Tired of....

....the presidential commercials for an election that's 21 months away.

Flipping Out

Luke has learned how to turn a flip.

How funny!

Find Andrew

A few of the students at Andrew's school got the opportunity to tour a school bus. Since we're a private school, many of the kids have never been inside of a bus before so this was very exciting for them. Can you spot Andrew? (He's the blonde on the far right near the edge of the picture.)

Clouds

It was so warm outside today! Beautiful. We didn't even need jackets. I enjoy wearing short sleeve shirts. Andrew and I laid in the grass in the backyard and looked up at the clouds.

Andrew: "Where they going, Mom?"
Me: "They're just moving on, I guess"
Andrew: "I know....they going to the moon! See!" (pointing to the moon)

So cute!

Proof

Just wanted to show you the picture of proof.

Deadlines

So many deadlines to meet....so much to get done:

1. Finish the yearbook by Thursday so it can be mailed and received in Illinois by Monday
2. Pre-register child #2 for Fall MMO this week
3. Sort through clothes and tag them for the city-wide spring consignment sale by next week
4. Design school and MOPS newsletters by tomorrow night
5. Continue unpacking boxes
6. Buy a wedding shower gift by Saturday
7. Paint bedroom and living room
8. Pass out Mission Project to child #1 class in next two weeks
9. Complete art lesson plans for the next month
10. Camp reunion coming up and need to find a babysitter

So much more but no one really cares about this list....it's just another place for me to look and "check-off" for that time when I lose my first list.

To God be the Glory

To God be the glory......may his praise be forever on my lips, in my heart, and on my mind. A dear sweet friend called me this week with tragic news. How heartbreaking to hear her sorrow....oh, but how encouraging to hear that she is praising God through it all. I weep with her. I scream with her. I wonder with her. Along with her, I don't know WHY. But I DO know that God never makes a mistake...and He never will.

Just typing....

I'm not feeling well today....have a headache and have been sneezing alot. Don't know if it's related to the pregnancy, a change in cold to warm weather, withdrawal from watching 24, or a new house with new germs. Who knows.....

Everyone keeps telling me to be prepared to spend more money on this little girl than I've spent combined on my two boys. I've not spent a penny so far but it's only been six days since we found out. Fortunately, I have lots of friends with little girls who have offered to hand down plenty of cute pink clothes. It's almost like having a first child all over again....not really, but kind of.

Here's a picture of Luke strolling along with his cousin, Ella (Valerie and Tyler's second daughter).

Baby McGinnis is a boy or girl?

A GIRL!

100% positive as the ultrasound pictures were VERY clear.

Boxes, Boxes, Boxes

There are boxes everywhere! We have officially made the move from one house to the next. We still don't have our cable hooked up yet so we have a sweet friend taping 24 for us tonight. Since we don't have our cable yet, we are also without Internet access....which is probably a good thing since it's a distraction for me. I need to be spending what little time I have unpacking boxes and organizing rooms.

My friend, Crissy, is a wonderful writer and extremely transparent in her words. She shoots straight from the heart. I wish everyone knew this friend of mine. She's an amazing godly woman. Click on her name above to access her blog.

Ridin' in my car

It was pleasant yesterday....warmer than usual. We ventured outside for some play time. Luke decided it was his turn to take his older brother for a spin.

I Hate the Moving Process

I hate the moving process. Packing up so many boxes, not knowing where to put certain items, finding items you thought you lost, dusting in areas never gone before, deciding what to sell, keep, toss or give-away, wondering how you accumulated so much stuff (junk, actually), finding the time to get it all done, etc. AHHHHHHH! I hope we don't do this again for a really long time.

Reading Time

We went to Andrew's class today to have a pizza party. Afterwards, most of the kids gravitated toward Mitch because he had a book in his hand. I like this picture because Ansley, the only girl in the class of 12 boys, wanted to sit in Mitch's lap. I think she loves books more than my own kids.

Luke in tub & Andrew's new PJs

Bathtime is always fun. The boys usually take one together but Luke got his own bathwater tonight. He likes to imitate....just watch!



Andrew got a new pair of PJs tonight. It's so cold in our house at night that I purchased a cute two piece fleece PJ set for him. He looks so grown up!

My two sons

Our ninth move

We've been married seven and a half years and have managed to have nine different physical addresses (not completely in order):

Hoover, AL
Homewood, AL
Moody, AL (x2)
Thomasville, GA
Columbus, GA (x4)

Finally, we've found a house we love and are excited about settling into and raising our family. We'll move into it in two weeks, just days before finding out the gender of baby #3. Funny how everything is thought of in relation to the pregnancy. I guess that's my timetable now. Speaking of pregnancy, I don't feel pregnant. Maybe it's because this is my third child and my body is so drastically different this go 'round. Maybe it's due to the fact that I'm trying to keep up with two toddlers all day long that I don't have time to think about it. I haven't felt the baby move yet (I'm 17 weeks) but sometimes I'm not really sure what I'm feeling. "Was that a kick or was that Mitch's elbow in my side (in bed)?"

I'll email our new mailing information next week so get that white out or label printer ready! A friend commented to me last week that my spot in her address book was the messiest due to all our addresses changes. Hopefully this is the last one for a good while.

Biker Mania

Andrew got a bike for Christmas and wants to ride it everyday. I wish our driveway wasn't such a steep hill and was flat instead. He likes practicing his turns in the driveway under the carport. Sometimes he gets too fast and falls over. We need to buy him a new helmet (the one he's wearing in the picture is a hand-me-down from a neighborhood girl - it was free!) and knee/elbow pads. He's showing off his steering and speed skills to his Pop in this picture.

Amy Carmichael CD

Click here to read what JT had to say about the new CD of songs from the writings and poetry of Amy Carmichael. I love her story.

Liquid damage

After dealing with a great cell phone that all of a sudden started powering down on me after just being charged all night, I took it to the store to see what the trouble was. Liquid damage. I guess I let Luke play with it too much and it accumulated all of his slobber. So, I've got a new phone now (same cell number, though) but am frustrated that I have to pay $10 to have my contacts transferred from the old to the new. There's a fee for everything......

Boys for the weak?

The guy in the middle is our pastor in Birmingham, Burt Boykin, at Community PCA. His wife, Anita, is a very good friend of mine. Burt and Anita are the proud, and patient, parents of seven children...all boys. They range from 8 years old to 21 years old. Their two oldest sons are Dane and Addison. Dane is a sophomore at Covenant College in Lookout Mtn, GA, and Addison, their second born, is doing an internship at a church in New Zealand, having taken a year off between high school graduation and starting college this fall. I have watched Burt and Anita raise their boys and I am encouraged.

It looks like Mitch and I might be close behind them with our two boys and possibly another male on the way. Maybe we're closing the gap, although it will take a while longer for us to do just that. I guess pastors are good at making boys to carry on their name. Burt likes to think that God gives sons to weak men. I guess he doesn't think he would be strong enough to raise a girl, much less seven of them. He always jokes about that. I snapped this picture last week when Mitch and I were in Birmingham visiting the Boykins for a few days.