Round Rock Express Baseball Game

We have a college couple (boyfriend and girlfriend) that help out with Free Chapel Kids and they babysit for Jeremy and I. They had 6 extra tickets to a Round Rock Express baseball game at the Dell Diamond. We had the best time. It was extremely hot at first, like sweat rolling down my back, but then as the sun went down it felt great outside. The stadium has two playgrounds, a pool, a rock climbing wall, and plenty of grassy areas. The boys sat in their seats until the 5th inning, which I thought was pretty impressive. It was also Kids Eat Free night, so the boys had a 2nd dinner. We stayed the entire time and it was a blast. We will be doing this again!!

Thanks Tori and Nolan!!

The boys stalked the pitchers and catchers in the bullpen until they graciously gave them two balls.

They give out glow sticks and paper fans.

How nice is it to lay in the grass and eat a hot dog at 10:00 at night?

Sorry

I had my Summer reading list in the previous post. One of the books I had to delete. I was in the middle of reading it and it has some very inappropriate things in it. I am sorry for even recommending it. The others are very good! :)

Summer Reading

Adoption Update

Please be praying for a very important meeting on Monday August 22nd. Jeremy will be landing in Haiti that day. He will be meeting with the orphanage director, our contact Ruben, someone hopefully from our adoption agency, and hopefully A's dad. This is a pretty strategic meeting with finding out what we do next. We need either A's dad to release parental rights or the pastor to go file abandonment papers for the Mom and Dad. Then we can start the process of moving her over to a different orphanage that is set up for adoptions. We pray that God would swing the doors WIDE OPEN if this is His will.

This week Jeremy and I did 8hrs of training with our agency. We went through The Connected Child by Dr. Karyn Purvis. What is crazy is that just the day before Jeremy sent me a link that Dr. Purvis had done. We were honestly looking at it about something going on with one of our boys. Dr. Purvis is a great communicator and she is an advocate for children from hard places. It was really good.

Here are some blogs I read and I love:

Jen Hatmaker: She lives here in Austin and just brought her daughter home from Ethiopia. She also will go and pick up her son in about a month.

The Livesay's Blog: They are missionaries in Haiti. They are living Isaiah 1:17.

Katie: Every time I read this I am inspired to action. Wow!!

Training

Jeremy and I are running the half Marathon for Adoption in October. We are trying to get a bunch of friends to do it with us. Our training doesn't actually start until the end of August, but we both want to stay up on our running so we don't have to start over. Last Saturday and this Saturday we ran 5 miles, but during the week we run anywhere from 2.5 miles to 4 miles depending on the day.

Anyway, here are a few things I have learned on my long....er runs:

1. I have to get up at 5:00 a.m. to be ready to run at 5:45. I am not a morning person and it takes a while for me to wake up.

2. I need coffee and at least half a protein bar or half a banana before I go.

3. I need a great fast paced playlist.

4. It is best for me to wear a hat because I sweat like a crazy person. Sweat dripping down my face annoys me to no end. It's either a hat or a Richard Simmons headband.

5. We ran on Hwy 620 for the fist time today. I love and hate it. I hate that I fear for my life, but I love the long stretch of road. I think I need a neon vest.

6. Jeremy runs faster than me, so I don't even try to compete with him. Whatever!!

Grace

I was thinking about my husband Jeremy yesterday while he drove a boat across the Lake to teach our four small boys how to wake board. It isn't Father's Day, his birthday, or even our anniversary. I was just thinking about how he loves me more today than he did 14 years ago when we met. I know it is a choice he has made, not a feeling, but a choice and probably not an easy one at that. I was reflecting on all that we have been through, nothing tragic or even close to it, but just the normal married life stuff. The stuff that easily creeps in and pushes spouses farther and farther apart. The stuff that when you ask someone "What happened?" they actually can't put a finger on it.

I am incredibly thankful for God's grace, because we both know that it is only because of His grace that we are able to love each other on a daily basis. It is only by God's grace that we are able to become a united front in parenting our boys. It is only by God's grace that we started Free Chapel and by His grace that we haven't screwed it up.

grace, grace, God's grace,

grace that will pardon and cleanse within;

grace, grace, God's grace,

grace that is greater than all our sin!

Cow Appreciation Day!!

Who doesn't LOVE Chick-fil-a?
Cow Appreciation Day is super fun for the kids and its FREE!!!

How Cute is Micah?

The Mills and the Self's (minus Ty and Blake)

Gray and Sam

Product Review

I love to share a product when I find something I really like.

Here is the background:

I had all my boys by the time I was 29 and around 30 I started having acne. It was so weird for me, because honestly I dealt with the occasional break out when I was a teenager, but nothing like I have had the last three years. My OBGYN said it was probably hormones and women do experience break outs in their 30's. I also went to my Dermotologist to see what she thought. So over the course of about a year and half I have been on antibiotics, prescription topical medicine, the birth control pill, proactive, skin medica, and many other over the counter face wash lines. The antibiotic worked the best, but it is a short term thing and it can't be good for your health to be on antibiotics for very long.

I also tried the pill for about six months, but recently went off of it because I don't need it and I couldn't tell that big of difference in my break outs. I also started using this:

It is Go 360 Clean and I use the orange one, which is for acne. It comes with a scrub brush that you apply it with. I have seen a huge difference in my complexion! Jeremy and my sister have even noticed the difference.

Where we live!!

First of all, my pictures are out of order, so sorry about that!

We LOVE where we live. Two things we have enjoyed this week are the lake and the Lakeway 4th of July parade. The parade is one of my favorite things we participate in as a church. This year we partnered with Greenscapes Landscaping who pulled our trailer. We gave out cold water bottles, candy, and doggy treats. People especially love the doggy treats!

The Greenscapes Truck

Tyler and Hudson

Johnny, Me, Dad, and Derek waiting to go!

On Friday evening we went to our friends dock and rode the Jet Ski and of course we love the trapeze!

Tyler

Blake

Jeremy and Sam on the Jet Ski

Back to the parade! Grayson all decked out in red, white, and blue..and green!

All the kiddos in the back of the truck!