Poppi for Congress, What it is all about!

This is the email I received from my sweet sis in law today. It really sums up all this political craziness that we have been going through this last year. It is long, but TOTALLY worth reading!

Hello Dear Friends and Family!
Last night my Dad and I sat outside on his front porch and I was privileged to hear his heart for a little while. As you all know, by now, he is “smack- dab” in the middle of a BIG CONGRESSIONAL RACE… so I asked him how he feels…how he thinks this will all turn out? For any of you that know my dad at all, you know that you don’t listen to him talk too long before his thoughts turn to Jesus, so his answer was, well, probably what you would expect! From the first night he came to our family and told us he wanted to run, he recognized then, and has not forgotten a most important truth: If it is NOT God’s WILL for him to be the Congressman of this district in 2008, he could toil endlessly and tirelessly to no avail. It would make no difference. And if is IS God’s WILL for him to win this election---there is no man’s word against him, or anything he could do otherwise to further this. He simply cannot lose! He only KNOWS that he is where God wants him, now…WIN or LOSE! So it is with that, that he rests peacefully at night.
If we go back a few years, I remember being a child and hearing my dad say, “Kids, some day I will run for Congress!!!” Honestly, on those days, riding in the back seat of a CHEVETTE down the country roads of Dickson County to our 1000 sq ft home…we didn’t know what in the world “Congress” even was, but if we had, we might have doubted the “eternal optimist”!!! But I remember that same phrase, off and on, through the years that followed. He never forgot, even if it seemed far off. I remember moving to Franklin, and him becoming active in local politics. I remember him starting TLC… and hearing the conversations that he and mom had at home about starting a new business and trying to raise FIVE kids… and then we might have doubted him again when he moved us into that double-wide trailor on the farm… But he was always following God’s lead and positioning himself closer to that calling. He NEVER doubted that his calling was to shed the light of Jesus Christ into our darkening political scene in America. His message, as you’ve heard if you have attended any events, is focused around the moral issues that once bound our nation, rather than the political or social issues that are focused on now…and he has not ONE TIME doubted that he is exactly where God wants him to be now, running this race….so it is with that, that he works so hard during these days!
Logistically, the numbers are definitely THERE for him to win. The polling that they have done demonstrates that he can win! We are focused in this last month on getting his name to as many voters as we can, in that district, so we are organizing door-to-door events in various counties each weekend (and need your volunteer help, if you can!). The polls show that if his name is recognized, more people will vote for him than his opponent, Lincoln Davis. What we know best, however, is that God is in control...of the voters! As I spoke to him last night, he said that MORE THAN ANYTHING else right now, he needs prayer warriors. As he is nearing the end- with literally just a month left, he said he is starting to feel a little tired…lots of long nights, long drives, long speeches, lots of questions, and scrutiny that would wear anyone out! He needs people who believe like we do, that PRAYER matters, that our Lord sits enthroned in Heaven and loves to hear our prayers. He needs friends who are willing to go before God, in the hours he cannot, and pray for his endurance, his health, his spirit, his faith, his marriage, our family, this race, financial support (so that he can run some radio and t.v. spots…this is the BEST way to get his name out!)…and as he said so sweetly, “That I would just find favor with my Lord.” That is my dad’s heart…and there are no words to express how proud I am of him!!
So will you help us? I know at this point we have probably all given money and maybe even time towards this campaign… and there may not be much of either left for you…but now is the time for the REAL SUPPORT….PRAYER! There are basically 36 days left in this RACE…and we just want to know that there are committed people out there praying in the hours that we cannot pray, for our dad. I only have a limited number of email addresses here in my book, so I need you to send this to your friends, and your family members. Ask them to reply to me…and let’s get a chain going for LANKFORD FOR CONGRESS!!!

In closing:

“Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.” (Matthew 18:19-20)

Sincerely,
Dana Andrews

So if you made it to the end and will consider praying for our cause please leave me a comment and I will let Dana know her email is working! Thanks and please send this along to all of those PRAY WARRIORS that you know out there!

Fave Fotos Friday! Catch up!

Here are some photos of the boys these week at some of the fun outings we went on!
Cy with the Duck he painted at the NHA Duck Race!

Colby enjoyed his lunch and hanging out with Grandma at the Duck Race! We had a great time and were glad to support such a wonderful place! Thanks for inviting us, Mrs.Emily.

Cy and Grandma at the CHS Homecoming Parade today! The weather was great and we love a good parade!

Colby had been told many times by his brother that there would be horses at the parade! This was Colby still waiting on the silly horses to come(not many horse riders at CHS, more of the bass thumping crowd!) Colby did not care, he snacked on banana puffs the entire time!

Happy Friday and have a great weekend!

Happy Birthday to my best Buddy!

Happy 1st Birthday Barron!!
You and I have been buddies from the start and I know it is just the beginning of a great friendship. So far we are the closest in age and I am sure that we will use that to our advantage many times. Thanks so much for already introducing me to some of lifes greatest treats, Puffs! You are a great cousin to have Barron and I can't wait to hike through the creek with you, camp out and annoy our older brothers the best that we can! We will make a GREAT team, buddy!

Love your Cuz,
Colby

Fav Fotos Friday

Thankful Thursday!

Last night we just stayed at home and hung out, which is actually rare around here! So while we were playing I took several funs pics of my little guys. I am so thankful for them, their health and their wonderful spirits! They bring me so much joy and happiness each day! I am also so thankful for the biggest little guy around here, Nate! I am truly a very lucky lady to have him in my corner each day as I face the world. So today I am thankful for all my little(and Big) guys!!

Wordless Wednesday...Uncle Tuck

I also am a VERY big rule follower!!

So on Saturday nite like several of my blogging friends have already mentioned, we were given the challenge to get the word out through our blogs! So here I go!! I actually was more afraid of not listening to the other blog friends that told me to do this, than I am of Congressman Blackburn. Anyway, I am going to give a big shout out to my FATHER IN LAW, Monty Lankford. He is running for the United States Congress seat from the 4th district in Tennessee this November. He and Nonni, as we call her, are working their tails off to win this election and your support would help a ton. Sure there are many ways to volunteer, donate, or fundraise, but what really counts are the VOTES!!! So I am asking all of my 10ish blog readers to pass the word on to all that live in the 4th district. I feel like I need to point out who this involves.


His district is all the light green color, with the #4 on it. Yes it really covers 24 counties. So if you know ANYONE that lives in ANY of these counties please start working on them to vote Lankford for Congress. Word of mouth can go along way!
I am not going to go on about all that I think Pop, Mr Lankford, stands for, b/c I think he is great, so please go to his site, http://www.lankfordforcongress.com/. I think you should be able to find what you are looking for there! Thank you for taking the time to read this blog and I hope that each of you will get out and vote on Nov. 4th!!

Busy,busy,busy!

So the weekend is not even over yet and we have already done so many fun things!
Here is a fun foto recap of our Friday and Saturday around here....

Yes this is a picture of the Clarke's garage, please focus on the sink! That is where we had to bathe Colby before I could carry him in to the house on Friday nite. It was a serious "Blowout!"


Then later Cy and Sophie decided they were tried of playing in Sophie's "WAY" fun playroom and felt it was time to read!!


Here we are at the Luau for Poppi's campaign! Great event Joe and Court!


The Sunday School girls representing at the Luau! Thank you all for supporting our cause!


And finally, how did he convince the sweet babysitter to let all of his friends sleep with him tonight??? Hey he is asleep and I am good with that!

Can't wait to see what Sunday holds!!

Fave Foto Friday- 2 nights down, a lifetime more to go!!

So we only have the bed and sheets so far, but my big brother is lovin his new bed!!




Have a great weekend!

We love our grandparents!

Cy and Colby have two sets of super cool and super fun grandparents. They are always getting to do very special things with them. You just never no what kind of thing you will do next with these four. We love our Poppi, Nonni, Pep and Grandma!!


Riding cool boats out on the lake with Pepe and Grandma!


Lots of football fun with Grandma!


Going out on to the runway to meet Pop and Non when they were doing a tour around the state!


And pledging at the beach on vacation with Non!!

Thanks for all the memories!
love Cy and Colby

Fave Foto Friday first days of school

Here we were last year on the first day of school!

And here Cy is this year on the first day of school! Tears both years, but we are doing better!!

Yum!!

So I happened to be blog stalking last night and came upon some interesting news. A certain baker that can make a mean Caramel Cupcake has opened her own business. I headed straight downtown Franklin today and visited the new cupcake bakery "Ivey Cake." It was WONDERFUL!! I have had several of these yummy cupcakes in the past, but was so excited that now I can go two minutes from my house any day and get one! I also grabbed a yummy chocolate one for my mom! She raved about the cupcake and the cream cheese icing! So go check it out, and try several for me!! Way to go Ivey and best of luck!

Catch up!

Lots of stuff has been going on around here since last post. On Friday night we were ready to cheer on the Patriots against my Alma mater, Centennial. Page was supposedly considered the underdogs, but came out fired up and ended up winning the game. It was awesome and Cy had a blast! Here he is stopping for 2 minutes to eat a little snack since he is always too excited to eat at the tailgate before the game. Yuck, the popcorn was so stale that only a 2 year old would have touched it!!

Then on Saturday night, Nate and I left the boys with Grandma and Pep and headed downtown Nashville. It has actually been 10 years since I graduated high school and we were off to a bar downtown to have the reunion. As we were driving down I started to get a little nervous about how the evening would go, but I was VERY pleased. We had about 260 in our class and only 60ish showed up, but it was a fun 60 that were there. Not sure how many of those friends I will see again before the 20 year reunion, but it was fun to see them this time. Other than one person having 6 kids?!?, I actually had the most otherwise. So needless to say we were all still at different points in our lives. It was a fun night and Nate and I were proud to have stayed out until 10. What party animals we are!!

Colby had a fun first over the weekend. We took him out of the bucket and let him join us at the table for meals now! Yes he is sitting in a high chair enjoying some breakfast. The only problem with this is that he is really in to swiping things from the table. I have started to call him "Swiper" from Dora, b/c he is ALWAYS swiping something from his brother. It is fun to have him at the table and watch him try to cram Puffs in to his mouth.


And lastly, even though he is making some silly face in the picture here is Cy getting ready for the first day of preschool yesterday. I was not sure how it was going to go, considering we cried EVERY day last year. So I was really talking up how much fun our new teachers were going to be this year. Being the control mom that I am, I was super worried about one thing! Cy going to potty. I know that some of you will give me dirty looks when you read this, but yes Cy is a champ at going to potty. He has been wearing pullups/underwear really since June. But just this week have I let go and gone to underwear all day, everyday! So going to school has made me very nervous. I did not want him to have an accident and get upset. Well, he did GREAT and Mrs. R was on her game. No accidents and he even stayed dry though nap!! I am so proud of him and I am bragging on him, it is nothing Nate or I did!!!!
When he got in the car from school and I asked how it went his only answer was "I cried!" Which yes, did break my heart, but he did talk about painting his hand so I know he was fine. He even napped on his mat, something that did not happen once last year! So we will go again tomorrow and see how it goes! Maybe no crying this time, probably not, but I can hope!!