Viking Basketball Camp

MSU boys head coach giving the boys a pep talk at the end of camp.



Andrew did a great job and got a participation award.


Carson won the free throw contest for his grade!!
And I got to hang out with these girls...



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Memorial Day at Cave Run Lake

First trip to the beach at Cave run lake in Morehead. What a blessing to have a nice lake within 10 minutes of our home!


Having a picnic.


Water play on the beach! It was 80 degrees so a little cool but the kids loved it!


Built a sand castle...



...and destroyed it!



Played a little water frisbee Carson had won from Awana.


Warming up.


Getting some sugar!


Eating grapes on top of the ice chest.



Sweet sisters.



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A Fun day!

What a fun morning! The Lord brought 17 to join us in class this morning and 3 of those were brave Moms and Dads that rounded up kids and came even though their spouse was working today. What a blessing to fellowship, share God's word, pray, eat and play! Thank you Lord for a fun day!

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Letters of love

A lady that also helps sponsor one of our children, Darbens, at the Hands and Feet Orphanage in Jacmel, Haiti let me know she is going the first week of June. She asked if there was anything small we would like to send to her to take to our kids there. Yes! Letters of love we decided. The kids drew each child (Wadley, Darbens, Luca & Naidine) a picture and I wrote them some letters. What a joy to be a part of this ministry. I long to see and hug on these kids, "our new brothers and sisters" as my munchkins call them. We are praying the Lord will provide a way for us to lead the medical missions trip there to start immunizations early this fall.

www.handsandfeetproject.org

 



Sunday is a coming...

 It will be our first Sunday together with the discipleship group we are helping to put together. We are so excited to see what the Lord has in store for young adults and couples through this ministry. We will be meeting on Sunday mornings at 9:45 AM. This week after church we will be hosting a cookout and playtime at the pavilion and playground. Please pray with us. Would you pray the Lord would speak loudly and boldly to those young adults and couples that need to connect to grow effectively in their walk with Christ. Would you pray nothing stops them from coming Sunday. Please pray for nursery workers. We are having difficulty finding the people God is speaking to to serve in this ministry. We cannot teach and equip patents without this. Please pray for revival at FCOG. Pray the congregation will see the spirit moving and desire to obey and walk boldly in His vision for the church and reaching people for His glory in Morehead.
Thank you for partnering with us in prayer!

Remember that one time....

Last weekend Dustin had been at the hospital all week and then the weekend. With a new puppy we had spent much time taking her out to potty and noticed that the grass was pretty tall. The grass was so tall that we couldn't see if she was actually going to the bathroom or not. So....I decided I would just mow the little patch and it would be good. I wasn't really in mowing attire but I set off anyway. Well, I got to mowing and noticed it was hot, really hot. I thought this would be such a blessing to my husband if I could just get the backyard mowed. I decided to park the mower, turned it off and ran inside to change quickly. I rounded the kids up and got popsicles to eat on the back porch while I got to work. We went outside and we were all talking and I looked to where I had left the mower.....I asked Carson, "Ummm, where did the mower go?" From across the pond to our right a neighbor yelled loudly, "It rolllllled doooooown the hiiiiiiillllll!!" Oh my! Yes, it rolled down the hill but was stopped before it got to the creek by a tree. Well, it happened. What I learned. One, there is no level ground in Kentucky. Two, I really should leave the man jobs to my man. Remember that one time...when Mom let the lawn mower roll down the hill!!

Whew, It's been a good week!

Well, our first week of school is over and it was really full! We are going to do school year long so we will be basically having structured learning at least 16 days a month. We decided to start this week because basketball camp is next week in the mornings. This week was good! One thing I didn't really anticipate was all of the juggling between the boys and girls activities and lessons. The boys are doing the same curriculum with different leveled math, handwriting and spelling. Abigail is doing pre-k work and Claire is just having a bit of a hard time. She is the one that has had the hardest time adjusting. For one, she loves to go! Homeschooling means naturally that the lessons are done at home and thus we are home. We are not going anywhere. For two, she really likes her individual time with Mom and has had difficulty when attention and activity does not revolve around her. Three, she thinks she is as big as Abigail and so she wants to do all the things Abby is doing and then gets frustrated when she doesn't understand and can't do it. She is doing better day by day and I am trying to keep her busy and occupied during our three hour sessions but she is struggling just a bit in the adjustment process. The positives. My favorite things. This morning I went down to check on the boys to make sure they getting up and ready. We set the alarm and they are to be up at 8 AM. They are to get their clothes on, eat and meet downstairs at 9AM. The first morning Drew chose to lay in his bed a long time after the alarm went off and thus he went without breakfast and had a grumbly tummy until snack time. He has not done that again and I doubt he will dilly dally around ever again. Lesson learned. This morning when I went to go and check on them...they were up but still in their beds reading books for their book log. The book log has been a hit! We have brought back the Book-It idea by Pizza Hut. We asked the boys what they would like to earn: pizza, ice cream, icees..ect. They choose ice cream from Chickabiddy. For every 15 books read they get a certificate for a free ice cream. I did not imagine that in two days they would have read 15 books each!! (They were not sissy books either but level 3's and 4's and Carson read a chapter book that counted as 3 books.) Amazing! It was such a blessing to see them choosing books. We do not turn the TV on until late afternoon for a snack and a rest and it has been so good to see them embrace reading instead to fill the time. Another one of my favorite things is starting the day off reading the bible together and praying. This is so good. We did this before the boys went to public school but we used a little devotional. I decided just to take the book of John and go verse by verse this year to see what the Lord wants us to know about Him and apply to our lives. This is such a good time. Later in the day we are using our art or music time to reinforce the truth we have learned that morning. So far we have learned Jesus was with God in the beginning. God's plan of grace and mercy was in Jesus. Jesus is the light. John the Baptist made the way for Jesus and told the people the Savior was coming. Jesus was in the world that He made. The world did not recognize Him. His own people, the Jews, did not accept Him. I am not sure there is a greater joy than studying God's word with your children. I love to see their excitement over His truth. I love how in teaching God is teaching me. I love that God is using me to teach diligently His truth to my little blessings. This is good. We learned about our names this week and how the Lord know us and all the plans He has for us! That He made us fearfully and wonderfully! He knows all the hairs on our heads, he knows our every need, cares for us way more than the birds. He is mighty! He created all things! We are studying how He created the heavens and the earth as we start looking at history of the world and the United States. It has been good. My days are full. My heart is full and we are thankful that God called us to spend this time intentionally with our children as He provided a way for us to home school. It is a blessing.  

T3 Academy: First Day

Today was our first day of Homeschool! T3 Academy went well! This little girl has the hardest time but at least she had a pal to take care of.

First project of the day: Name Bookmarks for our bible time. We are starting in the book of John.

 Daddy thought it would be awesome to dress up and come downstairs as the principal. Abby said he looked very handsome. He had a plastic mixing spoon in his coat pocket to help in pointing out and enforcing the family rules.

 Our first official Art project: a self portrait.

It was a very good and successful day of learning! The most fun fact of the day was our history fact of the day that this day in the 1700's John Wesley was converted to an evangelical Christian and later wrote so many wonderful hymns of the Christian faith. Our favorites are Hark, the herald angels sing and Blesssed be the Lord. We are off blazing a trail. What fun!  

Life lessons

I don't have a lot of time but I wanted to write down a few things that happened today. Life lessons. Today was Dustin's birthday and we had a fun morning hanging out and then lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings. The boys decided to go to see Iron Man 3. We had heard that it was a little scary and decided that the girls would not go. The girls went to run a few errands. Not too much time went by when we got a text from Dustin to come and get them. It was too scary. We drove back across town to get the boys. Dustin said it was very, very dark and he was worried for the boys. He decided they needed to leave. I am so glad. Later this afternoon a huge tornado came through Moore, OK. Devastating. Heartbreaking. We saw two schools. We heard there were people killed. Children killed. My children heard this and saw our concern. We have been talking it out with them all evening. Tonight as I was tucking the boys in and preparing to pray for them they had more questions and concerns. One being to pray over their dreams because Iron Man was too scary. Carson told me, "It just keeps playing in my head Mom. I can still see it." And two being the people and families in the tornado. Andrew said, "Mom, its all Adam and Eve's fault...if they just wouldn't have sinned there would be no tornadoes." What a deep thought. Yes, sin. The bible tells us the penalty for sin is death. Destruction is not of God's hand but death can lie in destruction. They were concerned for the families whose children would not be coming home from school today. They were sad for the loss, the hurt, the pain. We talked a lot tonight about God's truth. They wanted to know if the people that died knew the Lord. I did not know the answer to that but I was able to share with them again that God is the only thing that lasts. The only thing. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life and that no one will come to God except through Jesus Christ. He is our Savior. We need a Savior. There is nothing we can do to earn our way to heaven. We are sinners. We do bad things. We make bad choices. Jesus is the way. We talked so much about Jesus, the hope of the world. They wanted to pray again for Wadley, Darbens, Luca and Naidine. Carson said, "They live by water, Mom, they could be caught in a hurricane." We prayed and I reassured them that Isaiah 41:10 tells us we do not have to fear for God will strengthen us and help us. Life lessons. Two today. Guard your hearts. Many times this can be done by guarding our eyes. We do not need to see and be exposed to such dark and evil things chalked up to entertainment. "Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it." Proverbs 4:23.  "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things." Phil 4:8. Lesson Two. God is the only thing that lasts. Jesus is the only hope for the world.  "Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful" HEB 10:23.

Someone has claimed the new pup as hers!

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Roxy Rapunzel Cupp is officially part of the Cupp Crew!