Saddle Ridge Ranch VBS 2010

We had a fun (but crazy busy) week of VBS this past week at our church! I just love VBS week and how so many kids from our community have an opportunity to learn more about Jesus in such a fun way. VBS was a staple for me growing up in a Baptist church and I have many great memories of singing classic songs like 'Father Abraham' and 'This Little Light of Mine'. Good times! This year both of my oldest got to be a part of the pre-school class and loved every minute of it. Our volunteers all around were amazing and made it such a wonderful experience for so many kids including my own. Here is a pic of our little cowgirl:

How adorable is she?? Audrey looks so big in this picture!

Austin roping a cow. :)

Sweet Audrey dancing during worship time.

My little cowboy complete with red flip flops. :)

This was as western as I could get Miss Ainsley. :)

If you can't tell, we were all pretty worn out by the end of each night.

My fun group of 4th graders with the amazingly wonderful Meredith and Fawnda (far right). Couldn't have done it without them!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

The cowboy theme seemed to go with us every where this week - even at home! ;)

What an awesome week, BUT we are also a little glad it is over. (If you have ever served a week of vacation Bible school you understand! ;) Thanks again to Susie (our fab children's minister) and everyone who helped make this fun week happen!! So many seeds were planted!! That's what it is all about!! :)

Sara Groves Concert!

I LOVE Sara Groves! My Sis and Hubby have always been big fans of her music and they are the ones who got me into her incredible lyrics. She is a mom of 3 kiddos, she loves the Lord and has a BEAUTIFUL voice! When I saw that she was going to have a concert in the Dallas area, I pulled some sweet girls from our church along for a very fun girl's night! (Most had not heard her music and I couldn't wait to introduce them to her!!:) We had a wonderful time and even got to sit on the 2nd ROW!! LOVED every minute of the concert and I am so very thankful for Sara's gift of writing and the many stories she told of her dealing with real life issues of faith and service.

Here are the sweet ladies who joined me. SO thankful for each of them!!

It was an awesome night where I laughed, cried and praised the Lord for the many blessings He has given me. I left feeling refueled and with a huge smile on my face. :)

Thankful Thursday - I love my Sis!!

As many of you know, my sis left this week to go to Virginia for orientation for 2 months before she begins her journey serving in Africa. Already miss her a lot, but I have so enjoyed having her in and out of our house the past two months and just being around her. The day before she left, Andrew came home early to watch the kiddos while we went out and had a little girl's afternoon. Our restaurant of choice? Olive Garden, of course! Both of our favs and a place we have gone to MANY times together over the years. Olive Garden was always the celebration restaurant (also my Mom's fav:) and a place that we both just love going to. Soup, salad and bread sticks!! Yum!

Then we went and got pedicures - another thing we often do together. :) We had a great time and I was trying to soak up every minute with my little sis that afternoon. SO very proud of her!! It has just been amazing to watch what the Lord has done and is doing in her heart as He is preparing her for South Africa!

On Zuzu's last morning with us we met a few friends at a splash pad close to Anna to play.


And then attempted to take one last pic of her with the kids (RIGHT before nap time= not the best pic;). My kiddos adore their Aunt Zuzu and even though they don't understand exactly the journey she is about to take, they know that they won't see her for a while and will miss her. Austin has already asked to pray for her several times. So sweet! I can't wait to hear about Suz's 1st week at orientation. So thankful for you, sweet sis! As you always say, and He gives, and gives, and gives! Love you!

What are you wearing?? and Mr. Potato Head

Last week after we went swimming, Austin "announced" that he was going to go upstairs and get dressed and that he absolutely did NOT want Mommy's help. So, I thought this would be interesting and wondered what he would pick out of his closet to wear for the day. I walked into his room a couple of minutes later to find him in his closet (and working very hard I might add) putting on this:

His Buzz Lightyear flannel pjs from last winter!! Silly kiddo!

Look how short they are! :) I think he needs some new Buzz pjs don't you? ;) AND I think Mommy is still going to need to help him pick out his clothes for a little while longer. :)

As I have mentioned before, the A Team are HUGE fans of Toy Story 3 these days. Austin went almost a full week talking, thinking and dreaming about getting a Mr. Potato Head. (He was obsessed about it and driving us a little CRAZY by talking about it all.the.time!!) We definitely talked a lot that week about being content with what we have and working for what we want and being thankful for what God has given us, etc. Well, we went to take Mauritzen family pictures last weekend (which turned out great!:) and we told our 2 oldest that if they smiled and behaved great that we would reward them with a Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head. They did do great (Ains not so much, but we have to keep reminding ourselves that she is two after all), so we took them to Toys r Us to get their new toys. It really was cute and a little sad at the same time watching the true excitement and awe on their faces as we walked through the store on the hunt for the Potatoes. We just never take them to places like that (and it def showed!! 3 little ones in Toys r Us has never sounded like an idea of a good or little stress time to me. ;)

In the end Austin got his Mr. Potato Head and Audrey chose her very 1st Barbie (she has tons of Disney princess dolls, but amazingly no Barbies yet) and we also got the Mrs. Potato Head for Ains and Audrey to share. :) We had some very happy kiddos that day!

Another Weekend at the lake - Mauritzen style!

We left the lake on July 5th and then turned around on the 8th and came back for another weekend of relaxing and fun. This weekend was special because my family came down to spend some quality time together as our last little hurrah before Suzanne leaves for mission training in Virginia and then on to South Africa in the fall. My in-laws were so incredibly generous to let us use their property for the weekend where all we had to pay for was food the entire time we were there. That is amazing and it was such a ministry to my family! We had a great weekend where we ate good food, played a lot of cards, slept in, spent time together and did a whole lot of nothing. :) It was rainy when we got there and beautiful when we left and just really enjoyed every minute. :) Here are some pics from the weekend:

So this is a very fun water slide that our children's minister and church assistant found in a random closet at the church the week before. No one knows how or when it got there, so we decided to take it with us and 'try' it out for the weekend. :) Just in case anyone was wondering, it is in great shape and was a TON of fun for our preschoolers!

Daddy had to try it out too! ;)

Ainsley wasn't into the slide thing, but she was completely content playing bubbles with Zuzu. :)

Austin with his new goggles he earned for completing swim lessons (that yes, we have already lost and had to replace. :)

3 kids and a wet stuffed lamb in a boat...

pretty much the scene all weekend...

Ains and Papa - our youngest was in a 'special place' all weekend long. We decided that she was just really tired and well, just 2 - always a difficult year for the Werley kiddos. ;)

Ains lovin' her Zuzu time! My sweet Dad planned a little commissioning service for Suz for us to do as a family on Saturday morning. It was such a neat time as we cried, prayed and encouraged my little sis. Can't believe that she is about to leave and live out her dream!! She is driving to Virginia this week! Here we go...

Just Keep Swimming!

We put Austin in swimming lessons this summer and not only did he LOVE every minute of it, he also learned a ton and now is swimming like a fish every where! He has always loved the water and swimming lessons were 'his' thing to go with Mommy to do every morning for 3 weeks. (Mommy enjoyed the time with our little man as well! :)

This of course was his favorite thing to do at the pool - jump into the deep end!!

Wearing a pair of Ms. Leslie's goggles. We told him that after he completed swimming lessons this year he could go and pick out his very own pair of goggles. He was so excited - love how it doesn't take much to please our kiddo right now!

Here is Ms. Leslie and two of her sweet helpers. What a great team they were! Ms. Leslie was AMAZING and we are so thankful for her for pushing Austin and teaching him this very important life skill. She said that A-town was very teachable and like we already know - loves a challenge. ;) That's our boy!!

Swimming to the cave

Treading water

Austin and Ms. Leslie about to get in the pool on the last day of lessons. Thank you SO much, Ms. Leslie! We heart this sweet lady!! :)

Austin, we are so proud of you and how hard you worked every day at swim lessons! And now you can SWIM!! No more life jacket for you! Also, Happy 1/2 Birthday! Can't believe that now you are a big 4 1/2 year old!! We love you so much, Buddy! Just keep swimming! :)

Thankful Thursday - An Amazing Morning

Early in the morning after July 4th we woke up early at the lake house to do something very special. Andrew's dad had asked him if he would baptize his ole' dad in the lake in front of their property. What an honor!! Through the time we were there that weekend and a few conversations, several other people in Andrew's family said they wanted to be baptized as well. AMAZING!! After testimonies of salvation from each person (which was such an incredible time to hear each story of surrender to the Lord), we headed out to the water.

Our two oldest were in attendance and are still asking many questions about "baptim" as Audrey calls it. We believe that baptism does not save us, but as we saw this particular morning it is an amazing testimony and step of obedience in our walk with the Lord. Did you know every salvation that we see in the Bible was followed by baptism except the thief on the cross? Baptism is the beautiful picture of dying to our old self (going under the water) and being raised to newness of life (after you come out of the water). I love how through Christ all things are made new!

This is Timothy. He is one of Andrew's cousins and has called him Uncle Andy for many years b/c Andrew is so much older than him. :) Timothy is a high school student and had just finished his first year as a camper at Pine Cove. (We of course are HUGE fans of PC!!) His testimony was that he was sprinkled as a baby, but through a conversation with Andrew he knew he wanted to be immersed and he has been a christian for several years. We LOVE Timothy! What an awesome young man! We are so proud!

I had to put this picture in this post! That is sweet Timothy 11 years ago - he was our ring bearer for our wedding! LOVE it! Can't believe how grown up he is now! The Lord has amazing things in store for this young man!

Callie is Timothy's older sis and she too is such an awesome young lady! She is a Sr. in high school this upcoming year and is currently deciding between Vanderbilt or UT for college. Her testimony is much like Timothy's and she has also been a PC camper for many years. The love Callie has for Jesus is evident and I know Andrew was so very honored to baptize this sweet cousin as well.

Callie, we love you and are so proud of Who's you are! Can't wait to see how the Lord leads you and calls you in the near future! You and Timothy are both dearly loved!!

Next was Andrew's sweet step mom, Cora. What an amazing woman and what an incredible journey she has been on with the Lord even since I met her about 12 years ago. She is a true woman of faith and she has so many qualities that I admire including strength and boldness. Cora has had a relationship with the Lord for many years. I can't even explain to you how wonderful it was that Andrew had the honor of baptizing Cora and I know it was so very memorable for her to do this with her husband watching as their son baptized her. I think it is a true statement that no one could or would have called this one 15-20 years ago!! God is so good!!

We love you, Cora!

Last but not least was Andrew's dad, Gary. It has been amazing to literally watch the Lord moving and changing this man's heart in the time Andrew and I have been married. Andrew is much the man he is today because of his dad and both of us are so incredibly proud of how passionate Gary is about his Lord. It was definitely an emotional experience watching a son baptize his father that he loves so much. Nothing beats it!!

Thank you, Lord for both of these men's lives! Quite a legacy they are creating!!

Here is the crew after the 'service'. :) David and Suzanne, Callie and Timothy's parents were there to watch as well that morning. Talk about two more amazing people!! They have done such a wonderful job raising their two children. I am always taking notes and listening to their wisdom every time I am around them.

This special morning is one we wont forget for a long time. What an incredible God we serve! He is SO worthy to be praised!!