Saturday, October 9, 2010

Quick catch up

Oh man, how much have I sucked at updating this? Go on and say it...I've sucked really badly! Life has been moving at 100 miles an hour and all of my free time is spent with Jon and Ava Grace, so I've not had much time for my blog. I really want to work it into my routine every few days or so because I have family out of state and this is a great way for them to keep up with us. Also I really enjoy blogging.

Ava Grace is growing so incredibly fast! I am so saddened and excited at the same time, its weird. She's talking up a storm and incredibly smart, I really enjoy our time together at home just us, she is hilarious. She has the funniest personality that she gets from her dad. I love watching her grow and become a toddler, but I ache for when she was a tiny baby. I still sit and rock her and sing to her and hold her like a baby, she loves it and its so special for me. I will have to devote a post to her update, this is way too short and uninformative. 

For now I will just leave you with some cute pictures and call it a night on the computer. Oh but before I go, all of you keep my sister Bethany ( the 3rd of us four girls) in your prayers. This past Monday she fell rock climbing and broke her leg pretty badly. She had surgery yesterday to put in screws and a plate. Bless her heart! 





Spaghetti never looked so cute!

Pigtails for the first time :)

She's this happy ALL the time! She's truly a joy!

Just like her daddy :)

Justus and Ava Grace are cousin best friends

As are she and cousin Lucius
Till next time :) BE BLESSED!

Friday, September 17, 2010

My three things

Three things that will get me through my day :)

1. The awesome time I spent with the Lord this morning (Psalm 85-90 is awesome!)

2. My new DVD exercise program I started this week, it feels sooo good to work out!

3. Knowing I'm coming home to these two <3 

That's my crappy editing job, Susan I think I need your help :-p




P.S Update coming with picture SOON, promise :)

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Baby time!

Don't get excited over the title, I am NOT pregnant again. This is a flashback to two years ago this month when I did find out I would be a mommy for the first time!!!



Great day, wonderful me memories!

And now this is what came from that stick...or technically from our cells, but anyway...

TADA!!!!

Monday, August 9, 2010

Sisters for life!

Ava Grace, Me, Melanie, Shannon, Kayla, Bethany and Nicole


On the weekend of August 31st I got together with a few of my sisters from Sigma Alpha Omega. When I was in college at WCU I gave my life to the Lord and began an awesome personal journey with Christ. Special thanks to my hubby who led me to the Lord ( before he was my hubby.) Anywho, in 2005 I pledged Sigma Alpha Omega, a christian sorority on our campus that was just kicking off. I remember seeing a poster for it that said something about "fire for Christ" and I was so there! I had been praying that God would bring wonderful Christian woman into my life...and boy did he! Once I pledged there was over 60 of us and we were all as close as blood sisters! These girls have been a vital part of my walk with the Lord and involved in a lot of special occasions in my life such as my wedding and daughter's baby shower. 

Some of us at my wedding, Sarah and Melanie were in it. Not all of them that were there are pictured here.

I love these girls to life...( I despise the term "I love them to death" who wants to love someome to death?) They were there for me in the good times, bad times and in between. I've made long lasting friendships and now that we are all grown up and most of us married and a few of us mommy's; I cherish their friendships even more. I had not seen many of these girls since 2007 and so we all decided to put together a day to all meet up and wear our letter shirts.


Fall semester 2005, the night we all became sisters!

Unfortunately not many could come and that's understandable. Some our pregnant, some our new mommies for the second time and some are in other parts of the US for their career and others were busy or just married. Sadly one dear sister lost her dad in an accident the night before :( and we were grateful for the oppertunity to all write her a card together. The ones that did come, it was wonderful to see again :) It was as though no time had passed. I also thoroughly enjoyed introducing them to Ava Grace , she was a hit lol. They all prayed her into existence and it meant a lot to me for them to meet her. They prayed for me all the time when I was at my sickest in college. Thank you ladies :)

The last time we all were together in one place before graduations.

Same night, being silly as always!

Our time together was way too short and I missed the many, many girls who couldn't be there. Maybe one day we can all get together and have a spiritual retreat like we did once a semester in college.





Friday, August 6, 2010

Its been a week...whew! Let me just say that last week and the first part of this week were extremely difficult. My baby girl is coming into toddler hood and man alive...no one could have prepared me for it! We are both learning from one another and what works and doesn't work. Its such a learning process, very much like when I first brought her home, but way harder heh. I hope I survive this adventure...

I'm so thankful for God's strength and peace and his word that I could run to and find help! Seriously, if I didn't have the Word of God and the love of God, coupled with his promises I don't know what I would do....

Probably go sit in a corner and rock back and forth.


Sunday, August 1, 2010

My spider story!

 There will be NO pictures with this post! Heck to the no!

So right after we got home tonight, I was cleaning the floor and went to put the Clorox wipes back up under the kitchen sink and when I stuck my hand under the sink a wolf spider the size of a small golf ball fell down onto my hand!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I screamed louder then I have in my life, it fell off my hand and ran under the stove. Ava Grace starts bawling because my scream scared her. Jon is mad that I screamed and still doesn't know why I'm screaming. Meanwhile its living...under the stove!!!!!!!!


I had to clean the dishes and knew I had to stand next to the stove where it sat right where no one could reach it. DARN CREEPY THINGS!!!!!!! I HATE THEM! The whole time I washed the dishes I watched the stove like a hawk ready to kill run at any second. It was the longest dish washing time of my life! 

The whole time I was in the kitchen ( about an hour or more) it stayed under the stove. As soon as I walked out and back in it had come out from under the stove and was sitting in my kitchen floor. What a creep, it waited for me to walk out! GROSS! I grabbed Jon and screamed at him to get it. After freaking out himself, he dropped his work boot on it! VICTORY!!!!!!!!!!!

There is no gosh darn good reason why I should have a spider the size of a car living in my house when my husband works where he does!!!!! 

And that's my Sunday story. Goodnight :)

Friday, July 30, 2010

A picture that speaks for itself

My sister and her husband's first greeting when he returned home from war.

Priceless and precious!

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Its been a day...


This has been my day.............

Old picture, yes, but perfect visual description of baby girls attitude today. 

See the left clenched fist and right flexed hand? That's been it all day! Only now that little right hand doing all of that flexing comes right at mommy when baby girl's mad. :-/ You also don't want to miss the furrowed brow which she has down to an art.

We also tried our first timeout today for one minute. She climbed down off the couch three times, each time laughing like it was game and then scrambling to get back up when I would come towards her with my "stern" look. L o n g e s t minute of my life I'm sure. She's also limber enough to now crawl up onto the window seat in the living room, yea the one that sits a foot off the hard lamanent floor...::sigh:: the window seat is what landed her in timeout. 

Most of the day was centered around fits of rage over not being allowed to turn the CD player off,  throwing juice across the kitchen, melt down over not being allowed under the sink and  etc,etc. Only problem is that she remains so cute :-/ I can't help but laugh sometimes.


Thank God for Motrin, Reeses and his Word! Shew!

Monday, July 26, 2010

Mine

    These cuties are why I wake up every morning smiling :) 

He's the best daddy and the greatest husband! 

           She's the cutest princess and the sweetest little girl!

Reading bedtime stories together

My cup overflows...

Saturday, July 24, 2010

I must apologize to Barney? :-/


Ava Grace has discovered BARNEY...and its all my fault! I had a lot of house work to do this morning and her typical cartoons were not doing the trick. Jon was gone mowing his dad's lawn for him and burning our trash, so I had no assistance. I stooped to drastic measures and broke out Barney on our Netflix live stream. And of course...

my girl fell in love with him and his sidekicks Baby Bop and BJ. ::sigh:: 
I for one used to strongly dislike him. Okay, I hated him and his friends and his dumb TV show.

I was raised in a culture enamored by Barney one that basically worshiped him. He was EVERYWHERE!!!!!!! I remember being in VBS and singing a catchy tune along the lines of..." I hate you, you hate me, we're a hateful family with a big shot gun..." yea will end it there. Let's just say that as a mom, looking back on it I'm scared to death that we were allowed to sing that at VBS!! :-p My sister Bethany, ( pictured above and now 20 yrs old) was obsessed, in love with Barney and he was all that I heard, read and saw for many years! One fateful day when I was nine Bethany decided to take her talking Barney toy on a trip to Florida with her! Barney...in a car, for many, many hours...by the end of that trip Barney had suffered the sudden loss of his vocal box :) He never sang again...

That makes me sound so evil and I assure you at that age... I was.

However, on this day Saturday July 24 2010 - being a mom myself I must confess that Barney has a bad rep for no reason :-o I found today that he is really helpful to keep your children entertained for an entire 15 minute time span! He's also educational and I'm ashamed to admit...his songs are catchy. ::gasp!:: Plus it was the cutest thing to see my girl dancing and twirling like a ballerina to his theme song and hearing "B Bop and Barneeee" in her sweet voice all day. Its amazing how different we see things when "mommy" gets tacked onto our name.

So Barney and your friends, I owe you all an apology for all the years I've hated you and everything you came in contact with. I'm sorry for making sure you never sang again in our home and I'm sorry for egging on the other kids at VBS to sing that awful song. 

Barney, you are welcome in my home any day!

Ava Grace eating a snack and watching "Barney and Friends"

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Double the trouble

One turkey, cheese on white bread sandwich,
One ham, mustard on soy bread sandwich,
Countless cups of juice,
Two really nasty diapers,
Two cups of orange jello,

Lots and lots of hectic fun....

I had this extra cutie this afternoon :)



This is Lucius Allen, he is 29 days older then Ava Grace. He is one of the 3 babies all born in March, delivered by the same doctor and yes, we're all related! Heather and Cara are my sister-in-law's. He is my first nephew and what a cutie pie he is! He's Heather's son- yea, she is gorgeous! It is pretty much ridiculously unfair :-p




 Ava Grace loved having a cousin to pal around with for a while. The two of them together entertain one another very well. We had our hectic moments though. You always do when we get them together. Thankfully we survived the afternoon without passy wars and only one melt down over who's juice cup was who's.

They love juice!
Lucius: Let me tell you the way I do things! Ava Grace: I'm not sure that's a good idea...

Such cousins, even from behind.
Yummy lunch! You improvise when you have just one high chair.

Over all it was a good afternoon and I love every second I get with this little guy and that darling princess :)

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Walk it out



I'm thankful today! I'm so incredibly thankful for the love of God and the sacrifice of his son! I'm so thankful for the voice of the Holy Spirit and the intimacy I have with Christ. I'm so thankful that God will take the time to meet with me, little 'ole me where I'm at and minister to me. 

The other day (Saturday to be exact) I woke up feeling yucky! Have you ever felt spiritually gross? I did! I had really been allowing my flesh to take over the days prior and my husband and I had been in a bad fight the day before! I had not slept well and I woke up desiring time with the Lord and needed to be washed in the word! I told Jonathan I was going to spend some time with God and retreated to our bedroom where I stayed for an hour and a half. In that time the presence of the Lord fell and I was literally wrapped in it. I had christian radoi playing and every song that played related to how I was feeling and what I was praying about. It was like I could feel the arms of Jesus around me. It was such a sweet time of worship and after I confessed sin and emerged clean I then just sat in his presense and without saying a word worshipped him. I think sometimes the scripture that says "be still and know that I am God" is really what he's after for us and we should spend more time silent before Him and allowing our heart's to communicate for us.  


Sunday was a big blessing as well. The message was so encouraging and worship was wonderful. By the second service I really began to feel the spirit of God around me. I so love singing on the praise team and being able to enjoy two song services before 11:00, one at 8:30 and one at 10:30! What a kick start to my week! 


I've been going through a spiritual desert. I've just felt so disconnected from God and didn't know why. As often as I work to put God first and spend time with him everyday, I don't always follow through with what I'm told to do in scripture. I don't always walk out what I read and God really dealt with me this past weekend about how that was where my disconnect was at. I was reading and soaking in all of these instructions that I wouldn't walk out. I have to remind myself that I've grown in a lot of area's but for me my stumbling block is my mouth. I run off at it if I get mad. I mean I can tear someone up...so Christ like, I know :-/ and I am bad about allowing life to effect my every mood which in turn affects those around me. I was allowing my flesh to control me way too often and saying "well I know what it says to do...but I feel differently right now and can't..." Well, as God reminded me, I CAN because he gives me the strength to do so. So my goal is to begin to really live out what I read in the Bible and not just know it and ignore it when I don't feel like it. . I've placed sticky notes around my house that say "afm, ( as for me) I will be a doer and not just a hearer of the Word of God." I placed them where I will see them 100 times in a day or where I find myself tempted to not walk something out, like at the TV or computer. It works for me because I'm visual and if I'm mad and about to run off at the mouth and see a sticky note with that reminder on it, it grabs my attention and reminds me of how I'm supposed to act. 


I'm not perfect, I'm so terribly flawed but this is my ambition and I pray that I will see myself growing in the Word and catching myself walking it out more often then not. :)


"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does." James 1:22

Saturday, July 17, 2010

I'm an aunt for the 3rd time

My first niece Raelee Alise Shore was born yesterday at 7:36 a.m. 8 lb.s 11 oz. and 20 inches long :) She is happy, healthy and plump! I just LOVE her!!!! Cara is doing great, God is good!


More pictures on my facebook!

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Pride

"My name is Pride. I am a cheater.
 
I cheat you of your God-given destiny...because you demand your own way.
 
I cheat you of contentment...because you "deserve better than this."
 
I cheat you of knowledge...because you already know it all.
 
I cheat you of healing...because you're too full of me to forgive.
 
...I cheat you of holiness...because you refuse to admit when you're wrong.
 
I cheat you of vision...because you'd rather look in the mirror than out a window.
 
I cheat you of genuine friendship...because nobody's going to know the real you.
 
I cheat you of love...because real romance demands sacrifice.
 
I cheat you of greatness in heaven...because you refuse to wash another's feet on earth.
 
I cheat you of God's glory...because I convince you to seek your own.

My name is Pride. I am a cheater. You like me because you think I'm always looking out for you.


Untrue.
God has so much for you, I admit.But don't worry...
If you stick with me, you'll never know."

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Goodbye can be so hard


Ava Grace is having a tough time giving up her walker that she is now too big for...


I had to lower it all the way to the floor because I turned around one day to see her standing on the top of it, while it was fully extended. Now she pushes it around on the floor and tries to fit inside of it.


Poor girl, she gets it from her momma! I have a hard time saying good-bye to things as well, like my favorite pair of jeans I have had for seven years and really should be using as a dust cloth at this point. :-/


Wednesday, July 7, 2010

A Journey through our fourth's


In honor of mine and Jon's 6th fourth of July together, I give you a recap of our past 4th's together!!

July 4, 2005

Here we are the year we turned 20 :-o I know many of you don't think of us as old, but this picture and memory makes me feel that way! I mean we're over half way to thirty...please don't smack me :-p We flew together for the first time for this Holiday while visiting my Dad in St. Louis. My dad's side of my family threw us an engagement party and we were full of hopes and dreams for our future :) Happy first 4th babe!

July 4, 2006
Ah, the month before our wedding day :) What a time that was!!!! We were so dang excited ( can't you tell) and READY to be married! Jonathan had just bought a first car for us and he felt so grown up haha. These were our first fireworks together on the trampoline in our backyard surrounded by my mom's side of the family. These are sweet memories my love!

July 4, 2007
We were about to celebrate our first wedding anniversary :) It had been an interesting year living in a marriage dorm in an "apartment" the size of a shoe box and believe me I use the word apartment lightly here! Jon had a not so pleasant job and I was trying to finish college. God provided though and on our first 4th as a married couple and our 3rd together we went to visit my family and his. Heather had a concert at a local school and we enjoyed that and then drove to my parents house to stay the night and spend the next day with them. We had a great time ( as you can tell by this picture) and never thought that I would get pregnant one year later!

July 4, 2008

Our fourth 4th together was spent in Asheville, NC at my friend Sarah Bennett's wedding, I was in it and Jon went along as my guest, obviously heh. We had a really wonderful time and enjoyed catching up with college friends. On our way back we watched firworks from the highway and it really was beautiful with all the NC mountains in the distance. If  we did our math correctly, we are about 99.9% sure this was the day God began Ava Grace's life :) Wedding's will do that ya! :-p

July 4, 2009

One year later and we are parents!!!! :) This was our first 4th with missy muffin and as "mommy" and "daddy." It was our 5th together. It is so obvious by our eyes that we had a 3 month old and that I was still recovering from a c-section. Oh well, we still had a blast! The three of us got together over at his parents house with all of his family and their babies ( all 3 the same age, born the same month) and we had yummy food and watched a movie...well we tried to watch a movie, but with three 3 month olds, you can only imagine how well that worked out!

July 4, 2010

Wow...six 4th's later and a lot of love and here we are!!!!!!!!!! Mommy, Daddy and Ava Grace :) This was the first time that Ava Grace saw fireworks and she wasn't outright scared of them, but didn't really enjoy them either. She did have a GREAT time at Aunt Heather and Uncle Curtis's house, surrounded by our family and friends and her cousins Lucius and Justus. She also had a wonderful time over at our friend's house, Mumba and Beebee ( she named them, not me!) We had a slight firework accident, but all were safe and it was great for a laugh! Jon and I can't believe we are married 4 years this year, together six years as of this past January AND parents!!! How awesome God has been to us!!!!!!!!!!!! Such GRACE he has given me! Such RESTORATION and HEALING he has given us!



Many, many, many more to come :-)

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Boo Bear :)


Today marks the first day of us just being a family of three again. As many of you know for the the past seven months Jon and I have had Rebekah (my 16 yr old sister) living with us and in January of this year we were granted custody. It has been an adventure! However, there is season for everything and very sadly that season for us came to an end yesterday, as she left to go back to our Dad. :( Words can't really describe how sad I am over it. I thought I would be upset, but I didn't expect to feel such a loss. We were so blessed to have her here and although at times things were difficult, I felt like I had another daughter. It feels strange around the house now and her bathroom and bedroom are so empty :-/ it will take a while to get readjusted and I must admit I am sad that I will be home again by myself, with no one to really talk to expect a one year old heh. Despite the sadness, after a lot of prayer we really felt in our Spirit's that it was in Rebekah's best interest to go to her Dad's. He's recently married a wonderful christian woman and they are making a great like together. They want Rebekah living with them and her daughter who is a couple years younger then Bekah, wants the same. Rebekah has many educational and musical opportunities out there that Jon and I can't provide for her here. She should be with a parent, she has a nice church to go to, a nice home and my Dad can provide a car for her. The dynamic of my dad's has changed drastically and that is why we felt at peace for her to go. I feel at peace, but that doesn't mean I don't want to snatch her right back and bring her home! I absolutely would! But what God wants and what we want doesn't always line up.
In the past 7 months Rebekah has matured and come leaps and bounds from where she was the night we took her from my mom's house. She has been counseled and absorbed in church two times a week. She did excellent this semester in school and even held a part time job in town. She grew much closer to the Lord and overcame some tough emotional hurdles in her life. She also overcame alcohol and drugs. She made great friends that love and support her and she is dating mine and Jon's nephew Mason, which I'm very thankful for. Her glow returned to her face and she wasn't afraid to laugh and smile anymore. I watched her blossom. When I look at where she is now I am filled with joy at what God can do! I guess our home was only supposed to be a place for healing and then she would be on her way. I am confident that she will continue to do well. I know that God will complete the good work he has begun in her.


I am saddened by the fact that Ava Grace is going to miss her and not understand where she went. Her Bobby ( Ava's name for her) is a major part of her life and that kid adores Bekah! Thank the Lord for airplanes and trips to visit what we will always tell her is home. Rebekah this post is dedicated to you, you have grown so much and you are loved by sooooooooooooooooooo many people in this town! You have the sweetest heart and the best smile. I am honored to have had you live with us while you did and I know you will do outstanding at Dad's. I am so proud of you for everything you have overcome and the right choices you have made. You are growing into a beautiful young woman. I can't wait to see what else God has in store for you. Just remember to keep Christ and his word as the apple of your eye, the most important part of your life and honor him in all that you do. Remember that when God is for us who can be against us and that he is at your right hand and you can't be moved! Come home to visit often :)





Friday, June 18, 2010

My girl :)



I really suck at updating my blog...I'm just saying!

So Ava Grace is almost 15 months now :-o I can't believe it! I call her "tot along", because that is what she does all day; tot around behind me. She's a seasoned pro at walking and being in the pool. Oh how cute she is in her little bathing suit and sun hat strutting her stuff. I thought she would never walk, she was taking forever and then one day she decided crawling was out and walking was in! What fun its been! I realized she could now reach a lot higher and move a lot faster and sometimes her lightning speed is too much for me. Like the morning she dipped her hand in the toilet. I was mortified, thank God for soap!!!!!!! Some of her favorite past times are to pull all of her clean diapers out of the container in her room and throw them about, look to see what's in the kitchen trashcan, eat the cats food ( which is now safety behind a baby gate and out of her reach), watch way too much Mickey Mouse Clubhouse then I can stand, re-arrange the DVD cabinets, chase the cats around the house, hide her passy's and read a LOT of books over and over...or should I say have us read her the same books over and over hehe. My girl loves to read, yay!


Ava Grace has also fallen in love with her Mumba ( Christy, my friend), Bobby ( Bekah), Erin ( just like it sounds- Erin, Christy's daughter) Beebee ( Christy's husband Will) and Danny ( Christy's son Daniel.) I love that she has her own names for all of them, we didn't teach her she just named them on her own. She walks around their house like the owns the joint. She's also blessed with her Papa John and Grammy ( the best grandparents ever!) and her auntie's Cara and Heather, uncle's Chad and Curtis and her best-pal's, her cousins! She loves my dad ( Papa Ed) and enjoy's "talking" to him on the phone. We wish he lived closer, he is also in the category of "best grandparent ever!" My mom is Purple Nana and although she never see's her, she know's who she is and love's her.  We are so blessed that she has all of them in her life and will grow up with such love and support not only from us, but from them as well. She and the boys ( her cousins) are getting to the age where they are interacting in play. Last night she and Justus were chasing each other around the house squealing and laughing. I love to watch the three of them strut around Grammy's house together. What a blessing that they are only all two weeks apart in age. It's such a blast!

She and our cat Simba have become good friends. Simba must have been a lab in his earlier life ( j/k) because he allows Ava Grace to pull on him, smack him, lay all over him, chase him and basically torture him and he is fine with all of it. I'm so glad, because she loves cats!

One of the thing that brings me the MOST joy is that she loves to praise and worship! If I turn on praise music she runs to the cd player and begins to dance and raise her hands, she has even shouted "amen!" after a song! I didn't teach her to do that, she's seen it in church but I chalk it up to being blessed by the Lord even at her age. Sometimes if I say "praise the Lord" she throws her hands up and says "amen." I've also taught her how to say "Jesus" and it comes out more like "gjus" but its okay :) She gravitates to the Bible and will sit and listen as I read it. I'm so blessed to see a heart for the Lord being formed in her. I pray every night for her to walk in fear and love for the Lord and have a heart for his house, his people and for ministry. I also pray for her future spouse. I can lead her to water, but I can't make her drink, so as I diligently lead, I pray that she will follow always and choose to live for Christ on her own one day.