Speechless

Almost two years ago, I started this blog for basically 3 reasons:
1) To share things that God is teaching me on this journey of life
2) To document my kiddos lives so when I blink my eyes and they are grown, I can remember the innocence, chaos, cuteness and craziness of this time
3)To force myself to look at life from a positive perspective, even if it is just for the amount of time it takes me to write my posts :)
Now, since having Gwyn of course I have a whole lot less "extra" time on my hands, but I am trying to keep up mainly due to reason #2! Anyways, let me get to the point. It's time for a moment of truth. I have been having a hard time writing real posts lately because honestly I'm struggling with #3 right now! I truly do believe hormones are involved here BUT there is definitely more to it than that! I am a person that wants truth to be told and justice to be given and right now our world is just plain depressing to me. I started this post before the massacre of 20 innocent children in CT but felt like I had been slapped in the face when I heard the news. How do we live in a country where this happens?? I have a kindergartner! If I lived in CT it could have been my little boy just as easily as it was theirs. We have to constantly look over our shoulders whether it's in the mall, a movie theater, schools. Some days it just seems like wading through knee deep mud and muck to think about raising kids in this world, fighting for our marriages, maintaining friendships, working along side people who are completely lost eternally speaking and so many other things as well. I will never lose hope in my God, but I do wish sometimes that I didn't have to be here to live in these terrible times. Oh how I long for Heaven on days like these. I know that Satan is prowling around looking to devour each and every one of us, especially the "Christians" who are not standing firmly on the Rock of Jesus Christ. When he senses that bit of doubt or disappointment he pounces on them and tries to pull them further and further away from eternal salvation. We must pull together, pray for each other and keep looking to the the Lord in times like these so that Satan will flee. (James 4:7 "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.")

I have decided to catch my blog up until the new year and then I am going to take a little break for a while and really only use it for reason #1, which in my opinion is the best reason to blog anyway.
I am not going to post it to Facebook anymore but you are welcome to subscribe via email or follow me through the RSS feed. I know we will all be praying for all those lives touched by this terrible tragedy today and I can only find comfort in knowing that I have an eternal home where events like today will NEVER EVER happen and the tears will all be wiped away.

Tree of Glory

This year between Pinterest and Pottery Barn catalogs, I decided to do a Thankful tree for the boys. Grady is really getting into drawing so he was really excited. We gathered our supplies and sat down to get to work. I attempted to draw the tree while Grady cut out 120 leaves and Davis colored the trunk. It turned out pretty cute and Grady decided to name it the Tree of Glory. That boy knows how to put a dramatic flare on anything, even a cruddy drawing of a tree from non-artsy, right brained Mama! Anyway, the whole point is for us to stop each day and think of something or someone that we are thankful for and add them to the branches. We are trying to do no repeats but somehow Davis is not catching onto that. Grady has been good about helping him come up with new ideas tho. In this world of me, me, me and what do I get and when do I get it, I think it is so important to just stop and say a simple Thank You to God for all the blessings he has given us. Even in the darkest of times, there are still blessings. We just have to make the choice to SEE them. I hope everyone has had wonderful month of Thanksgiving and enjoys time with family and friends tomorrow!!

Turning Into Men

Weekend before last we celebrated two of my precious first cousins 21st birthdays! It was rather nostalgic for me because I remember when each of them was born. One of them told me he felt as if turning 21 was kind of like a mini "mid-mid life" crisis. I laughed but also understand exactly what he meant. Seems like yesterday when I turned 21 and thought whether I liked it or not, I had become a grownup. There are a lot of perks that come with age but also, as we all know, there are stresses, dilemmas, and lots of hard work that come with it too!! It's funny how once you hit the 30's, college life seems almost a blur. I can't really believe that so much freedom and responsibility is just thrown at 18 year old kids and we actually survive! That in my eyes is nothing short of a miracle. I am so very thankful for a big family to love and have fun-filled reunions with that are always full of excitement and laughs! 

 Fishing with Papa and Daddy

 Gwyn got lots of Great Auntie lovin' from Aunt Jahn and Aunt Sally while the boys enjoyed fishing and riding 4 wheelers with Uncle John and Uncle Gregg!

 Happy Birthday Chance and John Carson!!

Farm Fun

My cousin Molly was here visiting from Colorado with her two kids, so we decided to head out to Mooma's farm to visit them. We had so much fun catching up. Grady couldn't keep his hands out of the worm farm, while Rue and Davis had a blast climbing on the hay. Golf cart rides were a hit for everyone and then it was back to the ole city we went!

Halloween Fun

Still attempting to catch up a little here! Halloween was a great success this year. From the minute I found out I was pregnant with Gwyn, the boys wanted to be Jake and the Neverland Pirates for Halloween. As it got a little closer though, Davis decided he did not want to be Cubby, he wanted to be Jake too so we had Jake 1 Jake 2 and Izzy.

Scurvy Pirates

 

 Jake 1

 Jake 2

 Izzy

We met up with our friends and walked the bluff on Isle of Hope. It was so much fun and afterwards we headed home to sit on our front porch and pass out candy. Since we live on a culdesac not many people were coming by so Grady took it upon himself to run down to the corner and actually recruit trick-or-treaters. Priceless!

Bena and her mateys

Gwynnie was snug as a bug with Mommy

Cousins!

Pretty girls!

 So cute and silly!!

Cal was Peter Pan's shadow and cute as a button

Besties!!

Love this picture of my 3 men!!

Lovin' the golf cart trailer when their little legs got tired!

Read this in my devotional this morning and had to share!

"Every moment is precious if you keep your focus on God. Any day can be a good day, because God's presence permeates all time!" 

Hope everyone has a great week!!!!

Gwyn's Dedication

October 28th was Gwyn's dedication at church. The boys were so cute standing up in front of the congregation and Gwyn looked beautiful in her dress that Mimi made. All our friends came to our church that morning to see our precious little girl get dedicated to the Lord. It meant so much to look out and see so many faces of people who love us. Afterwards we went and had a family lunch at Mimi and Poppy's house. Bena and Papa, Uncle William, Mooma, Aunt Stacy, Uncle Stephen, Tate and Cal were all there.

 

 

The Big Move

I know there are plenty of people that move all the time, but let me just say for this girl who grew up in the same house for 19 years, lived in the same apartment 3 years of college and lived in one house for 8 years with her hubby, I hope and pray that I NEVER have to move again!! It turned out we did a house swap with the people whose house we bought so they moved into the cottage. That being said, we had to be out of the cottage so that they could move their stuff in so we ended up "homeless" for about 5 days. We stayed at mom and dad's house and I wonder if you have ever heard of the show called Hoarders. Well let's just say we were living in it. Here's a peek...

Nothing like living out of suitcases!

Actual moving day went really smooth and it was so fun to see what all was in the pods. We almost forgot after four months without it!  Even our movers told us it was one of the most laid back moves they had ever done.
Slowly but surely boxes got unpacked, furniture got delivered, and then we knew it was time to have a party. Why? Because we're insane! :) We hosted a 50th birthday party this past weekend for a family friend and it was the best thing we could have ever done. It forced us to get everything put together and pictures hung. The party was a great success and we had fun celebrating such a special man in our lives. As with anything, houses are always a work in progress but for now it is perfect for us because we are worn out. Here are the pics that I promised a month ago!

Foyer

Awesome canvas' Victoria did for us!

Dining room (This is my great great grandmother's table that we were able to get refinished. So special to me!)

 Family Room

 Kitchen! I don't even like to cook but this is definitely my favorite room in the house.

Grady's room

Playroom

Davis' room (Chris and John P built this bed for Davis and Papa stained it. Great team effort and Davis is quite proud of it!)

 Gwyn's room

It is truly a blessing and we are so thankful to have a HOME!!!!