The Beach and Other Adventures.

Well, at least if I make you wait a week between posts, you know you're going to get a lot of pictures. So here's the excessive photographic documentation of the last week or so.

My studly husband wrangling our two kiddos.

(Well, wrangling one, carrying the other.)

That's usually how it goes around here.

Tony wanted me to get one of J holding his first ball--a golf ball.

Tony was so proud.


She really does love her brother.
And it's really a hug, not a choke-hold. Most of the time.


Jude's spot on the beach. Checkin' out the ladies?


Four months old!


Cute tankini. I couldn't help myself.
There will be a day when I say no more two-pieces.
Today just wasn't the day.



This was actually Elizabeth's favorite thing. She is so fearless!
Good thing? Bad thing?




Fun in the sand pit with uncles, aunt, and Daddy.

Really, really, really excited to watch

"Spirit, Stallion of the Cimarron"on YouTube.

I refuse to buy it.

Beautiful girl.

At The Back Porch. Our only eating-out experience.

It's just not as much fun with an almost two-year-old that

prefers to walk on the table rather than sit quietly

and eat like a normal person.

We got a little sandy before dinner. No big deal.

Have I mentioned how hard it is to keep

bows in her hair? Ridiculously hard.

She just reaches up and rips them out and

hands them back to me with a smile.

I am defeated.

This is just a cute baby face. He really doesn't mock me.

Too often.

The cutest swimsuit ever, thanks to Aunt Katie,

who bought this before E was even born.

Only a couple more years until I (and Tony) nix the two-pieces.

Might as well wear the most adorable

ones you can find!

This was the second day. When she started to get sick.

Boo.

He, like a good little man, waited to get sick

until we got home. Thanks Judah!

Sweet baby face.

More beach stories to come. I have to give a stinky baby a bath at present.

Thanks for reading.

Four Months.

I wanted to get a picture of my big four-month-old man, but he's asleep. And I never wake a sleeping baby. Never. Not even for a fire.

Well, OK, maybe for a fire.

Hopefully I'll get around to taking a four-month picture today, but we'll be pretty busy watching the waves, feeling the sand between our toes, counting clouds, and breathing deep of the cleansing sea air. Important, time-consuming stuff.

Stuff I need to get started on right away.

Tomorrow.

[Today I am scrubbing the bathroom, scrubbing the kitchen, washing sheets plus 15 million other loads of laundry, organizing and straightening, and taking care of two children. Hurry up, Tuesday!]

The Finished Product.

Keeping Up.

I just love him. So much.

And them too. Equally as much.

He was fascinated by the trees on our walk the other night.

This is obviously pre-walk because the bow is still in place.
It usually has a life-expectancy of about 45 seconds.

Oh monkey bread, how I love thee.

Alas, it is unrequited.

Just some recent pictures to keep things interesting. The cute children are courtesy of me and my husband, and the monkey bread is courtesy of Pioneer Woman. I'm wearing out her cooking page around here. In fact, the dough for what I'm sure are some a-mazing cinnamon rolls is currently rising. At 4:45 p.m. I just wanted them, ok? Stop judging. We're calling them dessert.

You want some, don't you?

Go make your own.

Read This.

And pray for Josiah.

May the Sun of Righteousness rise with healing in His wings!

Tepid.

This is a blog post about a facebook status. If you can get past how annoying that is, read on.

I've been thinking a lot, I mean a whole lot, about the passage in Scripture that says that God would rather us be hot or cold toward Him rather than lukewarm. I've heard it a million times, it seems, but it took on flesh for me this past month in the form of a guy Tony used to disciple through YoungLife. He is now a self-proclaimed atheist and it appears he has taken it upon himself to enlighten the world and liberate everyone he knows from the chains of worthless religion. My first, and lingering, reaction was an overwhelming pity. This is a guy who has gone through so, so much. It just makes me want to love on him (remembering that "it is the kindness of God that leads us to repentance.") He is embittered and angry and cynical. And it's heartbreaking.

Yet what's almost more heartbreaking are those tepid fence-riders that have left comments for Mr. Nietzsche the Second (as I'll refer to him henceforth) on facebook, replying to his God-bashing status updates with varying versions of "I'm sad for you." What's sad is how these people missed the meaning of the Lukewarm Passage. These are people who think they know God because they don't say outright that He's a myth (like Mr. N II), yet they live like they believe exactly that. Explain that to me! [For the record, I had a former YL-er comment "That's so true!" to one of Mr. N II's posts.... Hmm. Good, I guess, that at least she's admitting she's cold too?]

After I posted a little status about the lukewarm thing, I had a friend remind me of this passage: "Better is it for he who curses God with his lips than for he who praises God with his lips yet his heart be far removed from Him." Conviction much?

Much for me. May it never be said of me that I'm tepid toward or about God, for that's worse all together than a God-curser.

P.S.

Listen to the new song I put on my playlist. So beautiful. And then go find more good stuff from Sojourn Community Church here.

P.P.S. I have been loving, LOVING, Brooke Fraser lately. You should too. She makes me want to buy some TOMS. I'm on the edge.

Heart Thrills.

Today's selection includes my favorite boy (not to be confused with my favorite man) and full refrigerators. An unlikely pair perhaps, but heart-thrilling nonetheless.

I love that my children have elf ears. I really do.

I also love coming home from the grocery store and putting everything away and then periodically opening the fridge to see how lovely and full it is. It reminds me that I don't have to go back to the store for a little bit. Anyone with me? IT'S SO GREAT!

OK, I'm finished. Just a little insight into a few of the things that made me happy today. I didn't get a picture of the brownies, but they are on the list as well. Also, my daughter. And my husband. And the new shoes and clothes for E & J from H&M. (Did you know they had kids' stuff?)

Also, your comments. Yes, that would be a hint.

Gypsy Travels.

So we're back. (For the next two weeks anyway.) Tony, Jude and I went to Destin for Beach Camp last week, and then met his parents in Nashville on Monday to pick up our sweet baby girl. Finally! Camp was chaotic as usual, but the Lord moved in mighty ways. It is so encouraging to see actual change begin in the lives of kids we've (by "we," I mean mostly Tony) invested in over the last two and a half years. Only God could do what we've seen done in that time. All glory to Him!

Jude and I were major buddies this week, and it was so very nice. Minus the seizing shoulder/neck/back muscles, getting to hold him so much and so exclusively this past week was amazing. We didn't see a lot of beach time (as kids kept kicking sand in his face), but at least he got to wear his beach gear that my mother-in-law gave him once before he got too big for it. And this kid is getting big. I'm thinking he's hovering on or over 14 pounds. Seriously. But it's 14 pounds of absolute cuteness, all day, every day. Here's a taste:

Gracious, the preciousness. He was so off-schedule this week, but he continued to be his sweet self regardless. He was passed around to no end, but somehow always ended up back in Amanda's arms, which must have some secret sleeping superpower because Jude was never able to resist it. Also, I seemed to be channeling everyone else's fashion sense, because I kept showing up to sessions as the exact twin of someone else. Exhibit A: Alicia. Even down to the shoes (sort of). I like her jeans better.

Exhibit B: Carra. This sweet girl drove 8 hours by herself, on her own time and gas, to be at Camp with us because we were short on girl leaders. I was so happy she came.

Here's Judah practicing his faux-hawk for Saturday night's Celebrity Night (he was one of Angelina Jolie's 30,000 kids). What you don't see in this picture is the 8-year-old granddaughter of the resort owner who took it upon herself to be my best friend anytime she was around. She really was cute, even if she couldn't get over how "creepy" my long toes were. "I mean, they're really creepy!" "Thank you, Brooke. So you've said."

First time in the ocean! He liked it a lot more than E did her first time. That's my true little boy. Yes, I know it's an...interesting hat, but there is not much in the way of cute baby boy head coverings. You do with what you've got. I've got to say though, there's not much that doesn't look cuter than it's supposed to when it's on him.



So that's all that's new for now. I am so, so very happy to be back at home today for our first "regular" day in a while. I'm reveling in the laundry, dishes, and all things routine. Still thinking about the house we saw a couple weeks ago and still asking God if He could do the impossible for us in this situation. We'll see.

It doesn't help that I can't get renovation plans out of my head. It's getting a little carried away. I've already drafted a couple of letters in my mind to all the HGTV shows. "Dear Genevieve, I've had two kids in two years and we're still living in a two-bedroom, one-bath apartment that we seem to be sharing with lots of bugs. For the love of all that's good, please help me."

We'll see.