Roller Coaster

This week has truly been a roller coaster to say the least.

• Tuesday started off normal until I got a text from Stroker that I knew would cause my mother-in-law a lot of grieving (and it surely did). 
• Wednesday, I got a phone call from my sister with the news that Trent had passed a MAJOR test for pharmacy school with an 89. 
• We also went to dinner Wednesday night at Logan's. I had received an email that they were having a buy one, get one free deal. On the way home, I realized that we forgot to mention the buy one, get one special to our server...so we missed out.
• We finished off Wednesday with church service and a "Watermelon Fellowship Feast" afterwords with the church members. It was fun. Brookelynn absolutely loves taking part in church events. We barely get home from one event and she is talking about what we will do next.
• Thursday was my sisters birthday, her husband had been on a mission for two weeks to find her the gift that he knew she would like. He even had me helping him pick it out. The tables turned in the early hours of Thursday morning.
• I received horrible news from my sister around 9 am Thursday that her father-in-law had passed away just after midnight. He was diagnosed with cancer back in January and had just become progressively sick with each passing month. Although the family he left behind will miss and remember him dearly, they find peace in knowing that he is with the Lord and that we will see him again one day.
• Thursday evening, we attended Deaira's 9th birthday swimming party. About fifteen minutes into the party, the rain poured.  It poured for the next twenty minutes. Brookelynn said "Who cares...it's a swimming party...we are already wet". The kids had a great time and Deaira seemed very pleased with all her gifts. Deaira sees us all as her family, and I can tell that she appreciates us being there for her.
• Friday, we got to pick up the CRV from the body shop. It was finally ready. Thirty-three days it had been in the shop. Stroker and I went together to pick it up. We found a few imperfections, but thought we would just live with it. As the weekend went on, we found several scratches that are still there. Looks like it is going to have to go back.
• After picking up the CRV and returning the rental car, I delivered the food to Judy, Gary's mom,  that I had cooked. I also delivered the pie that Nan made for the family on Friday. My family picked up my mom around 6pm and we all attended the funeral visitation together.
• At 9pm Friday night, we were at my mother in laws setting up canopies, tables and chairs for the family reunion that takes place this weekend. Several family member were planning to come down this year, so we needed a few extra places to sit.

Magnificent Monday

Monday was a long day...to say the least, but it was also a fun day.  We all got up early and got dressed for the first day of school (2 hr. day).  Brooke's chin dropped when she seen her name didn't accompany her friends names on the class roster. Both of her best school friends are in the same class together, but it's not Brookelynn's class.

"There is always recess" I told her. She does feel like she is growing up since she gets to rotate classes and teachers daily this year. I guess this is the school's way of preparing to send them off to middle school next year.

After registration, we took a journey to get Devin some new shoes and clothes since he is growing at the speed of lightning. Devin has to be the hardest person ever to take shopping. He is worse than any girl..by far. After trudging through several stores in Mt. Juliet, we ventured on down to Rivergate. He found just a few things at Macy's and Dillard's. I had to make him pick out a pair of shoes at Foot Locker. The size 10 Nike's that we bought last year have been through enough. I asked the sales associate to measure Devin's foot to ensure we get the right size. Guess what...he wears a size 12. No wonder his Nike's look so rough, it's all they can do to hold together with Devin's big size 12 foot in them.

Devin picked out a pair of Jordan's and I picked my jaw up off the floor when I seen the price tag. I briefly thought "No Way!", but then I decided that after walking around for weeks in shoes that were two sizes too small, he earned a good pair of Jordan's.

Monday evening, we went to a "youth event" for our church with the kids. We hung out with them for about 5 hours. The kids rode horses, played hide and go seek, and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. We took part in the hot dog and marshmallow part too. We all had such a good time. At the end of the evening (11:00 pm), Gene sat everybody down for a bible lesson. I wonder what a different place the world would be if every event ended in the same manner.

Back to School Time

Last night, Gary and Darlene came back to our house after dinner at Chili's. We watched some YouTube videos on the iPad2 that were cracking us up. We didn't make it to bed until almost midnight. You can view the videos HERE and HERE if you would like a good chuckle.
Darlene also brought us lots of toiletries from her extreme couponing adventures. She and Stacia have really gotten into couponing these last few months.
Today after church, we visited mom for a few hours and I stopped by daddy's house so the kids could share with him and Phyllis the good news of getting saved this week. We sat on the patio tonight...briefly, we couldn't stand the heat and humidity. We headed back in the house after about 5 minutes. 
I guess we are headed to Mt. Juliet and Nashville in the morning.

Saturday 7

Another hot day today.
1. We spent a couple of hours with some members of the church passing out water bottles at the park and around town today. There were a couple of times that we thought we were gonna have to pour them on ourselves to cool off.
2. When we all got back to the church, we decided that lunch at El Tap sounded like a good idea, so off we went.
3.This evening, Stroker spent an hour outside mowing the yard...cutting, bagging and emptying grass clippings.
Brookelynn was tired and somewhat cranky this evening. Typical after a sleepover.
4.She spent the entire rest of the day on the Ipad2, which I must say is kind of addictive. The advancement of technology is growing at the speed of lightning.

5. Devin spent the evening on a skateboard. When he came back inside, he was ringing wet.
6.  My sister brought us a couple of dozen ears of sweet corn this evening.

7.   Dinner tonight was with my sister and brother-n-law at Chili's.

Just the three of us

Brookelynn deserted us tonight. Her friend Jalyn was having a pool party/sleepover for her birthday. Those two girls look forward to every chance they get to spend time together. They have been buddies since preschool. They are both looking forward to middle school when they will attend the same school together again. Being at two different elementary schools has kept them from spending as much time together as they would like to.

After dropping Brookelynn off at her friend Jalyn's, we met up with my sister, Stacia, Jett and Dash for dinner tonight at Cheddars.
Tomorrow, we plan to join our church at Jere Whitson park for outreach in the community. Looking forward to it.

FAITH

Stroker and I have spent the past three days spreading our awesome news about Brookelynn accepting Christ. Devin has asked me questions and contemplated about it  for the last couple of days. Tonight, he too made his decision to live for Christ. I have never seen anything have Devin's undivided attention like I did tonight. Devin looked Sterl straight in the eye the entire time he explained the meaning of Faith and what it means to be saved.  We have already began to spread the overwhelming news about Devin too.

I have often wondered what was on Devin's mind and in his heart when he was five years old and asked to walk up to the pulpit during devotion at church one Sunday.
Tonight, I know exactly where his heart is.
As for my heart...it  feels so full. Words cannot express the joy as we live the rest of our lives as a Christian family.

Saved

An awesome event took place tonight. Sterl, the pastor of the church that we attend came by for a visit. Eventually we got on the subject of being saved. Stroker and I both shared our stories of our seperate times of turning our lives over to the Lord. When Sterl asked Brooke about her being saved, she told him that she had been thinking about it and was ready. Sterl asked if we could go inside and sit around the table, so we did. After Sterl explained the meaning of FAITH and what it means to be saved, Brookelynn was certain that she was ready to give her heart to the Lord. Brooke said her prayer and then we all prayed together.

It was 9pm tonight that Brookelynn reached out to Jesus and changed her life forever. There will never be a moment in her life that I will be more proud of her than I am right now.
During Sterl's visit, Devin was across the street practicing up on his skateboard skills.  Devin had no idea what was taking place at our house. We were sure to fill him in as soon as he got back home.
I remember when Devin was five years old and we attended West View Baptist Church. One Sunday during the invitation, Devin asked if he could go up to the pulpit and I said "yes". I watched him walk up and kneel for prayer. I'm not sure if he was devoting his life to the Lord, but I felt like that was his intention. Silent tears streamed down my cheeks as I stood there.
It's a wonderful feeling when you accept the Lord as your Savior, and witnessing your children as they devote themselves to Christ is absolutely breathtaking.

Weekend Review

This weekend came and went in the blink of an eye. Matasia's 5th birthday party was yesterday (Saturday) at Chuck-e-cheese in Murfreesboro. It's hard to believe that five years has passed already. Stroker and I spent the entire evening yesterday in Hanging Limb at the Hanging Limb horse arena with the Hanging Limb Missionary Baptist Church members eating burgers and playing corn hole. We have met some of the nicest people along our journey.
Today, after church and brunch at O'Charley's, we went to visit my dad and Phyllis for a while. We found out that their dog "Tinky" had passed away back on the fourth of July. Tink had been sick with a peculiar hacking cough for quite some time.
I also asked daddy if he had ever read the bible. He said "yes". I believe that I understood him to be Saved too. That makes me feel better. I have had it on my mind for quite some time.
By the time we left daddy's house, it was 6pm, time for dinner. We stopped at El Tap on the way home.

Five on Friday

1. Brookelynn and I visited a couple other stores today comparing cowgirl boots and she finally decided on the ones that her and her daddy found yesterday, so we went back and purchased them. I tried to talk her out of it, but what can I say...she had her mind made up and there was no changing it.
2. We spent the evening and part of the night (till 9pm) in White County hanging out with my mom. We all went for dinner at KFC and then hung out at her house the rest of the time.
3. Matasia won the Livingston Fair pageant tonight. There were thirty-three contestants in her category. I had a feeling she would win. She is such a beautiful little girl. This isn't the first pageant she has one and I predict a lot more crowns in her future.

4. My mom told us about my niece, Katelyn, and her brown recluse spider bite that she got a couple weeks back. After visits to the doctor and medicine, she is back to normal.
Note to self: always check the bed covers before crawling in.
5. I'm still driving the rental car. I had hoped to get mine back this week since mine has been in the shop for the past three weeks. It must have had a lot more damage than we thought.

Random Ramblings

This afternoon we went by Stacia's house and picked up out ladder that we lent to them to paint. Jett had several funny stories that he told us, including the one about a spider (brown recluse) getting in the bed with Katelyn and biting her on the butt. At first I thought he was making up a wild tale, but turns out it's true. Apparently Katelyn has been having trouble sitting, standing and walking.
Stroker took Brookelynn shopping for her a pair of Cowgirl boots. How cute they must have looked out together at the shoe stores. They didn't make a purchase because I haven't seen them yet.



Smile

Back to reality after a nice break at the beach. Back to laundry, yard work, housework and all the other good 'ole mundane tasks of everyday life at the Hayes House...or any other house for that matter.
Now that the beach vacation is over, we can countdown the days to our cruise voyage. Ok, so we are still eight months away from that adventure, so maybe we should start counting down the months first.
Anywho...this week has brought new things, like Devin's brand new smile.

I barely caught this photo with my phone when we were at Logan's during dinner tonight. He will be ill when he finds it posted here on my blog. He got his braces off on Monday.
We also had a new experience at El Tapatio last night at dinner. We got half way through a basket of chips and started finding soggy chips. It kinda grossed us all out. I hope El Tap isn't reverting back to their old habits.  Yuck.


Vacation "Destin"ation

Why is that I feel like I need a vacation more today than I did before we went on vacation? 

 Does that make any sense?

We are absolutely worn out; however, Brookelynn was only home long enough to get a shower and head back out the door. She had a sleepover planned at her friend Jalyn's and she wasn't about to miss it.

We had a lot of fun in Destin and tried a lot of the local food. We spent time on the beach, time in the pool, time at the harbor, and time on the balcony.

We took two boat excursions, one on a speed boat and one on a sail boat (my favorite).

The fireworks on the fourth of July were awesome.

The first day we were on the beach, Devin twisted his knee trying out the skimmer board and he limped for three days. It's still a bit sore, but it is much better than it was.

We caught the Gulf during Red Tide (again). The two times that we have visited the gulf coast, have happened to fall during the weeks of Red Tide. This time wasn't so bad. There were no dead fish, the seaweed wasn't slimy and it only washed up during the evening hours. It reminded me of the fake plants that you put in an aquarium. It was just pieces that felt like plastic.

Some of the local restaurants that were recommended that we tried were...

• The Donut Hole (Brooke's Favorite)
• Dewey Destin's Harborside (we ate out on the deck)
• The Shed (Bar-B-Que)
• FudPucker's (Stroker loved the fish sandwich...Devin and I just felt like it was a dirty restaurant)
• Lambert's (in Alabama...It was AWESOME)
• The Salty Turtle (harborside)

Here are a few more photos I took while we were in Destin.
You can truly see how Destin gets its name "The Emerald Coast"

 Here is a dolphin that swam by the boat on our Sea Blaster speed boat excursion.

 So much for getting a condo with bunk beds for the kids. 
Brookelynn wasn't about to sleep by herself.

  Under the Boardwalk

  On the Sail Boat (My favorite part of the trip)

    Sunset on the sail boat excursion

 Family Beach Photos...

We barely caught the sun before it set.

There were families everywhere at this beach taking photos...and we were all dressed alike in the traditional beach photo attire LOL.

There was only one family on the beach that went with the black shirt and khaki theme.

 Devin found an cool starfish while we were making these photos.

If you have an extra eight minutes, you can view more photos and video HERE.

You will have to give it a couple of minutes to load since the video is a bit long.