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.