Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho, It's Off To Work I Go...

For a couple of months now, Travis and I (and many other's) have been praying about me going to work outside of the home. I have been blessed to be able to stay home for nine years and have loved it. I thank Travis for always being supportive of me staying home and he has worked so hard to make that possible. But, one of the many great things about him is that when I began to talk about going to work outside of the home, he was supportive of that too.

In a couple of weeks, I will begin working as part-time secretary of a church here in town. I am very excited about this job! I will be able to work outside of the home in the mornings and still be home in the afternoons to pick Samuel up from school and help him with his homework and get supper ready. The Lord has provided for the girls to stay with my sister-in-law, plus this allows her the wonderful chance to stay home with her baby. The Lord has been wonderful to work out so many details in His time. Please pray that we as a family will adjust well to these changes.

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Now a bit of mushy comments:

Yesterday at church a dear sweet lady came up to me to offer encouragement about how things were going at church and what the Lord was showing her. In her talking to me she said, "The way you look at Travis when he is leading in worship, it is wonderful" I responded, "I'm in love". She told me that it showed and it was wonderful to see.

I am in love.

I'm in love with my husband!

God has given me the wonderful opportunity to stand beside him each week as he leads us to worship Christ. I thank God for allowing Travis and I to be in church ministry together, we have always seen his jobs in church as our ministry, not just his. I thank God for allowing me to be Travis' helpmate not just at home, but in the church also.

I pray that it can always be seen on my face that I'm in love!

I Love Horses

Last year, we went to visit my Aunt and Uncle who live in Nashville. The kids had a great time playing and riding their horses. They sent the girls these sweet shirts this week.

Here are a few pictures from our trip last year. I can't believe how much they have grown in just a year.

While I am sharing about these times, I know that they would like to ask all who read this to pray for their family. Aunt Lisa gave me a great reminder this week, "Pray. Pray for your children. Satan attacks hard where our children are concerned." God sometimes gives us a gentle reminder from others, like a seasoned Mom, of something we know and do. Thanks Aunt Lisa for reminding us all of how important it is to pray for the children God has given us.

Friday Family Funnies - Children Obey Your Parents

Children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. "Honor your father and mother," which is the first commandment with promise: "that you may be well with you and you may live long on the earth."

Ephesians 6:1-3

(Grammy cutting the cake at the July Birthday Supper)

Two Playgrounds

Good morning! We have been blessed to have been able to purchase a wooden swing set from some friends of ours that are moving to Florida. Memama and Granddaddy came Saturday to help us take the pool down and get the swing set. We were excited that we were able to get the swing set for a good price, but Travis was most excited that he didn't have to put it together. They drove it from Landrum in two pieces. We hear that is much better than the thousands of pieces it comes in new!

For right now, we are leaving our other swing set up. When Hannah Grace was saying her prayers Saturday night, she thanked God for her two playgrounds. We went outside to play last night and with this "new" swing set, Faith went straight to the other one!

Have a great day and we will see you for Friday Family Funnies...


*Note: The pool is down!

Do you ever wonder?

Do you ever wonder what Travis does while he is away at Upward Training Sessions?

Tampa

Dallas

Seattle

Friday Family Funnies - Just Another Day in the Sparks Home!

Most of you remember our troubles with our above-ground pool. Well, we still have not taken the pool down - we have been waiting on the insurance and then it has been so hot.

Anyway, Travis and I were working a little bit on it Tuesday night. I had climbed under the deck to get "inside" the pool. While climbing under the deck I disturbed a wasp nest and was stung on the rear in. Travis was on the deck fixing the girl's plastic table. My rear in was hurting and I had ask Travis to come look at it to make sure it wasn't swelling too bad. He took one step - one step through the deck! His size 14 foot went straight through a board of the deck and hit the ground with such force that it jerked his body forward and he hit the front of his head on the deck. As I said, I was "inside" the pool and had disturbed a wasp nest and could not climb back under the deck to get to him to help him. So, he pulled his leg back through the deck and waited for me to find a way out of the pool. Samuel rescued me and brought me a step stool. Once I was out of the pool, we were able to walk into the house.

As of today, Travis' leg is doing alright. It is pretty scrapped up and still a little swollen from what we think is just pulled muscles.

O well, it's just another day in the Sparks Home!

Ahoy Matey!

I took the kids to McDonald's for lunch today and they each got a Pirates of The Caribbean "hat". The all looked so cute I thought I would share a picture with you. I ask Faith what her pirate name was, she told me "Pirate Pete". I don't know where that came from, but she's sticking to it.

Travis and I went to see the movie on our "Date Night" Friday night, we both loved the movie, but we don't recommend it for children, not even children Samuel's age. The first movie got a PG rating (and I think it is too scary for Samuel, too) and the second one got a PG-13 rating. You must see the first movie to understand the second, but both are very good. I told Travis that I have never seen a movie where at the end of if I wanted to see the next one immediately and that is how I left theater on Friday. Enough of my movie review. Have a good day!

Friday Family Funny - "Who Is America?"

On the 4th of July, Grammy and Big Daddy were watching Lydia and Steven while Eric and Kristi got settled into their new home. The fireworks were going off in and around the church parking lot and Lydia was not enjoying them at all. Grammy was trying to comfort her and kept telling her, each time there was a loud noise - "They are saying Happy Birthday, America." She told her this a couple of times and then Lydia looked up at her Grammy and said, "Who is America?"

Lots of Pictures!

Here are our vacation pictures. There are a lot of them, so look as you can.

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Sunset Beach

Over the week-end we went with Memama, Granddaddy, and Aunt Kendra for a short vacation. We went to Sunset Beach, North Carolina. Big Daddy and Grammy went along with us too. We had such a great time!

It rained on us the entire trip down and stopped after supper so we headed across the one lane swing bridge to the beach. It was the perfect time to be there. There was no one else on the beach except a couple getting married, one set of parents, and the man officating the wedding.

We captured some great photo moments. This was the first time that Faith has seen the ocean and the first time that Hannah Grace will remember to see the ocean. The night was so wonderful, I could have left right then and the entire week-end would have been worth it.

On Friday, Travis and Tommy went for a morning of golf and the rest of us headed to the pool. (We stay at the Sea Trail Resort, I highly recommend it.) After lunch and a quick nap for the girls we headed back to the beach.

On Thursday evening, we went to Broadway At the Beach just to walk around a little.

On Saturday morning, Samuel woke up with a red face from where he had rubbed all the sunscreen off his face each time water got in his eyes at the ocean. So, Travis and I went back to the beach with the girls and everyone else just hung out at the pool.

The BIG event of the week-end was Faith giving her passie (pacifer) to the "Baby Sharks". We had talked about giving it up for weeks and when the time finally came she walked right up to the pier and threw her passie. So, The Sparks House is a passie-free home!!!!!!!! She never asked about it Saturday night, but we did have a pretty rough night going to bed last night. We made it and she went to bed find tonight.

I took over 100 pictures in just three days, so please forgive me. I will upload them to Bubbleshare and post them later.

Thanks for a great week-end - we can't wait until next summer's vacation: DISNEY!

On Vacation

We have been on vacation over the past week-end. I am sorry that there was not a Friday Family Funny, we did not have internet access. It was truly a vacation!

I will try to post about the fun time we had later this evening. Here are a few pictures of Samuel and his Golf Camp that I meant to post before we left.

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Happy Birthday America!

Happy 4th of July!

We went to see some fireworks in Woodruff, last night. Samuel loved it, Faith loved it most of the time, and Hannah Grace did not like them at all.

Visit with Mammy and Popeye

Over the week-end, my Dad and step-mom came for a visit. They came to help us with some things around the house. We had a great visit and got a lot done - we put ceiling fans up in the kids rooms, replaced the flooring in the bathroom, and put quarter-round in the kitchen. Our next project is to use the decking around the pool and build a sitting deck out back and put railing on the front porch. We are going to wait until it cools off to do the outside work!


















On Saturday night, Mammy rolled Hannah Grace's hair in pink sponge rollers. I think most girls have memories of having their hair rolled on Saturday night for church the next morning. Faith wasn't going to be left out, so Mammy rolled Faith's hair too. Faith took her's out before bed, but Hannah Grace left her's in all night. They both were so cute.

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