Mountain retreat

Last weekend our family headed up to Ridge Haven in Brevard NC for a little mountain escape. This is a camp I used to frequent every summer as a kid. It was very nostalgic going back with my own children for a weekend adventure. We hiked, played on the playground, learned the difference between rocks and seashells and hiked with sticks like Moses in a foreign land. Did we hang from trees? Yes, we did.

Did we use the ropes course as our own personal playground? Yes, of course.
Did we help ourselves to riding on abandoned construction equipment? Well, no but we sat on it and used our imaginations.
Waterfalls?
Relax by the fire? Oh yeah.

Birthday Girl

Our sweet first born turned four years old this month. We can hardly believe it. It seems like only yesterday she was rocking our world as a new born, sucking her little thumb around the clock and learning to walk and talk. The Lord has shaped her into such a sweet little lady already. She loves to be helpful and to work without complaint, whether it be cleaning up her toys or "sweeping" the floor for me as "Cinderella". She serves her brother as only a big sister can do, teaching him the difference between right and wrong as his own personal "extra" Mommy. She is learning to write her letters and loves to use her imagination the whole day long. She adores her cousins and friends and asks wonderful questions about the Bible and heaven. Questions that make me think as well. She is such a joy and our prayer is that the Lord would continue to work in her heart and grow her up into a woman with wisdom in her mouth and kindness on her tongue and an unwavering faith in her Creator and Lord Jesus. Here are some of the many pictures we took during our week long celebration of our precious pearl.
Pre-school princess!

A birthday breakfast for dinner at CFA with good pal Elle and the cow.
The boys were happy to help celebrate at CFA.

Aunt Christine acted as face painter when we celebrated with friends and family at the park.

A funny story worth sharing...

Yesterday Maggie had a friend come over to play after pre-school. After playing for a little while upstairs they decided to come down for a snack and then to do a craft at the table. As they were starting their project, our visiting friend turns to Maggie and says to her "do you want to know what a hot lover is?" Directly behind them at the kitchen sink I was frozen in my task as I decided whether to interject or not to this pre-school conversation. Maggie was eager to find out just exactly what a "hot lover" was and so before I could say anything, or decide what to say, the little girl says to Maggie, "it's the stuff that comes out of a volcano." That's right hot lover was indeed hot lava. So, the little girl went on to sing, "hot lover, hot lover, hot lover" in a sing-songy voice. After a little inner chuckle to myself and a big sigh of relief I decided to chime in and correct her science lesson with my daughter. I told her the correct term was "hot lava" and then inwardly thanked the Lord that it was to be a science lesson and not a sex ed. one, hopefully that one won't come for a very very long time.

pics to come...

I don't have any pictures to post right now, but I thought that shouldn't stop me from blogging about the latest in the Dirks household. Lately we have been busy busy busy. Tyler and the RUF students were on a mission's trip last week to Mississippi, so me and the kiddos tried to stay plenty busy to keep from missing daddy too much. It was working until Thursday afternoon when Henry and I were heading out of the gap outlet store in Concord and out of the blue Henry says "I want my Daddy." He's such a sweet little fella and adores his Daddy. He was being so brave all week long, but sort of broke down towards the end of our Daddy -less week. Tyler is back now and the wrestling matches have restarted and the tickling has been in high demand...not that I don't try and do these things with my kids when their dad is gone, but I just can't do it the same. In other news, we have an almost four year old in the house. She continues to love anything Princess, but thanks to her brother has been adding a few "warrior" type beauties to her collection of make believe characters. Henry is all about cars, Thomas and veggie tales (thanks to cousin Brody for that last obsession). He is switching slowly from the baby of the family to the big brother of the family. He is saying good bye to his pacifier(s) and we hope to have him potty trained at some point soon. All tips for boy training are indeed welcome. Baby #3 is kicking and growing and we can't wait to meet them. Coming up with a third baby name is proving to be a challenge, so any name suggestions are also welcome. As for this Mama I am loving being just that. I have the best family in the world and wouldn't change a thing about it, I am so thankful for the Lords many rich blessings on us.