Happy 11th Birthday John!

 John turned "the big one-one" this week, and we had a wonderful time celebrating!  Tim took a day off and we had a John-a-thon from morning until night...

John had been begging for a pellet (bb) gun for months.  He wanted to shoot targets and cans and such.  We kept alluding John, telling him that we weren't sure he was responsible enough for that kind of thing.  And then on the morning of his birthday, instead of finding a pellet gun, John found the first clue to a scavanger hunt which led him all around the house until he finally found the gift on our back deck...

 And there it was!  John's very first firearm...ish.  :)

John also received a super-cool walking stick and some spending $ from his awesome grandparent-types.  Thank you!!!

We spent the day at the Kannapolis pool.  The weather forecasters had been predicting storms, but it was sunny and not a drop of rain fell.  God must have wanted John to celebrate his birthday.  Praise the Lord!

And then we finished the day with a seafood feast at Captain D's.  You can probably tell that John was pretty wiped from all the sun and excitement by that time.  The perfect end to the perfect 11th birthday.

Happy Birthday Baby John!

Praising God

Today our family celebrates our two-month anniversary at Faith Baptist Church.  What an amazing 8 weeks it has been!  To all of you out there who prayed us to our wonderful new church, this smile on our daughter's face is our THANK YOU!!!

Morrow Mountain State Park

 Our family had our first "journey off the map" since we moved... We visited nearby Morrow Mountain State Park to do some hiking and enjoy some fresh air.  What a beautiful place!   

 Of course, John was interested in finding "critters," and he had his pick at Morrow Mountain.  There were countless tiny frogs, blue-tailed skinks, and below Anna is holding a huge snail that she found on a log.

 We will certainly be visiting Morrow Mountain again in the fall, so that I can get my autumn-leaf fix, and we can explore its many types of rocks when our homeschool does a geology unit.

Independence Week

Usually we celebrate Independence DAY...but in our new hometown we celebrate the 4th of July for an entire WEEK.  And what a great week that has been!  The kids and I ventured to Village Park in Kannapolis for a concert by the Charlotte Symphony, and it was fantabulous.  I made the kids get there REALLY early, but we were able to get great seats right upfront.  There were 15,000 people in the park for the concert, and about 14,900 of them were behind us. :D

Not only did we enjoy a good show, but we also learned the value of a symphony playing in the park:  free tickets (that would have normally cost a fortune if we saw the same symphony downtown), and we also got to enjoy a picnic together in the fresh air together.  And as Anna demonstrated in the above video...you can't get your groove on in the symphony hall like you can in the park.  :D

 After the symphony, Kannapolis put on a fantastic fireworks show.

Watching fireworks is cool.  

But watching your kids watch fireworks is priceless...

But of course, anyone who knows Faith, North Carolina knows the Faith 4th of July parade.  It's one of the biggest in the state...actually one of the biggest parades ANYWHERE.  It was awesome!

 The parade lasted TWO HOURS, and there were people as far as the eye could see.  

 John's favorite part of the parade was when the Confederate soldiers actually shot their black powder rifles.  LOUD!

 The Daughters of the Confederacy had a float that showed all the flags that flew over the Confederacy.  Cool piece of history.

 And at the end of the parade, Tim was priveleged to be asked to do the invocation for the 4th of July ceremony. 

Tim was also privileged to be asked to do the prayer for the community choir concert that happened at our church.  Tim and our family felt so welcomed into the Faith community this July 4th.  You shared your celebrations with us, you included us in your festivities, you fed us, and you loved that we were celebrating with you.  The huge patriotism of Faith was one of the first things we heard about this town when we considered coming here...but now we are learning about your huge heart. We love our new community of Faith!

My dream is of a place and a time where America will once again

 be seen as the last best hope of earth. -Abraham Lincoln.