Friday night we watched the girls in their VBS program at Newhope FWB church. The VBS was really cute this year and the girls had a good time. After the program, the church served food and drinks and homemade ice cream and had a huge blow up slide set up for the kids. Reagon and Kendall had so much fun on the slide! I have lots of pictures but the funniest one is of Kenny Fant going down the slide. I didn't post it but when I get it developed, I'm going to mail it to him! If I wasn't pregnant, I would have taken a turn myself! It looked like so much fun! Thanks to Memaw Teresa and Papa Roger for keeping a good eye on the girls all week and hauling them home every night.

It seems like our family has had its fair share of trials this past year. I won't go into details, most of you already know, but I will say that Satan is after our family. Thankfully, we draw closer during trials and gain strength from each of them. Often times when I study my bible, I look for stories to uplift or comfort me during these valleys. I was reading the story of Stephen and something caught my eye.

Acts 7: 55-56 But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.

Standing? Really? I had only noticed in several other bible verses speaking of Jesus sitting at God’s right hand.

This story in Acts is speaking of the stoning of Stephen. He was a godly man who held nothing back when allowed to speak to the religious leaders at the trial that would decide whether he would live or die. They became so angry that they rushed him, drug him outside the city and stoned him. But as this was happening Stephen was seeing something that was just for him. Something that would carry him through this time when things seemed so frightening and out of control. He saw Jesus “standing” at the right hand of God.

What was it that made Jesus stand up that day? What was unfolding that captivated his attention? It was the birth of a church through the death of a saint. For after Stephen was martyred the church was scattered and with them they took the good news of the gospel. Not only that, a man was in the crowd that day who was very special, it was Saul. He was persecuting the church but would soon find out that he was fighting Someone much more powerful than mere man and his conversion would bring multitudes into the kingdom.

So, what does all of this mean to me? It shows me a side of our Lord that I may have missed over the years. Sometimes when we are going through difficult times, we may feel that heaven is strangely unaware. Not only that, we may feel that nothing worthy could come out of our situation.

As our situation unfolds and we make the decision to fix our gaze on Jesus, things will get exciting enough to even draw our Savior to his feet. He has plans for us beyond what we could ever ask or think but those plans can only unfold as we take our eyes off of the chaos around us and set them on high. As we make the decision to look to Jesus as the Author and Finisher of our faith then we will see his perfect will unfold and we be able to walk boldly before our enemies because we have seen the Lord!

Misti emailed me some new pictures of Sophie. She also had some great family pictures made. As soon as I can, I'll scan one so you can see how good they turned out. It's hard to believe how fast they grow. We are supposed to get to keep Sophie Sat night while Misti and Jerry go to a wedding and we can hardly wait. I'm sure she will be held the entire time!

She is growing so fast!!! I like to call her my little drowsy beans since she is such a good sleeper in the daytime. Alissa emailed these pictures to me today. She has really took a growing spurt the last couple weeks.

Well, the Harper farm is slowly becoming no farm at all. We sold our horses last week. We've been talking about it and we really needed to since we have no pond and it cost approx $140 a month to keep water for the horses. I was always complaining about the water bill but when I watched them load Hurricane and especially baby Cinnamon into the trailer, I wanted to keep them. Josh is gone away from home so much we really don't have the time to take care of them or ride them so it is really better for the horses and for us. Anyway, I snapped a few pictures while Roger was helping load the horses.

On Sunday, we planned a surprise sleepover for Reagon. After church we met Savannah's mom in Glenwood at the Pizza Shack and Savannah jumped in the car with Reagon. Reagon had no idea what was going on. Then we stopped at Kirby and picked up Megan and Alexa and by this time Reagon had figured it out and she was so shocked! The girls stayed up all night giggling and playing and when I woke up at 4:30am they were still going strong. They finally went to sleep sometime before 6am and crawled out of bed around noon. We had pancakes for breakfast/lunch and then we went swimming at Memaw Teresa & Papaw Roger's pool. The girls had such a good time. After swimming we went to Dunlaps for ice cream. Kendall had just as much fun as the older girls. I couldn't resist snapping the picture of her with the ice cream cone.

How fun will it be to dress Reagon, Kendall & Jed in little matching outfits? Poor Josh, he already cringes when I buy something yellow for Jed! He wants him to wear camo year round!!! Reagon hates to match Kendall but maybe I can get her to do this for me just one time...or just a few times!!!My mind was racing last night thinking about all the cute outfits to match them in for Christmas, Easter with the tall white socks for Jed and matching ribbons in the girls' hair, little Red/White/Blue outfits for 4th of July......

Hey, a mom can dream can't she!!!! =)

I had an appt yesterday afternoon to check on little Jed. The girls got to hear his heartbeat and they were both so excited. After the appt, the girls and I went shopping for back to school supplies. I made over $100 at my yard sale this weekend so that was my budget. Two backpacks, scissors, folders, notebooks, nap mat, and several boxes of crayons later we came in just under budget. I don't know how families with 3 or 4 kids afford the school supplies. Nanny and Poppi gave the girls some money for school clothes so we went to JC Penneys and the girls bought some capris and shirts. Mimi Charlotte gave them some money and they bought new lunch boxes. Reagon takes her lunch almost every day but hopefully Kendall will eat in the lunchroom on most days. She is not nearly as picky as Reagon. Kendall was so excited about picking out supplies. She looked through the folders for over 30 minutes! She tried on so many backpacks and would walk up and down the aisle to see how she liked it. She was so cute! Summer is going by so fast. We have so much we would like to do with the girls before school begins, but it seems like our days and weekends are already packed full. I left my camera at home today, so I will try to post some pictures from the shopping trip later.

"And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh."--Luke 21:20

Josh and I could hardly sleep last night. We were up way past midnight glued to CNN. It's such an amazing feeling to know that we are living in the generation that could very well see the coming on Man. We are watching prophecy fulfil right before our very eyes!

John warned us to be on the lookout for an antichrist. A man who will rise up and offer the world peace like never before. What better time for this to all play out than now, when the center of the universe, Jerusalem, and God's chosen people, Israel, is the main focus of the world due to war and turmoil.

WOW!!!

I've spent most of the morning humming "this world is not my home, I'm just a passin though!!" I used to be bothered or scared by "end time" talks and such but now my heart beats fast for a different reason. I'm going to see JESUS!!! The one who saved me!!! The more I watch CNN, the more excited I get for Jesus to return and take me home.

Don't be like the five foolish virgins we read about in Matthew who were not ready for the Lord's return. The rapture of the Church could happen at ANY time. We should all have a crick in our neck from looking to the east. Waiting for the sky to bust!

We are having a BOY!

After a two hour wait in the waiting room and then another hour long ultrasound, we finally heard the words we were praying for! The ultrasound tech was wonderful but we had to be patient and let her do her work. After about an hour, she said "now what do you have at home?" I said "two girls"...thinking she was about to tell us we were getting another one. But instead she said "Well, then you've never seen this before"! We were both in shock! I was crying and Josh was jumping all over the room! We said "How sure" and she said "Oh, I'd say 100%". We were still on Cloud 9 when the genetics doctor came in to talk about the report. She said everything looked great. She could see no problems at all. She said as far as she could tell, we were having a perfectly healthy baby boy.

So, in December our family will be welcoming little Jedidiah Roger Harper. Baby Jed, you are so loved. Your Mommy and Daddy prayed for you, just like Hannah prayed for a son in the bible. And like Hannah, we promise to raise you and your sisters with our eyes focused on God and seeking Him in all our decisions as parents. You are going to be so spoiled. With two big sisters, who can't wait to get their hands on you, you may not walk till you are two!

Two buddies in the tub!!!

Kendall and Lexi played outside making mud pies on Sunday after church so we had to soak them in the tub before Sunday night service. The pictures are precious, although I had to modify them for the internet!!! This is a G rated website!! =)

Saturday afternoon we made a trip to the movies to watch "Cars". It was such a cute movie. Kendall and I thought it was a little too long but Josh and Reagon loved every minute of it. The girls and I had kids packs...coke, popcorn, candy but Josh decided he needed the X-large popcorn for himself. Not only that, but he told the man to load it with butter. I've never in my life witnessed so much butter on popcorn....it looked like popcorn soup. Well, Josh ended up finishing the whole tub and after the movie he was so sick, he couldn't even think about eating supper!!! It was sooo funny! We ate at Pizza Hutt and the girls laughed at Josh the entire meal. They didn't have to worry about sharing any of their pizza!!! He said next time we would order 4 kids packs!!! HA

We celebrated the 4th of July with our family this year. We all gathered at Papa Roger and Memaw Teresa's house for a great 4th of July meal...burgers, hot dogs, potato salad, beans, and lots of desserts! Josh said he ate more than he does on Thanksgiving and Christmas. Everyone had a great time and the pool was rarely vacant. After a full day of swimming, eating, singing, visiting family and napping we went back to our house to watch the fireworks. This is quickly becoming a great summer tradition! Next year we will have a 7 month old to add to the fun!

Reagon and Kendall enjoying the river

Some good pictures of our time at the cabin.

Kevin & Reagon playing checkers, Kendall trying to feed Taylor a honeybun, Poppy and Kendall wrestling, Poppy & Kendall playing cards, Kevin playing with Kendall