Another Fav.

Mandisa
"Not Guilty"

I stand accused
There's a list a mile long
Of all my sins
Of everything that I've done wrong
I'm so ashamed
There's nowhere left for me to hide
This is the day
I must answer for my life
My fate is in the Judge's hands

(Chorus)
I know you
I love you
I gave My life to save you
Love paid the price for mercy
My verdict not guilty

How can it be?
I can't begin to comprehend
What kind of grace
Would take the place for all my sin?

I stand in awe
Now that I have been set free
And the tears well up
as I look at that cross
'Cause it should have been me

My fate was in the nail scarred hands
He stretched them out for me
and said

Chorus

I'm falling on my knees to thank You
With everything I am I'll praise You
So grateful for the words I heard
You say

Chorus

I haven't heard this one on KLove yet, just on her new album "Freedom." It's full of great songs. Hearing the words to this song come from Mandisa's voice is Amazing!! She was an American Idol contestant a few years ago, but I didn't see that season. I can't see How she Didn't Win. She's Great. On this year's American Idol they talk about feeling the emotion in the song, etc. That's something about Mandisa - you can Feel her emotion coming out in her songs.

Beautiful song...Beautiful Message...Thank You Jesus

New Fav. Song

The Motions by Matthew West

This might hurt
It's not safe
But I know that I've gotta make a change
I don't care
If I break
At least I'll be feeling something
"˜Cause just ok
Is not enough

Help me fight through the nothingness of life
I don't wanna go through the motions
I don't wanna go one more day
Without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I don't wanna spend my whole life asking
What if I had given everything?
Instead of going through the motions

No regrets
Not this time
I'm gonna let my heart defeat my mind
Let Your love
Make me whole
I think I'm finally feeling something

Take me all the way
Take me all the way
Take me all the way

Matthew West is Such an Awesome writer. I am loving this song right now - says SO much. U can catch it on KLove I'm sure.

Cancun - April 2009

My cousin Becky got married in Cancun on April 15 and we were able to go and be a part of her special day. Originally, the resort where they were staying and having the wedding did not allow kids. But at the beginning of the year, they found out that they had made a portion of the resort for families. So Becky asked if Hope & Cole could be her flower girl and ring bearer. Mom and Dad had already planned to go so we decided to join them. Cole is such a "traveler" - he's always up for a trip, especially if there's swimming involved. I wasn't too sure how Hope was going to do on the planes, because she not the greatest Car traveler.

Our plans were to spend the night in Little Rock Sunday evening (Easter) and leave on the airplane to Atlanta about 7:30am. We were scheduled to actually arrive in Cancun @ 1:30pm. Everything was fine until we got closer to Atlanta when we went into a storm. That had to be the WORST Flight I've ever been on - the turbulence was terrible! We had not been in the air very long before a lady in front of Mom and Cole started Puking. To add to all this, Hope decided she needed to poop a Hundred times while on this flight!! When we actually got to Atlanta the pilot attempted to land (I could see the runway out my window - very close to the ground) and then pulled the plane back up I guess because we were swaying so much. Needless to say I was ready to get OFF that plane. I was beginning to feel queasy too. I don't do well when Hearing & Smelling puke + Poop + Roller Coaster motions. Our plane was rerouted to Chattanooga TN - that meant another 30 min. in the air. I went to the bathroom trying to escape the smells, but it didn't help much. When I got back to my seat, I needed a "barf bag" - 2 actually. The whole time I was sick Hope was saying "OK Mama? OK?" Really sweet, but her 100th poopy diaper had set me OFF! Anyway I felt much better after that. We had to wait about 30 minutes in Chattanooga and then headed back to Atlanta. By then we had missed our connecting flight to Cancun...

Poor Dad had to talk to several agents before finding out that the only flight to Cancun was leaving @ 6:05 pm (which ended up being delayed an hour) and we were on Standby. We had lots of time to kill in the Airport - not even knowing if we were going to get on the flight. After a couple hours we did find out we had confirmed seats - Thank God (that wasn't the 1st time I had thanked Him that day!) Thank goodness for DVD players and Dora the Explorer!! Amazingly Hope and Cole were great during the super Long day. Anyway we did finally make it to Cancun @ 9:00. We made it to the resort about 10:30 or 11pm.

The resort was Fabulous!!! All inclusive, gorgeous setting and surroundings, 24 hour room service, hot tub in room, hammocks on the balcony & Big Lizards! A little something for Everyone :)

Tuesday we all met for Breakfast then Uncle Bob, Becky, Shawn(her husband), Dad &

Cole went on a Mayan Ruins tour. Aunt Jane, Mom, Hope and I hung out by the pool and ocean all day. Very relaxing... That evening they had a "Pirate Show" that was very entertaining - although Hope feel asleep during it :)

Wednesday - Wedding Day 6:00pm - met for breakfast again then hung around the pool and ocean while Aunt Jane, Becky, Angie, and Amber got ready for the wedding.

The ocean was blocked by a large rock wall that allowed water into a cove area, in which you could snorkel and swim and kayak. Dad and Cole snorkeled then Cole and I kayaked. We then went to our rooms to rest before the wedding.

Cole and Hope were to carry large shells containing the rings and rose petals. Becky and her dad rode to the Wedding gazebo in a carriage pulled by a white horse (Gorgeous - like a fairytale). Cole and Hope went before the bridesmaids (Angie - Becky's sister- my other cuz and Amber - Becky's good friend). Hope did not want to drop the petals - she did accidently and went back to pick it up! It was a beautiful ceremony... Becky was stunning of course.

After the wedding, we all had dinner @ the steak house in the resort. It was a nice time to visit with everyone and of course EAT! Hope kept Amber's little boy Jacob entertained. I think they liked each other just a little bit!!

Thursday - We were scheduled to leave the resort @ 9:30 to head to the airport, but didn't leave till after 10am. We actually left the airport in Cancun around 1:30pm. Good Flight too!! I thought we were home free after that!! After getting to Atlanta we had to go through customs and all that stuff - so it took a while. When we got to our next terminal, Cole realized he had left his PSP (playstation portable) on the plane!!! He's only had it a few weeks and bought it with his Bday money (he's been saving for a while). He's was Very upset to say the least. So Dad came to the rescue Again and began the process of trying to find it, by talking to the Delta agents and calling Lost and Found - which he could never get through to!! At that point all we knew was that our plane had already left and it was not turned in to the gate we landed at. Our flight back to LR was much better too - Hope slept the whole way :)

But when we got to LR, we found out our luggage did not come with us!! It did arrive on the next flight @ 11:00pm. We didn't wait on it, because they couldn't tell us for sure that it would be on that flight. Mom and Cole went back to LR on Friday and picked it up :)

SO, The actual trip there and back was Very Exciting, but the stay was great. The resort was awesome, people were so friendly, and it was beautiful. Hope will defintely have an interesting story to hear about her 1st plane ride/trip...

**Enjoy all the pics :)

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Easter 2009

Our Family Easter gathering was in Glenwood this year at Mom & Dad's house. We had it on Saturday this year because it was more convenient for everyone to get together. We enjoyed the food, fellowship, & hunting eggs. Right now our youngest kiddos are girls (4 under 4 years old). Only 3 of the girls were there this year and again I was amazed at how well they play together. Yes, there are moments of no sharing, but overall they do very well together. Cole also hunted eggs, but spent the rest of the time hanging with cousin Jacob.

That evening we began packing for our trip to Cancun. We headed to Little Rock Sunday afternoon to stay the night, because we had to be at the airport so early Monday morning.

Zoo Trip

This week is Spring Break + 1st of the month = free week for kids and busy week @ work for me. I took off Monday so we could at least have 1 day together to do something "fun" on break. Cole decided he wanted to see a movie and after some brainstorming we decided on seeing a movie "Monsters vs Aliens" in Little Rock then going to the Zoo afterwards. Then we asked Courtney if she and Boston wanted to meet us there - they did.

It was a Gorgeous day and we all had a blast. This was Hope's and Boston's first trip to the zoo. I think Hope may have enjoyed it just "a little" bit more than Boston (he slept through most of it :) ) Hope had to tell every animal HI and Bye Bye. All morning she kept saying "I wanna ooooo" - translates into I want to go to the zoo! Not sure if she even knew what that was till we got there. She loved the animals and the outdoors. I think Cole had a good time too - he kept ahead of us - informing us on what was coming up next.

I think Cole's highlight of the day was getting to hold Baby Boston. He talked about that a lot on the way home :) Even Hope had to tell Mimi about the "oooo and Baby nite nite and Baby Mama" - translation again "zoo, Baby Boston was asleep, and Aunt Courtney was there aka Boston's mama!!

The car ride to and from was great. I was very thankful for the uneventful trip. It was a special day - got to spend it with my Special children and with a Special friend and new "nephew."

Next Tiger???

Sunday afternoon Cole decided it was a nice day for golf. We didn't have time after church for a full golf game before church that evening so we just went to the driving range. Hope and I cheered him on for about an hour (actually maybe less than that). He practiced for about an hour. Hope cheered then she would pick up "trashhh" and put it in the trash can :) It was such a beautiful day. Cole really seems to enjoy golf - who knows - may be the next Tiger???