I had to blog about this......

Okay so most of you who know me - know I do not like coffee for the most part. I am guilty of drinking frappucinos while I was pregnant with Ethan but other than that coffee IS NOT for me. At my house when we have people over - I don't make the coffee and people don't want me to make the coffee - are you getting it?? Well guess what my coffee drinking friends - I have turned a new leaf or should I say bean??!! I have had coffee to drink for the past 5 days in a row. Yep you read right. Consecutively for 5 days and not just one cup of coffee in the morning - sometimes two! Can you believe it??!! It started on Thursday morning when David had made some coffee up at the lake house and it smelled soo good - I have always liked the smell of coffee just never the taste. David encouraged me just to try his cup and I was hesitant - I don't even like coffee remember?? But ah ha - it was good. I knew there had to be some trick to his coffee making after all I am the coffee hater/ruiner. There were a few specifications #1 - it was flavored coffee - Decaf Millhouse Hazelnut Creme #2 the sugar and milk/creamer go in first - then you pour the coffee (therefore I will probably never like coffee you buy at your favorite coffee bistros because they pour the coffee first - I suppose it is possible to acquire a taste for it over time) #3 it cannot be strong - I figured this out last night - I like my coffee weak as David would say (if it is too strong - it is nasty and doesn't make me feel good) Needless to say I had David pick up some Millhouse Hazelnut Creme coffee last night and I got out the directions for my super nice coffee maker and I even made some coffee this morning and it was just perfect - not too strong! So my dear friends - Welcome me to the coffee world!

All Things For Good

I love to read! It is one of my favorite things to do when I have spare time. In our Ladies Summer Bible Study at church we are reading Puritan writer Thomas Watson's book All Things For Good. We have divided our study up into 4 sessions and we have 4 ladies in our church who have been through and/or continue to suffer through various trials who are leading our study. It has been an excellent study thus far. At our last session our speaker gave us the name of a lady -Rachel Barkey who is going through a similar struggle and she shared her website which has a video of her testimony - you can click on her name right in this blog and it should take you right to her page. It is 55 minutes in length but I HIGHLY, HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend that you listen to it. It is worth every 55 minutes of your time.

"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."

Romans 8:28

Happy Birthday America

Once again we were excited to carry out our 4th of July tradition and head to the lake!! So thankful to "Nonnie and Papa Grass" to allow us to come and celebrate the 4th with them at their lake house up in Hiawassee GA. Here are a few pictures from our weekend. (For more pictures of anything you can always check out our facebook page as it is quicker and easier to upload multiple photos there) And yes I caught that sun fish - but I made David take it off the hook for me!

VBS 2009 God of Wonders

"The God who made the world and everything in it being Lord of heaven and earth does not live in temples made by man nor is he served by human hands as if he needed anything since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man all nations of mankind to live on all the face of the earth having determined the allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling places. That they may seek God in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him as he is actually not far from each one of us. In him we live and move and have our being as even some of your own poets have said. For we are indeed His offspring, being then Gods offspring we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver an image formed in the art and imagination of man. The times of ignorance God overlooked but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has a fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed and of this he has given us full assurance by raising him from the dead

Acts 17:24-31 (please excuse lack of punctuation - as this was our memory verse)

I find myself speechless as I try to blog about VBS! Funny - me - speechless! What a fantastic week we had learning about our God of Wonders! So many things fell right into place just as He sovereignly planned it to work out. Below is a picture of the missionary families children (and our kids) we chose to help support this summer. God indeed is faithful as now our missionaries are able to return to Brazil later this month.

Stone Mountain

We recently took a little overnight trip to Stone Mountain with Nathan and Luke. We had such a fun time and it was a nice little getaway before a roaring week of Vacation Bible School. Our initial thoughts were to climb the mountain - but I think we would have ended up carrying Luke most of the way - so we just took the sky buckets up to the top. The boys were so enthralled with the beauty that surrounded us. I am always overwhelmed at God's creation. It surrounds me everyday and he is sovereign over minute detail of it.

"Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation! O my soul, praise Him, for He is thy health and salvation! All ye who hear, now to His temple draw near;Praise Him in glad adoration."

Luke Samuel turns 3!!

On May 30, 2009 our precious "Lu Lu" turned 3! One day he will likely wish we never called him "lu lu" but for now he is my little man and I want to treasure it while I can! We had his birthday party with a few friends and our family at a local fire station in Fayette County. He loves fire trucks. He often plays with a Fisher Price Little Peoples Firestation that my sister and I had when we were little. I even decorated the room we held his party in it with those very toys I played with when I was little. The kids enjoyed playing outside with some bubbles and balls and then had a fun tour of the fire truck. They all got to "drive" in the fire truck. I am pretty sure a good time was had by all.

Luke is a vivacious little boy with lots of laughs and hugs. He always has a song in his heart. The boy wakes up singing and goes to bed singing. This obviously excites me! He still asks us to "wubby" him which means he wants to be held! He has recently begun learning to memorize some scripture and it is soo precious. More than anything David and I desire for him to grow up to be a Godly man - desiring to Honor the one who created him. We are so blessed to be his parents.

Happy Birthday Luke!!

Nathan finishes Pre-school - Kindergarten here I come!!!

Clouds

The clouds were so beautiful today - just like they are every other day but today my kids were taking notice of Gods intricate handywork. And as you know all good conversations happen in the van - so here is what transpired. We were on our way to our good friends the Lindley's and Nathan and Luke were both admiring the clouds. They were saying how some of them looked like different shapes and animals and Nathan chimes in .....

Nathan -Mommy the clouds look like they are made of snow.
Mommy-well they aren't made of snow.
Nathan - well what are they made of?
Mommy - Well I am not really sure - when I was a little girl I used to think they looked like big cotton balls. Can you see them moving?
Nathan - no why are they moving? Mommy - well the earth is constantly spinning so the clouds are actually moving.
Nathan - well who's driving?

I quickly responded - God is! And then I was reminded how incredible our Great God is - he holds Earth and all that is out in space in His hands! He is maker and creator of the universe. "The God who made the world and everything in - being Lord of heaven and earth does not live in temples made by man nor is he served by human hands as though he needed anything since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything." Praise God!!

David and I went on a date tonight. Before we left I put the kids to bed in their own beds - we came home to this!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Boys will be boys

I can recall a time where upon finding my boys in the dirt I would have cringed and a bath would have immediately ensued. I have come a long ways ask anyone who knows me well. They are happily playing in the dirt and its ALL OVER them! I am happily just watching!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

SILLY NATHAN
Nathan has said some really funny things lately so I just have to post them so I don't forget.

1. I got my hair cut and highlighted last week. I came in the door and this is his response. "Oooh Mom I like your hair - did you get it painted?"

2. I don't remember all the details of this conversation but in Sunday School yesterday Nathan learned that King Solomon had turned his heart away from God and put his focus on other things one of them being money. He had many questions wondering what this truly meant so I explained to him that Solomon loved his money more than he loved God. And I told him that some people love their things more than they love God and what he did for us. His response "Well I love Jesus more than I love my sunglasses - but I sure do like my sunglasses." This is soo funny to me because he picked these sunglasses out at the dollar store with some birthday money and they aren't really kids sunglasses and he has lost them 3 times just since last week!! It was just really humorous!!

3. Last night we come home from church and see a rabbit in our yard. The kids look at intently. Soon Nathan wants to kill it so we can have "rabbit meat" to eat. "Dad if you go kill it now we can have rabbit meat for dinner. Do you have your handgun in your pocket?" Can you tell my husband is a hunter!!

So thankful for silly Nathan!!

Quick update

I am thankful and happy to report all is well on the Pruiksma front! Thank you so much for your prayers during this last month. Today I had the kidney stent removed and I feel soooo much better! Dave has been such a huge help here around the house and with the kids!! I am soo grateful!! What I am more thankful for is God and his tender mercy. Feeling bad and being in pain puts many things into perspective. Good health is truly a gift from God. How blessed we are in so many ways.

We are having big home projects completed as we speak - new roof - thanks to the hail, and we are having tile and new carpet put in the playroom - a long awaited project - I am very happy to see come to fruition.

Only a few more weeks and I am off to the big apple - NYC!! Not much else to report. Here is a recent picture of my growing boys. I have much to be thankful for.