Photo Drop

this girl loves a selfie

QT time with daddy before he left for "camp"

Mr. Gatti's fun

Mr. Gatti's fun

Leah did our makeup!

Games with daddy before "camp"

singing vbs songs in worship service Sunday morning.

Sarah Summer Camp

Sarah has been having a great time at summer camp.  This year might be the first year she was actually ok with going. Love to see those smiles. 

God Blesses Us Through Others

This is the email I sent out to our Sunday School Class on June 28th, four days after Andy left.

I am completely overwhelmed and humbled by the love shown to us this week.

I’d like to think I can do this on my own, but I can’t which for me seems like failing. But I keep reminding myself it, life, was never meant to be done alone. And thankful is the only word I can up with...there should be better, bigger words (there probably is, but let’s face it, I’m a math teacher) to describe my gratitude for your support, the love we are feeling.

Our God is so big! I have to admit...I quit praying for our situation for a while. I didn’t know why my prayers weren’t being answered. I've prayed over this for so, so many years. Soooo many bible studies I’ve done though the years telling me to never give up hope, God hears me. But I quit. I thought maybe I wasn’t praying the right thing. Maybe I was being selfish in my prayers. Then my sweet momma asked me one night if I was praying for Andy. I lied. Said yes. It was hard to pray for him. She reminded me to just pray for Andy and God knew what needed to be done. So last week I did. And last week I simply asked God to lead Andy to what God’s will was for him, I talked to my God. I told Him I was scared and I was giving it to him. I told Him I couldn’t do it anymore. I told him it was hard to pray for Andy, but I was doing it. Simply. God, I pray for Andy. And I went to sleep. The next few days were when Andy made the call to the detox center. God was waiting for my surrender.  And Saturday I prayed again for God to make me tell y’all. To give me the strength to be vulnerable because I knew I needed you!

And y’all. You. God has used you and your loving hearts, your servant hearts to love on my family and show Himself through you.  The theme for VBS this week was "God is good" I shared this with Olivia already, but I think you need to know too....I had to share with Sarah with the love offering that was given to our family.  The girls have known that Andy has been unemployed.  We discussed how we’d been praying for God to be with us through this and how we knew He’d always be with us. So I showed her the check (told her not to say out loud the amount b/c there was no need for Leah to know the details) explained that someone took care of the daycare bill too and we could now pay some other bills.  Then I looked at her and said...Sarah, when life is scary....and she and I both said “God is good” 
She then said mommy I think I'm going to cry. It was like I could see her shoulders go up.  She’d been carrying those worries too. I felt it important to show her how God always shows up!!

And Sunday when the girls and I left so daddy could spend some time with friends.  My children heard their daddy explain to them when we returned home,  of the strong God filled men coming to their house to be with their daddy.  To pray with him and encourage him.  They saw how important was for men to lift other men up.  Thank you so much for coming to the house Sunday. It did so much for Andy and his confirmation in what he was doing.  

I know our story of God's faithfulness and promises kept is not over for our family.  And one day we will have quite the testimony to share.  

Please know how much we appreciate your prayers, your generosity and love for us during this time.

**Also, I heard from the treatment center Thursday and Andy is doing well.  He has been eating and sleeping well.  He is still on detox meds and will begin being weaned off of them in the coming week.  We probably will not hear from him for another week or so.  And I won't be able to go see him until next week at the earliest.  He can receive mail if you are interested in reaching out to him.

Toy Story 4

We jumped at the opportunity to go to the movies with Uncle Jeff and Ms. Stacy to see Toy Story 4.  We have all been waiting a long time for this one!  It did not disappoint. 

FBCDS - VBS Roar!

Such an AMAZING week at VBS!! We love VBS and our church!!

Ava Grace, Brynleigh and Leah

Sarah, Emeri and Presley...love how these preschool friends get to be together every year for VBS. (Emeri goes to school in Central and Presley in Walker)

Lucy, Brynleigh, Leah and Ava Grace

Our 40 ish five year olds.  

Colton and Luke...reunited!

Jocelyn and Ben

Willows crew on crazy hair night.  Love that these friends get to make VBS part of their yearly memories. 

Love these two more than they will ever know!

Abby, Emma and Sarah...crazy hair and crazy faces!!

Madelyn, Hannah and Libby...we love our youth group!

Softball friends!! Presley, Sarah, Harli and Julianna

Joel and Leah

Our small group was well represented at VBS. Stella, Olivia, Me, Susan, Julie, Danielle and Kate

Our awesome 5-year old leaders: Stella, me, Ms. Susan, Jeannine, Kennedy and Kristen...or and Bob! haha!

WOW!!! Look at God go!!

That time Leah quit daycare

My sweet girl is struggling with Daddy being gone.  We are all really. Just trying to make it one day at a time.  Leah has decided to quit daycare. I can't bring myself to make her go...it hurts too much. Some days she comes to work with me for a little while until someone can come get her...our friends have been so helpful during this time.  We are just going to keep on keeping on. 

Faith, hope and love

We had dinner tonight.  It was a last supper of sorts before Andy left for "camp".  Andy is an alcoholic.  We've both known it for many years.  Tomorrow he leaves us for a month to an impatient detox center.  It was his decision to get help. He was the one who found the location, did the insurance work and calls. He had to do these things. I couldn't. It wouldn't have worked. We told the girls that daddy was going to "summer camp" for dads. It was a camp that would help him to become a healthier person, better daddy and better husband.  This was not a lie.  Sarah knew things weren't right. As for Leah, it was just too big for her comprehend. I am so proud of Andy and his decision to better himself. I am so thankful to our Heavenly Father and is faithful love! We are hanging on to Faith, Hope and Love as we move on.

Sarah's Softball Season - Hurricanes

We had a great summer at the ball park this year.  In an attempt to keep our team from last year together, most of the girls on our team played up this year in the 9-10 age group.  The cutoff for the girls softball is a crazy deadline of January 1....well we wanted to stay with our friends and so Sarah along with five or so girls all moved up.  They did great!  The first game was a little rocky but they bounced back and finished the season 8-2.  They learned so much and had a great time doing so!