ROAR!

The cutest lion ever! :-)

A little sassy with the tongue stuck out!

A little lion strut goin' on here!

I now have a picture of each of my "little lions" in this same costume. We get our money's worth out of these Halloween costumes we have bought over the years! hehe We can't wait for Halloween 2011!!!

My First Race

I did it. I ran my first 5K in 32 minutes. I know that finish time leaves room for improvement, and that's why I'll keep on "truckin". Eventually I will improve my time, but for now I am thankful for being able to finish a race. What I love most about running is the time I get to think while running. I use that time to think about everything...my kids, my family, my friends, but mostly my God. I look at the sky above me in amazement at His creation. Whether it's stars at night, clouds, a sunset, a sunrise, it's all amazing. I think about all the struggles we face on this Earth and how beautiful Heaven will be one day. I can only imagine...

Here's a couple of shots from my first race that my husband took with his phone. Thanks, Jan, for going with me and taking the kids to watch "Mommy" cross the finish line. I almost cried as I approached you all standing there cheering me on. :-)

(Don't know why the pic cut off my legs! hehe)

Filling out my card at the finish

This next week, I begin my "novice" training for the St. Jude half marathon. As I run, I will be thinking about our sweet Lucy and all of the children being treated for cancer and other diseases. I will be praying as I run. I downloaded several new praise/worship songs to my ipod last week. I will admit that I get overwhelmed with emotion when I hear certain songs, especially my favorites, The Revelation Song, I Will Rise, and Shout to the Lord. If you see me running with my hands raised to the heavens, you'll know I am listening to one of these songs and losing myself in the words and music. If you see me crying while running, it's because I cannot contain my emotion. Or maybe I'm needing medical assistance of some kind. :-) Just kidding.

So, my first race is complete. Next up... a 5K on Sept. 10th - the Cotton Pickin' 5K in Somerville. (Don't you just love that name?) Keep praying for Lucy, and pray for other children "running the race" in their fight against childhood diseases. If you would like to donate to "Team Lucy" for the St. Jude Marathon weekend, click here. Oh, and if your Lucy bow is showing any "wear and tear", Hometown Flowers (901.476.1212) in Covington is trading worn Lucy bows for new bows for $5.00 and donating the money to St. Jude.

iMOM

I just wanted to share this with all you MOMS out there! I heard about iMOM on a christian radio station at the beginning of the summer, and I signed up to receive iMOM emails. It is really cool and provides some good advice for moms as well as a feature called "Pillow Talk" for your relationship with your husband that might be worth trying. :-) I know we are all super busy MOMS, but if you have a moment to spare, take a look. I thought you might like it,too. Below is a link to the latest iMOM email I got. Have a great weekend!

10 Super Healthy Foods for Kids | iMOM

Ground-Breaking Day

This past Sunday was an important day in the life of our church. It was Ground-Breaking Day for the new church building at the Hastings Way and Hwy 59 location. The Family Life Center is already there, and now it looks as if God has paved the way for the next phase to take place in the building of our new church. As exciting as it is to see this happening for our church, it is a little sad to think about NOT going to the location on the square. My entire life has been spent at that location. I was baptized there, married there, dedicated each of my babies there, and my oldest child was recently baptized there...a place that has been quite an important part of this (almost) 34-year-old's lifespan! I know that change can be a good thing, and I believe that God's gonna bring about some great things for our church in making this change. We celebrated with a ground-breaking ceremony and fish fry. (You know we just couldn't call ourselves Baptists if there wasn't some food involved, right?) Certain people were chosen for the "shoveling" at the ground-breaking, and I was especially happy that John Owen was asked to be one of the children on a shovel. It was history in the making, and he played an important part in representing the future of our church.





 Maybe one day when John Owen's grown and has a family of his own, he'll look back at these pictures and be proud to have been a part of this and thankful to be a child of God.

Meant to Be a Monkey

I can't believe I'm saying this, but Jonah started Kindergarten this week. He is excited about his new adventure and his new teacher, Mrs. Mandy. Jonah came home from his first day of Kindergarten with his new M.O.N.K.E.Y. (My Organizational Notebook Keeping Everyone informed for the Year) binder, and I couldn't help but smile as I saw it. The first thought that came to mind was...He was meant to be a monkey and meant to be in Mrs. Mandy's class. You see, he has loved monkeys for a long time. He even sleeps with his special "blue monkey" every night. When he was 3 and 4 years old, he spent A LOT of time dressed up in the monkey costume his older brother wore for Halloween one year. (He put that costume on the other day, and it was TOO FUNNY how it fit him. He has grown so much that the legs of that thing came up to his knees, not to mention the tail is coming apart at the seams. But he insisted on wearing it.)

My little "monkey" is off to school!

A quick picture with Mommy!

His name on his box!

Finding his name on the table!

Daddy even came to walk him down to class!

I love you, Jonah! I hope you have a wonderful Kindergarten year. I am so glad God gave you to me, and I am proud of you and the sweet, fun-loving boy you are becoming. God's got big plans for you... You are God's child, and He loves you infinitely.

"I'll love you forever. I'll like you for always. As long as I'm living, my baby you'll be."

Love, Mommy

Surprise!

Last Saturday, we held a surprise party for Jan's dad, Mr. Jimmie. He turned 70, and we tried to celebrate this milestone in his life in a special way. Jan pretty much orchestrated the surprise plan...He would take his Dad to the new cowboy hat place on the square to pick up his new cowboy hat while everyone arrived at our house. We would have all the food ready and be in our places when they returned for the BIG SURPRISE! Christi made the cake (see her handywork below), we ordered BBQ, and everyone brought a little something to go with the BBQ. As usual, we had ALOT of food. Everyone arrived on time except the birthday "boy". hehe I'll spare you that story. Let's just say we were all waiting and waiting and waiting and an hour later then expected, Jan pulled into the driveway with his dad. He said later that when his dad saw all the cars, he hung his head and knew right away "what was up". :-) Surprise!

Mary Claire and cousin Bella waiting on Granddaddy to arrive!

This picture is so blurry! Sorry! But it's the only one I got as he entered the front door.
SURPRISE!!!

I am so glad this shot was not out of focus. This is Mr. Jimmie hugging his baby sister, Nellita. She drove from Mississippi, and we were so glad she came. Mr. Jimmie teared up when he saw her standing there. (He purposely did not take off the sunglasses when he came in, and I knew he was hiding his eyes from us.)

Granddaddy Jimmie talking to his granddaughter, Jade, and her fiance. Probably asking her about the upcoming wedding plans! Two Hensley grandchildren getting married in the next 7 months!

Happy 70th Birthday, Granddaddy! We love you, and we wish you many more!

Let's Go!

All right...here we go. One work week down for me, and everybody else starts this week. Here's my boys with their new backpacks stuffed with school supplies!

We actually had a good time shopping for supplies this year. I usually tackle the school supply shopping job on my own, but this year the boys helped me shop. Then they "pooled" their birthday money (Jonah's) and Summer Reading Reward money (John Owen's) and picked out a new wii game, Donkey Kong Country Returns! Admittedly, they were more excited about the wii game than the school supplies. :-)

We are ready then, I guess! We know who are teachers are going to be, and we are sooo excited! John Owen got to meet his teacher and spent some time in his classroom meeting classmates this past Wed., but Jonah won't meet his teacher until this Tuesday. (They stagger start days for Kindergarten, so everyone will not start full time until next Monday, August 15th. Gotta ease into this, right?)

2011-2012 school year, here we come! Hope everyone has a wonderful year!