{GG's Birthday}

Yesterday we celebrated GG's birthday!  The kids love their GG and couldn't wait to celebrate with her!

Susan is one of the most amazing women I know!  She has the sweetest spirit and is a true servant.  She would do anything for us or our kids and we love her more than anything!  I am blessed to have the most amazing mother-in-law!  Couldn't imagine it any other way!

We love you GG!!

{golf}

Of course we all love a little golf here at the Gladhills, so when we were playing outside this weekend i made a little golf course for the kids.



Zac had some flag in the garage for who knows what and we numbered them one through ten. The kids placed them all over the front yard and then had to hit the ball from one to ten.



They had a blast and practiced their numbers too!

Come play on the Gladhill course anytime!

{Mimi is 90!}

My wonderful, grandmother, or Mimi as we like to refer to her will be turning 90 on Wednesday!!  Can you believe 90?!?  When I think about that, it really makes me tired.  That is basically living my whole life over again TWICE!

The amazing this is that she is still so young at heart.  I really know what that phrase means now because I look and her and wonder how she keeps going.  She told Parker the other day that age is just a number (like Parker had any clue what she was talking about), but she is right!  She acts like she is 75.  Still reads People Magazine weekly and can ROCK the crossword puzzle in the back.  She goes for walks, attends about 5 group/committee meetings a week, works in the yard, drives, lives alone, I could go on and on. Simply put she's amazing!

I owe so much to her and my late granddad because so much of who I am today is because of the amazing influence they had on my life.  I can't imagine life without her in it and hope in 10 years I will be blogging about her 100th birthday party!

Happy Birthday MIMI!!  We love you so much!

{old things}

I love old things. Things with a history or some life in them. I have had some really old milk bottles for a long time now and didn't know quite what to do with them. I haven't allowed myself to part with them.

Today Parker picked a beautiful bouquet of flowers for me and as I was looking for a vase I came across one of my old milk jugs.





I think it looks pretty cute!

{a blog to check out}

There are many blogs that I read for fun and many that I read to keep caught up with my friends, but I wanted to pass on one from a woman in Ministry named Sally Clarkson. She actually happens to be my moms first cousin. She's a terrific writer and has a wealth of knowledge and advice to pass on. I have read many of her books and have throughly enjoyed them! The Mission of Motherhood and The Ministry of Motherhood are excellent!

Her blog is http://wholeheart.typepad.com/itakejoy/

I'd love to hear what books/ blog you read and enjoy for ministry purposes. (I'll post some of my other favorite blogs soon). So, go on and comment! Pass on your favorites!

{changes}

There are many changes coming to the Gladhill house. In a few weeks, I will be leaving my full time job to stay home with our kids. This has been a dream of ours for a long time and something Zac and I have been praying for but weren't sure when or if it was going to happen.

Patience has never been a strong suit of mine and I feel like God has really been stretching me in this area. I kept asking him to make my dream a reality and it just wasn't coming together. I really struggled with why something so good wouldn't be something God would give me or want me to have. I kept going round and round with him pleading to give me what I wanted.

I realized that there may be some things that even though they are good just may not be in God's plan. So I changed my prayer to please let me be pleasing to You! Let me glorify you in whatever I do and wherever you will have me. All I have wanted my whole life is to be at the center of God's will and live out my daily life for Him. That, I realized, isn't always exactly how we picture it even if what we see is a good thing. God can use us no matter where he places us and no matter the situation!

So as I transition into this new role I am filled with anxiousness, sadness (for losing our amazing nanny), but mostly a great sense of thankfulness for God providing me the opportunity to spend the precious time that I have remaining with our kids before they are off to school. I know there will many challenges but I'm embracing them and looking forward to walking in God's new path for my life!

~Mel

{baseball}

We have been all consumed with baseball at our house lately. It has been a daily activity. Hayes and Zac love to play catch! It warms my heart to see Zac do something that he loves with his little boy!



He caught the ball!




Zac ready to catch the ball on the other end. He's going to love me for that one.



Look at that arm! Major leagues here he comes!

This morning Hayes woke up and this is how he came downstairs. He was ready to play ball! I was laughing out loud!



You can tell he just woke up!