What's in a name? How about a smile and a great photo opp...and a perfect teaching moment!

The little man of the house has been writing his name for over a year or so, but has had trouble with the ever difficult "K". He is so excited with himself because he now has it mastered, and he loves to write his name....everywhere!! On his homework, in his coloring books, in the steam on the shower door, and EVEN on the truck! Yep! He left his mastered signature for everyone to see in PERMANENT marker, on the truck!

Blessings From a Blog ?!?

Not very many years ago I had never even heard of the word, blog. Today I find myself...
Looking forward to blog ,

Cannot get enough of blog ,

Wish I started this sooner blog,

Why can't I be more like her blog,

I wonder if I can find that on a blog,

Thank you Cristin for inspiring me to blog,

WoW!I have been forever touched by your beautiful example of faith, your incredible strength, your testimony, and your gift of pure love blog!



And....I am SO happy I have found YOUR blog!!!

*Kimmie*Angie*Marni* Carla*Judy* Natalie*Amy*Kathy*Lashelle*Valerie*Jodi*Sue

I believe every person you meet and spend time with in your life is there for a reason. I believe that when peoples life paths meet it is more than just a coincidence! These past couple months I have re-connected with some special friends from my youth. Friends who may think they just went to church with me. Friends who I have thought about many times throughout the years who I have fond memories of. Friends who I saw almost every Sunday for many years, friends who were friends with my mother and very special to her, friends who I worked with at the childcare, friends I went to Wednesday night activities with for years, friends who I enjoyed some wonderful youth activities with,went to girls camp with, friends who I danced with, laughed with, cried with, learned with, and grew with! These friends will always be special to me and my heart was over-filled with joy when I "saw" each of you again!



"No love, no friendship, can cross the path of our destiny without leaving some mark on it forever." - Francois Mocuriac -




Did I mention I LOVE to blog?

I also have some AWESOME cousins who I love greatly and had wonderful times with too. Memories can take you back to some very special times and I love thinking about our youth together. I love being able to stay in touch with you through blog and even though we are far apart, I feel close!

*Michael and Jen* Shannah* Kristen*Bethanie*

"Cousin to cousin we'll always be, Special friends from the same family tree."

Cristin and Dana...I am so glad our lives paths have crossed. I enjoy getting to know you better! You are both so sweet and I am blessed to call you friend!
So....Blessings From a Blog? Most definitely...lots of them....and I am SO grateful!!
Big Hugs to you all
~Melissa~

We have been

I am so grateful we have been protected again. Gustav was not much compared to his friend Katrina. We left to check on our home, and we didn't ever even lose power. We lost some siding from our home and had some damage to our fence, but I will gladly take that! And although we would have loved to spend our Labor Day weekend MANY other different ways, we are reminded of how blessed we are and are thankful for our growing experiences!!

Gustav visits Mississippi

Because Gustav's path had moved more West of us, we decided to "ride out the storm" in the comfort of our own home. We knew it was a strong hurricane but we were not directly in it's path this time. We were well prepared with food, water, a generator and all other necessities. And... we were ready for some family fun!

Games
Games....
....And more games!

Gustav was to make landfall around 10 a.m. so we headed over to nana and papa's for a hurricane breakfast around 8 a.m. Rain had started and winds were blowing, but we were safe to drive. We decided to stay there and hang out until the storm passed. Winds got strong(about 45 mph) and we lost power about 10:30. We watched out the window truly without fear this time! We knew we were going to be okay. We were experiencing more of a severe tropical storm other than a hurricane because we were so far East of him. The frequent tornado warnings got scary, but playing games helped pass the time. We were ready to get out of the house and scope the neighborhood(it was getting quite hot with the power out)
So out with my camera....
This is the beach! Behind this concrete wall is usually about 50 feet of sand and THEN water. In front of the wall to the stop sign is (usually) a 2 lane road to drive down. The water covered the road and was high up into the neighborhoods!







more pics to come...