The First of 101 Reasons Why I Love Summer

This is my favorite part of summer, sitting in the rocking chair on the front porch, reading my Bible, talking to Jesus.

Old Friends, New Ones, and A Wild Night

Old Friends
When we planned our family vacation, we decided we would allow our boys to invite friends to join us. We have good boys, but then tend to get a little "bored" with their old parents and annoying sisters. Taking friends turned out to be a great idea. (At least I thought so until Friday. See the last section of this post for the disclaimer.)

Felipe seems to have a good time where ever he is. He worked out with the boys, flirted with all of the girls he past, went swimming, took out the trash, and played with Josie-Tatum and Ellie.



Now, mind you, these boys like to laugh. You must listen to everything they say carefully, always filtering the truth from the humor. So, one morning, when we woke up and Nick was sleeping soundly, Stan decided he would take his picture. Felipe, however, had a different photo in mind. He decided he would "pose" alongside Nick for the photo. Nick never stirred.



New Friends
Those of you who know us...and those of you who have come to know us through this blog will NOT be surprised to learn than Ellie made friends with nearly anyone she swam past. Any stranger, young or old, who looked her way in the pool was drawn into converstaion.

In particular, Ellie and Josie-Tatum spent a good bit of time with two little girls..Lizzie and Brianna. I enjoyed talking with their mothers and Stan enjoyed conversations with their fathers.




The girls had some of their best "Daddy" time in the pool. (They had a pretty good time playing Mr. Mouth with him, too.) In the pool, though, Josie-Tatum used her gymnastics skills and Stan used his muscles. Together, they accomplished some pretty awesome stunts.


Josie-Tatum and Brianna wanted a "silly face" photo.


To end our vacation, we had pizza with Brianna and her parents, Brandon and Melissa, and Brandon's mother Mrs. Ann. Brandon, if you're out there, the rest of this post is a MUST read.

After our pizza, our boys, including our Brandon told us there were going to Daytona Beach to get henna tattoos. They had driven to Daytona two other times while on vacation, so I wasn't much worried about this last trip, though it was their first at night.

Our new friend Brandon said, "I would be a terrible father to boys." He shared how worried he would be if his boys just said, "We're driving to Daytona," and Stan and I shared how responsible our boys were.....The boys left. Brandon, Melissa, Brianna, and Mrs. Ann left.

Here is the disclaimer to my earlier statement about taking friends to the beach. Probably had the boys been without friends, they wouldn't have thought it was a good idea to drive to Daytona after 9:30 p.m.

Just after midnight, my cell phone rang. It was our Brandon. He said, "Mrs. Robbie, my truck's been stolen."

I said, "You're kidding."

He said, "No, I'm serious." I didn't hear any laughter in the background. Something about Brandon's voice told he he wasn't joking.

Stan left for Daytona to pick up the boys. Brandon, Felipe, and Nick waited on the police to arrive at the scene. I got back in bed with my cell phone, called Whitney to tell her she would likely have to come to Palm Coast. All seven of us wouldn't fit in my trailblazer along with all of our luggage, etc.

I waited on the phone to ring. For some reason, it didn't, but I received a voice mail. It was Brandon, "Mrs. Robbie, the police said it wasn't stolen. It was towed."
Turns out the boys parked at a business where they did NOT shop to walk down to the old tatoo place....A $125 lesson......

In the meantime, Stan could't find the boys...they're calling back and forth on their cell phones....Nick decided to carry on a conversation with the drunk man ont he corner...when a taxi came by....the boys climbed in the taxi and drove just 5 minutes away....to retrieve the truck....Stan still hadn't found the boys. The boys headed back to Palm Coast...so Stan headed back to Palm Coast....and the boys made it back to our condo before Stan did.

And, thus ended our "relaxing" vacation at Palm Coast. ;)

A Needed Rest---And Some Fun in the Sun

As tight as our budget is right now, though Josie-Tatum and I are going to South Africa this summer, we used part of our income tax return for a family vacation. With all of my big kids leaving home in the fall, I have a feeling this might have been our last opportunity to vacation as a family again for a long time.

We went to Ocean Hammock at Palm Coast. It is absolutley beautiful there. As I walked along the beach, I continually thought of this scripture from Isaiah, "Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of Hosts, the whole earth is filled with His glory." I thought of the beauty I see when I walk the dirt road here in south Georgia and the beauty we will see in Africa. Surely, the whole earth is filled with His glory.

My favorite place at the beach...the balcony.
Here is where we at all of our meals. Each night, Stan would leave the glass door open slightly so we could hear the ocean as we fell asleep. Each morning, I got up before the girls just so I could spend time on the balcony, listening the the ocean, reading my Bible, talking with my Jesus.

The girls enjoyed the balcony almost as much as their parents.



I highly recommend our vacation destination for families with young children. Alongside the family pool is a water playground for children. It was a bit hit! It was probably the single most significant factor in our returning to Cinnamon Beach this summer. Josie-Tatum had wonderful memories of the water playground.



Yeah, I know the water playground is for children, but Whitney is a kid at heart, too!



And, once again, I can tell you how wonderful my parents are, how blessed my children are to call them Grandma and Grandpa. We needed their help one day while on vacation, and they drove the 2 1/2 hour trip, one way, to help out. They spent the day with their grandchildren, too, and enjoyed the beach with us!



I'll post a few more photos and share the joy of meeting new friends in a day or so!

Blessings,
Robbie

We're Going On Vacation

In the morning...headed to Palm Coast Florida for a week. "Talk" with you when we get back!!

Wow! Oh! Wow!

The LORD has continually amazed me since our committment to the mission. Since March 23, we have received gift totally nearly $6,000.

Then, today, you know what happened today.......

We received a gift, an anonymous gift...are you ready??????

We now have more than $6,000.

We now have $250 more than $6,000!

We are now on the way to sending an orphan to school. I asked God to do more than we first asked. He's just begun!!!!

Praise the LORD!
Robbie