Russell Family Blessings

I wanted to share some pictures from our 2nd annual trip to Destin. This year my whole family (my sisters and their families) are staying in the same house! It's a little bit crazy with eight adults and four children 9 and under! The nice thing is that we all have separate floors! We have visited the beach several times, shopped and eaten out...I hope you enjoy the pictures! Hopefully, I'll post more soon...

The children and I have had a nice, but busy week. With Wayne gone, I thought I would get a lot accomplished...not so! I have found myself up extremely late each night because I can't seem to go to sleep without him here. I know I'm being a big baby, but I'm just not accustomed to him being gone. Out of 13 years of marriage, we've been apart probably less than 50 nights. As crazy as it seems, I have to almost be to the point of passing out before I can lay down and sleep. I can only imagine what those military husbands/wives must go through being separated for extended periods...All that to say this...I've been up late every day since Saturday...Thankfully, Wayne is coming home soon!!!! If you're wondering, he's been on a mission trip to Venezuela. From what I've heard, they have had a great time in the Lord with many accepting Jesus as Savior. Hopefully, I will persuade him to write a post detailing their trip soon. I thought I'd share some cute pic...

In my Bible reading tonight, I was reading in Psalms when I came across a scripture that gripped my heart. The fact that God loves me never ceases to amaze me. He loves you and me and He is never too big or too busy for us!!! Psalm 144:3 Lord, what is man that you take knowledge of him? Or the son of man, that you are mindful of him? The side note in my Blackaby Study Bible says, "It is incomprehenisible that God concerns Himself with us. In truth, we are nothing compared to His greatness, yet He loves us and cares about the smallest details of our existence." Wow!!!

I spent most of the day Saturday visiting with my sisters. It's not completely unusual during the summer for me to get together with my sisters, Gail and Missy; however, this day was special because our step-sister, Chandra, was here from Mississippi. Now that we're all grown up and she lives away, we rarely ever have a day to relax and enjoy each other's company. Usually when she's home, she is running from one place to another to holiday get-togethers, but not Saturday. She and her son, Tucker, (who is 4 months younger than Eli) came to my sister, Missy's. All of the cousins played so well. They enjoyed a day of swimming in the pool and several lively games of bowling on the Wii. Chan, we're so glad you came. We had a great day! In case you've never tried, it's extremely difficult to get this many children to look at you for a picture! Aunt Gail tried to get everyone's attention so that we could get a picture...hence the laughing...I'm not incl...

The other night, I stumbled across a blog written by a complete stranger to me --- someone on the other side of the United States. An old post written by the blogger caught my attention. It was a topic of great importance and relevancy to me. What was the topic? Was it adoption? No. How about global warming? No. The Presidential election? Definitely not! It was about babysitters and their going rate. Now, I have friends who are blessed with parents or in laws that keep their children on a regular basis. You may have this wonderful luxury too, but we do not. Sometimes my mother-in-law or my sisters help out and we do on occasion pay my niece who is 19 to babysit. But I never know how much to pay her---my niece that is. So, here goes my friends....I'd like to hear from you, from our side of the world...What do you pay your sitter? Does the rate vary with the circumstances? I've listed some things to consider... How many children are involved... The age/experience of the sitter......

I hope you all had a great Fourth of July! We had a great day just relaxing at home. Wayne's dad was visiting from Florida and the children enjoyed a day of Grandpop's undivided attention! Wayne grilled rib eye steaks to top off a great day of celebrating our nation's birthday. On Saturday, we made the short journey to Frank Jackson Lake to enjoy a family get-together with Wayne's paternal grandparents. Wayne has been blessed with wonderful grandparents on both sides. His maternal grandparents are in Heaven already, but both sets were (and still are) married over 50 years. They have set a wonderful example of faithfulness and love for God and family for us. I am including some pictures from our day at the lake.