Praise Him In ALL things....

Praise You in This Storm
words by Mark Hall/music by Mark Hall and Bernie Herms

I was sure by now,God, that You would have reached down
and wiped our tears away,
stepped in and saved the day.
But once again, I say amen
and it's still raining
as the thunder rolls
I barely hear You whisper through the rain,
"I'm with you"
and as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise
the God who gives and takes away.

Chorus:
And I'll praise you in this storm
and I will lift my hands
for You are who You are
no matter where I am
and every tear I've cried
You hold in your hand
You never left my side
and though my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm

I remember when I stumbled in the wind
You heard my cry to You
and raised me up again
my strength is almost gone how can I carry on
if I can't find You
and as the thunder rolls
I barely hear You whisper through the rain
"I'm with you"
and as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise
the God who gives and takes away

Chorus

I lift my eyes onto the hills
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth
I lift my eyes onto the hills
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth

Chorus

Personal Best!

Each 9 weeks CS has a award ceremony and the first 9 weeks our sweet Caroline received the Personal Best award for her class!  We are so proud!

So Sweet!

How sweet is this?

Cute Teacher's Gifts!

I just have to take a moment to show you the super cute teacher's gifts that I made.  I got the candy corn dish in the bins at Target ($2.50/each) and then made a yummy batch of Pumpkin Butterscotch cookies!  I was so pleased with how these turned out!

In Mid-October, Nicholas got to take an 'intersession' elective at CS. Intersession is the first week of their 2-week fall or spring break. Teachers offer various elective classes that are strictly fun learning - no grades!  Nicholas took a class called '5, 4, 3, 2, 1...Blast Off!', which was, naturally, all about rockets!  The big draw for the class was a field trip to the NASA Space Center in Huntsville, Alabama for the day.  Check out these awesome shots from the NASA Space Center!

The Chick-fil-A 5K!

This past Labor Day, Nick ran his very first 5K ever, and he actually finished!  He started running this summer, and ran mostly on treadmills in the rec center on campus.  He made a few attempts at a moderately hilly loop around the neighborhood, but never made it 3+ miles.  The heat put a damper on his running, but he managed to get just enough in.  His time was 37 minutes and some change, which was very exciting.  He was joined by friend/co-worker/fellow Memphis band director Albert Nguyen and his wife Amy, who were precious in sharing his first 5K with him...they encouraged him along the way, and literally helped him make it through. They could have run much faster, but stayed with me to the finish.  After that, they ran several more miles around downtown before calling it a day. They've run marathons before, and will again soon I think.  For now, Nick's quite happy with a 5K...Here are some neat shots of the trio in action!

Before the start of the race!  Look how happy we are!

Running down Historic Beale Street in Memphis (Nick's the green blur)

Heading down Beale, about to turn towards Autozone Park

At the finish @ AutoZone Park...Look how happy 'they' are!  Nick said he was about to die in this shot!

The New School Year!

Posing by the Flag Pole!

Every year, we take several photos of the kids and their first day as a new         grader! This is the last year to take pictures of Nicholas at CS!  Sniff Sniff...

Caroline posing by her 'hook' in the 'booth'!

Her first desk this year...they change a lot!

Nicholas with his Language Arts Teacher

Posing with Science, Math, & Homeroom teacher

One of our favorite shots...side by side at Nicholas' desk doing homework!

Sharing Jerseys

Nicholas played football again this year, and again worked his way up to quarterback!  They had a rough year (winning only 1 game), but Nicholas learned a lot, and really grew as a quarterback. For one game this year, his special friend Caroline Duncan got to come to see him play. She had tried to come to a couple games last year, but couldn't work it out. Nicholas wanted Caroline to wear his jersey, to which Caroline politely refused (she had to several times actually).  Eventually, Caroline's twin Grace finally said "I'll wear it, give it to me." Caroline instantly changed her mind, and put it on.  Here's a shot of the two of them, ready for the game...

Our visit to Georgia & Florida

Back in August, We had an opportunity to visit Karen's Grandmother (Nicholas & Caroline's Great-Grandmother) in Florida, and to be a part of one of Karen's best friend's weddings (Carole & Tom Lee) in Georgia.  We were fortunate enough to fly, which was a tremendous blessing!  Nicholas had flown before, but he was very young and didn't remember. Caroline had never flown before, so this was an adventure!

We were able to catch some sand and surf at the beach with Aunt Theresa, Logan, and Ethan Destrada, and Aunt Adrienne, Oliva, and Benjamin Rogowski. We made a sand castle, looked for sea shells, and tried some boogie-board surfing!

The wedding was beautiful, and we posed for a rare family shot - 

One of the best parts (and a big reason for going) was this picture...FOUR GENERATIONS of Murrays, Rogowskis, and Hollands are represented in this photo taken from our visit to Great Grandma in Florida.


Check out this slide show of many snapshots of our trip, including an afternoon of fun on St. Simon's Island, Georgia!

Star Wars in Concert!

Last May, Nicholas and I were blessed with an early birthday present from the star babysitters - tickets to STAR WARS in CONCERT!  

I was a bit hesitant at first; I didn't want to spend the money, even though I thought I would like it. Then when we were given tickets, off we went, and it was AWESOME!  We were both like little kids at the show, getting our picture taken with lots of different characters, and in front of famous art backdrops from the movie.

The concert itself was absolutely amazing, and I'm SO GLAD we went.  Enjoy the slide show from STAR WARS in CONCERT!

The Siege of Yorktown!

Last spring, we received a strange email from Nicholas' 4th grade teacher...something like; 'I appreciate your creativity and ambition, and you have my permission to recreate a 3-D battlefield of the Siege of Yorktown for your spring project'.


Needless to say, Nicholas has not shared such a vision with his parents, and most importantly his assistant in designing, building, creating, and finishing–his father!

Well, this was right up our alley.  Nicholas had checked out some books on the Revolutionary War from our local library, and we found a battlefield map that was perfect to use as a guide. Nicholas had initially chosen the Kings Mountain Raid, which happened in the mountains of both North and South Carolina (naturally that got dad's vote) and served as a huge confidence booster for the Colonials, but changed his mind to Yorktown. The Siege of Yorktown signaled the end of the revolution, thanks to some help from over confident British generals and the French forces (both land and sea) of Lafayette.

We had a massive piece of scrap MDF in the garage, and we got a recipe to make our own 'salt dough modeling clay'. We used it to make the terrain, and glued aluminum foil down for the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean. We painted the terrain green, with a mixture of some 'mix-your-own' red paint, and we painted the ocean/bay water area blue with some whitecaps for effect. We then painted the battle lines shown in the book.  We spray painted some good ol' green Army men for the troops; blue for us good guys and red for the bad guys.  We took photos of the national flags for the US, Great Britain, and France, and folded those around toothpicks to establish forces and nationalities. We also made a French fleet and a British fleet, complete with flags for identification. Can't forget the vessels - that sealed the deal for George Washington...

Finally, we placed everything on the board and hot glued it to the surface. Here's a look at the finished project...

And yes, he got high marks on this project...We're quite proud of this one!  Now on to shooting stars...

Pray!

We haven't updated the blog is way too long.  We will I promise. But I wanted to do a post today asking that everyone cover us in prayer.  Nick turns in all of his materials for tenure and promotion today.  We are excited and nervous all at once.  Well I'm the nervous one.  Actually I am desperately hanging on to Jeremiah 29:11 and trying not to have a panic attack.  This is a process, we will not have the final word until sometime in the new year.  Please pray!

Liz and Tony came for a visit!

We usually see one Braves game every summer.  This summer with Caroline's tonsil surgery and the wedding both kiddos were in we couldn't find a weekend to get to Atlanta.  So Liz and Tony decided they would come to Memphis instead.  We had a great time hanging out, swimming, and of course going to a sporting event.  We went and saw our AAA team the Memphis Redbirds play.  We tried to go on Friday night but a squirrel knocked out the power.  They had to cancel the game.  Nick was working a camp but thankfully was able to rearrange his schedule to that we could attend the game on Sat night instead (they will not give you your money back!) That was great but Nicholas couldn't go with us on Sat because of a birthday party.  We decided to take some of our favorite people--the Duncan twins with us instead.  We had a great time except it was 500 degrees.  Okay it was really only about 102 with the heat index!Here are some pictures! 

 

What I found in our bathroom!

I thought all of you would enjoy this.  The other day I was picking up clutter around the house.  I walked into the bathroom to put something away and this is what I found.  Barbies having a "pool party!!"  I cracked up! 

More from the wedding!

Here is one of my favorite pictures from before the wedding.  Caroline is off camera waiting for her dress to be steamed and watching Becca as she got into her dress...the look on her face is precious and priceless...We can't show Caroline's picture, because she is sitting on the floor in her underwear!

Our Becca is Married!

On July 17th, our Becca got married.  It was a beautiful day and we are so happy for Becca and Aaron.  Caroline was a flower girl, Nicholas was a ring barrier, and Lindsey was maid of honor!  Here are some of my favorite pictures from the rehearsal dinner, before the wedding and some of the wedding!