Long time, no see.

My very best friend from high school, Lisa (Gentry) Kephart, made a rare trip home to Thomasville from Holland, Michigan where she and her husband and three children live and serve. Her family in Thomasville (Momma, Cathy and Dad, Dan) were gracious enough to sacrifice an entire day of their time with Lisa so that she and I could spend the day together, hanging out with our kids in the morning, catching up on our lives during their afternoon naps, and then a little child-less Mom's night out with dinner and Starbuck's coffee at Barnes and Noble that evening. It was great. We didn't make plans, we just let the day and the events of the day come about without a schedule to stick to or places to be. Lisa is such a true, devoted, heart friend. I have been blessed throughout the phases and seasons of my life to have some of the dearest women to walk through those times with. Some of those friends have been specifically for that season and due to various reasons, our interests and places in life have taken us different ways. I am grateful for them and know that God used them to help make me who I am. But there are a couple of other friends that, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt, that nothing will impact our desire and dedication to walk through the rest of our lives together...whether we live close or not, before we had kids, with one child or four, or the day when we are old and gray with grandchildren to spoil, we'll be sharing our stories, giving/receiving advice and encouragement, laughing and crying through the triumps and setbacks. All that to say, Lisa is one of those women. She just gets me...knows how I tick. Even before I could have known it, God gave me such an amazing gift in her friendship. One I don't have to work for or put on airs or create conversation...just a natural, easy blessing. And then there's her precious family. Her two eldest children, daughters Bella (5) and Selah (2), got to stay behind with their grandmother, Daddy Micah's mom, so only little Caedmon came along. It was Olivia's and my first opportunity to meet him--what a sweetheart. Never heard him cry, fuss, complain, and boy is he handsome! Here are some pics from our walk around the Gentry property. What a fun morning. Thanks for sharing it with us Lisa. We look forward to seeing you again at Christmas, hopefully.



Taking a walk/ride around the Gentry property.




Newfound friends



Olivia's always happy with a snack in hand.



Olivia decides she might like a kiss from Caedmon.



Moving in on her unsuspecting victim.



Caedmon never even had a chance.



Can you blame her, though? These blue eyes make him pretty irresistable. At least she's got good taste :)


Thanks, Leese and Caedmon, for a wonderful day! Let's do it again soon!

CRAY-ZEE

So, I've sat down several times over the last two weeks with a mission to blog...as evidenced by my last entry, I have been unsuccessful in my mission. So enough is enough. There's major pressure to blog in my little community of friends--all the cool moms are doing it, so I just must keep up! Now, I must recap too much time in too little space, so let's get started.

Our fourth of July was great! We had a day full of fun which, although we love having holidays that intersect with weekends, it was great to have a free day right in the middle of our hectic week. We started the day going to a town festival with blow-up slides, face painting, and live music. Not too long after arriving, we ran into a family from our Bible study group. We got some Italian ice, waiting in line about 15 minutes for a flower balloon that popped literally 3 minutes after we got it, then walked around a little more and made plans to go swimming with our friends after going home for a nap.

Celebrating our freedom!


Dancing along to the beach music of SeaCruise!


Our little mooch!


Brotherly/sisterly love--Connor and Calista


After eating lunch and catching a few zzz's, we went for a swim with the Williams' family, and then got ready for our final stop. Our friend, Stacey, is in a band that was playing at a cookout/party so we joined many other Florence residents to celebrate the holiday with some pond swimming, live music, hot dogs, and little girls running around having a blast just being together!

Heidi, the human jungle-gym!


This is what results when selfish Moms are desperate for a good picture.


More of sweet Abs!


Good weather, good friends, good food = great day!


The following weekend, we met Whitney and Chris and Mom and Dad at the beach. Cora got to join us as well which was so much fun for Olivia to get some one-on-one time with her best cousin friend. We had fun at the beach and hanging out at the pool and playing Catchphrase...I ate a little something that kept me feeling queasy most of the weekend, but we still managed to have a great time. Olivia truly loves spending time with her extended family.

Granna and Liv waiting for some delicious seafood for dinner.


Kissing cousins


Thank goodness for Daddy's ability to entertain.


Granna teaching Olivia how to shag.


Chris, Whit, Jeremy, and Courtney


Back from the beach, back to real life. We had a pretty crazy, busy week. Jeremy was slammed from a work standpoint and was working late most nights so we struggled for family time all week. But we did eat dinners together, Daddy was able to give his girl her nightly baths, and we tried a new local restaurant--Starfire Grill--to add to our restaurant repertoire. Olivia and I got to join all our favorite friends for a day at the Columbia Zoo on Thursday so that was a nice change of pace for our week. We met at Miss Jennie's early in the morning, loaded up the cars with plenty of snacks, sunscreen, and strollers, and headed out. The kids did so well and we all had such a fun time. Our Chick-Fil-A lunch was pretty chaotic with 9 incredibly exhausted kids--not to mention their 7 sweaty and spent Mommys, but nonetheless, we had a wonderful time.

The whole crew, minus me, the photographer.


Up close and personal with Mr. Giraffe


Tallon and Olivia doing some wild animal observation.


Makgill admiring the seal.


Lia and Abby having fun on Abby's first trip to the zoo.


Abby understandably questions Olivia's strange approach to sippy-cup etiquette.


The three amigos--Carlisle, Olivia, and Abby


Hot, sweet, sweaty Carlisle


Olivia's going for the hairbow while Abby's snagging her grapes.


A theme for the day was Olivia wanting all the other Mom's to hold her--sorry guys! She just loves you all!
Olivia and Aron


Olivia and "Becca"


Olivia and Jennie


Olivia and the fish


Tallon getting his late morning snack.


All the kids--minus Tallon--at the end of the morning, ready to go.


Whew! I'm tired after that recap. It's the weekend again now and we actually are in town with not a lot going on, and VERY thankful. We love going, going, going, but we love having time to just spend the three of us. After getting a babysitter last night, we had a much needed date night and then spent today at the pool, taking naps, and unwinding...next week isn't looking any slower than this last one. Olivia and I are off to High Point to visit my best friend from high school who's visiting from Michigan with her newest child whom I haven't yet met, and then we leave for our Girl's Weekend at the beach with the Causey girls...like I said, no rest for the weary! But it'll all be fun, so off we go. Florence friends, take care of Jeremy while we're gone!

A Song

I'm having a wonderful Independence Day...we spent the morning at Timrod Park with all the festivities there, Liv and Jeremy are now napping, and I've found a song I wanted to share. This may sound terribly morbid, but just for the record, this is the song I want someone to sing/play at my funeral. In the meantime, I want the words of the bridge of this song to be my heart, forever. And I wanted to share the song with you. My sweet family will be waking up soon, we'll go swimming with friends, to a picnic concert, to see fireworks. I'll have pictures of all of that to post, I'm sure, but till then I just really wanted to put this song on here for others to hear. It's beautiful. The bridge says:

"Here am I, so in love with serving You; bending low to bow before my King. My desire is only to please You, Lord. My desire is simply to obey."

That's who I want to be.

The Everyday

I'm not EVEN saying that our lives are perfect, problem-free, never argue, always smiling, happily-ever-after, but we certainly are enjoying the everyday. Sometimes, Jeremy has to work late hours in his office or I royally screw up dinner by not cooking the chicken before putting it in the casserole to bake or, heaven forbid, we disagree about something and get into an argument/fight/"discussion"--whatever you choose to call it. Yes, life is happening all around us, and we're praying to stay in tune with God for our daily direction and purpose, and as a part of that, we really are satisfied. I guess I should just speak for myself, me, Courtney, that there will always be changes I want to see happen in myself, bad habits I want to leave behind, or admirable characteristics I find in other people that I want to continue cultivating in my own life, or changes in society or the world, but I mean, all in all, I'm satisfied with the everyday, with our everyday. With working at my computer on and off throughout the day, with splashing around in the pool on hot SC afternoons, with doctor's visits and trips to the library and long lines at Super Wal-Mart. Sometimes I get frustrated with Olivia when we're in one of those impatient Mommy versus strong-willed toddler moments, but I never ever ever would wish for things to be any different than the way that they are--I always dreamed but never was sure I'd have the privilege of staying at home with my children. The fact that it is my reality still blows my mind. Not everyday...it's not like I'm even close to some super-Mom who has it all together, calm, cool, and collected, but if I stop to think about it, and do that "count my blessings" thing, I'm just amazed. So, all that to say, here are some shots of our everyday. Enjoy.

Daddy accompanying Olivia to her 18-month checkup.


Big surprise--we're off the charts for everything--weight, height, head circumference...and oh so healthy!


A mid-afternoon snack--chocolate pudding.


Learning to color at her little table.


Waking up from nap with a little bit of bedhead.


Sitting on the ottoman watching Little Einsteins.


Figuring out building blocks.


Just hanging out while Mommy does the laundry.


And, in addition to all our usual daily fun, we had the most wonderful invitation to join two couples to spend the weekend at the lake, Lake Marion. We had so much fun with the Cannon and Smith families and wish we'd never had to leave. Thanks so much, Reeves, Rebecca and Tallon, for inviting us, and to both families for all the laughs, bloody noses, poopy diapers, good food, heart attacks, tubing injuries, and fun! Some highlights:

Mrs. Aron, Liv, Clara Beth, and Makgill.


Clara Beth beautiful in white.


An evening stroll on the dock with Daddys and kiddos.


Sweet Tallon inspecting some grass.


Jeremy and I quickly found our favorite spot for the weekend--lounging lazily in the hammocks under the shade trees right by the water.


Frisbee lesson for Tal.


Collin grilling some burgers and dogs...deeelicious.


Um, is this child photogenic, or what?!


Makgill took advantage of the hammocks as well.


Daddy and Livvy through the screen porch.


Our wonderful hosts for the weekend!



Although Olivia wasn't so sure about the life jacket at first, she quickly warmed up to being on a boat--by the third or fourth ride, she was officially loving the lake and was completely at home zooming through the water in the boat!


Olivia may have loved it but Tallon is seriously IN LOVE with being on that boat. He would just sit, look around, maybe catch a minute or two of shut eye, wake up again, and never say a word...just chillin' and loving being on the water.


Makgill having fun with the huge beachball/sprinkler.


Olivia not having so much fun with previously mentioned sprinkler.


Olivia's first independently managed popsicle which now, by the way, she feels should be eaten for breakfast, lunch, and dinner...she woke up this morning, now that we're back at home and promptly requested a "sicle...pees." (That's Olivian for popsicle please).


Midway through this process.


All done--notice belly stripes.


Olivia--completely tuckered out--what a fun, fun way to spend a weekend.