The Flock

Along with cooler weather, football, and leaves changing colors, one of my favorite things about fall is seeing the beautiful flocks of birds migrating south. I am absolutely amazed everytime I see a large group of those tiny, black birds (I'm not sure exactly what kind of bird they are)

moving like a wave across the sky. The flock of birds seems to have one mind as they move up and down and side to side. They move together so elequently as if performing a choregraphed ballet in the blue sky. When they land, they land together painting the fields, trees, and power lines black.

As I watch those migrating birds move together, I can't help but think that is how God wants His people, His church, to be. If it was one bird flying across the sky, I would glance and think that's nice, but what makes me stop in amazement is the flock of hundreds of birds moving together, stopping together, sharing the journey together. Imagine if we, God's children, worked together the way those birds do. It's not about only one person, but about every single person doing their part of the Kingdom's work for the glory of the Father. Then, the world would stop in amazement, as they see the light of God shining through His people. Oh, how I pray that would be true!

Just Sayin'

I'm so sorry that it has been forever since I have posted. I'm going to try to catch you up on Camp life lately. It probably will take a few posts to do that.

I wanted to share a little of Parker's growth lately. He has left the baby stage behind and is now a toddler, which makes me so sad and excited at the same time. One of my favorite accomplishment is Parker's new words. I could tell for a while that he understands what we are saying and can get his point across using gestures and babbles, but now I'm catching some words. I wanted to write them down before I forget these firsts. Of course, he says "mama" and "dada." Now he says... "ba" - ball "pupuh" in a whisper voice -puppy "lie"-light "key"- kitty "bu-bye" - bye-bye He also moos like a cow and does some sort of a meow. Of course, he doesn't perform on command so if you ask him to say some of these things he might just look at you like you're crazy.

11 Months Recap

Don't worry. I will be posting about Parker's first birthday soon, but I wanted to recap his 11th month first.

• started walking like a pro.
• started climbing the furniture.
• started the weaning process. (I found this very hard for me.)
• loves to eat except vegetables. I have to give him the veggies first in hopes that he will eat some or mix them in with other things.
• holds a toy phone to his ear, although sometimes he gets it more on the back of head.
• gives out kisses when you say, "give me a kiss."
• still loves to snuggle when he wakes up. I hope that continues forever!
• started wearing some 18 months outfits. He is such a tall boy.
• waves bye-bye most of the time.
• loves to push things with wheels and make the vroom sound.
• is very good at throwing balls.
• still just oh so sweet and lovable!

Sorry for the Boringness

Sorry for the boringness on our blog right now. For some reason, my background has disappeared and won't let me add a new one. Since I'm not a computer/technology savvy person, I have to wait until my husband figures it out. And since my husband works two jobs, he doesn't have a lot of time to fiddle with our blog. So hopefully one day soon, it will get back to the prettiness.

Sweet Memories

Last night I made my first batch of peach marmalade. This brings back so many memories. I thought about standing next to my Grandma Bertha as she made the best homemade biscuits ever. I was always amazed at how clean her hands were when she finished. She didn't even need to wash them. I don't know how she did it! When those biscuits were done, we would split them open and top them with butter and homemade peach marmalade. This was and still is one of my favorite desserts. I remember her telling me I could have the wooden bowl in which she made those biscuits when she died. I felt so uncomfortable about that because I didn't even want to think about her being gone. When Grandma Bertha died, my mom and I took over the peach marmalade making "buisness." Every summer we would get a big box of peaches from McLeod's Farm in McBee and make several batches of peach marmalade. Instead of putting it on top of homemade biscuits, most of the time it was the frozen Pilsbury ones. Not as good, but it would do. It takes a lot of practice to make great biscuits. I hadn't made any peach marmalade since the year my mama died. Even though I was married, I still made a batch of peach marmalade with her that summer. I wanted to make some marmalade last summer, but I was very pregnant and just didn't feel like doing it. I couldn't wait to get my box of McLeod's peaches this year. Last night, Paul and I made our first batch of peach marmalade. There's now a jar sitting in my refrigerator waiting on me to make some biscuits. (My biscuit making skills have come a long way, but they are no where near that of my grandma's.) I'm very tempted to just have biscuits with peach marmalade for supper.

Growing Up, a Little Monkey Time, a Fight and a Bloody Lip

I haven't been doing a very good job of blogging lately so I decided I needed to catch up. Parker is just one week away from turning one years old. I just can't believe how fast this year has gone by. Over the past couple of weeks I've really noticed that Parker is loosing his babiness. He has really gotten walking down. He even attempts to run sometimes; he hasn't gotten that down yet. Personality has really developed. He is beginning to express his independence. Although he still eats a lot, he has become a little picky in what he eats. I have to start with the veggies first in hopes that he will eat some. I've begun the weaning process which I think is more emotionally hard for me than him. And with all his new found mobility and independence, Parker got his first busted lip last night. The accident that caused the busted lip wasn't that bad, but trying to get it to stop bleeding was awful. I'm going to have to buy some popcicles to have on hand for the next bloody lip. Today, we took the children's group from the church to Monkey Joe's. It is a nice, air conditioned place full of inflatables. Parker had a blast exploring in the toddler zone, which I think they call the Mini Monkey Zone. He crawled, walked, and climbed all around the pint size inflatables. He even met some friends and one enemy. That brings me to the fight part as the title suggest. Parker got into his first scuffle with a mean, bully kid. I had turned away for one minute to take a picture of the other children who were eating near by and when I turned back to check on Parker I see this kid, I'm guessing around 18 months or so, tackling and scratching my precious baby boy. I quickly put my camera down, took off my shoes, and jumped into the inflatable to safe my child. He wasn't crying, but he had a look of distress that said to me "Mommy, please save me from this thing." Poor thing had scratches on his face and neck and even lost his sock in the process. A minute later I noticed another mama jumping in the inflatable to save her child from the mean, bully toddler. Of course, the bully's mama was over playing cards with her girlfriends and was oblivious to all of this. Parker's getting tougher and being a little boy, I know these won't be the last of his injuries.

I tried to get a picture of his boo boos but it's hard to tell from this picture. This was after a lot of the redness went down so it doesn't look that bad.

P.S. I tried to upload some more pictures but it was taking forever so I gave up.

Weathering the Storm

This afternoon was quite a scary adventure for Parker and me. I went to Sumter to do my usual weekly grocery shopping. I saw on the radar there were some storms in the area, but they were small cells. First stop was CVS. When I left there it was beginning to drop rain. I said a prayer that Parker and I would make it inside Walmart before it started to pour, and I prayed for a good parking place near the buggy return. The Lord answered both of the prayers. While in Walmart, it started pouring and popping lightning. Then I got text alerts for a severe thunderstorm warning and tornado warning. I called my sister to pull up the radar so I could know what to do. She told me that the worst was yet to come and I should get out of Sumter. I emptied my buggy. I hate to just put stuff anywhere in the store, but I made an exception today. I was just outside of Sumter when it started pouring again but this time with wind. My sister called to see where I was because she saw on the radar more stuff developing. At that point, I pulled over at a gas station which was open. I crawled in the back seat, got Parker out, headed through the torential rain and wind, and as I got to to the door the lights went out. I thought the power went out, but no, the store had just closed! So I headed back through the torential rain and wind put Parker back in his seat, who is now scared and crying. Next door is a Chinese restaurant, but I'm was not sure it was open. At this time, I knew from talking to my sister that they were reporting rotation in the area. I was too scared to stay in the car so I took the chance and got Parker back out of his seat and ran through the torential wind and rain again into the safety of the Panda House. When we walked in the door, there were four Chinese adults and one child who immediately went "awwww" and started saying something in Chinese. Then one of them quickly brought paper towels and started drying Parker off. They were so nice and were understanding of why I invaded their store. They even offered Parker a little miniture cup of jello, but I politely declined. Finally it cleared enough to set off for Pinewood. I did get into heavy rain but no wind. I was so grateful to open the door to our house and be safe inside. Now I got to go back to Sumter tomorrow to do my grocery shopping since I only came back with two sticks of deodorant and some peptobismal.