Friday, June 25, 2010

Heat wave

Hold tight fellow Carolinians...only 2 more days and we are back into mid 80's!!!
Thank you Lord for ending this heat wave soon I was about to put the house on the market and move to Canada!

Where all our money went..

Moving to the country has been hard an adjustment.  It's just been so dang expensive(excuse my language).
We had to drill for an new well and well...that's not fun, especially when we just moved in and thought the well we had was fine.  So, our new friend, Mr Tucker drilled for a new well.  It took 3 days.  Apparently, in all his umpteen years of well drilling in our area, we've been lucky enough to have the hardest rock he's come in contact with-Well good golly..we sure are special!
So, the well is done, our bank account is suffering but you know what?  It's so worth it!!
It's great out here!




Look at them all watching!  I was behind the camera crying when they weren't hitting water and I'm calculating the money this was costing after they had to go deeper and deeper to find water.  Good thing the camera is big!

Thursday, June 24, 2010

On my mind...

I was up until 2 a.m. last night with a heavy heart and alot on my mind.  It seems sometimes if Darryl falls asleep before me,I have troubles going to sleep myself.  Plus, the boys weren't feeling well and just earlier I had read of a little girl here in Charlotte that had just lost her battle with cancer.  So, needless to say, I just couldn't sleep because of worry, sadness, and I just needed some quiet time to pray and figure some things out.
One big thing that has been on my mind lately is denomination.  Specifically, Christian denominations....
I'm really struggling internally with where God wants to place us as a family.  I really struggle with whether denomination matters to God at all.  Is he up there just shaking his head at all of us?  If we all are Christians, does it really matter if one worships God one way and another worships him a different way?  On the other hand, I wonder if God is upset with the way the Christian church has headed.  From someone that has grown up with an Orthodox Christian/ Catholic liturgical style background, it sometimes causes me to pause and wonder how God sees the modern church.  Bear with me here while I rabbit trail a bit...
Yesterday on the news was a story about a teacher in Florida getting fired from a Christian school because she had gotten pregnant and was unmarried.  The school has a policy against such things and fired her...Now, I'm personally not fit to judge the situation but I know many news anchors and t.v. personalities were up in arms about this.  Kathi Lee, from whatever morning show she was on, said that they should have extended grace to her, that God is all about grace and mercy, not condemnation.  They were appalled that this would be happening in 2010.  Now, this got me thinking that many years ago, this would have been shocking to most people.  That getting pregnant out of wedlock would have been a serious offense(Please dear reade,r don't think I have a certain opinion about this either way-I will not and can not judge this situation myself because, I myself, am a sinner and have no right to judge ANYONE).  But, it did get me thinking about church.  And how, it seems, to me at least, that churches are kindof like that.  Their M.O. is Grace..it's all about grace.  I get that, am really so thankful for that..but what about......repentance?
This is a scary word to some...it was to me...
So, back around the other side of the rabbit trail, it gets me thinking about church again. Is the fancy churches with the exciting Kids programs, the coffee bars, the hip pastor that can talk about anything and is part comedian/part actor/part preacher the way?   Does God think that, like the instance with the pregnant teacher, we have changed church to suit us and our standards of what is acceptable and not?  Has church just become a place to go get our fill?  It seems it's more about us and what we get than him...we are there for us, not to worship...really... I mean ,we sing a couple of cool worship songs and maybe shed a tear or two if they really touch us but is that what he wants?   What does he want from me? Does he approve of the *fun* church?
 Or, is it that I just don't want to *suffer* in a *boring* church?  If, I'm really being true to myself and honest, I don't want to go to *boring* church. I don't want to fast!  I don't get sitting somewhere chanting the same things over and over and over again.   Yes, I get that this is the time to worship God, not my time..but is this what He wants?
But, notice how many *I*'s in those sentences...it's not what *I* want to do...but what does God want me to do?
I have struggled with this for YEARS.  Literally, YEARS...and I'm weary from it.  I don't know what God wants and don't pretend to know the answers.  I will say that I had an amazing experience last year going back to my childhood religion.  I met a wonderful priest and he met me on a Saturday to talk and do confession.  As much as I don't want to admit it, I was soooo scared to go to confession but really felt like God wanted me to do this...I really was petrified...but God was there in that church in N.J. and as I laid it all out and confessed my most awful sins, I was forgiven.  I had asked for forgiveness before for all these sins but still felt the need to do it this way...why?    Does God care if I go to church?  If we read the Bible at home, pray, study and believe...is that enough?   Can I still have the close relationship with him without the church experience?  Does church matter if you have faith and if you are immersing yourself in the Bible, studying, praying and living toward him?
 So, that's what was on my mind last night.  I emailed an Orthodox priest here in Charlotte that I've talked to from time to time.  He must think I'm a wacko because I'll email him and then not talk to him for months.  It was almost 2am when I emailed him so I'm sure it sounded crazy...I just hope he can give me some answers....
What do you think about all this?  I'd love to hear your opinion.

Monday, June 14, 2010

Saturday fun, continued

After we all picked our share of cherries, we all separated.  One of the families on the trip had a father who lived close and had a small homestead that we could go too.  So, the boys headed there and had a blast shooting bows and arrows and beebee guns.  While us ladies went to an alpaca farm and then to an artist gallery.  Afterwards, we all met up again for a cookout.  We had burgers, hotdogs, homemade macaroni and cheese and all the fixin's.  For desert, the kids roasted marshmallows and we also had carrot cake.
Here are the boys sitting together eating dinner.



Grandpop giving all the boys safety instructions before roasting marshmallows.


Sparklers!!!

We all had such a great time.  We were so beat when we hopped into the van, I offered a quarter to the first kid that fell asleep.  They all were passed out within 15 minutes!   We got home around 11:30pm and were wiped out but so grateful for the fun time.  Next venture will be blueberry pickin' so stay tuned!

Saturday's adventure

What a wonderful day we had Saturday!  We were invited to go the mountains with some family friends to go cherry picking.  We went with two other families and had a great time.  When we got to the mountains we first all shared a picnic together.  We had an abundance of goodies-sandwiches, chips, macaroni salad(that yours truely made), veggies with dip, homegrown pickles, homemade brownies and the best sweet tea.


Then it was off to pickin'.   I'd never been cherry picking before so if your not aware, the trees are really large and you have to climb these really tall, scary ladders to get the best cherries.  Mostly, I stayed on the ground for moral support and to take pictures.  The boys climbed and picked and ate their weight in cherries.
Here is Nick with his mouth full of cherries.


Here is my monkey, Matthew


Our family picked about 10 gallons.  Look at these cherries!!!  They are so sweet and taste heavenly!

Sunday, June 13, 2010

County tournament


Here is a picture from our County tournament.  Like I said in a previous post, our team came in runner's up in the gold division against the team we played in the town championship.  It was a great season of recreation ball and we are definitely keeping busy with All Star ball so the story continues...

More summertime fun


Sorry for the lack of posts lately.  We have been so busy with life that I haven't gotten to catch my breath let alone blog.  We haven't unpacked 80% of the boxes yet, but I still thought we needed some fun.  I just think the boxes will be there, right?  So what if it takes me a month to unpack.  Life isn't going to stop because of it.
So, we have been blessed beyond belief with a special event that happens twice a week(we've only been twice so far).  A local homeschooling family with 15 children has opened up their home to other homeschooling families to enjoy for the summer.  Their property is like a 4H camp.  It has a big lake with a slide, canoes, fishing and a landing in the middle for jumping.  They also have a pool and a HUGE playground that rivals any found at a park.  We have went the past two weeks with our good friends and have had so much fun.
I sit in the lake the entire time with my friend Elise and we just waste the day away with funny stories and screams when the fish decide to nibble on my hair.



Here is Nick with his bestest friend...

It is so much fun and we look forward to doing this all summer long.  Especially with this record breaking heat wave we are experiencing, the lake and pool are so welcomed!!

Matthew's summertime fun

Nicholas's summertime fun

Monday, June 7, 2010

A quick update

We have been so busy this week/weekend it's been hard to keep our heads above water. 
The boys had the county baseball championship tournament all last week.  They won all the games and went to the final game.  Coincidentally, the team they played was the same team that was in our town championship. (This, to me, speaks volumes about our town's great baseball)  So, it was two Mt Pleasant teams fighting for the county championship.  We came in runner up.  The boys played a good game but it just wasn't their day.  One family had a very serious car accident right before the game and another family came and helped, brought the children to the game, while the mama was brought by ambulance to the hospital.  That was all on our minds and with the heat and stress of it all, we just weren't in it.  That poor mama is still in the hospital now so please keep them in your prayers.  We did have something happen in the game that has never happened before.  The boys play 3rd and shortstop.  They both called they had a pop fly.  Well, one caught it but since they were both watching the ball, they both ran into each other causing the ball to drop out of his glove. They both were so upset they started crying right on the ball field.  It was pretty upsetting, but kindof humorous too...So, our team came in 2nd in the county tournament.  We are so proud of them and will play with mostly all the same boys because our All Star team makes up 1/2 of our team and 1/2 the other team we played against.
We just started unpacking YESTERDAY!  We were so busy with the tournaments and then went to help with the children of the family that had the accident.  It was so sweet, one of their daughters fell asleep in my lap..she was precious...
So, yesterday we started unpacking.  Today, Darryl is home so we can unpack some more.  We also have an unexpected LARGE expense today.  We have to drill for a new well.  Our existing well is bad so we were very upset about it, but I really feel that the Lord will provide the funds to be able to pay for this.
I'm also hoping to visit the mama  from the car accident in the hospital sometime today and am hoping to make them some food. 
Sooooo...I'll update with pictures from the tournament soon! Whew!!
Our All Star tournament starts tonight so we will be busy with that as well.  Wish those boys luck!

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Grocery List

Notice the change in handwriting.  My items are veggies, strawberries, mayo, etc.  Nicholas secretly added something to my list..can you see it?

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Our Weekend

A whole lot of this:




And a little bit of this:

Almost done!

ONE MORE DAY!!

This is the last day to place a vote for help in naming our new homestead.  Please look to the right sidebar and place your vote.  Two of the names are neck and neck...