Bren turns 20

 Poor Bren, he had to work on his birthday. But mama got up early and got him donuts for breakfast and sent him on his way.  After work, we had a lovely dinner at Johnny Carino's and then home for presents and cake.

Life is so interesting. When they are little, time seems to meander on but now that my child is grown, I wonder where time went and how it got away so fast. We are blessed to have Bren as our son, brother to Cam, Cait, and Lily. His time at home is limited and we try to enjoy him as much as we can when we do have him.

More May Moments

 Bren had another bass recital.  He has become such a great player and it is such a blessing to mama to hear him play.  Of course, what is a recital with out ice cream?

 I am so grateful for this family. I thank God for our health, provisions through JC's work and extra savings through mine, our special times together as a family.

 Cait had a second opinion on a mole on her head.  The first doctor wanted to surgically remove it but the doctor at Children's thought she was okay.  We are grateful for that, too!

 One of our favorite daily activities is to watch the birds at our feeder out our front window.  We have had a pair of male cardinals and a pair of male blue jays this week along with our regular house finches, grackles and mourning doves.  We have also enjoyed planting flowers and seeing their blooms. My clematis are so beautiful this year.  They must be enjoying all this rain.  One of my succulents came back so I only bought one more for the pot this year.  Cait & Lily picked out petunias and merigolds for their flower pot.  JC & the kids gave me a beautiful water fountain for the yard for Mother's Day.  This is definitely a happy place for this mama.

My sweet husband seems to always be on a repair project.  I am so grateful God has blessed him with the "handy gene" and a heart that gives so freely to this family.

Bren celebrates 19 years of life!

This man - he made me a mommy 19 years ago.  I am so grateful for his life and I am so proud to be his mama.  I can't wait to see what the next 19 years hold for you, my son.  Keep loving and serving Jesus, seek Him for wisdom in all you do.

I love you, Bren Bug.  Happy birthday! ~mom

Vocational Class: Welding with Dad

 JC & Bren have talked along time about learning how to weld.  They are finally getting their chance!  They are taking a two month long class and are learning about acetylene, stick, MIG and TIG welding.

 They are both enjoying the class but this is like playing with fire so of course Bren seems to be enjoying it just a little bit more!

Homeschool Adventure: Water Lines & Grace Home

Oh, I'm so excited about this!  Our church has been working on the Grace Home for quite some time now. But only recently did we actually SEE some of that work.

Bren took a week for a crash course in science, hydraulics, excavation, mechanical engineering, horizontal boring, and plumbing!  He helped the guys in our church body to install around 800' of 6" water main, a fire hydrant and other appurtenances.  He worked long, hard days but he enjoyed all of it.  I took this clip above from our Grace Home Newsletter.  (We just got the green flag from the Fire Marshall today!)

18 years

18 years of reflection

18 years of being a mom

18 years of learning, growing and teaching

18 years of joy and a few tears

18 years of hugs and love
18 years of pride

 We started the day with cinnamon rolls and sausage.  Granny and PawPaw came for a celebratory lunch and quadruple chocolate-Reese's pb cup brownies.

 The girls dressed up for the special day!
















For dinner, some of my sisters and their families, my parents and my aunt and uncle in from New York met us for pizza.

Happy 18th birthday, son.
I love you.
Mom

My beautiful children

Some day, I hope to print out my blog. I don't have time to sit around and scrapbook so this is as good as it gets for me.  But this blog has documented our lives for almost 6 years now.  I don't write much about the struggles of life but try to capture the beauty of our family and our adventures.  There are struggles, be sure of that. But we hold fast to the love and promise of Jesus.  We strive to love and to forgive.  This is our story.

Bren's last week at camp!  We're so glad to have Bubba home!

Cousins!  Here's the newest one:

Sisters at play!

Swimming with cousins at Aunt Laura's house.  Love Cait's new swimsuit!

I love seeing my sweet babies sleeping!

A sign of summer. Sweet peaches!

Mamma helped friends Taylor & Taylor with their homeschool graduation ceremonies and receptions.

Pretty girls.

We put together yearbooks for our PE group.  They turned out great!

More of Baby Hensley... so precious. so little.

Bren and Dad lead worship together with some other teens at church.

Bathtime Smiles

Cam wearing a Power Ranger costume that Bren used to wear.

Playground & spray park time.

Playing and riding outside. Our days have been pretty mild so far this summer.

Sisters, friends.

Another graduation. A baptism too. I love helping organize and plan!  Bren played with "the band" for the ceremony!

I think we're going to get back to school next week. Maybe a 4-day schedule. Bren's ready to finish up and our days will be better with more structure. I'm glad Bren is hope because there was very little structure without him!