i heart faces....at the beach~

This is my daughter Faith in her baptism gown on the beach near our home when we lived in Cornwall, England. It was a very windy day and she was much more interested in the sand than getting her picture taken, but I have always loved this photo........

"Today is a smooth white seashell, hold it close and listen to the beauty of the hours."`unknown

(I read this quote on a friend's blog today and fell in love with it! I hope she does not mind my borrowing it!;D )

Touched..........

I have copied the following post from a very dear blogger friend of mine. I have been overwhelmingly touched by this post and ask that you please take the time to read. I have never actually fasted before.......but after being blessed to have read about this amazing woman I feel the need to fast for the first time...........................

At some point in our lives, we have all been touched by the horrific ripples of cancer. Whether it's through a family member, a friend, or a story that has touched our lives, cancer is a word that makes the strongest of people cringe.

But there is one special lady who has faced this battle head on. Her most powerful tool? The armor of God.

Meet Cindy, an amazing wife of 31 years and a homeschooling Mama to ten (many adopted) beautiful children. Cindy is in the midst of a fierce battle with cancer that has spread.

Click HERE to read a moving post that Cindy titled, It's A Hundred Little Things. This post is filled with Cindy's thoughts and fears about dying as she thinks about her children, her husband and her unending love for our Savior. (Be prepared to have the tears flow!)

Fellow adoptive Mama and lover of Christ, Linny, came up with the idea of a "Blog Fast" for Cindy. You can read, in depth, Linny's beautiful words HERE requesting that we join her.

The bottom line is this:

WE ARE THE BODY OF CHRIST.


Would you join me/us?

The Fast: Monday, July 27th

Fast: Breakfast or Lunch or Dinner or All Three

Please, please, please spread the word!

Ask your blog friends to join together with us. Post it on your Facebooks and link it to your Twitter Accounts. Let's flood the Heavens with our prayers.

Please ask your prayer chains, your Bible studies....your prayer groups....your family......all of them....and let's see what God will do!

"A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, "If you are willing, you can make me clean." Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured." - Mark 1:40

MAY IT BE HIS WILL! NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD!

i heart faces....feet!!!

This weeks photo challenge at "i heart faces" is feet!! I decided what better photo to enter than the one I have on my blog header! ;) I love photos of feet so I am really looking forward to checking out all of the great photos and learning some great new tips on taking "feet photos!"
This photo was from last Spring while on a trip to the beach. I decided to take a photo of the families feet in the sand while we were all standing around when our Golden Retriever walked over. Of course she is part of the family too! We could not leave her out!

(We have since added a new addition to our family, our Beagle. I really need to get an updated photo with her paw.....oops I mean foot as well;)

i heart faces...sports in action & pets!!

We have been so busy being in the summer mode that I was planning on taking a break from entering the "i heart faces" photo contests for awhile, but.........I am hooked!:) I just couldn't stay away!:) This weeks categories are sports in action and pets.
Here is my sports in action entry of my son Reed. I love the determined look he has on this photo.......wish I would have been able to capture his entire face.

"The Catch"

Here is my pet category entry. We found this tortoise near the street not far from our home and took care of him for several months. My kids loved him and named him Comcast. Bitter sweetly we felt it better that we find him a home with someone that knew more about tortoises and that could care for him properly. We really enjoyed our time with him and hope to get a tortoise one day when we are more prepared for one.

"Comcast"

Check out all the great entries at "i heart faces"!

Going back to June............,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

June was such a busy and exciting month for us and it just flew by!! School ended the middle of June and it was a huge milestone year for each of the kids. Dean graduated middle school, Reed graduated elementary, and Faith completed Kindergarten! We are just so proud of them and each of their individual accomplishments. Dean received 4 awards at his school's award ceremony: 8th grade Life of the School Award, Principal's List 4.0 GPA Award, Band Award, and he was also chosen as 8th grade Valedictorian!!!

8th Grade Graduation Ceremony

Faith is so proud of her big brother!

Brothers goofing off after the ceremony.
(Reed got really emotional during Dean's graduation ceremony watching his brother. Reed is very sensitive, but does not like to show it. It was sweet to see him so proud of his brother)

Reed's school also had a 6th Grade Graduation ceremony as they will be leaving elementary school. Reed had some struggles in school this year especially with Math. He did not have the best attitude starting out and he can be very strong willed. During the 2nd trimester he received his first C on his report card in Math. We got a tutor for him for about a month and we are so proud at how hard he worked his last trimester. He really made a turn around and became determined to get his grade up. He graduated from 6th grade with all A's and B's!!!!! We are so proud of him, but more importantly he was so proud of himself for his accomplishment.

The morning of Faith's last day of Kindergarten she woke up not feeling very well. I just wanted to get her through that last day! She was not running a fever so I went ahead and let her go. They had a party on the playground and handed out certificates. When I got there for their little ceremony she seemed to be feeling even worse and her eye seemed to have a sty in it. I felt really bad for sending her, but I'm glad she made it through her last day of Kindergarten! This was her teachers last year of teaching.

It was so cute when Faith went up to get her certificate from her teacher....she took it from her and then bowed her head.

Faith had such a great year in Kindergarten. I think back at how close we came to holding her back a year, but I think we really did the right thing in having her go even if socially she is behind a bit. Academically she is advanced in everything, especially her reading. Her teacher suggested we work on her printing over the summer as she is not the neatest writer:) She feels some of it is her still being behind on some of her motor skills, but she also likes to hurry through things. I told her it's because she wants to be a Dr. and that's just how Drs print;)

Faith did end up having a sty in her eye and she came down with a cough and fever for about 5 days. I was really worried she might not have been able to participate in her dance recital, but by the day of her recital her fever was gone. She was still not feeling her greatest, but she enjoyed her day performing on stage and getting all dressed up in her costume......

Flowers for our little dancer

Her dance recital was on Father's Day so we had to squeeze some time in for Daddy too!:)
The kids got this "Dad's rock" t-shirt for Dale.

The best Daddy ever!!!!!

Our Little Firecracker...............

We had a pretty quiet and relaxing 4th. The previous week-end we had spent in Lake Tahoe so we were ready to just chill. The kids enjoyed being home and hanging out with their friends. Our house was full of kids running in and out all week-end. We took Faith to see our towns fireworks while the boys decided to stay home and take care of our dogs, who are deathly afraid of fireworks. (That was their excuse for wanting to stay home and play video games:)
Today was our first day of swim lessons. We will be spending the next 2 weeks at the pool all morning. Faith is taking lessons, Reed is taking a diving class, and Dean is taking a Jr. life guard class. Of course each of their classes are at different times which will make for a very long 2 weeks! I'll be the Mom sitting in the shade with a good book watching my children intently.
Which reminds me, I need to get to the book store!

*******Happy 4th of July******

Wishing you a happy, safe, & relaxing 4th!!!!

(this photo was taken 4th of July last year)

Where did the month of June go!!!!!! I can't believe tomorrow is the 4th of July already!! I am so behind on my blog. I am behind on everything!! Definitely in the summer mode:) The past few weeks have been full of excitement for us with the kids getting out of school the middle of June. I will be trying to get caught up here this week.
Have a great one!!!

(oh, for those of you that are addicted to facebook......I have recently become addicted as well!;) And that was after telling myself I would never join!:)
Would love to see you over there!