Cousin Camp 2011 (Summer Highlights Part 2)

Well, yes, I'm still trying to play catch up from the past month!  Every summer for the past 6 or 7 years (I really need to look back at old pictures and figure it out) we have had something we call "Cousin Camp".  The boy cousins all come to stay for a 4-5 days from Tennessee and hang out.  Now that we're adding some more girls to the family and some younger boys we're going to have to start adapting cousin camp pretty soon, but for now it's at our house in Georgia.  Always lots of Nerf Gun Wars, Cousin Olympics, Watermelon eating contest, and one of the CC favorites....Raptor! (basically hide and seek in the dark inside where Uncle Kenny dresses in all black...the raptor...and tries to scare the boys to death when he sneaks up on them in the dark and finds them!) So fun watching these guys grow up together and develop such special relationships with each other over the years.  Here are some pics from Cousin Camp 2011!





















Blog Issues

Just wanted to mention that I've been having issues with my pictures on the blog.  Some aren't showing up at all and some are distorted.  Hopefully I can get that straightened out soon, but in the meantime just thought I'd mention why the page looks kinda' odd or unfinished! 

More soon! (:

Summer Highlights: Part 1 (Memphis)

So, I'm way behind on the blog anyway...tons of thoughts rambling through my head over recent weeks that I'm so compelled to write about, but time simply hasn't allowed.  Not to mention, I have a few things from the second half of summer that I've had pictures ready to post for a couple of weeks now, but I've been having issues with my computer and posting pics to the blog...SO over the next week I hope to post a few pictures of some of the summer happenings of the Dallas family!  We shall see.

It's always great to get to go home to Tennessee to see family.  There's never enough time, it seems, to see everyone long enough, but it's still always so good to have some time to just be with family and hang out together.  The first of July we headed through Franklin first to visit some friends there, drove through Jackson and got to see some of our sweet family there, and then on to Memphis for a few days to see everyone back home. I love seeing our kids with their cousins.  It's one of my absolute favorite parts of going home.  They all love each other so much, and the great thing about a big family is that there are always new cousins added to the bunch, which adds to the excitement, because there's often a new, sweet little one to meet!  Good times, great memories!! 

(click pics to enlarge)

Love our family!!! (:

Podcast to Kenny's Latest Sermon:"Whatever You Do"



Kenny in Guyana this summer at one of their sports camps
(photo courtesy of  EYE4MEDIA)

 "Whatever you do, do it with all your heart, as working for the Lord and not for man."  
Colossians 3:23

If there's one verse our children will remember forever, no matter how old they get or how far in life, my guess is it would be this one.  Why?  Because they hear their Daddy say these words to them every single night of their life right before they go to bed.  (along with a little more he says to them every night...known at our house as daddy saying "Mighty Man")

The month of July our pastor asked a few men within the church here to preach on the topic "Everyday With Jesus."  Kenny was asked to speak on the topic of Everyday with Jesus at Work.  Kenny's heart went immediately to this verse that has gradually become our family's life verse...Colossians 3:23.  Below is a link to our church's website for podcasts. There was no way for me to link you directly to Kenny's sermon specifically, but this takes you to Dogwood's podcast page and if you look under the series titled "Everyday with Jesus" you will see "Kenny Dallas Week 4" That's where you'll find it.

 I included a few recent pictures of Kenny...those who know him well..his family, his players, his coworkers, and friends...will tell you that he's just a regular, fun, hard-working guy...a football coach, a husband, and a daddy.  But he loves the Lord with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength.  He's the real deal...authentic.  The Lord has gifted Kenny with the ability to hear the voice of God (which we all have, by the way, if we seek to do so) and to communicate the heart of God so clearly. So many were blessed by this message. I hope you will be, too.
                                                                                     
Here's the link:  http://dogwoodchurch.org/332593.ihtml
Please let me know if you have any trouble.

Coaching this summer at Alumni 7 on 7 game

Kenny (Coach Dallas) with some of the other coaches and seniors this summer after 7 on 7

Bent Low...Amazing

If you aren't already familiar with Kisses from Katie you are in for a humbling, sweet, and inspiring treat.  You need to read this young lady's story...how she, a twenty something year old single young woman has adopted several children in Uganda and lives there with them (it's much easier to adopt if you stay there in their own country).  Her life is a beautiful example of "real life"... just look at the picture at the top of her blog and you'll see it in her face...light and life.  I want to encourage you to read her post from June 3, 2011.  It begins with, "Around here, we live bent low."  Beautiful and real.  I hope you'll take a few minutes to visit her blog and read this post.  The life that is truly life being lived out.

http://www.kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com/

(photo by Tina Weir from kissesfrom katie blog)

Catching Up

Well, life is busy at the Dallas house, but I'm quite sure there will be a day that I miss all the hustle and bustle of  this season of life.  As I write this there are nerf gun bullets flying over my head as my 4 oldest boys and 4 of their boy cousins are in the middle of a very serious Nerf gun war!  It's that time of year again...Cousin Camp.  I'm truthfully not sure exactly how many years we've done this, but it's either the past 6 or 7 years.  Always a super fun time for the kids to get together...  Pictures to come, I'm sure!

A couple of weeks ago we got to go to Tennessee to visit friends and family, which was a great time, then we returned and a few days later Kenny, Jake, and Caleb left for their mission trip with Dogwood to Guyana.  It was Jake and Caleb's first mission trip out of the country, and I'm so glad they got to have that special experience with their daddy.  They got back Saturday night and the cousins came yesterday, so I thought I'd post this little family update, since I'm playing catch up a little bit!  I'm in the process of getting pictures from the Guyana trip from some others who went (since my hubby isn't the photographer of the family!), but I look forward to posting some of those and sharing some of their stories, too. 

Life is sweet...God is good.  More to come!

Lake Martin Vacation

Summer has been great so far...busy, yes, but great! (which is why I'm a bit behind posting vacation pics!)Some sweet friends allowed us to use their beautiful home on Lake Martin in Alabama to stay for the week for vacation this year!  What a blessing!  We had such a fun, relaxing time just getting away all together. Here are some of our most fun moments from the week!

**(Click on the collages to enlarge them)

Here are some fun moments from our week.  The boys were able to make bamboo fishing poles from the bamboo growing near the house, which was a first for them, but Elly and Zech were more entertained playing with the poor worms than fishing the first day!  Early the next morning was some good fish catching, but, unfortunately, I didn't have the camera out there then! Zech was a crazy man jumping in non-stop from the dock...little fearless!  Elly, a little less bold than little Z, had fun jumping in, swimming, and riding in the canoe going on "adventures"  with the family. The big boys loved kayaking, canoeing to the island, and swimming for hours. 

Here you see Joshua and David posing with their bamboo before making the poles, and the little ones enjoying some painting indoors.  One of my favorites is of Z painting at the easel...his apron goes past his toes!  Looks like a little Thomas Kinkade, don't you think?!

Here are a few closeups of each of our little crew from the week.  Makes me smile just looking at them!