My little seamstress

Irene really loves to sew. I, however, am really not very good at sewing so I always groan a little when she asks if she can sew. To her, up until now, sewing has just meant making designs with yarn on those plastic embroidery fabric thingies, but when she saw me getting out a needle and fabric because I needed to make a couple of bean bags for an activity at VBS, she was right there. I ended up showing her a basic stitch and letting her go to town on it, her very first "real" sewing project.

So, South Point kids, your beanbag activities this year came courtesy of my little seamstress! Voila!

Uncle Joe & Brad come to town!

My brother Joe and (his son) Brad came to visit us, late in June, too. Actually it was the same day that Hannah & Grant were here, so they met some of my family! They probably wondered what in the world was going on, the Moore family gatherings are always a little on the boisterous side, but they seemed pretty fine with it. Makes me wonder if their family has a boisterous crowd, too?



Joe has always had a way with my kids. Even as babies, they have all just always loved Uncle Joe. (Matthew has always looked up to Brad...and he couldn't have picked a better guy!) Abbie took this picture of Uncle Joe.



And then they started taking pictures of each other. If you wonder how long this went on, it was quite a while.... We had a great time with them, they had to go too soon!

Good friends, good times...

I am woefully, pitifully behind on getting anything put on my blog. These pictures were taken in late June, when Irene and Abbie had their friends Hannah & Grant over to swim, play and eat a pb & j. Seriously, good times!
(It was so hot & humid out the lens kept fogging up, that's why everyone has that angelic glow!)

Powertime Camp

Rachel & Matthew were so excited to be able to go to Powertime summer camp in South Carolina this year. They had a blast! I would like to think that they missed us and were ready to come home by the time we picked them up, because I know their little sisters were ready for them to come home!

Matthew's primary focus as he retold the events of the week were the recurring theme of hanging out with his awesome counselor, fun times on the "Blob", and the fact that he was the only camper not afraid of the driver of the boat that pulled the tube for the non-stop tubing action ("Dr. Death", aka Tom). Sorry for that horrible run-on sentence.


This was Rachel's last year to be able to go, and it was very important to her to be able to go and say goodbye to some friends. Truthfully, this was the biggest reason for making the decision to send them. As it turned out, none of Rachel's old friends were able to come, so it turned into a growing and s t r e t c h i n g experience for her. I believe that she still had a great time, and God helped her work through some things that had been weighing her down. It was definitely time well spent for her.

I love moments like the one in the picture below...taken before the bickering ensued over which one of them was going to listen to stories first on *my* iPod shuffle, and who should get the back seat, and everyone started moaning "I'm hot...", or "I'm hungry"... It is one of those rare moments when you know that your kids are truly, genuinely thrilled to see and hug each other. But all good things on earth must end (5 seconds later), so we get in the car to finish the road trip...

Just Do Something

I was spending a little too much time on the computer this morning. I was blog surfing. I really like CJ Mahaney as an author (his book "Living the Cross Centered Life" is a favorite of mine) so every once in a while I meander over to his blog and see what's new. He had a post on there that struck such a chord with me that I had to re-post it, I hope that's legal! Here is a link to it, in case that makes it more legal:

http://www.sovereigngraceministries.org/Blog/post/Just-Do-Something.aspx The general gist of it is a list compiled by Kevin DeYoung (who wrote a book called Just Do Something) about not always needing to wait on God to give us some cataclysmic event or sign to prompt us into action, but using the brains He gave us and His word to guide us. I think this promotes living in an attitude of appreciating every day with it's "smallness" and seemingly insignificant details being a day that God gave us, and a day that can bring God glory in the regular things that we do. It resonated with me because I sometimes tend to seek after "fireworks" in the way I see God moving in my life and the lives of others, but this encouraged me to set my eyes to an everyday faithfulness in the small things, that aren't really small at all. Here is where my words end and Mahaney's begin:

Just Do Something
By C.J. Mahaney7/13/2010 8:23:00 AM

To close out his Next 2010 conference message, “The Church,” Kevin DeYoung gave a list of suggestions for how to be a difference maker in the local church. He said:

• Find a good local church.
• Get involved.
• Become a member.
• Stay there as long as you can.
• Put away thoughts of a revolution for a while.
• Join the plodding visionaries.
• Go to church this Sunday and worship in Spirit and truth.
• Be patient with your leaders.
• Rejoice when the gospel is faithfully proclaimed.
• Bear with those who hurt you.
• Give people the benefit of the doubt.
• Say “hi” to the teenager that no one notices.
• Welcome the old ladies with the blue hair and the young men with tattoos.
• Volunteer for the nursery.
• Attend the congregational meeting.
• Bring your fried chicken to the potluck like everybody else.
• Invite a friend.
• Take a new couple out for coffee.
• Give to the Christmas offering.
• Sing like you mean it.
• Be thankful someone vacuumed the carpet for you.
• Enjoy the Sundays that “click.”
• Pray extra hard on the Sundays that don’t.
• And in all of this, do not despise the days and weeks and years of small things (Zechariah 4:8–10).

I cannot recommend this message too highly. Please take time to download and listen to “The Church” by visiting the resource page at thisisnext.org.

There is one more message from the conference I want to highlight. We will do that next time

Going to Greenville

We went to South Carolina in June, to take Matthew & Rachel to Powertime Camp. The kids had all been waiting for this day to arrive for so long, we haven't gone anywhere since last summer, and they were itchy for a road trip! Here they are, ready to hit the road (Irene wore her Mickey Mouse shirt for her little buddy Grant, who loves M.M. !)



After we dropped Matthew & Rachel off for their week of fun, we headed on to my sister Karen's house in Greenvile, SC. Irene & Abbie loved spending time in her neighborhood pool, they are like little fish!

We were able to squeak in a quick visit up to my sister Colleen's as well, she lives in Kernersville, NC. The girls have such a great time with her three girls, who are all teens and so good to my kids. Here are the three of us (Colleen, myself, Karen). One night was not enough time for three sisters to catch up!

It was so different to have just the two girls with me. It took a little bit of getting used to, but we really had fun together. My sister Karen ("Aunt Krinny") and the girls just love each other's company, they all love the same things...shopping, being silly, and more shopping! I have a hard time keeping up with the three of them...

Matthew's Baptism

Matthew Scott Hollinhead (my baby!!)
baptized on May 30th, 2010
at South Point Church,
by Rev. Matthew Means

There is nothing that compares to the joy of knowing that your children truly love God!