National Bible Bee

It's that time of year. The time that our family gets really excited about a box being delivered to our home from the National Bible Bee. This year they have made a few changes and instead of learning about 8-10 verses per day it is more like 8-12 verses per week. Also there is personal and family Bible study that will take about 20 minutes or so per day. This will be very manageable for most people. Now one of the best things will be a chance to go to Nationals in November. They will be held in Tennessee again this year. The Pigeon Forge area will be the location and since that is so close to us we are excited about going even if Morgan's scores don't get her there to compete. Last year Kirk Cameron, Voddie Baucham and the Gettys were special guests along with many others. Just going to the conference will be wonderful-getting to compete in the finalist would be even better. We will do this study all summer as a family and encourage and help Morgan with the memorization part. Since she was a little girl she has always been blessed with the ability to memorize things. It just comes easy for her (unlike her Mother). When she was in Kindergarten we started going to a different church near the end of January/beginning Feb. we were very glad they had the AWANA program there. Our previous church had not yet started their AWANA program and we had hear great things about it. I was a bit concerned that it would be difficult for Morgan to finish her first year book since we had started so late. She thoroughly enjoyed going to AWANA. It was a very small group and she really liked her teacher. She quickly devoured the book and completed it by the end of March! She then went back over it again and by this time we knew that the Lord had blessed her with a gift of memorizing things very easily. When we first heard about the Bible Bee several years ago we knew this would be just right for Morgan. She had went as far as she could in AWANA and we knew how much she loved to memorize Gods word. For different reasons she has never competed at the locals but this year our goal is to finish well and by that I mean to do her best in the local competition and then see where that might lead. I cannot stress enough that this is more than a competition but it is memorizing the scriptures that will stay with you for a lifetime and also personal and family devotions. I hope to do updates about our experience with the Bible Bee all summer. I also hope to find other families that are blogging about their participation with the Bee and maybe do a link up. Sign-ups are through the end of the month!!! Spread the word!!!

Strawberries and Mothers Day

Last Saturday we went to pick strawberries..

Mothers Day A rare picture with all my sweet ones!

Tuesday Linkup

I'm linking up with Tesha's Tuesday link up.  She has a blog that has been a blessing to so many.  This is something that she sent out to other Mommy's that have suffered a loss.  I read through all the names and thought of how all of these women have had to go through so much.  I am so thankful that the Lord blessed me with 8 children and I can't imagine what it would be like if I hadn't been able to enjoy every single one of them.  I am blessed each day with hearing the laughs, giggles and of course on some days the screaming and crying of 7 of them but I am forever changed after having Daniel.  Those few weeks with him still inside me were difficult with the pregnancy problems but they were at the same time wonderful and a gift from God.  Things that were once taken for granted are now hoped and prayed for.  Mercy Me has a new song that I heard on Sunday.  I'm sure that we can all relate to this song if we have suffered a true loss of any kind.