Matt Jones is a dork and other updates

Matt Jones...you have made all the Razorback and Jaguar fans SO proud. :(
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080710/ap_on_sp_fo_ne/fbn_jaguars_jones_arrest

Ok, now that I have that off my chest, I can go on.

Nina and Poppa (and friend?!??)

We've been busy trying to get settled into our new home. My mom and dad came and stayed a week and helped out sooo much. We were able to get some things assembled, sewn, painted and hung that would probably have still been in boxes at Thanksgiving. Greg and Dad got to play some golf and we were able to show mom and dad about 1% of Jacksonville (this place is huge!). We love the both of you and look forward to seeing you on the other coast in a few weeks!

Beck had so much fun cooking with Nina (Can you tell we've been watching Ratatouille?)

We went to St. Augustine over the holiday weekend. It's a neat place to visit. They have a cool fort that was fun to tour. They had some volunteers dressed up who shot canons. It was neat, but the kids were a little nervous about it!

The fort at St. Augustine

My mom helped Bailey during the canon demonstration

I couldn't resist taking a picture of one of the volunteers "hard at work"

We joined a YMCA that is really cool. It seems more like a country club. So far we've only used the pool area but I hear that they also have some good exercise classes. Hopefully in the next week or two I'll try one out! I may become a Zumba dance expert! They also have a class for kids to learn Zumba. Is that "legal" in the C of C? :)

We've visited a few churches and will continue to search for a new church home. It's been very difficult to move from a 1,300 member church to visiting churches with around 300 members. The people have been wonderful-super nice and friendly. I'm just wondering where all the young people are? We were so blessed at PV to have so many kids and young families. Greg and I feel that it is so important for the kids to have other children at church to worship with. In Bailey's class Sunday morning there was only one other child that was in her same grade. The Wednesday before that (at a different church) there weren't ANY! In addition, there were so few kids there on a Wednesday, that Bailey and Beckham were in the same class. Yep, a three year old in there with not only 2nd graders, but all the way up to 5th graders. Again, the people are wonderful and helpful and great...but the young families are MIA. We are determined to find a good fit that will be good for our entire family and most importantly, the kids. All that said, we miss everyone terribly at PV and want to remind all of you there what an amazing worship situation you have.

I realize that we can view this as a mission field. I am really trying. However, after the year and a half we have just had in addition to moving our family 13 hours away we feel that we need a time of refueling-even for just a short time. I honestly don't feel that I have much to give right now. Everyday I am treading water for myself and the kids-just trying to maintain some kind of "normal". There will be a time in the near future when Greg and I feel ready to roll up our sleeves and jump on in. Right now our hearts are still heavy with the loss of Olivia and all of our family in Arkansas. I am in prayer that God will lead us to a place where we can both heal, grow and renew our zeal.

I didn't intend for this to be a debbie downer post. Just a little venting. Florida is a great place to live. Just feeling a little homesick. We'll be leaving the house in a little while to go to Target (which has palm trees in front of it) and as we go we'll pass through a beautiful harbor full of sail boats. So....life isn't bad here! It's just very far away from those we love!

On the way home from St. Augustine we stopped by the beach for a quick walk. There were lots of seagulls and the kids had fun chasing them. Look how tan the kids are already getting.

The kids loved feeding the seagulls. Beck was going crazy!

Have a great week! Next post will be positive!!!