A New Hodges!!!

Our new baby
Francis - keeping his distance
Sweet baby girl
So far she is nameless, but I'm going back and forth between Amelia, Ava, Carolina, Celia, Emlen, Francesca and Gracie. Almost two years ago my calico cat of 19 years died. I vowed I would never have another cat, let alone another calico. Well... meet our new baby... little "sister" to Megan's cat, Francis. (Thus the Latin name possibilities!) She is so sweet and curious. Francis is still warming up to her as you'll notice in the distance he is keeping from me and the cat in the pictures. We'll let you know what we decide to name her...

Happy 60th Birthday Mom...

Saturday was my mom's 60th birthday. Months ago we asked her what she wanted for her birthday and she asked for us to be part of her trip to Uganda next summer, whether by donating to the organization she will be helping or by donating to the school there. She is going to be there with a group called Africa Renewal -.. We are so excited for her and for this opportunity. As you look at the pictures you'll see the "African" theme - her cake had teh Ugandan flag on it and we used animal print napkins with black and gold plates and silverware. We had fun and judging by the many smiles Mom had throughout the afternoon, I think she had fun too:)! Special thanks to our cousins, Mike and Linda, for driving in to share the afternoon with us!

Pics from Louisville...

We spent the last part of our vacation in Louisville with my high school friends, Amy, Amber and Sheila. We always have such a great time when we're there and this time was extra special because we all got to meet Sheila's new addition - baby Sarah!

Enjoy the pics!!

We're On Vacation...

Well... I promised pictures and daily updates about our vacation and obviously that hasn't happened:(! There just don't seem to be enough hours in the day!!! But so far...

WEDNESDAY, JULY 9th... (Megan's 17th Birthday)
4am - the alarm went off and I got busy getting dressed and getting kids ready so we could head to the airport. We made it in plenty of time and caught our flight to Dulles International Airport in our nation's capital. When we were landing Wyatt was looking out the window and I told him that we were landing in the city that our
president lived in. His response, "Well, what do you know! I've always wanted to visit the White House!" My parents picked us up at the airport and we headed for Centreville, VA.
4pm - We met up with my brother, sister-in-law and two nephews for a family picnic, portrait and birthday dinner. We have three July birthdays in the family so we celebrated all of the birthdays and smiled pretty for the pictures.

THURSDAY, JULY 10th (Nephew, Connor's 5th Birthday)
We slept in a little bit and then headed into the city to do some sightseeing! I vowed I wasn't doing any sightseeing this trip, but when my little guy asked so very sweetly to go see the White House, how could I say no? What a trip!!! Parking, traffic and just general craziness are par for course! Wyatt loved seeing the White House and was very upset when he realized we weren't going to be invited in:)! We also saw many monuments, rode the subway and went to the Air and Space Museum. Our trip through the museum gave me a new vocabulary word: "wyattspeed":)

FRIDAY, JULY 11th On Friday we just hung out in the Northern Virginia area with my sister-in-law and nephews. The boys had such a good time being together! We also went swimming with a friend of mine that I've had since my parents lived there - her name is Wendy and she has two little girls. After spending a couple of hours with our boys she was very thankful God gave her two little girls:). On Friday evening my mom had a "Reunion Choir Rehearsal" - the church in Centreville where my dad used to be on staff was having a 50th Anniversary Celebration.

SATURDAY, JULY 12th - Today was all about the picnic at church - there were inflatables for all of the kids and so many old friends to visit with. This is the church my parents attended (and my dad was on staff) when Megan was born and so many people couldn't believe she is already 17 - I agreed wholeheartedly when they asked where the time went - I don't know!!!

SUNDAY, JULY 13th - This morning was the 50th Anniversary Service for Centreville Baptist Church -what a sweet time of fellowship. The service was held under a huge tent that had room for 2000 people - it seemed that the tent was almost full. Since Wyatt isn't used to attending services (our church has children's worship for kids his age), we came armed with many choices for him to remain occupied. After the service we grabbed a quick lunch and then headed back for naps. While Megan and I took naps, Wyatt, Papa and Gramma went to the Dulles Airport Air and Space Museum annex. Wyatt loved the stealth bomber and the many military planes. We ended the evening by having dinner with Dianna (my sister-in-law) and my nephews, Brendan and Connor. Sunday evening was bittersweet as it was our last evening together.

MONDAY, JULY 14th - On to the next stop - Louisville, KY! My parents headed home, but Megan, Wyatt and I headed to Louisville, KY to visit my high school friends. We are here now and are having a great time - there is such comfort when you come "home" to those who have known you (and still choose to like you) for almost twenty-five years!

More updates to come and hopefully some pictures!!

An Unwelcome Visitor:)

Just a few moments ago Megan was headed to the stable (where else does she go??). I heard the front door close, ok, really it was a small slam, but then I heard a very loud, very girly shriek followed by "MOM!!!". I went running to the head of the stairs and Megan is gasping for air as she is trying to holler "Wasp!" "There's a wasp!" "Look, I can't leave - there's a wasp!" While I was glad it isn't a burglar or anything like that, I don't like wasps very much either, so we found that we were in a little predicament - I'm upstairs, Megan is in the entryway and a wasp is hovering (menacingly I might add!) in between us.

Taking a deep breath I head downstairs because last week I bought wasp spray (I've seen some on our front porch over the past couple of weeks) and it is still in the family room where I dropped the bag when I came back from Home Depot. Carefully I make my way down the stairs keeping an eye on the wasp the whole time. He is headed up the stairs. I'm trying to move quickly and quietly without waving my arms around batting at it or shrieking at it - I didn't want him to notice me! Megan, however, is still shrieking at the top of her lungs. I grab the wasp spray, throw the lid to the side and head back to the entryway to destroy this creature! He's not there!! He doesn't appear to be in the dining room or in the kitchen or in the family room. So in our best stealth mode, Megan and I creep back up the stairs. She makes me go first. Wimp! She says it's because I had the wasp spray. Whatever! There we were, creeping around the upstairs hunting for the wasp!! Megan remarks that she can't believe we're playing hide and seek with a wasp - I counter that it is NOT hide and seek, it is "search and destroy"!

We walk around the upstairs and can't find the wasp - we go for a second trip and still can't find the wasp (Ok - so maybe it was a little like hide and seek!) Then Megan says, "Look for Francis (that's our cat) -he'd be freaking out if the wasp was up here." We find Francis in the toy room, head bobbing to the rhythm of a trapped wasp - there he was - in the corner of the window trying to escape!!! Megan starts shrieking again and "Combat Mama" goes to work - spraying and spraying and spraying!!

The poor wasp quickly hit the windowsill and continued to try to esape and "Combat Mama" continued to spray. It finally fell over on its back and waved surrender. At least that's what it looked like he was doing - probably he was just dying a slow painful death from the mounds of chemicals that I'd sprayed on him. FINALLY!!! He was dead. Of course he didn't totally give up the ghost until I sprayed him with Windex as well - I had to clean the spray off of the window and windowsill and the toys that I'd gotten. When I smashed him in the paper towel I finally felt comfortable that the wasp was dead:) Score one for "Combat Mama"!!! Megan sighed a huge sigh of relief - she could finally leave for the barn!

As she headed back out the front door I stopped her...

"Megan!"

"Yeah?"

"That wasp represents sin."

"What??!?!"

"Just like that wasp was an unwelcome visitor in our home, sin is an unwelcome visitor in our lives."

"Mom, you're insane"

"No, really - that wasp came in this house and we knew immediately that he represented danger and pain and we worked quickly to get him out of our house. We stopped at nothing until he was dead."

"Umm, Mom, I haven't done anything bad lately, have I?"

"No, I just wanted you to know that the wasp is like sin. You have to recognize and search and destroy to get it out of your life."

"Am I supposed to scream too?"

Oh well. I tried!

My Camera, My Life

I always find it so interesting how the Lord gets my attention! I have a new camera, well, new since Novemeber of last year. It is pretty powerful and has so
many functions and programs and buttons, I get overwhelmed looking at all of them.
There is no doubt in my mind that the pictures I currently take are substandard
compared to what they could be if I were to take the time to read the manual and
follow the directions. I even have a dvd training guide that I can watch to learn
more about this camera and the ways to really use it up to its potential.

Today brought an unexpected surprise - time alone!! I'm having a little procedure
tomorrow and today I have to take some medicine and do some things in order to be
ready. A friend of mine called this morning and offered to take Wyatt for the day.
Megan is off with her own to-do list and so I've got the whole day to myself. WOW!!
I honestly can't remember the last time that happened. What an amazing thing to have a few hours to only take care of me:)!

We are going on a trip soon and I want to be able to take great pictures. In the back of my mind I've been trying to figure out when I could sit down and watch this
training dvd and read my camera manual. Short of between 10pm and midnight I had no solution. As soon as I realized I would be alone today I thought it would be the perfect time to sit down with my camera, the dvd and the manual. Excitement was building - I know it sounds crazy to ya'll - but taking pictures is one of my all time favorite things and I really want to get better at it. Learning how to use my camera as effectively as possible is part of that. So, here I am at home, alone and all ready to sit down in front of the tv when this little voice whispers in my ear. You know the voice - it is God checking to see if we're listening. Today I heard, "Hmmm..." That's it. "Hmmm..."

A deep sigh escaped because instantly it was clear to me exactly what the "Hmmm..." was all about. I'm on a trip currently - it is called life and I want it to be great - I want to have the best life possible! Don't we all? I want to have a life that is joy-filled and peaceful. Yet in my busyness, I keep plowing ahead, throwing a little patronizing glance at my Saviour from time to time hoping that those little moments will be enough to get me through. The parallel between my camera and my desire to use it as effectively as possible and my life are very apparent to me. Just as I cannot expect to have the best results possible with my camera until I sit down, read the instruction manual and go through the training dvd, so I cannot expect to have the best life possible until I take the time to get to know the One who gave me life. Having the best life while journeying in the seen, the here and now, is only a possibility when I am spending time with the instruction manual, aka God's word and I am interacting with Him. He is the giver of life, the author of life and therefore the One who is best able to teach us how to live life. The choice is mine at the moment... Am I going to use this time alone to get to know Him and dwell in His word or not? Hmmm...

John 10:10b, "... I am come that you might have life and that you might have it abundantly."