Braves Country

This is a moment Jeremy has talked about since Nate was a baby...walking him through to his first glimpse f a real Big League field.

We took a quick trip to Atlanta to watch the Atlanta Braves play the Colorado Rockies over Memorial Day weekend.  Honstely, we bought the tickets a month earlier, expecting to "swing by " the game on our way home from TN.  However, plans quickly changed earlier this month, and we made a trip to Ohio and TN that was unexpected.

Either way, we had tickets to the ball game, and thought it would be fun to go ahead and go.

This was the kids' first (and probably last) game at Turner Field in Atlanta.  They had a great time!

We even got Chipper Jones in the photo op.

Cocoa Cola Benches

Learning how to use "Chew"....

Um....I don't know what to say

 We had great seats in section 208 (for future reference...row 11).  We were just under an overhang, which meant we were in the shade!  This makes for a happy mommy and kiddos!  I would sit here again.

This is a beautiful field!

Freddie Freeman 

 Doing the Tomahak Chop...this was the highlight for the kids.  Nicole said it was even better in real life with the song that was played, and all the people doing it at once.  Her face lit up when it was time to CHOP!

 Gattis hit 2 homeruns this game!  

 And....a lesson on the heartbreak of life.  Nicole wanted a player to come sign her ball SO badly!  She waited....

 and waited....and waited....

 No one came.  She was heart broken.

 So, daddy signed the ball for her (and I signed it later that night).  Not sure if it made her feel better or not.

We had a wonderful time at the game as a family.  Well worth the trip!

On death and life

Yesterday was Easter, Resurrection Sunday. However, we did not spend it the way we typically do.  Instead of going to a sunrise church service, or our own church, Jeremy and I spent some time on Easter morning at Hospice, holding the hand of my grandfather who is hanging between life and death.  It was a precious and profound moment for me.  In a way, it helped me to understand Easter better, in a more personal way.

The kids could not go see grandpa, so Nicole made him this rainbow loom bracelet, to show him that she loves him.

Four months ago, my grandpa was diagnosed with lung cancer that was already very advanced.  He put up a brave battle, but it was too much for his already aging body.  He was an intelligent man, who worked hard his whole life, kept a neat appearance and had much pride and love for his family.  This made our visit on Saturday and Sunday especially hard.  His wife handled him with sweet love and much dignity as he entered his final hours, being sure he was clean shaven, with fresh breath, and combed hair.

I got to spend about an hour with him on Sunday, much of the time, sitting on his bed next to him, holding his hand and singing worship songs and reading scripture.  I have never been in this situation before, never looked death in its face, never really contemplated what may be happening in those moments.  At first I was scared, but now I count it as one of the greatest experiences of my life, with incredible significance on Easter Sunday.

You see, Easter is not about chocolate, peeps, egg hunts, little bunnies, or the big freaky ones that parents stand in line for their young children to take a picture with.  Nope, none of that has any true significance.    Easter is about sin.  It is about death.  It is about life.  Easter is about reconciliation. Easter is about newness in Christ.  It is about hope.  Easter is about Jesus.

Laying with grandpa, and talking to him, all of those themes came out.  It was difficult to not be overwhelmed when singing and reading about the final work Christ completed on the cross, while holding the hand of a man cradling death.

We sang O Glorious Day

One day when Heaven is filled with His praises

One day when sin was as black as could be

Jesus came forth to be born of a virgin

Dwelt among men, my example is He

Word became flesh and the light shined among us

His glory revealed

Living, He loved me

Dying, He saved me

Buried, He carried my sins far away

Rising, He justified freely forever

One day He's coming

Oh glorious day, oh glorious day

One day they led Him up Calvary's mountain

One day they nailed Him to die on a tree

Suffering anguish, despised and rejected

Bearing our sins, my Redeemer is He

Hands that healed nations, stretched out on a tree

And took the nails for me

'Cause Living, He loved me

Dying, He saved me

Buried, He carried my sins far away

Rising, He justified freely forever

One day He's coming

Oh glorious day, oh glorious day

One day the grave could conceal Him no longer

One day the stone rolled away from the door

Then He arose, over death He had conquered

Now He's ascended, my Lord evermore

Death could not hold Him, the grave could not keep Him

From rising again

Rising again

Living, He loved me

Dying, He saved me

Buried, He carried my sins far away

Rising, He justified freely forever

One day He's coming

Oh glorious day, oh glorious day

One day the trumpet will sound for His coming 

One day the skies with His glories will shine

Wonderful day, my Beloved One, bringing

My Savior, Jesus, is mine

Living, He loved me

Dying, He saved me

Buried, He carried my sins far away

Rising, He justified freely forever

One day He's coming

Oh glorious day, oh glorious day

Oh, glorious day

Oh, glorious day

and we sang In Christ Alone

In Christ alone my hope is found,
He is my light, my strength, my song;
this Cornerstone, this solid Ground,
firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
when fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My Comforter, my All in All,
here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone! who took on flesh
Fulness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones he came to save:
Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied -
For every sin on Him was laid;
Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain:
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave he rose again!
And as He stands in victory
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me,
For I am His and He is mine -
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death,
This is the power of Christ in me;
From life's first cry to final breath.
Jesus commands my destiny.
No power of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand;
Till He returns or calls me home,
Here in the power of Christ I'll stand.

"No guilt in life, no fear in death, this is the power of Christ in me; from life's first cry to final breath, Jesus commands my destiny."  What a wonderful reminder that every moment of our life is in God's hands!  I reminded my grandpa of that great truth.  

We read several pieces of scripture including Isaiah 43

But now thus says the Lord,
he who created you, O Jacob,
    he who formed you, O Israel:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
    I have called you by name, you are mine.
2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
    and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
    and the flame shall not consume you.
3 For I am the Lord your God,
    the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
I give Egypt as your ransom,
    Cush and Seba in exchange for you.
4 Because you are precious in my eyes,
    and honored, and I love you,
I give men in return for you,
    peoples in exchange for your life.
5 Fear not, for I am with you;

My grandpa and I, back in February.

After reading him the verses, we went back and I talked to him about it...reminding him that we need not fear because he has redeemed us, he knows our name.  At this, my grandpa gave a grunt of understanding and a nod of the head.  I reminded him that when he passes through these difficult waters, he is not alone, God is with him.  

We read the resurrection story at the end of John and I was struck by the amount of times that Christ said, "Peace be with you" as He greeted his disciples and friends.  So, I talked to grandpa about that, and prayed that Peace would be with him, even now in his final hours. 

You see, Christ defeated death that day on Calvary, what have we to fear?  I can not express the emotion of reading that and believing it while holding the hand of one who is dying.  I don't know if my grandpa was afraid, but I do know he responded to scripture and hymns.  I don't know if my words brought comfort, but I do know that I was there, with him in that moment.  

I have always been afraid of death...not my own, but others.  Truthfully, I probably still am, but I consider these moments with my grandfather as an honor, in a way, a glimpse of the goodness of Christ.  Yes, he was dying, but it was not a real and full death.  He is a child of the One True God.  The moment his spirit dies here on earth, his body will become but an empty shell, and his spirit will be in Heaven, worshiping his High King.  What a privilege to walk with someone down that path.  

1 Corinthians 15:55-56

“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
55 “O death, where is your victory?
    O death, where is your sting?”

56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

 It is Monday morning, and as far I know, my grandfather is still here, resting peacefully, but why shouldn't he be?  Death has lost it's sting, His victory is through His Lord Jesus Christ.

Edited to say : He passed away just a few minutes after 2:00.
Absent from the body, Present with His Lord!

Edited again to remember: When I told the kids, they were sad and wanted to pray.  Then, Nicole went in her room and cut out a paper balloon (he always gave them balloons when they would come over), and wrote his name on it "Grandpa Bob".  We plan to release balloons together as a family in the coming day, as a way to celebrate his relationship with them.

A Camper's life

If we wanted to do something cheap, we would have went to Disney World.

Well, maybe we didn't spend THAT much money, but this last camping trip seemed to be really expensive.  Hopefully we "have it all" now and won't have to buy so much next time.

Last fall, we booked a two day camping trip to Ft. Desoto with our friends from Naples.  Unbeknownst to us girls...we booked it on "Master's Weekend", which mean we got to listen the guys cry about missing the golf tournament on TV (however, they got home in plenty of time to watch the last several hours of the final round).

The week before our trip, the kids and I studied Florida waterways, fish, and all things fishing.  I knew there were a couple fishing piers that they would have fun fishing off of, and it's always more fun when you know what you are doing.

Practicing a fishermans' knot

We spent each day last week learning how to tie fishing knots, the proper use of different lures, what kind of fish to expect, etc.  We visited a great little hunting, fishing consignment store near by and got a crash course on all things Florida Fishing from the owner.  He ever helped up put new, braided, line on our poles.  We learned how to tie leaders so the fish wouldn't see the swivel hooks as easily, and took a "field trip" to Dick's sporting goods to pick out some lures (to bad the kid helping us didn't have a clue about fishing : (

Success!

Of course, this new found interest in fishing created a new founded expense for our checking account.  We did not have a tackle box to speak of, nor anything to filet our fine fresh catch.

Off Jeremy and the kids went to Walmart to stock up on everything they could ever want for fishing.

Meanwhile, I was at the grocery store, buying food in case we weren't able to catch our dinner (without giving to much info...let's just say....that was a great idea ;)

By early afternoon, we were headed to our campsite, truck loaded down with every possible camping need we could have, or so we thought.

She put up her own tent

After an hour of unloading and tent building, I asked where the air mattress was.  Let's be real, we are in our mid thirties, and sleeping on a shelly, sandy, rocky, pot holed ground is not for me anymore.  Thankfully, this sit has electric which was perfect for our double  filled, queen sized air mattress.  No shame here.

Christmas lights at the camp site kept the racoons away

Except, we didn't pack it.  It was still upstairs at our house, over an hour away.  We also, intentionally, did not pack sleeping bags.  Yep, I yuppied it up a little more and just brought a sheet and quilt for our comfy air mattress.   I knew that we would not make it through the night, let alone the next day without a decent amount of sleep.

Good thing...our friends also forgot a thing or two, and Brooke and I took off for a nearby Walmart.  Yep...I bought an air matress (and so did Brooke), and a few other things as well.

When we got back, the guys had dinner pretty much done.  A few years ago, my parents gave us these neat hamburger grillers. You fill them full of burger meat, close the lid and hold it over your campfire.  They turned out pretty good ;)

The kids had fun flying kites, playing ball, and eating 'smores.  We also made it to the pier just in time to watch the sun go down and throw the pole in the water a few times.  After about 30 minutes of strong, cold wind, and crying kids, we left...empty handed...but hopeful for tomorrow.

That night, we did not put the rain fly on the tent.  There was zero chance of rain, and we expected a warm, humid evening.  Besides...isn't it everyone's dream to lay under the stars at night?  Yeah, not mine either.  I *might* have slept about an hour that night.  Between the cold wind blowing, the loud sabal palms, waiting for racoons to ransack the camp (they didn't), and listening for my daughter who was sleeping all by herself in her own tent near us....it was as sleepless night.  I finally dozed off, when a few minutes later, a cute little 4 year old started jumping on me saying "mommy, the sun is up....it's morning, it's morning.  You need to get up now!".

This is how Nicole "nested" in her tent.

So, I got up.

I cooked a yummy pancake, bacon, and eggs breakfast (I used my electric griddle.  I used to do it over the camp fire in the old days....but it's to frustrating with hungry kids running around ;)

The kiddos, waiting for food.

The kids and daddies spent time playing wiffle ball and just having a great old time together.

Late morning, we headed off to the pier again to catch up some dinner.  We had it ALL!  We were ready!  We even had a cast net to get our own bait fish (it stayed in it's original container).

We fished for at least 2 hours....not one bite...nope, not a one!  In fact, no one around us was really catching them either.  But, we had fun.  Nicole is really, really good at casting her line.  I was really happy with how well she did.

Someone caught a puffer fish, and another person caught a ramora!  That was fun for the kids to see.

Ramora.  Nicole put her book on the suctions, and it stuck to her book, that was how we got it flipped back into the water.

We only saw two Spanish Mackerel pulled up (by others) the whole time we were there.  It just wasn't our day.

After a quick picnic lunch, we took off to explore the fort.  The kids had fun showing their friends around the prison cells and cannons.

I love this picture.  I request that this go in the senior yearbook :)

Sad Face :(

Happy Face!

Sad Hannah and Peyton

London was "posing"

Our family went back to the pier to try fishing some more.  It was just the five of us.  After an hour...still no fish, except the one I snagged and had to throw back.

Reluctantly, we walked away again, knowing we would go hungry for dinner (except that mom is always there to save the day with real food ;)  We joined our friends again and went canoeing.  This ended up being our family's favorite hour of our camping trip.  We saw several sets of sting rays in the shallow back water, and explored a shallow area full of lightening whelks.  We got into water fights, made our kids cry, and even through one into the water (which made the rest of us laugh again).  It was beautiful, peaceful, and fun.  No pictures though :(

Tree climber

Back to camp to eat dinner and play ball some more.

Then one more trip to the pier for the sunset (my favorite, favorite place to be when the sun is going down).  It was beautiful.  We threw the line in the water a few times with no bite, then spent a few minutes exploring the beach.

We finished off the night with icecream and more 'smores.

The funny moment was when we were playing "hot potato" around the camp fire.  Bryan made a rule that you had to answer a question before you could toss the ball to the next person.  We had to say things like our favorite candy bat or sports team, or a math problem.  Then Jeremy said, "Ok, this time, mom has to ask a question that the kids should know (implying a CC Question)."  Nate, who was fairly quite that night spoke up and said, "I'm going to the tent", Go up and walked away.  It was so funny because it was perfectly timed to imply "I'm not answering anymore CC Questions!  Good night!"  hahaha.  It was a fun time.

I have a little competition...and she's a cutie!  London loved talking to Jeremy :)

Nicole slept in her tent again that night, we put the fly on ours, and we all slept much better.  It was a fun weekend, that started off a little shaky, but we all really enjoyed.

However, I still think it may have been cheaper to go to Disney....but not nearly as fun!

Strawberry picking

I finally did it!  I finally took the kids strawberry picking.  I remember doing it with my mom when I was little, but I have not had the opportunity to do it with mine.  There are not any good u-pick farms in SW Florida, but there are a ton up here.  We found this farm that sells organic u-pick strawberries for $150/lb....MUCH cheaper than in the store (and more fun too!)

Checking out the strawberry onions and Kale

I love this little boy.

Taking a break (and eating some strawberries)

It was a beautiful day, cool breeze, lots of sun.  No one was in a hurry....we just wanted to stand around, talk, pick and eat strawberries.  It was perfect.