June and July News

Well, so much for me blogging once a month!! Have you ever noticed that LIFE gets in the way of things like this? Let me catch everybody up on the Scott adventures over the past two months.
In May, Jason turned 15 and got his learner's permit. He has been driving as much as we will let him. He had a great birthday and we just love celebrating with him all that God is doing in his life. Our family took a week's vacation to Keaton beach at the end of May and we had a wonderful time fishing in the gulf. I think every person in our family likes to fish and we work great as a team! Then, you can look at the last post, Anda graduated from home-school high school!! What a month!

In June, Arvis turned 15. He had friends over to swim, play games, and cook out. It was a blast. We love birthdays...they are bigger to us than Christmas as far as presents and celebrating each other. Christmas is for Jesus!! We also went back to Roatan in June with a group of 41 from FBC. There were 29 youth and 12 adults. God moved in mighty ways and we witnessed His power, provision, and protection. Several youth heard God speak to them about being full-time missionaries. We were blessed beyond measure to be a part of such an amazing adventure. Following that week, our church had VBS, family style. We went to each rotation as a family and learned that playing, learning, and serving can all be done as a family...it's not just for the little ones anymore! The last week of June and into the first week of July was family week at Cherry Lake. Aunt Julie and the cousins, Sam, Joseph, and Alex all came down from Tennessee. We skiied, tubed, rode the knee boards, played games, and went to Wild Adventures. We finally invested in a digital camcorder and made our first movie...just a hoot!!!

Jason, AnnMarie, and Anda went to SLU (Student Leadership University) the second week of July. SLU was in Orlando and all three said it was AWESOME! They learned a lot about leadership, witenessing, and about themselves. I am excited that they have the next three years to attend as well...the last year they get to go to Isreal. My sister, Christy and I made a very quick trip out to Colorado this month. Our grandfather passed away and we flew out to be with family. It was a short trip, but a full one. We both can't believe so much time has passed. On July 21, Aaron turned 12! Did I mention that we LOVE birthdays?!? He has been asking for a drum set and we got one!! He is going to take lessons this year, but can already keep a pretty good beat. We are excited for him!! And we praise the Lord for another year with our man!! Last week some friends from our UGA days came by for a visit. David and Sharon Lynn and their children are preparing to move to Thailand to be church planters. They still have over a year of study and prep, but they are so excited about this opportunity God has given them. Arvis left Monday morning...just yesterday...for a ten day trip to Brazil. He and the team will be ministering on a boat in the AMAZON. We got word that they arrived safely and with all their luggage!! We praise the Lord for that!

That brings us to today: we are praising the Lord for another beautiful day and praying for Arvis and his team in Brazil!!! Have a blessed day.

Anda's Graduation

Well, we have graduated our first child!!!! What an exciting day. Anda was so beautiful and gave the most awesome speech at her ceremony. We had friends and family from all over come to celebrate with her and it was just wonderful!! We are so excited for her and know that God has big plans for our daughter. We started the day with a semi-private ceremony at Southside Baptist Church where we along with Freedom School Director Kimberly Hammock put together a beautiful, inspiring graduation morning. I sang for her, Jeff spoke beautifully about her life and the blessing she is to us, Anda gave her speach and Pastor Phillip Herrington from our church challenged Anda as she readies for college. Kimberly presented her with her diploma and we celebrated Latvian style with a parade of flowers and chocolates.

At 5 in the afternoon, we went to the Scott Lodge for a celebration dinner and square dancing, hayride, and roasted marshmallows. We had friends and family from all over the south join us. Anda was especially excited that a friend from the big A, Atlanta, came down to be with her and anothe special friend from Graceville came over as well. Anda felt very blessed and special all day, as she should. Enjoy some photos:

Joy is 8!!

This year we celebrated Joy's birthday at a fun place in Lake City called Panda-moni-yum. It is a little like ChuckECheese and the kids had a great time. We are so thankful that God has given us another year with Joy!!! What a blessing she is!!!

Catching Up Again

Several weeks ago, Joy gave her heart to Jesus. She was a little nervous about getting baptized and decided to wait a little while for that. However, three weeks ago she was baptized and we are celebrating with her. I will post the video asap.

Anda got her driver's license...............we have another driver in the family!!!!!!!!!!PTL!!!!!!!!!

The GREAT Outdoors!!

We spent a few days last week with some great friends, some cold weather, and some REALLY good food in the great outdoors!! Yes, we took our second family camping trip!! We didn't trek far from home on this one, but it felt like we were miles away!!! We were blessed to camp out next to the Herrington's who were breaking in their new rig and Joy and Jakeb LOVED having Emma there to play with. The older kids rode bikes, played baseball, football, and just hung out. I took advantage of the situation and rested as much as possible due to my sinus infection/cold thing I developed just before we left on this excursion, but I still had a good time. I told Joy today that we will certainly do this again.....AnnMarie replied, "Please lets wait until Spring!" I with her!!! But no matter what time of the year it is Smores and Banana Boats are on the menu!!! Right, Gang? Here are some photos of this adventure! Enjoy!!! I'll post more photos later!!

Happy Birthday Jakeb!!

Today is Jakeb's 8th birthday. We celebrated with Mimi and Papa at their house and Jakeb and Joy helped make Jakeb's b-day cake. He got some really cool gifts and had a good day. We are proud of him for his accomplishments this year. His English skills continue to improve and he is very inquisitive. We are excited to see what 2009 holds for Jakeb and what God has in store for this year. Happy Birthday, Buddy!!!

Catching Up!

WOW! Time has flown by and I realized that we didn't post in Nov. or Dec. However, we didn't want the new year to fly by as well, so I decided to follow in my cousins footsteps and give you a recap...but only of the last two months!! One of my goals for this year is to post at least once a month and have one or more of the kids involved in blogging as well.

We spent Thanksgiving in Georgia as is our tradition. This year we hooked up or RV and hauled it up with us to give us a little more room as well as provide a "get away" for anyone needing some private time. As it turned out, the girls spent most of the time in the RV and all of the kids were seen in and out as needed. The boys had a GREAT time hunting with Pop G and Dad and the girls and I took our annual Wednesday shopping trip to Albany. We do NOT go on Black Friday...we prefer to shop before. The weather was great for the most part and the kids loved being outside. Joy and Jakeb picked up pecans and took them to a local store and "sold" them. I think Mimi Joy helped a little with the reward of their labors, but they could not have been happier. Mama cooked for an army and we ate entirely too much!!! Kevin and Christy, my sister and her husband, were able to spend time with us during the week. We love our yearly treck to Dawson!!!

Christmas is time for family and staying at home. We are always in Live Oak for Christmas and enjoy being at home for this time of year. Anda, Jason, Arvis, and AnnMarie all sang and acted in the Youth Christmas musical this year and had a great time with that. I think we might have a couple of actors in the bunch!!! AnnMarie turned 13 this year and we had a great time of celebration for her. Just after that we began getting ready for Christmas with putting up our tree and the small decorations we usually do and then the "final Christmas shopping". This year, the kids all bought gifts for each other. They had a budget and were very thoughtful of the items they chose for each other. I think we were all more excited about the gifts we GAVE rather than seeing what we might GET!! Christmas morning we eased into our time of reading scripture, singing some Praises to Jesus along with a rendition of "Happy Birthday" , and opening gifts. It was an wonderful, family filled, Christ centered celebration for us.

As we look into 2009, we look forward to celebrating birthdays, going on mission trips, graduating Anda from high school and sending her to college, challenging each other in Bible study and learning and being on adventure with God. Life is never boring around the Scott house. And you have an open invitation to come see for yourself!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just call ahead and we'll have the "Ramada Inn, Room 1" ready.......and we'll turn on the hot water heater and leave a light on for ya."

We pray God will bless you this new year................Happy 2009!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Scotts