One Day I'm Going To Win!

I hope!! I keep trying. They are having a great giveaway again. Head over to The Vintage Pearl and check it out!

Merry Christmas!

With Love Chartreuse Christmas 5x7 folded card

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cutie

brand new

 I've always considered myself a "Christian". I was raised mostly going to church. But I don't think I ever felt the Holy Spirit back in those days. I went because my friends were there and it was a way to get out of my house for a little while. When I was old enough to make the decision whether to go or not, I chose not. Then I had Sophie. And I realized that she was a gift. No matter what the circumstances of her conception and birth, I knew that she was meant to be here. I was chosen to be her mother. And I knew there was a greater purpose to this life. I began to go to church again and felt the Holy Spirit moving in my life. I claimed Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and was baptized. It was such a good feeling and I continued to go to church faithfully and even tried to get involved in certain things. The church that I went to at the time was awesome. Except it was so big and I was alone (without a spouse or significant other) and it was hard for me to put myself out there and get involved. I tried but just never felt like I fit in. It was not anyones fault, I guess it just wasn't the right timing for me. 
Fast forward many years. I met Josh. We were married. He adopted Sophie as his own. We had two other children. We've moved and moved again. I'm leaving out lots of things and feelings but I just want to get to the point of where I am now. I am in love and I feel brand new. I've never felt the closeness with my Father as I do right now. I feel brand new! We have gotten involved in a wonderful church here and have joined a discipleship group. I never knew what a great thing it was to be involved in a group. I realize a lot of things that I thought I knew about Jesus that I don't really know. I've never in my life sat down and read my bible like I am now. Studying it. Embracing it. Just being in the Word is so powerful. I look to my husband and I am so thankful for him. I'm so grateful for his knowledge about a lot of things in the bible that I just don't know. Grateful that he doesn't judge me when I ask him questions that you would think a grown woman, raised going to church and in a Christian private school, should know. There is no judgement from him and I am so lucky that I have him on this journey. I love telling our children that we're heading to church and watching the excitement they have. Right now it's just about playing and being with friends but they are soaking it in. Sophie is getting more comfortable with being involved in her youth group and she has been saved and on her way to baptism. I feel like a child again whose faith is so simple and believed with no questions asked. I want to know Him intimately. I want His light to shine through me so others may see and claim Him as their Savior. I long to be bold in the truth. 
I am literally crying as I right this because I am so grateful. I am thankful for every morning that He gives me to learn and grow in Him. I pray for the courage to step out in my faith and show others His love. I want to be obedient to Him in every way. 


 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and LEAN NOT ON YOUR OWN UNDERSTANDING; in all your ways ACKNOWLEDGE Him and he will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3: 5-6

38

What could that number mean? Could it be the number of peanut m&m's I've eaten today?? Or the loads of laundry I've done? Or the times I've said "Don't tackle/hit/pinch/or tackle your sister today!"?

None of the above. It is my AGE! Yikes, 38. Seriously?

I know it's not old but it's almost 40. I'm really just kidding. I've never been that concerned with my age. I enjoy my birthdays and I consider getting older better than the alternative. But this year has been tough. What with our move and all the financial crap that has been going on. I feel old. I'm achey and fat and my hair is falling out. I know that it is just the stress of this year. I am ready to feel better. I've had some blood work done just to make sure everything is ok and I'm ready to start up my exercise/walking/eating right routine again. Right after my cake tonight. ;)

My lovely husband and oldest daughter surprised me last night with an iphone. I was so excited and have been having lots of fun taking pictures today.

And I'm also trying to decide if I should twitter. Or tweet, whatever. I guess probably not.

 So anyway, that is it. 38.

I think it'll be great.

Lisa Leonard

oh i love her stuff!! a giveaway over at Lisa Leonard! Yay!

Vintage Pearl

Another giveaway over at the Vintage Pearl....  Yay!

We spent a couple of days...

with our toes in the sand.

Thanks to some good friends who invited us to spend some time with them.

And it was such a blessing. 

G.G. stands for....

Goofy Goober

what am I going to do with this child? :)

enjoy every moment with her

she sure can brighten a day

Gettin the hang of it...

For Real...

I'm fighting this today.

Gloves on...

I don't know if it will be a complete knockout but,

I'm giving it my best shot.

If you ever need to feel better about your housekeeping abilities, please feel free to stop by. Mine are nonexistent lately. 

Oh well, just keepin' it real... 

The Princess and The Bruiser

Friday was spent playing dress up with our very own princess. Josh was home from work. We planned to have a lazy day at home. 

You know what happens to plans , right? Kids don't care. Friday morning was spent at the DR office with Shep who, we thought, had a broken thumb. Turns out it was just smooshed pretty good. 

Got the kids bathed and ready for bed. And then our little Sheppie falls face first into the fireplace hearth and requires a trip to the ER.

5 stitches for our little bruiser. 

And he's wilder than ever. 

Some people stop to smell the roses....

We stop to feel the cotton. We were on our way to a little park in a small town not far from here. They kept wondering what all the white flowers were. So we stopped to look and feel the cotton. It's soft!

And our little Shep is at the DR right now having his thumb looked at. He may have broken it this morning. We've been through the ringer lately. 

But, hopefully, our spirits will be kept up and we'll always stop to smell the roses to touch the cotton.

My September Girls

I forgot. I forgot to do a post celebrating my most favorite girls on their birthdays. 

I didn't forget their birthdays though. We had a wonderful get together with some family and a few of Sophie's friends over. It was a nice day.

My sweet Sophie turned 14. Can't believe she's 14! She has such a sweet spirit. She's a good mix of sporty and girly. She's always been like that. She has a "boy"friend now. It's a new experience for all of us. She's handling things in a good way though. She has a heart for the Lord and I am so proud of that. I'm just proud of her. She will always be our Sophie Sunshine. 

And our little G-nut Peanut turned 4. She thinks it feels GREAT to be 4! She is my girly girl through and through. She loves her Barbies and she loves fairies and she loves to dress up. She wants to be a rainbow dolphin trainer when she grows up. She is very aware if you are laughing at her right now and sometimes she says the cutest things and we laugh and she thinks we're laughing at her and she gets upset. She wants to be taken seriously. She can be very high maintenance sometimes and, in all honesty, I'm still learning a lot about her. How I handle certain situations with her or discipline her changes a lot. I'm learning what works best. She loves her sister and brother and mommy and daddy. My favorite thing right now is how she looks at herself in the full length mirror while reciting Barbie movie lines or singing songs. Maybe Broadway is in her future :).

So Happy Birthday to my girls. Life is so good because of you two. 

And I love you both like a rock!

just some stuff

I guess lately I haven't had much to say. Probably, I have lots to write about but I've been feeling kind of bummed out with our situation right now. When I feel down, I retreat. But we have been doing some things. Below is a mish mash of pictures from the last few weeks. That's all I've got for now :).

We've enjoyed some time at our new park here. GG loves the sandbox and Shep loves to slide.

My parents brought me this dress when they went to Hawaii. I was about three years old. GG's age now. Sophie also wore this dress at her third birthday party. I love having stuff like this.

GG finally got her cast off. Yay! She can now take normal baths and Daddy took her and Shep to Water World the other day. She can swim again! 

Sophie has been playing lots of volleyball. This is her "boy" friend cheering her on.

One night we tied GG's hair up and she slept in it.

The next morning she had "crazy" hair. That's what she calls it. :)

GG and her clippy flower earrings that were my great Aunt Birdie's. Also you can see my new bedding in the back ground. I LOVE it. 

And this is the sunset coming home from Sophie's volleyabll game in Georgia one night last week. 

The pictures do it no justice because it was a gorgeous sky. 

And I end it with that because it was a moment of thankfulness for me. And gratitude to my God for my life and all that is in it. 

Blessings.

"Arty" Pants

This morning I was inspired. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right? OK, I admit, I just plain copied her idea.

We decided to make our own messterpiece today.

Shep stepped on his painting more than a few times. Can you tell? 

It makes it that much more artistic.

  It was a very "arty" morning. GG and I talked about abstract art. I tried to explain to her with the best of my non-artistic ability what that was. 

No matter, I had fun, they had fun and it helped me get through one more day of laundry avoidance.

Every little sister needs a Sophie...

Over the past week or so Sophie has given approximately 376 makeovers and 298 costume changes to her little sister GG. Making masks so she can be a muskateer, painting nails, applying eye shadow and countless other girlie things.

I hope that GG will one day realize how blessed she is to have Sophie.

Even with their age difference, I hope that one day they will be the best of friends. 

I don't think that's too much for a momma to hope for.