Happy 9th Birthday John!!!

Today was the 9th anniversary of the day God blessed us with us little John!    My little military lover (we jokingly call him G.I. John) asked for a camouflage cake, which was a tough order to fill.  So after scouring the bakeries in Rocky Mount to no avail, I did the best I could making an army tank cake myself using a box mix, Oreos, Twix  bars, and some different colored fondant.  Seemed to do the trick.

John's chose to eat his birthday dinner at the Highway 55 Diner in Rocky Mount because they serve ridiculously large burgers.  John ordered a triple bacon cheeseburger (that's three 1/3 pound burgers).  Plus fries.  
He ate almost all of it!


Next year, John wants to take the "Big A Challenge" at the  Highway 55 Diner:
We’ll stack up almost 50 oz. of meat on a burger bun, with at least four toppings, give you a side of fries and a 24 oz. soft drink. If you can eat it all in 30 minutes or less, then it’s on the house. If you can’t or if you cheat, we’ll happily charge you for it.

John said his favorite gift was actually a camouflage outfit for his camouflage bear (whose name is Alvin York).
Now he and his teddy bear have matching digital camo.
They're doing their best soldier faces in this picture.  :)


John also received a Razor, an electric scooter.
I have no idea how many miles he's going to put on that thing, putting up and down the street.  The mind boggles.

Hard to believe my baby boy is nine years old now!

Family Pictures by Tim Cherry

The five of us were so excited today!  We received a package of family portraits taken by incredibly talented Cincinnati photographer, Tim Cherry...  http://tlcherryphoto.ifp3.com/#/page/home/

These pictures were taken the day before our move to North Carolina, and were hands-down the best pictures Tim and I or our kids have ever had taken.  What a sweet way to end our time in Cincinnati, in the home of our favorite photographer, a Godly Deacon, and a good friend.  Thanks for everything, Tim... We all miss you bunches.

I have to share my favorites:

John the Revelator

 John's hero is Billy Sunday, the great preacher of the early 20th Century.  John, too, believes he might be called to preach someday when he grows-up.  

 John recently got fired-up about bad things that our country is doing, and he felt compelled to preach a sermon about it.  So he wrote one.  Then John constructed a pulpit out of boxes he found in the attic (apparently using an entire roll of my Scotch tape), put on his suit over his Spiderman pajamas, and preached us a 6 minute - 30 second, 3-point sermon in the living room.  

Then John felt better. So he went to bed. 

And I guess now I live in a house with TWO men 

who sometimes just have to get their preach out.

"Then I said, 'I will not make mention of Him, nor speak anymore in His name.' But His word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back, and I could not."   -Jeremiah 20:9

And because I know you all have that song in your head now...

Tadpoles

Inspired by his dad's love of nature and his friend Gracie's similar idea, John is now raising a bucket full of tadpoles in our yard that he rescued from a drying puddle.  There are probably 50 of those critters in John's little man-made habitat.  Daddy admonishes John that he can't have too high of hopes that his tadpoles are going to make it (and then humorously sings lyrics to The Circle of Life from the Disney movie The Lion King).  But John is convinced that his baby frogs are going to overcome all their predators and obstacles.  Which at the moment are the family dog, the scorching summer sun, and the City of Rocky Mount bug truck that comes down our street once every so often to spray for bugs.

Good luck, little fellas.  Live long and prosper.

Braswell Memorial Library

One of my favorite places in Rocky Mount thus far has to be its library.  No offense to the fine folks at the libraries in Cincinnati, but Braswell has hands-down the best children's section I've ever seen.  One day we got to see Dave the Birdman, who did a show at the library. And at the end of July a snake guy is coming with all kinds of snakes, which rumor has it he lets people hold during his show.  Perhaps even 40 year-old pastors.  :)

One of the kids' favorite parts of this library is the super high tech check-out system.
You simply put your books on a table and punch your number in the computer, and it automatically checks-out all your books.

Very Star Trek.

Just Another Day At the Beach

I've lived in Rocky Mount 6 weeks, but I still haven't been able to grasp the fact that I live only 2 HOURS from the ocean!!!  For people who have been known to take 2 DAYS to drive to the beach, that's pretty astounding.

 We've had the opportunity twice now to drive over to the ocean for a day trip.  

First we went to Nags Head two weeks ago, when Dad and Mom came to see our new home...

Mom and Anna looking for seashells.

Enjoying ourselves on the newly-constructed pier at Nags Head.
It's made of concrete, so it doesn't creek when you walk on it like regular piers do.
And it's so new it doesn't even smell like fish yet!

And today we visited Atlantic Beach...

See that "No Swimming" flag in the background?  There was a wicked rip current there, and a section of the beach was cut-off from swimming.  Nonetheless, some folks didn't heed the warning.  We witnessed 4 water rescues during the hours we were on the beach.

After leaving the beach, we visited the North Carolina Aquarium in Pine Knoll Shores. 

It was a truly beautiful aquarium, inside and out... 

My home!

The kids were looking at the largest aquarium tank in North Carolina.

That's a giant sandcastle.  Pretty amazing!


"The cure for anything is salt water - sweat, tears, or the sea."  
-Isak Dinesen

"The sea hath no king but God alone."  
-Dante Gabriel Rosetti, The White Ship