A brief update and a sweet gotcha day video

The past few weeks have been especially busy around our house. We've had a few extra special and really fun events on our calendar. Events we have spent the entire summer excited about.

Last week-end we spent 3 days in the woods of Tennessee at Loretta Lynn's Ranch watching hundreds of guys (and a few girls) including my very brave teenage nephew race dirt bikes. Not just anyone can ride in this race. It's the absolute best riders in the nation. My nephew, Drew, trained and worked very hard to qualify..... and he made it. He did great! It was a super fun week-end spent watching races, playing in a cold creek and riding around in the mud on golf carts and ATVs. Yee-haw! Fun times :) Pictures coming this week!

Next was our oldest daughter, Lexie's sweet 16th birthday party! It was a little late (her bday is in July) because one of her closest friends was a camp counselor this summer, so we waited until she got home to have the party. Lexie has been planning this party all summer and I think she enjoyed every minute of it. Her one request was that her daddy hang large Christmas lights over our pool. Well, she's always had her daddy wrapped around her finger so of course she got the lights. About 6oo lights as a matter of fact! She is blessed to have lots of wonderful friends who came to celebrate her special night. I think we had around 50 teenagers plus about 25 more friends and family. Who said homeschoolers are boring. Over half the kids here were homeschoolers :) Again, I will share pics later in the week.

Our last big event was last night and it was one of the sweetest! If you've been reading my blog for long or you know our family, then you know Kelsie. She is like a little sister to me and a big sister to our kids. Last night, she married her best friend in the world. I had the privilege of being her matron of honor and Lilly and Levi were the flower girl and ring bearer. We have loved this sweet couple for years and have prayed for this day for a long time. Pictures of this will definitely be coming soon. Kelsie was gorgeous and I must say, Lilly and Levi were the most adorable little pair I've ever seen. I can not wait to share the pictures and lots of details. It was a very special day for more reasons than the obvious. I will let that post brew in my heart for a week or so and then share.

As you can tell, we've been a bit busy around here the past few weeks. We would normally start school tomorrow morning but guess what...... we're NOT! Another plus to homeschooling!... momma decides when we start. I need this week to regroup and prepare, so we will kick off our official school year next Monday.

We do have one more HUGE event on our calendar and this one we've been praying for since last November. Our niece is coming home from Korea.... Praise the Lord! My brother-in-law and sister-in-law got the news last week that we'd been waiting on. Their sweet little girl Daria was approved to leave Korea and come home to her family. Hopefully, she will be in our arms by the end of the month or the first of September. Please join our family in praying her home. She is absolutely beautiful and I can't wait to share her homecoming! Lots of pictures of Daria coming very soon!

Ok, since I shared some details of the past couple weeks at our house but NO pictures..... how about a very special "gotcha day" video. Turn down my music and enjoy watching this family's journey to Mareto. Adorable!!!!