This Beautiful Exchange

We got to spend ten days in the wet, warm and sunny state of Florida. We went to the beach, hung out with friends and family, and ate a lot of good food. Derek and Ashley went with us. It was great to spend time with them, cook with them and compare our ideas on deodorant.

We got to try out several different beaches, including Ft. Pierce, Jensen Beach and Daytona Beach. We were afraid of how Lucy would feel about sand, but she ended up loving the beach from the moment we got there. She played in the sand and even got brave enough to venture into the water and let the waves hit her legs a little.

I think one of my favorite things was the family BBQ we had at Kristy’s grandparents’ house. They invited us up for hamburgers and hotdogs. They took us in and made it feel like we weren’t so far away from home.

We spent the last few days of our trip with Tony’s friend, Joell. He and his daughter live in Ocala. It was great to hang out with Joell and finally meet Jade.

Though we loved going away for vacation, it was great to get home and snuggle in to our own bed.

Click HERE to view all of the pictures!

Our main reason for going to Florida was to be a part of my little sister’s wedding. Kristy and Shawn finally tied the knot after dating for four years. We were so happy to be there and share in the fun and celebration. They had a luau themed rehearsal dinner and a beautiful garden-like wedding. Derek was the photographer, so he and Ashley were there as well. It was a fun and beautiful reunion!

We are so happy for Shawn and Kristy and wish them nothing but love, joy, peace and many, many blessings!

Click HERE to see all of the pictures.

Don’t worry, mom, I’ll have our Florida pictures up, soon!

I hope that these cute pictures of Lucy from the 4th of July will hold you over for a few days. We will think of you all as we are sitting on the beach!

So, we got a letter in the mail yesterday from the IRS telling us how much we qualified to receive from the economic stimulus package. At the bottom of the letter, it also informed us that we will be receiving another notice telling us how much we will actually be getting. And, THEN, the check will be in the mail.

I wanted to reply and ask if next time, instead of getting all of the silly notices, could we just have the money they spent on paper, printing and postage added to our check?

Lucy has recently taken a liking to playing dress up. She likes wearing her hats, beaded necklaces, Great-Grandma Varner’s bracelets and mommy’s sunglasses.

Here she is wearing one of her hooded bath towels. She likes to put it on her head and walk around the house. I think she looks like a little friendly ghost!

On Saturday, we went to the Royals game with Grandma and Grandpa Hill. We enjoyed the game, especially because they won! Here are the pictures from that evening.

Click HERE.

Today was Lucy’s first trip to the zoo. We went with our friends, Nikki and Maya, whom we hang out with pretty much once a week.

We had fun looking at the animals and having a picnic lunch. I think that she liked the giraffs the most. Hopefully, we’ll get to go back, soon.

Click HERE to see the pictures!

It’s that time in our political calendar, again. Over the next several months we will watch our country divide among party lines, yelling accusations at each other and demanding our own way. We will even see Christians divided against other Christians, using Jesus as a bullet point. Most of the arguments will prove to be completely ineffective, especially when they result to generalized name-calling and assuming that everyone in a certain party is the same, such as “selfish Republicans” and “heathen Democrats”.

I think it is very foolish to try to decide which side God would be on. Not because of separation of church and state, but because He is above it all. When will people realize that God is neither a Republican nor a Democrat? American democracy is a man-made institution, it is flawed, it will always be flawed, it will not save the world from utter destruction. Nor will it destroy the world. If we serve a Sovereign God, we can neither save nor destroy the world He created. It is sustained by Him alone and we are arrogant to think that we have total control over what happens here on Earth.

In my own personal views, I lie pretty close to the middle. I believe very strongly in the sanctity of life, I feel that we should be environmentally responsible to a degree and I think that governments should remain fiscally conservative. I also believe that it is the Church’s responsibility to take care of the poor while it is the national government’s responsibility to protect and uphold the nation.

When it comes to election time, I tend to vote Republican. My reason for this is what the pundits call “one issue voters.” Call it what you will, but my vote will more than likely lean towards the candidate who is pro-life. My reason for this is not because I’m selfish and don’t want to help the poor or that I don’t care about the environment, it’s because I believe that the sanctity of life is foundational to our society, and without it, no other issue really matters. I believe that human life is the crown of creation, therefore, I will always uphold it higher than the environment. Again, not because I don’t care about other things, but because the way the party lines are set up, I have to make a choice and go with what I view is MOST important.