Ticket To Heaven

Emily spent a couple weeks at VBS recently and I have to say, it seems as though both churches really got the message of salvation across. On this past Thursday we were driving home from meeting Nana half way and Emily was telling me the story of Jesus' death on the cross and what it meant. While we're getting dressed, or driving in the car, cooking or whatever quiet time Em and I have to talk, I'll sometimes ask her questions like, why did Jesus die? What's sin? Do you sin? And so forth, just to get her thinking. So I figured she was just telling me what we had talked about over time. But she went on to say she wanted to ask Jesus in her heart so she could live with him in heaven forever. She started to pray but then said she couldn't remember the words so she asked me to pray and then she wanted to repeat. So we did that in the car and I looked in the review mirror when we were done and she had this awesome smile on her face and she pronounced, "Now I have my ticket to Heaven!" I got a little worried that she thought she was going to get some sort of ticket in the mail so when I told her there wasn't, she said, "I know mommy, I just mean I get to be with Jesus in Heaven now!"
The next day she went up and did the alter call at VBS, which is fine with me. We just talked to her and told her now that Jesus is in her heart, it's forever.
I was a little concerned that she is too young to fully understand, but she seems to get it and, as my friend and I discussed, we have to work to grow her faith from here.
I just thought you all might like to hear her story!

Family Camp

Our church had family camp this weekend up at Lake Siskyou. We planned on coming up for the day but decided last minute to camp. So on the day we were to leave, after a children's ministry meeting and Mike's haircut, Mike and I raided Target and Walmart and got all the supplies we needed. We made it up there at about 3 and got to our campsite. It was nice, however DIRTY. Now I know what you are thinking...that's not saying a lot coming from a neat-freak like me but it's true. That was probably the dustiest campsite I've ever been to. And Emily took great advantage of her ability to get dirty. She even got dirtier than the 2 year olds and her friends Tessa and Becca. And, no joke, in about 2 minutes. She had a cold so she kept rubbing her nose with her dirty hands and it was all I could do to keep her face recognizable! So she was voted dirtiest kid for the weekend!

We took Allyson up with us, (my parents ended up coming with Rylee last minute), and we found she is not our camper. She did NOT like the dirt in the least bit. She also didn't like the cold nights. She woke up the next morning saying it was cold and she wanted to go home to Nana's house. So since my dad had to work the next day, Nana took the two youngest home and just left us with Tessa and Emily.

So Mike and I decided that camping was fun, we hadn't done it in years. And now that we have the stuff we're thinking down the road we would try Patricks Point. Can you believe Mike has never heard of it or been there?

Vacation Bible School

Emily and Tessa are in Sonworld, (that's the theme, no clue what it's about), VBS this week. It's the same church where they went to the Western themed one last year. They absolutely LOVED it, so granted they thought, or maybe wished, it was the same one again. Well it's not and I think they are a little disappointed. It's still good, just not what they dreamed of. So here's the conversation I caught coming down the stairs between Em and Mike.

Mike: So, Em, how was VBS today? (Now, Mike asked the question but then stopped listening, MEN!)

Emily: How would you like it if you had to sit in a chair all day daddy? That wouldn't be very fun, would it?

Me: Emily, I know you didn't sit all day, you played games, sang songs, did crafts and heard a story about Jesus healing the blind man.

Emily: Yeah, but we sat some and do you think it would be fun to sit in a chair all day? That part was boring.

It's just so funny how grown up she's sounding. Yeah, she had the wrong attitude but it was just so funny!

On a side note: For those of you asking for Disney pictures, please go to Mike's blog http://todayinmike.blogspot.com/ and ask him to not only download them but to then bring them home! That way I can share pictures of our trip! I'm not sure why we bring his work computer with us because we download pictures and then have to transfer them. I think he's scared Matt will steal his laptop!

Little Frosters

Mike made cupcakes on his lunch hour and left me to frost them with the girls. They had a lot of fun doing it. Ally frosted hers with one swipe and then proceeded to eat the rest of the frosting I gave her. Emily did really well. She then wanted to put sprinkles on the confetti cake/frosting topped off with a gummy worm. So anyone enjoying one of these will be on a sugar high. Emily then wanted to share our cupcakes so we invited Tessa, bella, jack and jenn over for cupcakes. She also wanted to give one to nana and papa, so I told her papa doesn't like this kind. Then Joel and Leslie but I told her they didn't like cake, so I guess we are stuck with 18 cupcakes! Hopefully the Wilburn's like to eat 2 each! Oh and poor Rylee and Jack are going to get plain cupcakes...just not into cleaning up 6 kids with frosting! I'll save that for their birthdays!

Added Note: The Wilburn's just left after less than an hour here. I guess cupcakes at 3:30 just don't sit well...Bella, Ally, Tessa and Emily all lost their minds after the cupcakes and proceeded to have wild meltdowns!

Rylee's first Eggbeater

Chocolate frosting for brownies mommy made...MMMMMmmmm! Shhhhh! Don't tell Ally, mommy gave them to Emily and I while she was asleep!

Don't Mess With The Princesses

I know I know, I've been home for days and haven't blogged pictures yet. But we took Mike's computer with us and downloaded most of them on there. So as soon as he gets them on a disk for me I'll download them and share about our amazing trip.

In the meantime...I'll share something I learned while there. When walking down Main street, or for that matter ANY store in Disneyland...princess attire, dolls, accessories, books, wands, and on and on and on have replaced Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald and so on. I think Disney has figured out the power of the "little princesses" i.e. little girls, power over their daddy's. I know my girls were spoiled by Mike so I'm sure every other little girl was too. You still occasionally see micky or minnie hats on kids heads, but to be honest, I saw WAY more little girls dressed up as princesses. I would say it's sad but they still love Micky and you still see the 10 ft. wall filled with the same Mickey Mouse stuffed animal. You just have to walk through the princess section before you reach it.

Anyway, not really anything important...just found it interesting!