Mr. Sun, Sun, Mr Golden Sun,

thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Thank you for peeking out this weekend and making it beautiful. 

Boy, did I need it. 

I'm afraid I was about to suffer from SAD. 

But you decided to shine through Friday morning and I was oh so happy. 

We began our day with a walk to the park. It is exactly 1.4 miles from our house to the park. So I loaded up the littles in the double stroller and we went on our way. 

And Saturday, after our morning of errands, Daddy and Sophie joined us for another walk on another sunshiney beautiful day.

Great fun was had by all and I got some much needed exercise.

GG has decided she loves the rock wall. She calls this park the "rock" park. She's been working on this the past few times we've visited and today...

after much intense focus

and determination

and just plain strength

she made it. Yeah baby!

I love my family.

And I just had to throw this in the mix. This is Sophie several years ago climbing a BIG rock wall. She has loved these since she was GG's age. She actually climbed one of these big ones when she was about 4 years old. Fear? Not much.

We made the most out of our sunshine filled weekend.

And thank goodness we did,

Because you know what this Monday morning brought?

A big, fat thunderstorm.

The SAD may be just around the corner after all.

A Mom and Her Firstborn

A cup of tea

or hot chocolate. 

Today GG and I decided to have a nice, warm cup of hot chocolate.

Perfect for a chilly morning.

I served it to her in my mothers wedding china. 

She said " Oh no Mommy. That's not for me. It's breakable."

I told her she was old enough now to drink out of these big girl , breakable cups. 

It was a sweet moment sharing a cup of hot chocolate with her. Enjoying our morning.

a conversation between sisters

around this time last year

i miss the snow a little bit

GG right now

my sweet GG

February 3, 2010

almost 3 1/2 years old

spunky, lover of barbie dolls, independent, can say her address, loves the beach,

dresses herself, loves to wear princess dresses, can count to 20, favorite color is purple, 

girlie girl through and through

We've got an artist in the family

Thank you Shep. I knew Sophie's room was missing something.

I'm so glad you got the comforter as well. It was so plain.

Dave Ramsey would be proud...

I hope. Wow, what a weekend we had! Busy, busy. We are taking Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace class at a local church here in Dothan. We are very committed to getting out of this mess we have found ourselves in. So, we are working on our "Baby Step" #1. Get an emergency fund. Guess what that means? GARAGE SALE! And we had a big one. And raised almost enough for our first emergency fund. It was awesome. I can't believe how well we did! And it was nice to get rid of some of this stuff we have been lugging around with us for years. We've moved three times with all this storage. So it really feels freeing for it to be gone. 

Of course, the baby stuff went over really well. I was a little sad to see a lot of it go, but we are done having kids. 

All of the bouncy seats and pack -n- plays and lots of clothes have found new homes. Some moments were really neat though and made me happy. The single mom (from my hometown, Memphis!) who has a 6 month old little girl who was sooo happy to find a pack -n- play for her daughter for $30. That was sweet.

Here is my partner in crime. Boy, did we work hard. He loaded and unloaded stuff. Helped people get things into their trucks. Took care of kids while I negotiated with the pro's. 

I just love him. And he's pretty hot too. 

So, the littles were none to happy to see some of their toys go. Well, most of those ended up back in the house anyway. How did that happen?

I can't help getting a profile of Shep whenever I get the chance. It is just too sweet.

And this one is just cute.

And little Sophie decided to show her pretty face! She had softball practice, so she had to come out at some point.

She thinks she's funny.

This is just me. No makeup, glasses on, hair in a hat. Wow, isn't my husband lucky! ha! 

From our vacation last year. We'll go back someday. 

Ok.. so I pretty much saved all of Sophie's clothing when she was little. And I'm so glad I did. But, for some reason, I thought I lost all of the little dresses that would fit GG right now. I have been looking for these things since last summer at the house in Helena. I was so upset. Well in going through everything for this sale, I found them. I'm so happy about it. The dress, shirt and shoes that GG is wearing was all Sophie's at this age.

All in all it was a great weekend. I'm excited about the money we made. And really believe in the steps that Dave lays out. I think we can do this. 

This verse in James has really been speaking to me lately:

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish it's work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind."

I am so humbled at the blessings that God has poured out on our family. These trials are blessings. He is showing us the way. There have been times that I have been upset about this move. Thinking maybe it has been a horrible mistake. Because of the financial hardships we are finding ourselves in right now. But, we were not financially stable anyway and this move has just opened our eyes to it. And we would never have thought of taking this "Financial Peace" class before this move. I am so excited to learn these lessons and show my children the right way to handle money. Josh and I have talked to Sophie about this a lot. She will remember this time. She will remember that we had to have beans and rice for dinner 3 times a week. She knows what we are going through and I pray that she never has to experience the pain and fear from debt collectors calling her all day every week. 

So that has been our weekend. Letting the "stuff" go and gaining a new perspective. 

And as for this financial "valley" that we are in right now,

I consider it pure joy to be here.