Swimming in October?!?

Last week we were able to spend a little time at my parents house in Louisiana.  We had fun hanging out with family, meeting the new baby of the family (baby Henry), and catching up with old friends!  Jason is excited that our friends Brad and Jessica Forsyth and their two precious boys have moved back to Lake Charles.  They were friends of mine in high school, then Jason became friends with Brad in college when we were all at Louisiana Tech together.  He is pumped to finally have someone to hang out with when we are in town that actually knows him apart from me!  Wow, that sounded funny.  That's how I feel most of the time with him in the business that he is in! HA!  Anyway, we actually got to swim when we were home thanks to my parents heated pool!  The boys had a blast, and picked up right where we left off from summer swimming!  Daddy also had fun taking the boys to the Trinity Center (an inside play place at my parents church).  Jonah is finally big enough to crawl through everything so Jason was a big kid himself crawling right along with them!  It was a good trip, and a much needed break for our family!

Praise In The Park

Last Friday I packed up and we headed to the airport to pick up Jase then drove to Mississippi for a 33Miles show.  The show was Saturday night, and it was amazing!  They opened for Casting Crowns, and there were over 10,000 people packed into this small outdoor arena in the precious town of Lucedale, MS.  My parents, my sister and her 2 kids, and Jason's parents decided to come join in the fun!  Jake and Jonah were able to go up on stage during the last song.  Jake got to play his electric guitar ("just like uncle chris", he says), and Jonah had his little microphone with him.  The crowd went nuts when they came out so Jake was a little freaked out, but Jonah just walked right up to the front of the stage and soaked it all in!  They were precious! On Sunday, we headed to Louisiana to visit with family for a few days.  We are definitely enjoying some time with daddy too!  I am amazed at the favor of God!  He is blessing 33Miles and their ministry more than we ever could have imagined, and we are thankful to be given the opportunity to serve Him in this capacity!  Yes, it stinks that Jason is gone so much, and yes we miss him terribly when he is away, but it helps to go out on the road with him sometimes and see the the impact that they are making!  God is good, and we are BLESSED!!!

The Barton Clan!

While Jason has been gone this week, I decided to brave a trip to Chattanooga with the boys for a couple of days to see his brother's family.  They just moved to the Chattanooga area a few months ago from Missouri so you can imagine how excited we are to have family so close by!  We have waited a long time!!!  Mimi (jason's mom) was babysitting the kids for the week so I guess we only saw half of the family.  Anyway, we left after school on Thursday and came back on Friday evening so that we wouldn't miss Jake's soccer game on Saturday.  The boys had a blast playing with their cousins...Hayden (almost 8yrs), Britt (5yrs.), and Brock (2 yrs.), and I enjoyed having a little break.  The highlight of the trip, well what was suppose to be the highlight, was fishing in their pond.  The boys loved the fishing part, but were not so keen on Hoops (the dog).  For those of you who don't know us, Jake is TERRIFIED of animals!  It is the craziest thing that you have ever seen.  You would think that we threw him in to a bull pen when he was a baby or something.  This will explain the funny look on his face in the pic with the fishing pole in his hand.  He is trying to watch Hoops out of the corner of his teary eye!  You just want to laugh, cry, and scream all at the same time when he freaks out around animals!  I keep telling Jase that we are going to end up in a counselors office by the end of all of it! HA!  We did have a great trip though.  They absolutely LOVE their Mimi and their cousins so it was well worth "the experience"!  

The Ham Festival

Yes folks, there is such a thing called The Ham Festival!  It happens every October here in Spring Hill, TN.  I decided to brave it alone with the boys today after Jake's soccer game.  If you know me, you know that I am not always up for braving these types of things without Jason along for the ride.  The memory of last years Ham Festival alone is reason enough not to want to go!  Jonah was a little over one year, and when he was not fussing to get in or out of the stroller he was fussing at everyone who looked his way!  He was quite a frustrated child a year ago.  I don't know where he would get that from!?!  Anyway, today we needed a change of pace so "Ham Festival" it was!  We actually had a ton of fun!  The boys loved riding the little train, jumping in the bounce house, playing games, and of course getting candy!  Jake especially enjoyed batting some (Jase just taught him how not too long ago), and I have to brag a little and say that he hit every single ball!  Maybe soccer is not the sport for him, but that is for another post!  Jonah loved feeding the puppet cow.  They both thought it was hilarious, and talked about it the rest of the day.  All in all it was a fun time with the kiddos even though daddy was not there.  We miss him a lot though.  We are heading into day 5 without him tomorrow so we are definitely looking forward to his return!  So, if you ever happen to be in the area the first weekend in October The Ham Festival may be for you!