Graduating from college furniture

After too long with our mattress on the floor and our mismatched bedding, Jason and I decided to bite the bullet and get a completely new bed. Sears had all of their mattress sets 50% off, so we went with a much better quality than our previous mattress we've had since we got married.

It was so much fun to spend money (even though it was really on a credit card) and to pick out what we wanted. Ezra and I went shopping for the bedding at JC Penney and got a really good deal on a comforter, bedspread, shams, bedskirt, new sheets, and four pillows. He even helped me make the bed and style it!

It's so much taller than our last bed (which was on the floor anyway) and we are enjoying a good night's sleep on it.

In our own backyard

We are blessed to have a new greenway that runs alongside of our neighborhood. Ezra, Haggis and I decided to go on a nature walk on the hottest day of summer the other week. We practically gave our poor dog heat stroke! Once we got to the shaded parts, it was quite pleasant.

Here's a blairwitch-like video my son took while we were taking a break.

Three cousins and a birthday

Kassidy and Ezra in the morning. So sweet. Ezra became very attached to Kassidy (and to Ally) while she was here. I should be getting some pics of Ally soon.

Ezra and Jacob sleeping in. Aren't boys precious?

The treasure chest cake. In the background is a robot made from recyclables that Ez made. He filled his head (tin can) with rocks that he got while up at Tweetsie with Nana, Poppy, Kassidy and Jacob.

This summer, we've had the joy of a few of my nieces and nephew to come and stay with my mom and dad for a while. Ezra's had a blast being with Jacob, Kassidy and Ally. Now that there's a break between cousins, it's quiet around here (unless you count Ezra's lengthy stories and non-stop sound effects and humming!).

I don't have any pictures of Ezra's 5th birthday yet, our camera wasn't quite ready for pictures. Either the batteries ran out or the memory card was full, I wasn't paying attention (bad mom!). My parents have some pictures that I will post later. I do have a picture of his cake though. Jason helped with the design. He had the idea of making an extra cake so we could make the treasure chest look like it was half-buried in the sand. Yep, he watches Ace of Cakes with me occasionally.

I need an Ocracoke morning

That's the phrase I thought of yesterday as I was feeling a little weary and thought it would make a great tagline for an Outer Banks campaign.

But I really do need an Ocracoke morning, or two or a week's worth. It seems everyone I know has been enjoying vacations. I am keeping my eyes on two of my neighbors houses next week as they will be gone, and my other neighbor was away a few weeks ago. It doesn't look like we'll have a vacation this year, although my husband is talking about going to Mississippi to visit his dad. Not quite a vacation when you visit in-laws in MS. But, we'd make the best of it.

Ocracoke is my favorite O.B. location though. So quiet and calm. You have to take a ferry to get to it. Ride your bike all over the place and stay at the beach all day. Ahhhh.... My son made some contraption that I keep by my desk that reminds me of the ocean. He took an empty root beer plastic bottle and filled it with pea gravel and water. When you tip it over and back, it sounds like the ocean. It's my beach in a bottle!

Graduation Day is finally heeeeeeere!

Here are some pics from Ezra's preschool graduation. I always used to guffaw at people who went overboard with a Pre-K graduation, but I couldn't help it. They all look so cute and are very proud of the fact that they're moving onward and upward. Ezra has been singing his graduation song all the time and it gets stuck in my head.

More important than a lightbulb burning out...

Ez: Jesus is more important than crashes, or a lightbulb burning out or bad things. Jesus is more important than people dying.

Mom: Yes He is.

Ez: Can I go to heaven one day?

Mom: Yes you can. Jesus loves you so much and wants you to be in heaven with Him.

Ez: Can I love Jesus too, you know, since He's a boy?

Mom: Yes, think of God like a Daddy. He's like a Father to us.

Ez: So, I can kiss him, like I kiss Daddy before he goes to work?

Mom: yep! I bet you can.

Ez: And I can miss him too?

Mom: yes we can miss Him.

A Prayer for Fathers

After a particularly challenging week, I let myself get pushed to frustrated tears again tonight. And the funny thing is, I think I am about ready to start my period. But then, God has a funny way of using seemingly uncontrollable things such as hormones to bring me to prayer.

I took a timeout on the back porch and brought my Bible and a book called The Power of a Praying Wife. The next chapter I turned to was on Fatherhood. It was so timely, especially with Father's Day coming up, so I thought I would write Stormie Omartian's prayer here and claim it as my own prayer for my husband.

"Lord, teach Jason to be a good father. Where it was not modeled to him according to Your ways, heal those areas and help him to forgive his dad. Give him revelation of You and a hunger in his heart to really know You as his heavenly Father. Draw him close to spend time in Your presence so he can become more like You, and fully understand Your Father's heart of compassion and love toward him. Grow that same heart in him for his child. Help him to balance mercy, judgment, and instruction the way You do. Though You require obedience, You are quick to acknowledge a repentant heart. Make him that way , too. Show him when to discipline and how. Help him to see that he who loves his child disciplines him promptly (Proverbs 13:24). May he never provoke his "children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord" (Ephesians 6:4). I pray we will be in full agreement as to how he is raised. I pray that there will be no strife or argument over how to handle him and the issues that surround our child's life.

Give Jason skills of communication with his child. I pray he will not be stern, hard, cruel, cold, abusive, non communicative, passive, critical, weak, uninterested, neglectful, undependable or uninvolved. Help him instead to be kind, loving, softhearted, warm, interested, affirming, affectionate, involved, strong, consistent, dependable, verbally communicative, understanding and patient. May he require and inspire his child to honor him as his father so that their lives will be long and blessed.

Lord, I know we pass a spiritual inheritance to our children. Let the heritage he passes on be rich in the fullness of Your Holy Spirit. Enable him to model clearly a walk of submission to Your laws. May he delight in his child and long to grow him up Your way. Being a good father is something he wants very much. I pray that You would give him the desire of his heart."