First Day of the last year

I could barely sleep last night. Today is my first day of my last year in graduate school. As many of you know, I am attending Covenant Seminary working towards a masters of arts in counseling. Going to Covenant is one of the best decisions of my life. It has been a challenging and extremely rewarding experience. Not to mention all of the great friends I have made in the process.

So, wish me luck. This year will be full of classes, as well as seeing clients. It is exciting to finally be practicing what you have longed to do for so many years

Also, I will post pictures of the wedding when we get back from the lake. I think the vacation count is now 68 days.

Up til 4 am for the best reason in the world

If I were the mother of a newborn, blogging about my late nights would not be a surprise to anyone. However, I am not the mother of a newborn and after this weekend I now realize that I am not 21 either. My brother got married sunday night at 7:30pm in Memphis. It was an amazing ceremony. They got engaged six weeks ago and wanted to get married and honeymooned before SEC football went into full swing.(it at least that is my understanding) Some of you may be thinking --"WOW" her brother is a devoted fan. NO, he works forESPN 730am radio in Memphis. In fact, he is #1 in his market. But needless to say he had to get back from his honeymoon before things got crazy busy. So, our family spent the weekend celebrating Chris and Alana's wedding. We could not be happier for them.

So, you may be wondering what does this have to do with 4am? Well, after the ceremony we before home. My mom had to teach school the next morning and my kids had their first day of school. Let me tell you- we were dragging. The kids slept the best they good while Neill and I took shifts driving. Arkansas and the bootheel of Missouri is a long stretch of land at 2am. We managed to get home and in bed for a little bit before rising to meet the day.

Katie and Jack took their first day of school pictures and went to school. Neill and I ran in the house, locked the doors and closed the windows and went right back to sleep til noon. The kids came home ran into their rooms and went to sleep til 5pm.

In the end, we are now all back on schedule and no worse the wear. And there is no question in our minds that we would do it all again in a heartbeat. It was a beautiful wedding and I wish Alana and Chris all the happiness in the world.

I will post pictures later tonight

School could not start soon enough

I am not one of those mothers who dreads school starting. In fact, if the school called today and said "send your kids over asap" They would be there in 30 seconds or less. They are bored out of their minds. And they are making me crazy. I can not tell you how many times I have heard the question ..."what are we doing next??" or the statement " I have nothing to do, I am bored."It is the end of the summer and they have run out of ideas. When they ask me what to do --- I say what my mom said to me...GO CLEAN SOMETHING. That isn't even working. Katie moaned LOUDLY throughout her chores today. I guess she wanted to let me know her displeasure with the whole thing.

The good news is that we will be getting in the car for five hours with these "BORED" children and driving to Memphis for my brothers wedding. Let's just hope that they sleep.

Do you remember your end of summer? How did you entertain yourself??

Adult Only Weekend

Neill and I got to go away for the weekend together. It was so nice to sleep in, eat when you wanted to and talk to each other without being interrupted. We decided that we are going to have to do this more often.

This weekend we are heading to Memphis for my brother's wedding. We are so excited to have Alana as part of our family. We will post pictures when we get back.

Griffith Family Camping Weekend

Last weekend, all of Neill's siblings and their families, along with grandma and grandpa went up to Mark Twain Lake for a family weekend. They rented a pontoon boat and we took up my dad's boat for a day on the lake. Neill took everyone tubing that wanted to go.

It was so great to get to see my nieces and nephews faces tubing for the first time. We have been wanting to take them up there for a long time and go out on the lake. I think the overall response to the tubing at thirty miles an hour behind a boat that was twisting and turning was "WOW, Can we do that again?" My niece Melissa flipped three times in the air and landed with the grace of a swan. I guess that is the dancer in her.

We also went to the water park and floated around. Neill, Brian, Dennis and Jack had races down the water slide. I think Neill was the victor.
Saturday night- we had a big meal together, took family pictures and honored Jerry and Susan's 25th wedding anniversary. Congratulations !!!!

It was a hot weekend, but in the end I would say that we got to have a fun time in the sun and in the water.

Katie Got Baptized

Neill and I are thrilled to share with you that on August 1st while at Camp Neotez, Katie got baptized. ( we waited til we had the pictures to upload to blog about it)

She called from camp on that monday and said that she wanted to get baptized. Neill and I had spent the last year studying with her and praying about this decision. She had told us that she really wanted to get baptized at Camp Neotez so we were not surprised when we got the call.

When we arrived at camp, Ron Burge (the camp director) offered to read some scriptures at he typically uses and Neill could perform the baptism in crystal falls. We thought that sounded great. However, Katie had been studying and found a verse that she felt she wanted to share that described her feelings about this experience. She chose Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is a gift of God.

Neill and I were so touched by her understanding of this choice. In that moment, she shared her understanding of the cross and the gift of grace in a beautiful way not only with us, but with all her friends.

After the baptism, Cheryl Aston had made a "Birthday Brownie" for Katie to share with her friends in her cabin. It was so great for Katie to get to share this with her church family, friends and us.

Congratulations Katie, We LOVE you

Happy Birthday Morgan

My niece Morgan turned eleven today. It seems like just yesterday she was born. Katie and Morgan have been best buds forever. I always wished I had had a girl cousin my age. Well, if you can't get one of your own then what is better then your kids getting it.

We LOVE you Morgan. Happy Birthday.

IT IS SO HOT

Today we went to six flags with Scott and Ellen's kids. It was 105 degrees outside. We did the waterpark with the kids. Trying to get 7 people to agree on what we want to do is always a challenge. But somehow we managed to do it. Thanks to a little cooperation from everyone.

We are looking forward to this weekend. It will be another hot one, but hopefully being on the water will help with that. When we get back I will post pictures.

Till then

Back from the Camper and Texas

We had a great week at the camper. Our friends the Johnson's went with us, so we were just two families at play. We played at the beach, took the kids tubing and finally knocked both Katie and Jack off. The campground puts on a karoake night once in a while so as usual Neill and Katie can not miss the chance to sing. Neill loves doing the old standards like "Chantilly lace" and Katie loves Christina Aquilera. I just sit back and observe.

Two days after we returned from the camper, we headed off to Texas. A friend of mind from Covenant let us stay at his ranch. WOW!!!!!! it was amazing. Thanks again Josh. We could not have asked for a better vacation. We would open the gate to the ranch and 40 deer would run past us. Then a little bit further and we would pass horses, cows, antelope and bison. It was truly amazing.

We also got to go the the alamo, riverwalk, six flags, sea world and our all time favorite SCHLITTERBAHN. We had seen it on the travel channel but it was AMAZING. I would highly recommend that everyone go there. Uphill waterslides. Crazy. Then on the way home we stayed with old friends Wes and Shelley Jones in Dallas. It was great to get to catch up and see where they live. It has only taken us twelve years to get there. We promise not so long next time.

Well, that is the most recent adventures we have taken. We head out Friday for the camper again. Neill's family is meeting us there for the weekend. We have rented a pontoon boat so everyone can go out on the lake. See ya when we get back