I Stand

The song I'm living by right now:

I stand with arms wide and heart abandoned,

in awe of the one who gave it all.

I stand my soul, Lord, to you surrendered

all I am is yours!

Breakthrough!

Tonight was a BREAKTHROUGH in my life!!! I learned how to do something that I've been wanting to do for almost 29 years! After many years of trying and watching other people do it with ease, I finally conquered the art of BLOWING A BUBBLE WITH GUM!!

I DID IT!!! I can now blow a bubble! I am so proud! I spent 5 hours tonight chewing bubble gum and blowing bubble after bubble! Now my tongue is sore and my cheeks hurt. BUT I CAN BLOW A BUBBLE!!!! HALLELUJAH!

HE GOT IT!!!

HE GOT THE AUTOGRAPH!!! We went to another Braves game today and we got there 2 hours early so we could see the batting practice! Miguel was so excited to get a player to sign his ball! Finally one of the Braves did! All of the opposing team, the Brewers, were signing balls on the other side of the field and I asked Miguel if he wanted to go over there to get signatures. He said simply, "No." I asked him why not and he said, "Because they're not the Braves." I informed him that even though they weren't the Braves, they were still a professional MLB team and had good players. He said, "No. I only want the Braves." I have to admit, I admire his loyalty. So then he asked to go out to left field to see the Brewers warming up throwing to each other. I told him he could and handed the ball and black Sharpie to him just in case he changed his mind about getting the autographs from the line of Brewers players on that side of the field.

Well, he promptly walked past the entire line of players, ignoring them completely and went to watch the guys throwing. He stood there for about 20 minutes watching and finally threw his ball out to one selected Brewers player to get it signed. He then ignored everyone else and walked back to me. I asked him why the change of heart for the one Brewers player. The answer? "Because he can pass really good!" So congratulations Brewers player - you've passed Miguel's test of throwing!

So he has one side of the ball signed with the Braves player and the other side for the Brewers player. He describes it as the "good side and bad side".

The Braves won 4-2 and we got free big bobblehead doll figurines at the beginning of the game! All in all, a great game!

Go Braves!

Last night we went to see the Atlanta Braves play the Brewers! Miguel was so excited because he's been really in to baseball lately! In fact he even said as we got out of the car at the stadium, "Miss Tice? Can you sign me up to play baseball instead of soccer in the fall?" I couldn't believe it! I said, "Really??? You really want to play baseball instead of soccer?" He said, "Yeah. I have this dream. I want to play baseball in a big stadium when it's raining and I want to hit a homerun so the ball will fly through the rain and crash into one of the lights." Then when we all sat down in our incredibly awesome seats, he said to Elias, "Hey Elias guess what! I'm going to play baseball in the fall!" The Braves lost, but it was still a great game to watch! It was Miguel's first time at a big baseball stadium and he thought it was awesome!

In front of the stadium there are big giant numbers that are for different famous players in the past. The 44 is for Hank Aaron!
Here's Miguel playing baseball on the Hank Aaron statue!
At the end of the game, we went down to the dugout to watch the players go by! Miguel almost got two players to sign a ball, but they had to go back inside the dugout before they could sign it!

Here's me and Elias and Miguel with our Braves shirts! And below us is the number 42 for Jackie Robinson, who was born in Georgia!GO BRAVES!

NORTH POINT!!!

We went to North Point yesterday!!! WOO HOO for North Point! Miguel was so excited! When I asked him last week why he wanted to go to Atlanta so badly, he didn't mention the aquarium, the Braves game, or the giant birthday party that were in the plans. He shouted, "Church! I want to go to that cool church!" So he was ecstatic on the way to church. He couldn't wait to get there. We pulled up in the parking lot and when the giant building came into view, we said, "There it is!" He said, "What part is the church?" (because the building was so big) and we said, "Um, ALL of it." He said, "WHOA!" So he was just in heaven when we walked in and the band started playing!

We sat up front where he could see the instruments really well! He loved it! At the end, he asked how many people were there and we said about 5,000 and there were two more services after that. He stared at us with his mouth open and said, "Can we stay for all of the services?" So we stayed to hear the music of the second service too! He loved the message and paid attention the entire time. I hardly had to translate anything because he was so engaged in what Andy Stanley was saying!

And Eddie Kirkland, one of the worship leaders at North Point, wrote a new song called Hands of the Healer that is AMAZING! We all loved it and went around for the rest of the day singing "So beautiful, oh so beautiful! So beautiful the hands of love!" Check that song out!

Good Friends

Miguel, Elias, and Georgia Roo have become good friends! They've been playing baseball, soccer, tag, racing, Hungry Hungry Hippos, Jenga, and just about every other game you can think of!

Master of Birthday Parties

On Saturday we took Miguel and Elias to a birthday party that was AAAAA-MAZING! The birthday boy was Elias' best friend. There were all kinds of fun things to do and there were seriously about 60 people there - lots of kids. They played tug-o-war with a pool of water in the middle. Miguel and Elias were on the same team.

The big hit was the giant inflatable water slide that they rented for the party! It was so huge and there was a big pool of water at the bottom.



Elias and Miguel played in the water slide for hours, sliding, splashing, and getting wet!








They also had an obstacle course that the kids had to go through! It was totally cool!

Woo hoo for Atlanta!

Yippee I'm in Atlanta!!! I just saw my favorite Little E for the first time in over a year! He is sooooo big now! We're about to go to Vacation Bible School for the morning/early afternoon and then we're going to his best friend's birthday party for the afternoon/evening. His name is Giovanni and the party is supposed to be CRAZY INSANE! Apparently Giovanni's mom is like the party queen and plans amazingly cool parties. I'd told her I'd be the photographer for the party so I'm sure I'll have plenty of pics to post later!

Kathryn's coming to join us this evening and we're going to North Point Community Church tomorrow! I can't wait!!! North Point's my favorite church EVERRRRR! Oh yeah and Zorro is here. He really wants to go to North Point, so he came with us too. Okay it's off to VBS and the birthday party of the century! Adios!

BGLOD

So fear consumed me this weekend. I tried to not let it overcome me, but finally I was defeated. I learned about a new terrifying catastrophe that photographers everywhere are dreading:

The Blinking Green Lights of Death

You laugh. You scoff. You wonder. What exactly are the Blinking Green Lights of Death (or BGLOD), you say? They are so dreadful that thinking about them long enough to explain them to you strikes terror in my heart. My solution to the BGLOD scare?

It's time for a new toy.

Yes, it's Nikon D300 time, everybody. Part of the deal if I purchase my first professional camera is that I am developing a website where I can sell my pictures. I've always had a website where people can order my pictures, but I never received the money for it. Now hopefully I can help offset the cost of this totally amazing, beautiful piece of photographic equipment by selling the pictures that I take with it. So this is the latest camera that I want to get!

Playing in the yard - enjoying the day

Yesterday was a beautiful day filled with baseball! I watched four little league games at Cove Creek Park and then hung out with my sister and Miguel in the evening. It was a great night! Georgia played with us in the front yard and made us laugh and laugh!




This picture right here is possibly the best picture of Georgia Roo that I've ever taken. I'm exceptionally proud of it! She does have a mighty fine hiney!






This is Miguel playing with a light-up yo-yo at night. I really like the way it looks. At one point last night he laid down on the grass and looked up at the sky. He smiled and said, "I can't wait for tomorrow." I asked why and he answered, "I get to go to church." That's my kind of kid!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATIE!!!

Happy flagday birthday Katie!!!! Thank you for one of the most treasured friendships ever! May your first birthday with your new precious daughter in Africa be the most special and beautiful ever! We love you and miss you, Katie!!!

Happy Birthday MOMMY!!!!!

Happy birthday to Mommy!
Happy birthday to Mommy!
Happy birthday to my mommy!
Happy birthday to Mommy!





We went to Chili's to eat dinner to celebrate my mom's birthday! She turned...I don't know how many years...I stopped counting after 36. My sister Cameron and my nephew Leland came too!



We had a great dinner and my mom got a lot of great presents! She got some floating chair lounges for the lake at their house! And she got a gift card to Guadalajara for dinner and a gift card to have her Suburban washed with a premium wash - inside and out! She got a book and a trip to see the Roanoke Island Festival when we go to the beach in July (it's kind of like Jamestown). My stepdad gave her a beautiful diamond necklace!


It was a great night, after a great day! (I got stung by a bee on my foot early this morning so my foot has been swollen, itchy, and painful all day, but everyone else managed to get through Friday the 13th without injury.) Hopefully I'll be able to walk normally tomorrow! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!

Oh yeah and that cake that you see at the top that looks like a watermelon? It actually tasted like watermelon too! It was SOOOOO good! A watermelon cake! Who would have thought! Too bad Katie's not here tomorrow for her birthday cuz that's the cake I would get her!

Chaos and Roo at the River!!!

Kathryn and I took Chaos and Roo to the Rivanna River to play today! It was great exercise for both of them and they had a blast! It was really hot - like 92 degrees - so being in the water was perfect! They played for two and a half hours, chasing each other, chasing sticks, meeting other new dog friends, etc.


Georgia likes to submerge her whole face underwater to search for treasures! She finds great rocks, tennis balls, sticks, and all kinds of things by putting her face underwater!



My sister, who has been sick all week because the monkeys at the zoo gave her some sort of gastrointestinal illness, was miraculously feeling a little better today - enough to climb a tree anyway. We've been saying that we think the monkeys are turning her into a monkey because all she's been able to eat this week are bananas and she's getting furrier and she hangs from trees. She of course denies everything.





Kathryn is giving Chaos a "welcome back" hug! He went off to chase a stick and was returning for the hug! These dogs certainly have never experienced a lack of love!

Awesome baseball!

We've been doing AWESOME!!!! Our team has won 6 of the past 7 games! We had a double-header last night and we won both games! They were really close too - great games - the kind that can go either way and you have no idea who's going to win until the game is over! I love those kind! I just love this game!

Happy Birthday Ezra!!!

So yesterday was my nephew Ezra's birthday! Here are some pictures of Ezra and Nolan (and yes that's a real baby tiger cub) and their unbelievably cute baby sister Payton.