The Douglas Family: Memorial Day 2011!

Hooray for Heroes! Words simply cannot describe how much we owe those who fight for this land we love. Unbelievable! I am so especially grateful to be able to worship Jesus as I please, unlike so many people in our world. Thank you Thank you Thank you for saving our country. For protecting people you dont even know. For giving your lives so we can live ours. We can never repay. Your reward surely is in Heaven.

And of course hooray for long weekends!!! Art returned from a 4 night trip to Hawaii early Friday morning. That trip is a hard one for him. Redeye flights, 6 hour time change, all-day meetings. But hey, he's in Hawaii! we were so glad when he came home! That day somehow flew by so we stayed up til midnight packing for the lake. We went to visit Arts parents before they head West for the summer. It was time for the Williams/Douglas 1st annual Memorial Day Celebration! And boy, was it fun! 3 houses around us had kids, lots of kids! So Emma Kate and Harper made fast friends and were holding hands, running, swimming, floating, jumping, hula hooping, from sun-up til sun-down. It was joyous. It was a blast. And it was all because of the before mentioned heroes!!! When the family joined us Saturday night Emma Kate didnt know what to do with herself. She was so excited to see her 3rd cousins. Yes, 3rd. They are Arts second cousins - sons and daughters of his 1st cousins. That is so confusing because they are just a little older than EK. Anyways Saturday we played and played. We were about to eat dinner when EK started SCREAMING down by the water. Everyone jumped up. Everyone but me. Because I hear that blood curdling scream about everything. And I mean EVERYTHING! Want examples? Nah, I will spare you. But anyway, the point is I thought it was no big deal for a second until it continued, she came running up the dock screaming, " I am never going back in that water!" And then Art came running up behind her. The poor girl had come face to face with a big black 5' 4" snake. Everyone from neighboring houses swarmed the dock thanks to the screams that interupted dinner! There was a Cobb County Detective next door. He was out there in 30 seconds with his gun and 1 minute later, one shot later, that snake was a goner. Whew. That was a close one. EK was a champ. Once she calmed down all she wanted to talk about was the snake and how it was dead. She was back in the water in no time. I LOVE how different she is than her wimpy mom!!! I am so proud of her! She was definitely shaken up! But handled herself so so well! This is her with our shooters daughter, Evie, just after the drama!

See! It was GINORMOUS!!!

Sunday, the girls slept til 730. This NEVER happens. They usually rise around 630, which is decent but still too early for me. They were wiped out! EK was in the water by 830 and didnt come in til 7pm that night. She did take a break for lunch. A short one for dinner. But that was it. She was in her bathing suit the entire day! It was surely heaven on earth! I was so thankful for a day like that! It was so awesome to have so many kids around who were kind and well-behaved. They all played so well together. It really was amazing!