Fireproof is in theaters now!!!!!!!

If you couldn't already tell I am a big fan of this movie. It has captured my heart like no other movie has. I'm amazed at how God is blessing it and can't wait to hear what their opening weekend sales will be! Their blog describes that Fireproof has become more than a movie, it has become a movement. It will be shown in 839 theaters across the country and has consistently been the top selling ticket on Fandango this week! To top that off, The Love Dare, is one of the top 25 selling books on Amazon!!! The Love Dare is the book that the main character uses in the movie to learn to love his spouse. It is a 40 day journey where each day you read about some aspect of what it means to love your spouse...patience, kindness, etc., and then you are given a "dare" for lack of a better word. That dare might be to not say anything negative to your spouse all day, or to do one unexpected act of kindness. It is fantastic and people all over are taking the dare to love their spouses as God inteneded for them to! I will be starting my dare soon. If you join me I'd love to talk about it with you.

As if all of that wasn't enough, Fireproof has also been on FamilyLife Today (you can go online to hear it), and Focus on the Family, as well as The Today Show and Dr. Phil!

If you would like to see this movie please consider going this weekend to help their opening weekend sales. That will determine much of the future of Fireproof. If you can't go this weekend just don't miss the chance to see it. You won't regret it!

Evan's new glasses

We had Evan's eyes checked recently with a small suspicion that he was having a little bit of trouble seeing. After a not so fun eye appointment where he had to have is eyes dilated it was confirmed that he needed a very small correction. The correction is more for comfort than anything. Apparently he is needing to focus a little too much to read and these will help him and relieve some strain on his eyes. The good news is that he can grow out of this type of correction. When he put his new glasses on for the first time he looked in the mirror and got a HUGE grin on his face! He was excited to try them out for the first time during his reading time before bed.

Music Monday

Our family loves music. Unfortunately I only have about enough musical talent to fit in my small toe, but I am very talented at appreciating music! When Larry and I met, one of the first things he asked me was "So, what do you like to listen to?" We were 16 years old and luckily our musical tastes matched or we probably would have been doomed from the start! Music has always been a very important part of our lives. Larry has been in bands from the time we met until right before we were pregnant with Clayton, and I was always his biggest fan. The only thing that has changed since those days is that the type of music we listen to has changed......drastically!!! Lately we are listening to a lot of Skillet (Clayton's favorite), Toby Mac (I probably like him better than anyone else in my house right now), and Larry is anxiously awaiting Lincoln Brewster's new CD which I think comes out tomorrow so I guess we'll be at the store soon.

There are two songs right now that I can't get enough of. Both of them have very powerful lyrics. The first is "What If?" by Nichole Nordeman and the other is "Slow Fade" by Casting Crowns (which also has a very powerful video). What are you listening to these days?

Family Pictures

It's been awhile since I've blogged but I haven't dropped off of the face of the earth. We've been getting accustomed to a busier schedule since the boys started speech and art this week and Larry and I started BSF. After being out of town for 2 weeks it was hard to get back to the grind!

Today my friend Karyn came over and took pictures of our family. Here are some of the shots she took. We are thrilled with them!

Please pray for our neighborhood

We absolutley love our neighborhood. There is no other place in Little Rock that I would want to live. It is very community focused. We have 4th of July parades, movies at the pool during the summer, Safetyfest every fall at our clubhouse, etc. Everyone is very friendly and we have truly enjoyed spending our summer getting to know the people who live in this neighborhood through tennis, swimming, walks, etc. We often hear that we are one of the lower crime neighborhoods in Little Rock, probably because of this community focus.

That is why it was so shocking to learn that the secretary at our clubhouse was murdered at 10am on Tuesday morning. At the time the only information we had was that someone had stolen her vehicle and shot her 5 times while she was in the office. The elementary school, which is in our neighborhood, was on lockdown. She was 30 years old and married with a young son. We just found out that last night an arrest was made and the man lived in our neighborhood. So far we have no other information but we are shocked and saddened.

Please pray for this woman's family. I can't fathom their pain. Pray that they would seek Christ through this tragedy and that the Christians in our neighborhood would be a voice of love and truth. Pray also for any fears that this may cause in us, our neighbors, and our friends. It's always particularly scary when it happens in your back yard.

I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety. -Psalm 4:8

Maryland Part 2

What a week! We have had a great time. I'll give you a quick overview of the rest of our time here and post lots of pictures. On Saturday we saw an amazing air and space museum by Dulles Airport. I've never seen anything like it. The planes were HUGE! Sunday after church we went to a state park and hiked to a waterfall. That was really fun and beautiful. That night a friend of my dads had us over to her house for a wonderful dinner. Yesterday and today we did D.C. What a blast. I haven't been there since I was about Clayton's age and it was just as great as I remembered. The highlight for Clayton was riding the metro train into the city and the highlight for Evan were the gift shops! No matter where we went he wanted to see the gift shop! We are headed to bed now and have a very early morning ahead of us and a day of travel back to Little Rock. It is sad to say goodbye to dad but we will never forget this week!

Maryland

We have had a great time so far in Maryland. By the time we got in and to our room on Thursday it was late so we met dad for dinner and then went to bed. Yesterday we went to the Inner Harbor in Baltimore. My dad's ex-wife, Cora, who was my step mother for most of my life met us there. It was great to see her again. We figured it might have been about 15 years since I saw her last. We went to the aquarium, which was amazing, and also went on a submarine and a ship used in the Civil War. The boys loved it all. It was a beautiful day but today is a very rainy day thanks to tropical storm Hanna. Because of that we have delayed our plans to go to DC until Monday. Today we are having a relaxing morning and then we will head to an air and space museum. Here are some pictures of our day yesterday.

A quick update from the road...

After just under a week in St. Louis we are headed to Maryland today. We have had a wonderful time visiting with family and friends. It is always good to be back home where everything is as familiar as the back of your hand, and the traffic is heavier on a Saturday afternoon than at rush hour in Little Rock!

My cousin who stayed in our house during the evacuation is back home in New Orleans and damage is minimal but they do not currently have electricity. I haven't heard from my other cousins but I'm assuming it is the same for them.

That's our very quick update...now we are headed out again to visit my dad. We are so excited to spend time with him and get to visit Washington D.C. and Baltimore. I haven't been to D.C. since I was a kid, and the best memory I have is seeing Dorothy's ruby slippers at the Smithsonian! I don't think my boys will carry away the same memories! They are excited to see a submarine, an aquarium, and the United States Mint. Clayton is my budding coin collector so that is a must. More updates to come!