Can't Believe It's Been Over A Year

I can't believe I haven't posted anything since last May. I blame it all on FB. Afraid I've become a little addicted but I am determined to do better by my blog. Starting now!!! This past weekend we met my cousin, Regina and her husband, Steve for dinner. She lives in Florida now but was down visiting family. We had an AWESOME visit!!! Can't believe it's already the middle of July!! Where is the summer going?!!!

We celebrated my niece's birthday this weekend, too!! Samantha turned 7!!!! Isabella had a ball playing with her cousins!!!


Next week I will be celebrating 24 years working with the same company!!! Then next month my husband and I will be celebrating our 24th wedding anniversary!!! Where has the time flown?

Isabella is 4 1/2 now!!! I can't believe how much she has grown up. She is so precious to me and I thank God everyday for her!!! I officially began homeschooling her in January but you might say I am actually unschooling right now. This is where you don't follow a particular curriculum, you study what your child is interested in. In a lot of ways she is past pre-k/k. She is reading and writing really well. She knows a little Chinese and Spanish. She enjoys studying the body parts and knows many of them by heart. She knows all the planets and something about some of them. She knows a lot of the dinosaur names by heart and picture/description and something about them also. These are all things she is interested in. She took tap dancing last year and wants to take ballet this year. She is soaking up so much.

We started going to a new church in May and WE ARE LOVING IT!!! Instead of it being a 5 minute drive like our other church, it is now more like a 35 minute drive but definitely worth the drive!!! It is MUCH bigger!!! There are 4 services:9,11,4, and 6. We go at 4:00 and since it is on the way to Wrightsville Beach we usually drive there afterwards. Isabella loves it!!! There are so many kids in her class/age group and they learn so much. We really needed this change in our lives and I thank God for leading us to this church. God has blessed us in so many ways!!!

Captivating: Revised and Expanded by John & Stasi Eldredge

Stasi Eldredge truly poured her heart and soul in Captivating: Revised and Expanded. With the aid of her husband John, Stasi wrote in this book how all women feel at some point in their lives and how they just want to be loved. She made me think of my own life and why I might feel about certain things now that I do. At the same time she wrote of all the trials she had been through and how she had to deal with them and still to this day struggles with the pain of her youth.

For Christian women this is a must read. It is a guide to show us how God wants us to feel as women, that we are all beautiful and that he truly loves each and everyone of us. That we as women do matter and that we should feel good about ourselves.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, it was hard to put down, but at times it was also painful to read. It is sad to know that some women go through life not knowing what true love is, especially God's love.

I highly recommend reading Captivating but be prepared to uncover something about yourself you didn't know.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com (http://BookSneeze.com)>book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255.

EVER HEARD OF BOOKSNEEZE.COM?

Once in a while I'll be doing something a little different on my blog. Ever heard of Booksneeze.com? It's a website where all you have to do is agree to review their books on your blog and a commercial site such as Amazon.com. You sign up on their website and chose a book, read it and review it. The books are yours to keep for free. I received my first book last week. Currently I am reading "Captivating" by John & Stasi Eldredge. It's a book for Christian women. So far it's pretty good! If you love books and enjoy reading this is great!! They have a good selection and several Christian books.

EASTER

We took Isabella to see the Easter Bunny at the mall and she wouldn't have anything to do with him so I just took a picture of him waving at her. Easter was a beautiful day!! The Easter Bunny arrived early that morning and Isabella had lots of goodies in her Easter pail. Our church had the kid's egg hunt during Sunday school. I have never seen so many eggs. The kids had a great time!! After church service we went to my parent's for lunch, more Easter baskets and another Easter egg hunt. One of my brothers, Phillip and his family were there. Isabella loves playing with her cousins. Dad does most of the cooking and he had prepared chicken and pastry, chocolate pie and chocolate cheesecake. I baked a strawberry cake with strawberry frosting. It was a beautiful day to celebrate our Lord!!!

2ND GOTCHA DAY ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION WITH THE DAUGHTEY'S

We Celebrated our Gotcha Day Anniversary with the Daughtey's again this year. This is our second. We didn't get together on the exact date because we were in Disney World, instead we celebrated on March 27th. We met at the Children's Museum in Wilmington. We spent about 3 hours there. There was so much for the kids to do. Even during that time they didn't do everything. The kids had a great time!! Afterwards we went to Elijah's on the riverfront and ate. We had a great time visiting with Danny and Jenny and Isabella and Lilli had a great time playing together. I am so glad they live nearby so we can see each other. Looking forward to them joining us here in Burgaw for our annual Blueberry Festival in June!!

DISNEY WORLD

Last month we spent a week in Disney World!! We all had a great time!! My parents and one of my brothers, Phillip, and his family went. We rented a 4 bedroom , 3 bath townhouse so we were all able to stay together the entire time and it was very nice. The weather was great!! We celebrated our 2nd Gotcha Day Anniversary while we were there. We made sure we were in Epcot that day, which was Wednesday, March 17, so were could take pictures of us in China. We also celebrated my nephew's 12th birthday while we were in Florida, which was a surprise to him!! Ronnie and my nephew rode Tower of Terror and they along with my brother rode Space Mountain!! Isabella rode the Teacup with her cousins but she didn't like it. We all rode IT'S A SMALL WORLD and THE HAUNTED MANSION. The Hall of President's was AWESOME!! I don't know how they made them look so real. Ronnie and my nephew and nieces all had their faces painted. I couldn't get Isabella to do it. She wouldn't have anything to do with her Daddy until he washed his off. We thank God for this wonderful trip and are ready to go back!! Next time we are including Universal Studios so we can go to the Harry Potter Park!!! I am a HUGE fan!!!