Summer Fun

I can't believe we are already halfway through July. Summer goes so fast. We have had fun thinking of inexpensive ways to enjoy each other and friends.

Enjoying a early morning bike ride with friends!!

Watermelon is a great motivator!

Rachel loves geography and was thrilled when I found this puzzle at a garage sale for a $1.

When Tim goes away on a trip each of the girls gets a special night with Mommy. Since Daddy came home early he was able to take a picture of some of the fun. Abby chose to curl her hair, paint her toenails and make a special dessert.

Enjoying our day downtown. The fountains helped with the heat.

Riding the trolley is a sumer tradition.

We luv free fud.

  On Cow Appreciation Day we met some friends at the mall and all dressed up as cows to receive a free meal at Chic-fil-a. What a fun treat. We won prizes and came home with all kinds of goodies.

4th of July

This year for 4th of July we went to the AR Territorial History Museum for some old fashioned fun. This museum is a group of original homes that have been restored in downtown Little Rock. We enjoyed the activities and the reading of the Declaration of Independence. Below the girls were summoned to be in the militia.

They received quite the training before they took off on this march.

Sack races are always fun - even in the heat!

After a quick dip in the pool we joined some friends to shoot off our own fireworks. This is the highlight of the day for everyone - especially Tim.

I wish I had a picture of the children cheering on the sidelines. We all had fun!!

Rebekah's Birthday

For Rebekah's 9th birthday we surprised her and made a special trip to the Memphis Zoo. The morning of our trip it was pouring rain but we decided to wait it out. We had a wonderful day and the rain helped keep the crowds and heat away. We celebrated her actually birthday with chocolate chip pancakes and dinner at On the Border. Rebekah has a great sense of humor which is often only revealed for her own family. She keeps us laughing with her witty sayings. She is also quite the swimmer. Rebekah was even chosen to swim on a relay team of older girls! She is good with kids especially those that are shy. Rebekah is a precious member of our family! We love our Freckly Bekaly.

Rebekah wears her new shirt from Gray Gray and Grandaddy all the time.

Now, Rebekah has plenty of room for her babies.

We all love birthdays

We enjoyed the Polar Bears and Sea Lions at the Memphis Zoo

Surprises are so fun!

Vacation #2

After leaving Clemson, we drove to Litchfield Beach to meet the Ross side of the family. This was a landmark year at the beach. Forty years ago my parents and another couple decided to vacation together at Litchfield Beach in South Carolina. Through children being born, growing up, graduating from college, getting married, and having children of their own this tradition continues. I appreciate my parents making this vacation such a stable part of my life. The beach is a great place to relax and enjoy time as a family. It has also provided me with a time to step outside the "problems" of my own little world and realize what a big God we serve. I am thankful for our time away and I am now thankful to be home!

The Owen and Ross Families - all 26 of us!

These girls Love their Daddy!!

Rebekah enjoyed catching minnows in the surf.

Defending the hole!

We all love to ride the waves.

vacation #1

We have just returned from a wonderful vacation. It was good to be away and now it is good to be home. We began our vacation with a stop to see Tim's family in Clemson, SC. We had a great time enjoying the lake and visiting with family. The girls enjoyed riding the tube and the three older ones even had a chance to try a little skiing. We also visited the Calhoun Mansion on Clemson campus and had quite an extensive tour. 

The Disguise of Sin

I read this article in the book "Whiter than Snow" by Paul David Tripp and my mind keeps mulling over this truth. I thought I would share it here:

"Sin lives in a costume; that's why it's so hard to recognize. The fact that sin looks so good is one of the things that make it so bad. In order for it to do its evil work, it must present itself as something that is anything but evil. Life in a fallen world is like attending the ultimate masquerade party. Impatient yelling wears the costume of a zeal for truth. Lust can masquerade as a love for beauty. Gossip does its evil work by living in the costume of concern and prayer. Craving for power and control wears the mask of biblical leadership. fear of man gets dressed up as a servant heart. The pride of always being right masquerades as a love for biblical wisdom. Evil simply doesn't present itself as evil, which is part of its draw."

"God who loves us enough to sacrifice his Son for our redemption, works so that we would see ourselves clearly, so that with a humble sense of personal need we would seek the resources of grace that can only be found in him."

Psalm 51:3 "For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me." This is a good place to be - dependent on the Lord!

Surviving the Storm

Have you ever noticed how the stories that seem to be repeated over and over in families are often the stories of events that don't exactly go as planned. For Tim and his family Captain Blackey's, a campground in Florida, holds special memories of large biting flies. For the Ross clan, the memories of Winnebago accidents and alligators tied with rope and duct tape are forever etched in our minds. Well the last camping trip that we took may be one of those special memories that our girls will never forget.

The weather forecast for the weekend looked grim but a few brave souls decided to go anyway and see what happened. We had a great day on Thurs. and Fri. and  some how the 80% chance of rain seemed to be of little consequence, until Friday night. Coming from the bathhouse at about 9:00 p.m. I saw the men huddled around the weather radio with an Arkansas map. Once we realized that the tornado was going south of us we all went to our tents to weather the storm. The lightning and the thunder were intense as we huddled together. The combination of rain and thunder were so loud that we could not even communicate with the other families camping 10 feet away. Rachel was singing and praying, Abigail and Beka crying and Elizabeth was sound asleep. Thankfully our tent kept us mostly dry and were able to make it through the night. We were reminded of the power of God and even have a new understanding of what it means to fear God. We packed up in the rain on Saturday morning and were glad to be home in our dry house.  We made great memories with good friends are looking forward to surviving our next adventure together.

Thursday afternoon the girls enjoyed fishing with Tim.

A whole gaggle of girls. 

Our cooking adventure this trip was pizza cooked in a dutch oven over the fire. It was delicious and may become a camping tradition.

The kids putting on their annual performance in the amphitheatre.

Cleaning up from all the fun!

15th Anniversary

Tim and I celebrated our 15th anniversary with a get away to Petite Jean State Park. We stayed in a cozy cabin with a beautiful view and had a great time hiking, eating out, and having long periods of time to talk. I am so thankful for a husband who loves the Lord and is truly my best friend. Sometimes the busyness of life seems to overshadow the joy of just sharing life together. The kids had a great time with Michael and Naomi, a young couple that was so kind to watch them for us. The girls surprised us with a gift card for a favorite restaurant when we arrived home. When we asked where they had gotten the money to purchase this, Rebekah replied "well there was the garage sale, the lemonade stand, and then came the poop." Tim had been paying them a small amount to clean up the mess that Lila makes in the back yard. We wondered why they were so eager to help. They are precious girls and their sacrifice of their own money makes this gift incredibly special to me. 

Easter

We had a wonderful Easter this year. Holidays are often the time when we miss family the most so we were thankful that some of church family could come and celebrate the day with us. Our church service was great and full of special music. We ate lunch with the Cains and Franklins and then had an indoor Easter Egg hunt due to the pouring rain. We are most thankful for the Lord and His willingness to suffer and die for our sins and we rejoice in his power over death. He is Risen!

Our girls our growing into young ladies.

Friends make holidays fun!!

I love this picture because the girls thought they were done. Notice the egg on picture behind them.

Spring Fun

It has been so long since I have written it is hard to know how to catch up. We are enjoying spring soccer and the girls are doing very well. Tim and I went on the Spring Retreat with the youth to New Life Ranch. This was the first time at this facility and it was great. We planned the retreat on the weekend of Spring Break and ended up with about 3 inches of snow. This changed the activities that we had planned but we all had fun anyway. The speaker was tremendous and fed the youth as well as the adults from God's word. We are so blessed with a youth staff that are selfless servants of Christ. We are thankful and blessed for the opportunity to be involved with this ministry.  

The girls and Tim were up early to welcome me as I finished my 1000th mile with Nike+. 

The girls have great fun selling lemonade to all our neighbors.

AWANA - Career Night

A few weeks ago it was career night at AWANA. Elizabeth went as an author of children's books, Abigail a zookeeper, Rebekah  a veterinarian, and Rachel a teacher. The ideas change from year to year. What fun to dream.
Abigail found a special treasure the other day. Rumor has it that this hat was worn by Tim night and day for an entire summer when he was young. Abigail is carrying on the tradition. She thinks the "a" stands for Abigail. School can be a little challenging when your hat keeps slipping over your eyes.

Recovering

I am still recovering from the garage sale we had last Saturday. Each spring I have tried to have a garage sale to make money to join our neighborhood pool in the summer. Every year as I am getting ready for the sale I say  "I am never going to do this again" but then I will have a great sale and make $700. So then next year I am at it again. Well I think this year will be it for a while. I did make enough money ($375) to join the pool and have some extra "fun" money but I am feeling old and tired. Part of the problem was the fact that I tried to have this sale in a month that contained planning a Valentine party, watching other kids for a weekend, having Elizabeth's birthday, having mutiple meetings at my house, and giving a devotional at a friend's shower. All things that I love to do but not a good time to add something else. I wanted to take a picture of my garage to capture the moment but when I got home from putting up my signs on Sat. morning, I had people waiting to get in. The day was rainy and cold but we had a decent crowd and I enjoyed visiting with the friends who participated in the sale with me. After we were done we packed up all the remaining items and took them to Good Will. I found great joy in putting empty plastic bins back into my attic. A feeling of freedom from the weight of stuff. I want to simplify life trying to live with less.  I also want to be more willing to give to others - not merely looking out for my own interests but the interests of others.

Elizabeth is 10 years old!

We enjoyed celebrating Elizabeth's 10th birthday. For her party this year we planned a Scavenger Hunt around town. The girls were divided into two groups and we all had fun racing to collect the items on the list. The girls got candles and ice cream from the grocery store, a crown from burger king, a gift for Elizabeth from the dollar store and a balloon from the party store. It  happened to be pouring rain during the whole outing but everyone had fun anyway. Elizabeth has such a tender heart and we are all recipients of her kindness. She enjoys writing and thinks that she would like to write children's stories about dogs when she grows up. We are so thankful for our Lizzie Boo. Happy Birthday.

No party is complete without candles.

The whole gang eating pizza.

Elizabeth had plates with dogs on them since she is such and animal lover so Lila was the honored guest.

On Elizabeth's actual birthday we were watching two extra children for the week-end. Riley is one of Elizabeth's dearest friend so we were glad to have a two night sleepover. After church on Sunday we all went to Cracker Barrel for a birthday lunch.

Double digits.

What a precious girl!

Basketball

We have enjoyed participating in a basketball program at a local church over the last few months. I keep meaning to take my camera but have not been able to remember. Here are some shots of the us enjoying our wonderful cul de sac.

A tough team to beat!

Tim gives Abigail a little boost!

Saturday Happenings

Rachel and Elizabeth both did very well in the Sonatina Piano Festival this week-end. All their hard work paid off as Rachel won first in her division and Elizabeth received a honorable mention. We are very proud of them.

Two lovely ladies having a Saturday tea party.

Daddy and Abigail cheer on the Tigers.