The reason I have not blogged

I have been asking for a lot of prayer for A#1 and this is why. For the past 2 months W.B. and I have known that this was on his mind and this was a decision he has been wrestling with. Well, his mind is made up and there is no more wrestling. The Blaine family is now a part of a whole new family, The National Guard. A#1 will continue with his education at LU but is now a proud member of the US military. He has changed his focus from commercial aviation to military aviation and is pressing forward with whatever God has in store for his life. Please continue to pray for him and for us.
This could be him one day!!

God moved in!

A while back I wrote a post about struggling with a few things in our lives. Remember that? Well I'm not here to tell you that things are 100% better but I am here to tell you that God has moved in on several things. I have felt His presence more in the last week than I have in A LONG TIME!! A couple of months back when I realized that several of my friends would not be going to the E Women conference coming up I had the bight idea to volunteer there instead of going as a listener. Before we go any further let me tell you just how out of my comfort zone this was for me. Not so much the volunteering as doing it by myself. I love doing things with a group of ladies, together, all at the same time, not alone ;) but for some reason I did this ALONE!! Probably not a big deal for some of you but for me it was. Well of course I tried my best to talk myself out of it once I had received a confirmation that I was accepted. Even up until I was driving to Roanoke I was telling myself I could just turn around and go home. After all I was missing a A#2's soccer game and I know she will miss me being there screaming my head off for her and her team ;) Even when I was standing in the waiting area waiting for our volunteer meeting to start, I could still just leave right? And then to top it all off, I had volunteered to work wherever they needed me even passing out lunch box's. To my surprise they put me with Nancy Leigh De Moss's product table and this was a big deal. She is one of the top as far as women's ministry is concerned and I just knew she would be able to see right thru me. Then 2 ladies from her ministry showed up to show us all what to do and I thought, yep they are gonna send me packing for sure. There are a few details that I will leave out as far as how the Lord was speaking to me during the volunteer meeting, because you see that was not Him speaking telling me to go home. Someone said a few things before we even got started and I KNOW those words were meant for my ears. Later on I was able to pull this gal aside and tell her that I wasn't there to hear all the keynote speakers, the Lord put me there to hear what she said. We stood and hugged for a few minutes and I just thanked God for blessing me with the chance to be there.
Then to top it all off I got to meet some of the nicest people in the world. This is me with Stormie OMartian. Some of you might know her book The Power of a Praying Wife. She has many other books but this one is a stand out in my house. I did get to hear a little of her testimony on Saturday and let me tell you it is powerful!! I would like to encourage you to read this book even if your marriage is perfect. The Lord knows mine is far from it and He has blessed her with an amazing ministry to help women.
This is Karen Kingsbury. I LOVE HER!!!! When I told my grandmother Sunday that I got to meet her, she was so excited and said she is reading one of her books right now. She is so beautiful and just has a warmth that surrounds her. I'm not kidding you can actually feel it when you are around her. She has written a new children's book and she read it on stage Saturday and had 10,000 women in tears!!!

The conference was sold out!!

Then there's Charles!!! Oh Charles can you sing!!!! If you have never heard him YOU ARE MISSING OUT!!!! Please find a way to hear him, you will not be disappointed.

Remember DJ Tanner from the show Full House? Yep, met her too. Candace Cameron Bure. She is tiny and so pretty!!!! And what a speaker.

And the lady that I had the pleasure of working for, Nancy Leigh De Moss.

This is what being a Godly woman is all about. She is wonderful. I watched her take her time with every single woman she met and I watched her cry and pray with several of them. Her heart is burdened for us all.

Amy Grant was there to sing on Saturday. I didn't get to meet her but I got as close as I could to take her picture. She is tiny too. What is it with all these little skinny people?

This is the group of ladies I had the privilege to work with all weekend. What a blessing they all were. I pray that I will be able to see them again some day. They all touched my heart!

After a whirlwind on Friday and Saturday, we had some special people coming to church on Sunday. The Sounds of Liberty!!! I booked them a couple of months ago to come and sing for us and could not wait for people to hear them. I wish you could hear my voice right now because I would be screaming....... INCREDIBLE, AMAZING, FANTASTIC!!!! I could go on and on and on. These guys are all students at Liberty University and they are WONDERFUL!!!! Can you tell I like them? If you want to know more, you will have to ask me because I seriously could talk your ear off about them. Look them up and listen. YOU MUST!!!!

The Sounds with Pastor Mike and Crystal

God you are AMAZING and I know you are hearing me and loving me in spite of myself. Thank you for these blessings that you put in front of me this weekend. I know they were all a gift from YOU!!!!!

Here we go again!!

WOW!! Where did the summer go? Last week A#1 and A#2 headed back to school. A#3 will be home for a while as we have prayerfully decided not to send her back to pre school. This would be her 3rd year due to that October birthday of hers so we really felt like we needed a change for the moment. I have been doing some lessons with her and we have had so much fun with it, and hopefully she is learning a thing or two. She keeps telling everyone that she is being home schooled. I guess in a way she is but we are so looking forward to kindergarten.

A#2 is ready for the 4Th grade. The annual 1st day of school picture at the front door is looking a little bare this year :(

There, that's better. I just realized what a blurry picture that is, sorry.

Miss Priss! You would never know that she was very nervous about this year by looking at this picture.

Walking in on the 1st day. It has become a tradition that Daddy will come home long enough to take them to school then head back to work.

Two days later it's time to head back to L U. Can you tell he was ready?

Time to make up that wonderful loft. I would really like to know how often that actually happens during the week. My bet is not very often unless there is a room check.

Two of our youth from church, that happen to be great friends with A#1, are at L U for their first year. These are two of the sweetest young ladies you will ever meet and they love the Lord with all their hearts. Amber is a biology major/pre-med. I don't know if she knows this or not but I have been praying about her being our future daughter in law!! Look at that red hair and tell me our grand kids wouldn't have the most awesome hair EVER!! And more than that she is so faithful and smart and did I mention she is pre-med? ;) Well Miss Britney would make an awesome DIL as well. For all the same reasons, she loves the Lord, she's just precious and she's a nursing major. We love these girls to death and A#1 is so excited to have them right across the street from his dorm. A#3 went with us to move him in and we all went to lunch together. We mentioned that we needed to take A#1 to the store to stock up on his snacks etc and they offered to let A#3 come and stay with them in their dorm while we shopped. How sweet was that? She had a blast for the hour that she was with them and has since asked me when can we go back to see Amber and Britney (sorry brother !)

We were all finished moving him in and ready to head home.

I'll admit there were less tears this year, on that day anyhow. I know that he is thriving there and he is where the Lord would have him. It is truly answered prayers to have him so happy!!!!

My birthday was complete

A couple days before my birthday Miss Lily was taken out of the NICU and moved into a regular room where her mommy and daddy could hold her and tend to her every need. Hubby and I went to see them and were so excited that I got to hold her for the first time. "That's it," I said. "My birthday is now complete!!" What a darling she is.
Me and sweet Lily girl.

See her hand on her face? That's where she likes it. Even when she was in her mommy's tummy, she always had her hand at her face.

I think I'll just stay here the rest of the day.

And then hubby got to have a little one on one with her. They just laid there and talked a little ( notice the hand?) and her Uncle Wayne told her how beautiful she is and how much we love her.

Miss Lily has been home for a couple of weeks now but I ask you to please continue to pray for her. She has had a few setbacks and is waiting to hear from the doctor about some test results even today. My sister needs prayer as well as my brother in law. It has been such an amazing thing to see how the Lord has moved but there is still a road that they have to walk down.

Sweet Lily girl we love you sooooooo much!!

Meet Lily!

June 23 Miss Lillian Camille came into our lives and what a blessing the Lord has given us. I had requested prayer several weeks back for Miss Lily as they had discovered a bowel obstruction and knew she was going to need surgery as soon as she was born. The first thought I had when I got to see her in the NICU was ,"she's perfect." She had her surgery the very next day and we were all in prayer as we waited to hear how she was. Hubby and I went down to the hospital to be with my family and we were in the room when the doctor came in and said everything went great! Better than he anticipated. We knew it was answered prayers and that our Great Physician Himself had performed what we had asked Him to. This is Lily and her mommy. I can not even imagine what my sister and her husband were going thru having to watch her and not pick her up. They renewed my faith in a mighty way!
Isn't she gorgeous!!! She hung on to that pappy for days because she wasn't able to eat until she was 9 days old. Can you imagine?

Sweet Lily girl is what I call her.

I have so many pictures to show you and stories to tell about how amazing she is doing and how much her big brothers love her!

Jesus loves you Sweet Lily girl and so does your Aunt Tinie!!

Playing catch up- The May episode

** Warning!! You will be sick of my family after looking at this post due to the amount of pictures!
May has been off the meter as far as busy goes. Here are just a few of the things the Blaine's have been up to.
We have been to our nephew's pre school graduation. Here's the little scholar in his cap and gown.
By looking a that face you would never know he was voted to have the best sense of humor would you?

We have been on field trips to the library for story time. This day was all about pirates, can you tell?

Following story time there was a walk down to the park for some play time. It was a beautiful day!! A#3 had so much fun.

We have been to Camp Skeeter with a bunch of 3rd graders. Man what a day! I only stayed for 4 hours and I was exhausted. A#2 had 4 more hours after that and she was whooped when she got home. They played volleyball,basketball, kickball (which was my assigned station), did tons of relays, made s'mores and lots of other fun things.

This is just a few of the 3rd graders. They were waiting so patiently for things to begin.

Here she is waiting in line to play kick ball. I was so excited that I got to work here. Growing up, kick ball was one of my favorite things to play!!

Go A#2!! What a kick!!

Out of all the things the kids got to do, picking up the little frogs seemed to be on the top of every one's list. They were EVERYWHERE!!!!!!

This was the strangest thing. I mean they were EVERYWHERE!!

A#2 and one of her best friends.

Me and A#2.

Somewhere in May A#2 had her Brownie ceremony and bridged up to be a Junior Girl Scout. They have the very best troop of girls and their leaders are FANTASTIC!!

The whole gang.

On the same day as the Brownie ceremony we had a baby shower for my sister. Please continue to lift them up in prayer. We are waiting to get an update on baby Lily this week to see is she is doing any better and to see what the surgery will involve when she is born. My sister really needs prayer!

We were blessed enough to have some family come and visit. Hubby worked hard on the grilling while they were here. Hubby has an uncle that is younger than he is and they are fairly close. They are A LOT alike! They are currently on a cross country trek with 2 of their boys and we were one of their first stops. They had not been to C'burg since hubby and I got married... 20 years ago! WE see them several times a year when we go to NoVa to visit the in-laws so it was nice to have them here for a change. We did absolutely nothing but visit and eat! The kids stayed in the pool all day while we laughed and had so much fun.

Oh yeah and there was the jumping rope. A#2 will always find time for that. Hubby and uncle Drew even jumped for awhile.

The kiddos on Sunday morning before they hit the road again. Pray for them on their journey. I think they are currently in Arizona.

I think his uncle misses him!

And then we have had a birthday. A#2 turned 9!! She had a few of her friends over to swim and party. It's so fun to listen to little girls conversations.

A#2 and one of her friends diving for rings.

Every girl needs polish and lip gloss!

Enough sidewalk chalk to last her a year! She loved it!!

A#3 was checking out her sister's loot.

A pool full of girls.

Whose bright idea was the noise makers?

And the next day A#2 had her cousins over for her birthday.

The 5 of them.

Every girl loves bling!

But judging by the look on her face, her favorite thing was her new basketball goal. Yep, her Daddy was proud.

And then we have had A#3's pre shcool program. They did such a good job. Here they are saying the pledge of allegiance.

Waiting so patiently.

God is so good. He answers prayer.

In rainbow town the green people read their bibles.

She really had a good year.

Even I had a good pre school year and got a treat from Miss Sarah.

Well I warned you!! Are you sick of us yet? And to think, the summer has only just begun.