was holding Savannah and Tom had Isaiah. We made a quick decision to try to get closer to the buildings and started to walk that way. About 15-20 seconds later the winds kicked up with HUGE gusts (my guess is at least 40-50mph). Things started blowing everywhere and the remaining people not near the buildings (mainly lifeguards and park staff) began to RUN. We ran as fast as we could in flip flops in the pouring rain carrying children. Everyone was screaming and frantically running towards the few buildings. We ran into the kitchen of the Larry's Subs with everyone else who was outside. In such a short period of time the weather turned from raining to crazy terrible storm. Many of the HUGE umbrella were blown over as well as a few trees and tree limbs) We were thankful we didn't have much further to run than we did. Savannah did a great job staying calm (as did mama surpisingly). The Lord was watching over us and protecting us. We were all fine and calm.

And the peace of God, that surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and mind in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:7

We know God's Word is alive and true. We believe it with every fiber of our being and it is amazing to see it in action in our daily lives (this is just one of MANY examples).

KNOW PEACE..KNOW JESUS
NO PEACE..NO JESUS

We left in awe of an amazing God. True peace comes only from Jesus. It will surpass your understanding.
We also left with two free tickets to return again (That's right that is the equivilant of 4 tickets for less than the original price of 1). We returned home and grabbed some food at our favorite mexican restaurant using a gift certificate from Restaurant.com. Needless to say it was a good staycation.

This is the result of lots of playing, no nap and cheese doodles.... I wish you could see his cheesy face and fingers

Summary of the day from Tom "Why would you do anything other than a staycation when you live where people vacation?" You should come visit Savannah!!!!

The new bed.....

2011-06-20T15:27:00.002-04:00

She loves her new bed. We got it from some friends who just moved (insert sad face). She is such a big girl!

Father's Day 2011

2011-06-20T15:04:00.001-04:00

Here are a few pictures from our Father's Day weekend.Friday we went to Forsyth Park for some fountain action while Tom played soccer. It has been pretty hot here so the water is fun for the kids. Tom even got in a little after playing soccer.

We have been moving some furniture around lately and as we tried to move our desk it fell apart (into lots of pieces). Savannah helped Daddy repair it. Isaiah of course wanted to get in on the action.

We spent Father's Day night in downtown Savannah. It was hot so we decided to go for a ride on the ferry boat (the kids love it) to get some breeze. Unfortunately no one smiled for the pictures....

Cute one of Savannah enjoying the boat ride!

The best we could do for a family shot

Of course any holiday celebrating daddy or Tom wouldn't be complete without ice cream (and lots of it). Savannah thoroughly enjoyed her entire cone!

Isaiah was not sure about the coldness of it but then just kept asking for "more, more"

Daddy went all out and got the banana pudding sunday. He said it was delicious! We love Leopolds

Some sweet daddy love. We love you daddy for being the best daddy God has created (other than Himself!)

A little bit of this and a little bit of that.....

2011-06-16T15:26:00.000-04:00

We have had a pretty busy week around here. We have been on the go every day. Monday night we had friends over for dinner and then Tom and Michael went to Richmond Hill to get a new bed for Savannah. Some good friends are moving to Charlottesville and we got a twin bed from them. Their little girl's name is Savannah as well! More pics to come from that transition.... Tuesday we had our first ever Cross Culture reading day with the kids from the neighborhood around our church. It went pretty well! Tonight is our regular Cross Culture Bible Study with the kids and I am making my mom's lasagna, yummy! Savannah has also been to VBS all week at a church down the street from ours. I think she has been having fun and learning a lot (and eating lots of sugar). She has liked the adventure and Isaiah and I have been enjoying some mommy/Isaiah time. Let's just say I really miss Savannah though, I almost cried Monday morning! We have also just been enjoying family time, gotta love that!

We have also been doing lots and lots of reading. They are both super excited to sit down and look at a book (Isaiah not quite as long as Savannah). I love reading with them and helping them get a glimpse into more than just their little reality!

Isaiah brought this Bible, book and a pen into the bathroom this morning for some study time. The ESV Study Bible is awesome! The book is Radical by David Platt (another awesome book, challenging but so important). I love that he brought a pen!

Here is a video of Isaiah. He is really trying to say some new things lately. Most of it only Tom and I can understand but it's still cute. I LOVE the intonation in his voice when he tries to say flower, so sweet.
Translation: "bup"= cup
                  "didie"= dixie
                   "gall"= ball
                   "wower"= flower

Tuesday night kayaking

2011-06-08T22:17:00.001-04:00

We made another weeknight trip to Tybee Island after the workday this week. This trip was extra special because we were meeting our friends from church George and Gretchen Perez and their son Gabe. It was extra, extra special because they were bringing their kayaks and a picnic for everyone to enjoy.

We met up at the Back Bay at the south end of Tybee Island. This is away from the ocean side of the island and away from the mouth of the Savannah River so the water is much more calm, especially at low tide while we were there. After finally meeting up with them we enjoyed a picnic on the beach followed by kayaking - even the kids!

Savannah went out with Daddy first and did a great job helping with the paddling.

Savannah got to go out first but Isaiah was certainly ready to go.

"I can't believe they just left me."

Isaiah finally got his chance and tried to grip the paddle. Once we got out in the water though he didn't move a muscle. He claimed to like it though and even said, "kayak".

The girls went out as the boys were paddling.

As the sun went down we had a good time swimming around and talking with friends.

It was a beautiful night with fish jumping, crabs running, and dolphins swimming by. Oh, and a cat that wanted our chicken bones.

The sunset was gorgeous! Perfect by design.

What a great way to spend an evening with friends.

Just a little fun at a birthday party.....

2011-06-07T14:55:00.000-04:00

So don't worry you didn't miss Savannah or Isaiah birthday just a good friend from church. He is a sweet little boy that just turned 4 and had a great birthday party. His mom is super creative and she did a cowboy themed party complete with a photo booth. Here are a few pics of our kids from the party.

Quick photo shoot

2011-06-02T15:47:00.000-04:00

Here are a few pictures of the kids from today. We had an impromtu photo shoot on the front steps before we left to go shopping. We have had lots of birthdays, graduations, weddings and other various celebrations lately so there have been lots of gifts to get for others. We even had a quick birthday party at our house for our friend Jimmy as he and his fiancee came over for dinner and it happened to be his birthday. Savannah loves birthdays so you know she had a ball decorating and making his cake.

I just had to put this one on there, just look at those eyelashes.....

Sweet brother and sister

Right before he hit her......

Then apologized with a hug

The kids went to their friend Gressett's birthday party this past weekend with a cowboy theme. They each left with a cowboy hat. Isaiah has been enjoying his.

A wedding

2011-05-29T21:37:00.001-04:00

Today was a great day! We worshiped with our church body this morning, spent the afternoon with our friends preparing for a wonderful wedding of some great friends! Tom took the kids to the mall to do some shopping for another friend while I helped decorate. They got back just in time for the wedding and Savannah was sooo excited to see Mr. Michael and Ms. Heather. She LOVED the wedding dress and everything that had to do with the wedding. Isaiah didn't make it through the wedding and Tom had to sit with him outside. One of the reasons he didn't make it through the wedding was because a certain blue blanket was MISSING...... Gasp! So, as the reception started mommy went back to the mall with Isaiah to search out the missing blanket. After scowering the whole mall (ok not the whole mall) we found it, praise God! As you can tell in the picture below he was glad to be reunited. We then returned to the wedding just in time for Tom to do a toast, Savannah to eat some cake and head home.

He loves his blanket.

Michael and Heather. Hey, who is that little girl in the cute flower dress???

There she is again.....

and again..... Turns out she followed Ms. Heather around the entire reception. Heather said Savannah didn't realy even talk to her much, she just wanted to be with the bride. Adorable.

They were so funny, Michael wore Addidas sneakers (as always) and Heather wore white TOMS

Heather looked beautiful and soo happy. I think every time I looked at her she was smiling ear to ear. It was so sweet to see their love. We have known Michael since he moved to Savannah as a 20 year old kid out of the house for the first time and doing school online while doing odd jobs. He is now a successful small business owner with a beautiful wife who is so sweet and humble. Tom and I were talking yesterday about how much we have loved being involved in Michael and Jimmy's lives and see the beautiful women the Lord has given for them to spend their lives with. I have loved getting to know Heather and Madeleine over the past few years. It is so sweet to see strong Christians who are gospel focused with every aspect of their lives and who live it out in their purity, humility and servanthood. Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Michael Mole!!!

We now can't wait for November.....

Madeleine and Jimmy are next.....

Updates pics

2011-05-23T17:24:00.000-04:00

Tom's mom sent us some pics of Tom as a child. What do you think, does he has any Stephens in him????

Tom thinks this one really looks like Isaiah.....

Who do they look like?

2011-05-22T22:07:00.002-04:00

While working in the nursery today and discussing the kids (what else do two moms of little kids working in the baby nursery talk about??) I started thinking about how much our kids look like each other and not mommy or daddy. The friend working with me made the observation and it got me thinking. I unfortunately do not have pictures on our computer of either of us as babies to show you but let's just say we both had long narrow faces, blue eyes and no dimples. Well Savannah does have blue eyes, Isaiah has blueish eyes (see previous post) and that's about it. Tom always had really dark hair. My hair was blond but then turned dark around 2. Check out these pics of the kids...

Savannah at 6 months

Isaiah at 6 months

Savannah at 1

Isaiah at 1

Savannah about 22 months

Isaiah now about 22 months

Trust me, for those of you who have seen pictures of us both as babies will understand. Our kids don't really look like us at all.......

BUT, they are both starting to get curly hair. The Walker curls live on....

I love it!!!! It is only like this when it is wet for both kids. Once you brush their hair is it straight but I love it!!!

A little about Isaiah

2011-05-20T15:31:00.001-04:00

Here are a few things you might not know about Isaiah....

He really enjoys brushing his teeth. He isn't too good at it but gets pretty excited about it when he see the toothbrush come out. He also loves bedtime routines. On nights where he is particularly tired and we try to put him down before we have read, flipped over daddy, prayed and said the proper goodnights he gets upset.

He is really starting to get interested in listening to a story (a short one). We have always read to them but he is starting to be more and more interested. He also likes to "read" by himself!

Ok, several things about this picture. He needs a haircut. We know he does but we like the shaggy look on him. One of the pastors at our church and his wife are expecting and he said he hoped it is a boy so he can one day have shaggy hair like Isaiah's! He also LOVES to wear shoes that aren't his. Usually they are mine or Savannah (see later picture) but today he wanted to wear daddy's. Notice the plastic bag in his hand as well. This child is obsessed with trash. He loves to carry a bag around and say trash and then put random things in there. Today before we went to the beach he carried a bag around and put two of Savannah's unmatching shoes in there. We carried it all the way to the beach and he wanted to play with his "trash". He loves to walk Dixie as well so he can pick up some leaves and carry it to the trashcan after we clean up after dixie, it is hilarious. He also points out each and every trash can he sees.

Notice the shoes. He though he was big stuff standing up there with mommy's shoes on.

You can't really tell here, but he has these crazy beautiful eyes. His eyes are a greenish/brown in the center and blue around the outside. I don't know what to call them when asked. Can you say blue if they are only about 50% blue? I love them and think they are so beautiful. Hopefully one day his future wife will appreciate them for how cool they are!

He likes to drink the milk from his cereal bowl often before the cereal is gone. If anyone else at the table drink their milk, he takes that as his cue that he can drink it.

He is starting to talk a little more but often comes up to us and holds his hands like this if he can't find something or if he is having trouble with something.

He also does not like timeouts. When he has a timeout he sits quietly with a very sad look on his face. When you come to talk to him he jumps up smiling and jumps into your arms. It is adorable. He learns from the timeouts though as he will change his behavior and do what you asked right away.

These are just a few things about our sweet little boy. He is such a joy and blessing to us. I can't believe he will be 2 in 9 weeks. (I only know because Savannah wanted to sit down and count the number of weeks until her birthday the other day). We love you Isaiah James!

Strawberry picking on Mother's Day

2011-05-18T09:16:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago we went to a strawberry patch after church on Mother's Day. It was a great afternoon of family time and enjoying God's creation (which of course includes delicious strawberries)! Isaiah fell asleep right before we got there so he and daddy spent some quality time in the shade under a tree. Once he woke up he really enjoyed strawberry picking (at least for a while). It was a great mother's day!

Savannah never really put much in her bucket, she just liked to walk around and make friends with the other kids picking strawberries.

Now we are talking! We picked 13-14 pounds of fresh berries and froze most of them, yummy!

Happy Mother's Day

We put a red shirt on him anticipating he might eat lots of them and get messy but he never even thought to eat them.

They had this water pump duck race game that Savannah really enjoyed and was pretty good at!

After picking we got the kids some good whole milk with cream on top, they drank it up! It's a pretty big farm with lots of cows, pigs, goats, etc. The kids loved it!

A Wednesday night

2011-05-10T14:46:00.000-04:00

So we often like to make a quick trip out to Tybee on a weeknight to get some time to just run and play on the beach with the kids. Last week we chose Wednesday night because it was the only night we didn't have something going on. The kids loved it! They played, chased, buried and enjoyed their time with daddy especially.

Neither of them were at all interested in the water (it was pretty choppy that night) so we were relatively clean!

Who doesn't love to be held by their strong daddy and run around on the beach!!

We serve a might and wonderful God who is faithful to bring the sun up each morning after allowing it to set in such a beautiful way!

Earlier in the day we had made rice krispie treats so we were all looking forward to one when we got home. Except that on the way home daddy treated everyone to a jr. candy sunday at sonic (ok so we all split them). Savannah was super excited and let's just say Isaiah doesn't exactly have his mommy and daddy's sweet tooth!

He did enjoy the rice krispie treats though!

Enjoying the sun

2011-05-06T13:44:00.000-04:00

We did some painting outside the other day and they had a great time. They would have used all the paint we had if I put it all out there. Isaiah has to paint in his diaper to be sure he wouldn't get it everyone. Let's just say that was a good idea!

We went to the SCAD sidewalk arts festival again this year. We love to see the creations, they are always AMAZING! I am not creative so it is crazy to me that you can do these beautiful pictures with chalk!

Check out the magazine to the left of the pic, it is exactly the same!

This was from the Lexington Art Council, some alumni

This one was best of show, not sure why but it was very clean

We spent the whole weekend outside. Sunday afternoon we came home from church and started watering our little garden. Let's just say I am not too sure how many of our plants would grow if isaiah was in charge of the watering. He had more fun dumping his water on the ground and asking for more. Hillarious.

Here are some more pics from this weekend. We enjoyed the great weather and we were out of the house almost all weekend. We love the park!

Here is a better video of the monkey bars. I have to apologize for the conversation in the background by the ladies next to me.

A little catch up....

2011-05-03T15:30:00.000-04:00

So it seems we forgot to update all of you about our Easter. I know it has been over a week but here we are. We had a really great Good Friday service and Sunday morning service at our church so it helped keep us focused this holiday season. We are not big Easter bunny/egg hunt people so we decided to do a few different things with the kids. We built a tomb for Jesus that Savannah and Isaiah helped make so we could talk more about the resurrection. They had a great time finding stones, leaves and sticks to make a tomb. Savannah then made a cross and attached our Jesus to it. She wrapped him in paper towel and buried him in the tomb. Sunday morning she was so excited to see he was sitting at the table waiting for her and no longer in the tomb! I got the idea from a friend's blog and it was a great opportunity to talk about how awesome it is that Jesus is no longer in the tomb and that death has no power over Him.

We spent Easter afternoon at one of our pastor's house with his family and another family from our church. We had a great time discussing all sorts of great things and eating lots of yummy food. The kids had a blast since there were 6 other kids there. We love the great community we have developed here in Savannah and are thankful for the ways the Lord has blessed our relationships. I am priviledged to work at our church as the Children's Ministry Director so it was great to be here and help out with the craziness of Easter morning. We had over 700 people hear the gospel and it was so powerful knowing that the Lord was using our body to bring people to salvation! The sermon was awesome and I totally recommend listening to it. If you get about 45 minutes of free time and are willing to give up your reality TV show for a night (which you should because really what eternal value does TV have?) the Lord will bless you through it.. CBC Eater sermon "Substitute".

Ready for church.... cup..check pacifer and blanket for nap during sunday school..... check

Savannah Grace

2011-04-28T14:26:00.000-04:00

So I thought I would take some time to tell all of you (all 3 of you) why our little girl Savannah is so wonderful! She is such a smart, beautiful girl! Last night she and daddy went on a daddy daughter date and she wanted to wear a wedding dress. Since we didn't have one, she wore a white skirt, light blue shirt with a white sweater. She was adorable! I do have to apologize since there are no pictures we left our camera at some friend's house when we went over there for Easter afternoon!

She is so sweet and loves to help take care of Isaiah and the other baby I have been watching several days a week. She also loves to cuddle and spend time with us, I got some great cuddle time yesterday after her nap. She still naps most days and really needs the rest. She is also such a determined and motivated little girl. One example of that happened today. We went to Forsyth Park for a bit before it rained because she really wanted to do the monkey bars. She has been working on them for about 2 weeks and last weekend she actually did about 7 of them and we were so proud! Today she was having some trouble and not making much progress. She then realized by herself that if I want to do more I should go faster. A few tries later she did the WHOLE thing! That's right all 13 monkey bars and she was so excited! I started jumping up and down and ran up to hug her. We called daddy and she did it a few more times! She is so determined and worked so hard. We had some celebration CFA for lunch!

I am sorry about the video quality it is from my phone and I obviously don't have and iphone!

We just love her sweet spirit and the way the Lord is developing her. Today at lunch she prayed for the people serving lunch at CFA and thanked God for the good food. She loves to sing praises to God and asked lots of great questions about Jesus and the resurrection recently. I love her dearly and am so thankful to the Lord for his blessing of our sweet daughter!

I love our sweet kids

2011-04-21T14:37:00.000-04:00

Isaiah has been hillarious lately. One of the funniest thing he is doing is turing his light on in his room at night then falling asleep with his big bright light on. He sleeps in our "library" which isn't a big room and the only wall we can put his bed on is where the light switch is located. We just laugh each night when we have to go in there and turn it off and he is sound asleep! He also LOVES to wear other people's shoes, especially Savannah's. He will take off his shoes in a heart beat if he can wear someone else's. We went to the baseball game the other night (gotta love Dollar Mondays) and he took off my shoes to wear them around. He has worn Savannah's shoes the past two times we have gone out of the house for a walk. Hillarious!

He is quite the boy here!

What mommy, you left your slippers out???

Savannah was taking Isaiah for a walk complete with a leash on his shirt. He didn't mind it at all.

Savannah wanted to put on her apron that Grandma made for her and Isaiah really wanted me to put one on for him as well. Turns out he hated wearing it! No offense Granda just too constricting!

Savannah wanted to take a wedding picture with daddy. She was so sweet wanting to smile and pose!

Another wedding picture!

Here are a few videos of the kids singing. Isaiah saw Savannah singing and just had to get mommy to take a video of him as well! So sweet!

Oatland Island and my ramblings....

2011-04-18T15:36:00.000-04:00

Here are just some recent updates. I took the kids to Oatland Island last week to just hang out one morning. We spent lots of time with fun animals and had a blast. We might have to look into a family membership next year as we start a more formalized school time. Speaking of......

I am currently trying to work with Savannah a few days a week on some basics and different Bible stories. I feel overwhelmed at the thought of being responsible for our children's school and learning but I know I can't do it alone. We have chosen not to do preschool next year and Savannah will be home with mommy and Isaiah. We have talked lots but come to no conclusion about what we want to do for school next year. We feel no rush to decide either. There is a great montessori public school but it is a lottery to get in and there are usually very few spots and LOTS and LOTS of kids who apply. There are a few other good public schools that we like but again they are lottery so you just don't know. We have started talking and praying about homeschooling but we really don't feel lead one way or another. I love how our pastor put it when describing homeschooling (they homeschool their 4 kids), he said "We aren't trying to do school at home, we are teaching our children what they need to know." I feel a great responsiblity to teach and mentor our children in a way that honors the Lord through teaching His Word, His desires and His heart. I desire to be the primary influence in our kids lives. I am still working through how to do that to the BEST I can. I CAN NOT do that without the Lord and I am just waiting and being patient right now as we discern what that looks like for our family. Anyway, I didn't plan on discussing school so let's move on....

I took this picture to document that as we were walking and seeing so many cool animals, we had to stop because Isaiah really wanted to do the buckles on the stroller, of course that is so much more interesting!

They were so sweet holding each other's hands. They really do love each other, it is adorable!

Stephens Fam Birthdays: Daddy's Turn

2011-04-10T16:10:00.007-04:00

There was a birthday in the Stephens household which is always exciting for everyone involved. We really try to celebrate birthdays well by having a party, eating lots of "birthday goodness", getting fun and thoughtful gifts, etc., etc. In the last couple years we have really tried to use birthdays to celebrate the unique life of each family member. The thought process really started with how we approach Christmas because Christmas is a birthday celebration afterall. And while it is fun and appropriate to give gifts to each other on Christmas it seems the hype and materialism has really taking over and switched the focus from the birthday boy to the gift givers. So at Christmas we celebrate Christ's birth first and foremost. And on our birthdays we celebrate ourselves, or really the life that God has given us.

Often times our birthday celebrations stretch out over a few days and mine was no exception.

Mine started with a litttle ice cream cake and gifts while in South Carolina last week. Then kicked into high gear on the 5th. Savannah was pretty excited herself because "birthday" to her does not mean the day you were born, it means PARTY! Needless to say she was excellent at party shopping and decorating. She did have one nagging concern however, "Daddy didn't have any friends." When she realized we had not invited other friends over she grew worried about how fun my birthday would be. Her worry quickly subsided when the focus turned to the "chocolate caaa - aa - ake." Somehow in her excitement she can turn cake into a three syllable word.

Woohoo! Candles are adding up.

Always willing to be the taste tester.

Someone didn't save room for cake. But he sure enjoyed the queso dip and beans.

CANDYLAND!

Okay, it wan't a gift but you can't have a party without games.

Savannah's first suggestion was "Pin the Tail on Something"

After the french toast lunch special and the fajita dinner and the party and the ice cream and the cake (aka birthday goodness) it was a very full day. But that was not all of the surprises. Sue wisely had not told Savannah what my gift was because as you can imagine she is not exactly Fort Knox when it comes to birthday surprises. For the past two weeks I had been asking Savannah to buy me a Jeep Wrangler with two kayaks on top. She promised me she would get it for me and I have no doubt she was sincere.

Fortunately Sue was there to help her out and she got me a great birthday present...a Saturday afternoon of kayaking around Tybee Island! We rented a tandem sit on top kayak from North Island Surf and Kayak on Lazeretto Creek at the mouth of the Savannah River. And since it was my birthday Sue even stopped and read the historical marker for me by the marina (Lazaretto history).

I have been wanting to get out on the water here for a while but that can be tough to do with two small kids. Sue had a couple sitters lined up for the morning and afternoon. It was a beautiful sunny day in the 80's with a gentle breeze on the water. We had a great time exploring Lazeretto Creek and the sound at high tide and even had a little beach to ourselves for a lunch break. It felt like our own little island.

Just getting started in the morning. No gator sightings in marshes.

Now this says, "Relax, its your birthday"

Boating around Cockspur Lighthouse. Its surrounded by water except at the lowest tide. The water was too high to tie up and climb the stairs this day. Maybe another time.

(Lighthouse history - cause its my birthday)

Calm and beautiful (wife and weather)

All in all it was a wonderful birthday celebration. Here's looking forward to next year (and 30 years).

SC trip

2011-04-08T14:48:00.000-04:00

This past weekend (I know it is Friday, sorry for the blogging delay) we went to Greenwood, SC to visit my grandmother and uncle. My grandmother (Nana) is moving this weekend to Talahassee, FL to be closer to my Aunt Jayne (Great Jayne as she likes to be called). My Uncle will be moving this summer to be down there as well. Our kids LOVE to stay in a hotel because that usually involves a pool, open space to run and a new and different breakfast (Savannah chose Lucky Charms).

As you can tell, they also like to help.

My sister brought some plastic easter eggs to hunt. We have never done egg hunting with the kids and they thought it was so fun!

Yep, a wiffle ball ended up in the NASTY pond, gross!

Her suitecase says "I'm going to grandma's" It was mine as a kid and Savannah loves it!

Isaiah with his bag from Aunt Jan and Uncle Lulu

Since my sister's birthday was last week and Tom's was this past Tuesday, my mom got them an ice cream cake, it was soo good!

Me with my Uncle Jim (or Bobo as we have always called him)

Me, Nana and Jayne

We are really going to miss coming to Greenwood to visit Nana. Now we just get the priviledge of seeing my Aunt Jayne and all her family now since we will be going to Talahassee to visit Nana.

The three kids

Notice the progression of these pictures. Isaiah was in a mood ( read very tired) and they all wanted to go inside. Harrison looks like he is the agressor here but he is completely innocent, Isaiah was being a grumpy man as we like to call him.

Everyone involved (notice I didn't get involved just took pictures, it was hillarious and they worked it out)

Look at Harrison trying to comfort the mad boy, hillarious

Like I said, he was the innocent one of the bunch! He is such a cutie!!!

Azaelas in bloom

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As I have said before it is BEAUTIFUL down here while the azaelas are in bloom. You really should try to make it to Savannah in the spring.

We had a pretty warm winter so I was sure they were going to be in full bloom by the end of March. So this past weekend we went to Forsyth Park with some friends to take family pictures with the flowers as our backdrop. Saturday was beautiful and sunny with the flowers almost in full bloom. Some of the HUGE azaelas around the main fountain at Forsyth were pretty close but not to full bloom yet.

Its a good thing we took photos last weekend as the azaleas never quite made it to their potential peak extravagence. Sunday started us on three days of pretty heavy storms. It even hailed on Sunday right as a very good friend of ours was proposing downtown (Congratulations Jimmy and Madeleine, she said yes in the rain!). Needless to say the azaelas are pretty much done for the year since the heavy rains beat up the delicate flowers pretty good. Its sad since they are so beautiful for such a short time. The rest of the year it is just a big green shrub. So if you visit in the spring, be sure to check the weather.

Here are some pictures we got and are so thankful for! We met some friends up there to get pictures of all four of us and take some for them, thanks Michael and Heather!

Savannah

Isaiah

It may have been a bad idea to use fruit snacks to bribe him to smile, it backfired after I tried to take some back !

This one if my favorite ones from the day.

Brother and Sister

The family

We had a hard time getting the kids to smile or even look at the camera, but I think this one is great!

Here is one of Michael and Heather, thanks again for helping us get such great memories! They are getting married in just over 8 weeks and we are very excited for them!