What a Day

It started out with a phone call that Heath's uncle who is in the hospital was being removed from life support. Then we go to church and learn that a precious man, who is a pillar among our members, finished teaching his morning Sunday School class, experienced chest pains and was taken to the hospital via ambulance. About two hours later Heath and I are in preschool worship (it was our Sunday to help) and we receive word that Brother Jack had passed away. You could sense the silence and sadness that had fallen over the church. We get home, have a great lunch (after fighting with K1 and K2 to eat each of their one piece of squash and one piece of zucchini on their plates - c'mon, at least it wasn't spinach like my mom used to make me eat) and I retire for a quick nap (K3 was down too). We get another call that Uncle Mitchell had passed away around 2:30ish. Deep breath. This news on top of a couple of weeks of very discouraging news that two of our friends had received diagnosis of terminable cancer and would literally be fighting for additional years, if not months or days, of their lives.

You can't help but begin to wonder - why does life deal us some of these unexpected blows?? Understanding that Uncle Mitchell lived to be 80 and experience so much life with his wonderful wife, Betty, and their four children, many grandchildren and great grandchildren. Why would our friends, in their mid-30's and early 40's have life potentially stripped away from them at a time that seems too early for our earthly minds to comprehend? Why would their precious children - Jarrod and Stacie with 4 kids and Adryne and Russ with 3 kids - why would those kids not have a Dad or a Mom at their graduations? their weddings?

So, we ponder quietly, pray fervently, and praise Him in the storm.

We go to church this evening, it's our annual Revival, and I love Tom Whitsett who is preaching. One of the songs we sung first thing as a congregation was "I'll Fly Away" - how fitting as we reflected on Bro Jack and Uncle Mitchell and praised Him for their lives. The message is spot on - God's season is not our season and the Bible tells us that we have to keep on keepin' on even in the off season - when it's not convenient or comfortable. We are reminded that in this earthly life there will come a time, or maybe two or three, when we are faced with great discouragement. The loss of a job, loss of a friend, loss of a child, a horrible diagnosis - while none of these had directly impacted our immediate family they were certainly impacting the lives of our family and friends today and were heavy on our hearts.

The message reminded me to not give up, not back up, not shut up - just keep on keepin' on during times of discouragement. Run to God, let Him wrap His arms around you and hold you tight - it is all part of His plan!

Thanking Him for my blessings and seeking His forgiveness for all the ways I have failed Him.

God bless and have a great night - hug a loved one!

Easter 2010

What a (Magical) Weekend!

Well, at the last minute, and I mean the very last minute (as in "the morning of") me and the girls decided Thursday morning to pack our bags, call MawMaw and head to Daytona Beach for my cousin Lisa's graduation from chiropractor school (she's the first doctor in the family, yeah!).



Graduation ceremony was great - the girls loved Daytona Beach.



It was a busy weekend but we had a great time seeing and catching up with family. As a matter of fact, we kidnapped a cousin and headed to the Magic Kingdom on Saturday.



We made it home safely tonight and are all tucked into bed but not without shedding a few tears "because we had such a good time at the beach and Disney World" and we "miss our family". I'm so blessed to have a healthy family and get to share great memories with them!




This one is all so sweet! Cinderella was K2's favorite!!

Congratulations Connor!

A big "I love you" to my awesome nephew who was honored as "Student of the Month" at Hoover High where he is a Freshman who consistently makes great grades and is a starting member of both their football and baseball teams! I'm proud of you!

Happy 1st Birthday, Kenzie (K3)!

She loved her cake!


Such a happy girl with her first baby doll!


She has truly made this last year full of great memories - a short video relfecting on her first few days! WE LOVE YOU!

Where Have We Been and What Have We Been Doing?

I have not posted in awhile which is not fair since so many fun things have happened. Since I don't have any pictures for tonight's entry (but promise to have many soon), I thought I'd do an update in a list form of occurrences since my last entry a month ago (wow!)

10. K3 started walking and we have so much fun watching her get into every cabinet again, and again, and again, ha!
9. K1 was baptized and we were blessed to have a large portion of our family attend the event and then over to our house for lunch afterwards - we are so proud of her!
8. K3 had her first eggs on Christmas Eve and quickly showed her PawPaw just how much she didn't like them - shortly thereafter she broke out into hives, etc so we learned she has an egg allergy
7. We had a great Christmas with all of our family!
6. We got our two big bushes in the front yard trimmed, yeah!!
5. We made our annual large donation trip to the Thrift Store and cleaned out a few much needed spaces.
4. We went to Seven Oaks (my sister's place in Mississippi) and celebrated New Year's with family and friends - it's always a relaxing getaway to be on 100 acres in a log cabin with no cell coverage and no internet! K2 shot a bb gun for the first time and hit the target.
3. We updated our girls' growth chart on the inside of the pantry door (semi-annual event) and everyone has grown tremendously!
2. K3 turned 1 year old yesterday (I will do a separate post with pictures) - time certainly does fly but we feel more blessed everyday to have such wonderful healthy children! Happy Birthday, Bubbles!
1. K1 turns 8 tomorrow - can't believe we have been parents for 8 years (although I'm not sure I remember what it was like before them and certainly wouldn't trade it) - Happy Birthday, Sissy!

Winter Wonderland

We added a few wreaths to our outside decor - still a work in progress but K2 and I had fun making them (too bad we couldn't get them hung in the same place on each window, ha!)

On a whiter note, we woke up Saturday morning to a beautiful sight of our first snow of the season.



Even our elf, Snowflake, who is visiting from the North Pole to make sure the girls are good, enjoyed the snow!