Brad and Bailey both did an amazing job at their piano recital tonight. It is unlike any recital I have ever been to, and we were just blown away by it. Rather than play typical piano pieces, the majority of the kids played and sang worship music. By the time it was all over, we had done a lot of praising and enjoyed the God-given talents of some incredibly gifted kids.This is Mr. Nate, the coolest piano teacher around. You may recognize him, if you listen to a lot of Christian music. He's Nate Sallie. His current radio hit is "Lone Ranger." What an amazing teacher. Last year, Bradley was begging to quit piano. Once we found Mr. Nate, everything changed. I am so impressed with him. He is a class act, and my kids are light years ahead of where they would be without him. It's hard for me to remember that Bailey only started taking last summer.
Of course, being in Nashville, we just happened to sit directly behind Mr. Toby Mac, a fact that would have gone completely unrecognized by me if Brandon hadn't pointed it out. His son rocked the house on the drums during the band segment of the night. And that's David Morris up there on the piano jamming out "Mighty to Save." So great!

Sorry you couldn't be there? I thought you might be. So feel free to watch the Swords kids in action. I think they were fantastic!

I'm so proud of my hubby today. He ran in his very first 1/2 marathon, and finished it in under two hours. For someone who has only been running for the past year, I think that's pretty impressive! He just decided to do it a few weeks ago, and worked hard to get his run long enough. I can't imagine running for even two miles straight, so 13 blows my mind. But he did it!
Unfortunately, the kids and I missed his big finish. Unbeknownst to us, we were at the wrong finish line. Oh, well. There's always next year. At least Bradley was willing to give his little sis a boost, and that's worth something.
Even the Abbotts came out to celebrate, which made the day even more fun.

So proud of their Daddy!
Congratulations, Babe! :)

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We've had a busy weekend so far. Yesterday, Brad and Bailey went to the ropes course at MTSU and spent a few hours playing some fun team games before attempting the Alpine Tower.
Bradley went first, and he went higher than anyone that went before him, so he was pretty excited.

Until Bailey took her turn and went higher. Suddenly he had a driving desire to go again!

This is when she was being lowered down. Such a brave girl.
Today we went over to help our friends Clark and Jamie with their yard sale. They are in the process of adopting a baby girl from Nepal, and this was one of the fund raisers they have planned. A few weeks ago, Bailey had the idea of running a lemonade stand to help raise money, and we decided to go all out with full concessions. We had candy bars, Teddy Grahams, cheese crackers and more, along with ice cold lemonade and bottled water.
I was so proud of how hard they worked. By the time it was all said and done they had sold close to $170 worth of snacks. Absolutely amazing!
Even more amazing was how God showed up all over this event. From the incredible weather to the non-stop paradeq0 of people who were more than willing to shop and pay the amount on the tags to the crazy number of people who have also adopted or are in the process and felt a kinship to the cause, we could feel the Lord literally pouring out his blessing on the entire day. Including what we made selling snacks, they cleared close to $2000! That just blows my mind. I love it when God makes His favor so obvious!

Here's a little taste of what you would have heard had you been anywhere near this sale:

Pics from Easter

Bailey's hair is still wet and the boys have candy in their mouths, but this is the best I could get before church...

I looked down at Bailey during worship last night and this is what I saw. I think Ruby was really feeling the Spirit. Beautiful.