God Still Provides

No, we still do not have a regular job for Chris, but God is still providing in the meantime. Let me share some instances:

*As I made out my grocery list the other day, I had planned on purchasing 2 bags of frozen chicken breasts. When I got to the store, I looked at the price per bag... $9.49 (Tyson)! Good grief! There were only 4 chicken breasts in the package... almost $2.50/chicken breast! Reluctantly, I put just one bag in my cart and thought I'll figure out something else for dinners a couple of nights this week. Fast forward a couple of days... my neighbor called and asked if I could watch her children for a few minutes while she ran an errand. I said "yes" and she said she'd be right down. When I opened the door, she has a grocery bag on her arm and says "I bought you a bag of chicken." *jaw drops* I asked "why" and she said she just thought it would help since she knows we eat alot of chicken. I had never mentioned to her my chicken dilemma! IS THAT A GOD THING OR WHAT?!? How cool!! It was even the same brand that I purchase! God always provides!!

*A few weeks back, several girlfriends of mine from church got together and gave me a basket of gift cards worth $350 to places such as Target, Kroger, Starbuck's, Kroger Gas, Colton's restaurant, a month's worth of food from Angel Ministries, and a coupon for free babysitting from one friend. I was overwhelmed by their generosity.

*Yesterday in the mail we received a check from our mortgage company for an overage in our escrow account... almost $1,500! Totally unexpected.

*Today, Chris talked with a friend of ours that is a partner in a general contracting firm. He's giving Chris a temporary job as a field superintendent for a small building project they are about to start. Chris can continue to look for a job in his career field and still work this job, too. What a blessing!

These are just a few of God's reminders to me that He's still in charge and taking care of us. Praise God with me for his graciousness and generosity!! Look around your life... how is God providing for you??

The Tent

One of the birthday presents that Grant received was a tent that you set up on your bed... it attaches to the corners of the mattress. Our very good friends... the Hendrix family... gave this to him. My friend, Tracy, is not a girly-girl person at all so she sure does know how to shop for a boy! *smiling* We had to put it on his bed as soon as we could that night so that he could sleep inside. He loves it!! He prefers to snuggle in and sleep with the flaps rolled down... it's his own lil' hideaway at night.

Good-Night!

Take Me Out To the Ballgame!

After the birthday party, Chris and I took Grant and his best friend Graydon to a Memphis Redbird's baseball game. Matthew chose to spend the night with a friend and so that's why he didn't attend the game with us. We were given 4 tickets by a friend of ours and they were really good seats. The Redbirds were playing Omaha that night and they won the game!! I had never been to one of their games before and really enjoyed the experience. After we found our seats, one of the first things the boys wanted to do was get some cotton candy. Chris bought each of them their own bag and Boy! did they stuff it away... talk about some sticky fingers!

At one point during the game after Rocky the Redbird had entertained the crowd, the boys were able to go visit with him and I took their picture together.

Below are just some pictures that I took during the game:

Grant posing with Daddy's new Redbirds cap

We didn't stay for the whole game... we left at the beginning of the 7th inning. After a long day of fun, they boys were a little antsy and ready to go on home. As we were leaving, the boys posed with several of the baseball stand-ups that they have in the outer courtyard of the stadium.

Play Ball!!

Happy 6th Birthday, Grant!!

On April 21st, Grant celebrated his 6th birthday. He asked for only 2 things from us for presents... a set of walkie-talkies and to go to the Build-A-Bear store. We took him there on Friday night. He had fun choosing the bear body that he wanted, stuffing it, picking out an outfit for it to wear, and naming it. This is the bear he chose and he named it Joe:

The camo outfit is the one that Grant chose and then he received the Spiderman outfit (he LOVES Spiderman!) from some friends of ours:

Grant wanted a Spy Party and we came up with a few fun things to fit that theme. We found a picture of a cake online that he liked and I made it for him. I love to make the boy's cakes! My mother always made cakes for me and my siblings and I want my boys to have the same memory of me when they are older.

As the kids arrived, I fingerprinted them at the Agent Check-In station:

They then each signed a secret message (their name) on a poster for Grant:

After everyone had arrived, they played a couple of rounds of "Get A Clue"... our spy version of "Pin the Tail on the Donkey". Each kid was given a paper fingerprint and they tried to place it as close to the magnifying glass as they could:

This is how "close" all of them got after a little bit of touchy-feely cheating! HA! :

Then it was time to open presents. Here's a group shot of the party guests before Grant opened his presents... it was chaos afterwards and there would have been no chance of getting them to sit still then!

Then came the sweet part... the CAKE! I made a 2 layer homemade chocolate and homemade vanilla cake with homemade buttercream frosting. It took a little time to make and decorate but it's always so worth it!:

After eating cake and ice cream, the kids played out in the yard until the party was over.

Grant and his best friends, Graydon and Emma

Grant had a great party with all of his lil' friends, but his day of fun was not over. Graydon spent the night and we took them to a Memphis Redbirds baseball game later that afternoon.