Check this out

Check out Donald Millers closing prayer at the Democratic National Convention

"Father God,

This week, as the world looks on, help the leaders in this room create a civil dialogue about our future.

We need you, God, as individuals and also as a nation.

We need you to protect us from our enemies, but also from ourselves, because we are easily tempted toward apathy.

Give us a passion to advance opportunities for the least of these, for widows and orphans, for single moms and children whose fathers have left.

Give us the eyes to see them, and the ears to hear them, and hands willing to serve them.

Help us serve people, not just causes. And stand up to specific injustices rather than vague notions.

Give those in this room who have power, along with those who will meet next week, the courage to work together to finally provide health care to those who don’t have any, and a living wage so families can thrive rather than struggle.

Help us figure out how to pay teachers what they deserve and give children an opportunity to get a college education.

Help us figure out the balance between economic opportunity and corporate gluttony.

We have tried to solve these problems ourselves but they are still there. We need your help.

Father, will you restore our moral standing in the world.

A lot of people don’t like us but that’s because they don’t know the heart of the average American.

Will you give us favor and forgiveness, along with our allies around the world.

Help us be an example of humility and strength once again.

Lastly, father, unify us.

Even in our diversity help us see how much we have in common.

And unify us not just in our ideas and in our sentiments—but in our actions, as we look around and figure out something we can do to help create an America even greater than the one we have come to cherish.

God we know that you are good.

Thank you for blessing us in so many ways as Americans.

I make these requests in the name of your son, Jesus, who gave his own life against the forces of injustice.

Let Him be our example.

Amen."

Donald Miller

Zoo trip

Thomas has his new Big boy shoes on. He cant crawl in them but they are cute on.
Jeremiah loves to ride on daddys shoulders

We recently went to the zoo. We love the animals. This time Jeremiah was very intersted in the snakes. He and Dave hung out there for a long time. Thomas didnt care for that much. It was really hot in the snake house.



These monkeys were our favorite. They just swang from bar to bar and were so fun to watch.


Jeremiah started out being our tour guide
This was the new giraffe exhibit.
These were asian elephants. They had small ears.

Baseball Fun!

A few weeks back we went to a Reds/Brewers game. It was a lot of fun. Our friend Ray Durham plays 2nd base for the Brewers now and got us tickets. The man in the red was our usher, he wasn't very friendly so I had to take his picture. We had good seats. We sat with the friends and family members of players. We sat with Ray's girlfriend and her daughter and his 2 kids we knew from NC. He didnt get to play but did get to be a designated hitter once and got a double. We just took Jeremiah and left Thomas with a sitter.







We parked in Newport and walked across the bridge. I, being scared of heights and bridges and water, had a hard time with this, but managed.

We ate dinner in Newport at Bar Louie. It was fun. Jeremiah wanted us to make serious faces so this is what we got. He loved being an only child again.

Happy Birthday to Dave!

We went out last night to celebrate my husbands 34th year of life. Before we went out, Dave had an hour long massage. We were all picking on him and his 'massage high'. We went to this German bar called the Haufbrahaus in Newport. It was so much fun. We had yummy pretzels with bier cheese and lots of yummy beer in Giant really heavy mugs. We had great friends there with us and a polka band. It was great. Two of our other friends were celebrating birthdays in a week so all the birthday boys had a shot of Jagermeister to commemorate the event. One of our friends footed the bill for the whole thing which was so unexpected and amazing. That was so generous. It was fun! (but i forgot my camera-bummer)
Now tonight Dave and I get to go to the Bengals/Saints game. I cant wait. It will be so fun and we have club seats. A friend has season tickets but has a fantasy draft tonight so we get to enjoy his tickets. Yay!
Pictures to come soon!

more pics

I just thought these were so cute. 

Thomas starting to pull up on his crib.  

 Me &  Thom

I just think my hubby is daggone hot so I wanted to add this picture too.

Thomas                                           Jeremiah

They dont look alike in this one though. They have totally different shaped heads. Thomas was a little younger too in this one but still pretty different looking!

Look alike pics

   

Jeremiah                               Thomas

Thomas                                     Jeremiah

They were 7 months old then.

They do look alike at times.

This was fathers day (duh) 2004 and 2008.

park pics

Another fun family outing to wouldland mound. Jeremiah got to play in the sprinker part and Thom just relaxed and watched him. He enjoyed his swinging. 

Thomas Gray 8 months old

I couldnt resist a picture with my  husband. We used to take pictures of us all the time but have not been doing a good job lately.

pics from awhile ago

We have been really slack lately about getting pictures developed. Here are a few of our pics from the last few months. 

  

Thomas had just mastered the art of sitting at 6 months

   

This day we had a picnic at Woodland Mound Park, but never actually made it to the park b/c Jeremiah decided not to cooperate with us. It was still a fun time to hang out and eat. Thomas had carrots as you can see all over his face. Jeremiah tried to show us his muscles and then climbed a tree.

You never know...

You never know how or why you make connections with people sometimes, but there is always a reason.!!

Let me start by saying I am not a huge fan of middle and high school students normally. I like them as people and I respect that Dave loves them, I would just prefer not to be a part of that ministry first hand. I did a little more last year than I like to, just since we were new and I wanted to see how things were going to be. I did a camping trip and CIY last year. We had one girl come to both and Jeremiah really liked her. I liked her too. She was one of the main drama queens in our group at CIY (another reason I am not a fan of HS girls), but I still liked her. I could see past it with her. A few months after the camping trip, we found out that that girl lied to us about this other girl being her sister so she could go for free. I, of course, had to call her on it and see why she would feel like she could lie to us the first time she had ever met us. She apologized and I thought that may be the end of seeing her. She didn't come much anyway and was usually scholarshiped if she did come. She had always sent me random myspace messages since the camping trip but never came back to church. She doesn't talk to anyone else at church, but she messages me. Why? I don't know really. Today, I got a message from her saying she and her 4 brothers and sisters all had to go into foster care until her mom can get help and get them back. I about cried that she would let me know. I don't know how we connected or why, but there is this connection now. Please pray for her and her brothers and sisters with me! I'm not sure of the circumstances, but just pray that things can get better for her and that I can know what to say and stay connected with her so she knows I'm there for her.