It is 4 in the afternoon. All 3 babes are sleeping soundly in their beds, the house is clean, the laundry done (mostly), I do not have to cook dinner tonight (thank you small group picnic), and I am left wondering what in the world to do. This is a rare moment at the Kemp house. During the kids naptime I've been reading Shepherding a Child's Heart.....amazing. I am totally inspired to be the best mom that I can. And feel so much purpose behind what I do all day every day. But I am overwhelmed as well. In the book Tedd Tripp makes the point basically that we are not training for good behavior (which is nice) but rather to shape our children's hearts and to point them towards Christ. This is a pretty simple concept and is certainly not new news to most of us, but such a great reminder when focus gets blurred as most things do when you have 3 little ones. :) I've been really working with my boys on the way that they treat one another. Of course I do not want them to fight, or steal the others toy, but ultimately I want them to have genuine concern for the other. I want Luke to prefer Ben's happiness to his own and vice versa. If I physically hurt someone and made them cry my heart would hurt. I have seen my boys actually take joy in making the other cry (not all the time, they actually are mostly little love bug sweetie pies). How do you teach compassion and direct a heart to love like Christ? This is actually the question that pointed me to this book. It is great.....I'd recommend it. Their hearts are such great battlefields and such the center of life. And ours are too. I am overwhelmed by the darkness within me. This book has really made me look at myself too. I long for my babies to have pure, God loving, God fearing, God worshiping hearts and am almost being blinded by the dirtiness of my own heart. Their are such pivotal truths that I want for my children to grasp that I'm not quite sure that I do myself. Are you with me? Thank you, Father, for your grace. I am so needy. The Lord is so using my training of my kids to shape my spiritual self and to refine my heart.

Vacation

Kate and Gavin

PK bowling the boys down the slip and slide.

A ride in the boat that Luke "rescued."

Kate knows what to do by the pool.

Ben enjoying Reag and Mickey.

The over loaded car (yes, we took 2 strollers). Meltdown #1.

Boat ride.

Boat ride.

Sparklers and Smores.

The Smiths.

We have had a total whirl-wind past couple of weeks. Our first trip was to the lake at Horseshoe Bay with my family. It was a beautiful drive down and a super relaxing time at the lake and by the pool with my precious fam. The boys ate up the time with everyone and would have loved being with them absolutely anywhere, but the lake was simply icing on the cake. Katie Sunshine was a doll. She is a great traveler and is simply the happiest baby I've ever seen. We also squeezed in some time with one of my best friends from high school and her adorable kids (and new pup), a run into Mrs. Amanda Keel, a visit with a best friend from college and her hubby, and dinner with some of other our other very best friends and their amazingly cute babe...Gavin...who is just about a month older than Kate. Of course our time with our friends (or fam) was not nearly enough and left me longing to live in the same town with all of them and get to have precious time with each of them on a daily or weekly basis. The Lord has blessed me with such amazing friends at every stage of my life, and I will never understand why I cannot walk with them through each season in the same town. I eagerly await Heaven where we will get to spend eternity together (and in the presence of Jesus!). Sweet friends and fam, I love you and love love the way that the Lord has used you to draw me closer to Him. I could write a novel now just thinking about each of you and what you have meant and still do to me. All that to say the vacation was a blast.....thanks Mom! I'll have to post more on our whirl-wind weeks in another post. I am exhausted and must get to bed. Here are some pics from our journey for some reason I cannot figure out how to get pics to post in the appropriate order so they are rather jumbled....sorry.

You Can Judge a Nap by the Hair.

It is just a matter of personal opinion, but I believe that you can judge how good a nap was by how amazing the hair is afterwards. Kate had an awesome nap and has the hair to prove it.

Uncle Trey and Aunt Brooke

Patrick's brother and his fiance came to meet Kate last weekend. It was great to get to know Brooke a little better and made us realize why Trey fell in love with her. She is great and so great for him. Here are some pics from their visit.

Music Anyone???

So, I'm needing some new music on my ipod. Any suggestions? I just downloaded a bluegrass sampler from Shane and Shane....amazing. Check it out on itunes if you're into bluegrass!