2009

It's been a year already? WOW!

I thought about listing all my New Year's resolutions but I don't want to set myself up for failure, and there are some which I think should remain for me and God. I know that one of my New Year's resolutions is to update this dang blog on a frequent (meaning more than once a month) basis. Remember, it's facebooks fault. I told y'all that a month ago. You know, when I last updated.

To recap this year, I think I will start with a few of my most favorites moments.

First is the birth of my nephew Landon. He has brought us so much joy this past year and watching him grow before my eyes is just like watching one of my own children. Watching him reach all his first year milestones and, ahem, grow in size has been such a blessing for me!



Celebrating my Grandparent's 50th Wedding Anniversary was such an awesome experience. It was nice to gather with all of our extended family and friends and celebrate the inspiring love between between my Nan and Pop.

Kyle graduated preschool in June and we celebrated at Great Wolfe Lodge!





We bought a boat. We sold the boat. I may or may not have used a Luggable Lou.


We spent an incredible vacation in Myrtle Beach thanks to my hard working husband!





Kyle started Kindergarten. *Sniff* *Sniff*




The above picture still scares me.

Kyle turned 6. We celebrated with friends and family at the bowling alley.



Alyssa turned 30, I mean 3. We celebrated with a party at a gym with her friends from daycare and then back to the house to open presents.


We had a wonderful Christmas and for the first time in my life, I actually understood and reflected on the true meaning of Christmas which is the birth of Jesus, our Savior.

The best thing that has happened this year by far, is my renewed relationship with God. The church we attend has been wonderful for our family and it's been great to surround ourselves with a community of believers. Attending the women's conference left me feeling excited and yearning to learn more about the Bible and reading God's word. My husband and I have even made changes for our family by monitoring the music and t.v shows that we watch. It's amazing to see the changes that you actually want to make because of the example you wish to lead. My hope is that I can continue to follow where the Lord leads me on this walk, and that I can be a disciple of Christ's love. I mean, how awesome is it to know that He still loves me after all of the mistakes I have made!? I will never be good enough,and no matter how many "religious acts" I perform I will never earn my way into heaven. I now know that it is by God's grace alone that I get to spend eternity with Him.

Phew..that is so freeing.

I don't know what 2010 or 2050 will have in store for us but I know that He is faithful and by our side. May He receive all the glory, for it is His story to tell.

Happy New Year to all my friends and family!

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so
that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit
Romans 15:13

It's all in the Genes

Oh sure, she may look like me.

LOOK! TWINS!

But... BUT... this girl has inherited many of her Daddy's genes.

Let's take this as example. This is her Daddy's toothbrush.


Now this my friends, is Alyssa's toothbrush.


I told you, it's all in the DNA. Somewhere floating around their bodies is this genetic instruction to press so hard when they brush that it mangles, separates, and spreads those perfectly innocent nylon fibers. It's like Moses himself has parted their toothbrush bristles.



I wonder if Alyssa will inherit a strand of my jiggly belly chromosome? Gosh, I hope not.

Not even Moses could help make this stomach flat again.

Three

My Lissy Mo's has turned three today. That means three years have passed since she exited the birth canal. That is hard to believe.

I wasn't so sure of her when we first brought her home. She had this really bad poltergeist throw up problem. It was so bad that one night while she was in the room with us in her bassinet, we heard her choking on her own vomit and it scared her Daddy so bad that he literally moved her to her crib and placed a kitchen chair in front of it and stared at her all night long. Whew, those were some tough times. I'm glad I wrote that down because now I can come back and read this when my ovaries start to tingle for another baby.

When I start to think about all the things I love about her and how special our relationship is I get a little teary because I think it is such a blessing to have a little girl. Don't get me wrong, it is an equal blessing to have a little boy, but the lovely, wonderful, "girly" things that come with having, well, a girl is so very sweet.

She's the only one in the house that tells me she likes my shirts, or notices when I have my toes polished. She goes where I go. If I walk to the kitchen, she's walking right behind me. If I go to the store, she's going with me. That makes me smile, because I always went where my grandmother went to. If it was a Saturday and she was in the car, you better believe I was in there with her.

I love to smell her long and full head of adult hair. I love when I wake her in the morning and she puts her hands around my neck. I love how she tells me it's just "us girls" when we ride to daycare in the morning. I love how she points out every letter "A" she sees and she tells me it's her name.

I love watching her with her Daddy. Her Daddy is her big strong protector (as he is mine) and I'm happy she has a Daddy that will always be a part of her life when there are so many of us who grow up without Dad's in our life.

Happy Birthday my sweet baby girl! I wish you could stay little forever, but I look forward to our days together and I anticipate watching you grow up to be the wonderfully sweet, smart, and considerate person that I already see today!

Questions for God

I have a lot of similar questions myself...

Matthew Paul Turner-On Questions from Cross Point Church on Vimeo.

Leaves

One of the nicest beds I know

isn't a bed of soft white snow,



isn't a bed of cool green grass

after the noisy mowers pass,



isn't a bed of yellow hay

making me itch for half a day





but autumn leaves in a pile that high,

deep, and smelling like fall, and dry.





That's the bed where I like to lie

and watch the flutters go by.

Halloween

Here is a recap of our halloween weekend....

The end.

Around the Homefront

Fall is in full swing and although it isn't my most favorite time of the year, it sure has been purty around here.

Things around the home front have been busy as usual. Kyle is wrapping up fall soccer, Alyssa is getting ready for a ballet performance in the Nutcracker, and Tom and I have officially become "those people."

Kyle has developed this quirky habit of climbing up on my kitchen counter evening to smell each of my spices.




And Alyssa, well she's just Alyssa.

A fully potty trained almost 3 yr old that likes to wear diapers and dressy shoes to dinner.

And tell me that she wants a bowl of "Crapin' Crunch for breakfast. And that my nails are pretty. Which I love because none of the other men that I live with ever notice things like that.

Except for Kyle who told me I had whiskers on my legs.

When we are not running to activities, the kids are usually at home playing outside. Usually, they play very well together.

Except for when they're not getting along and then they each want a new brother or sister and even the occasional new Mom or Dad.

But overall, everyone plays nice most of the time.

We are BLESSED beyond words!