To my sweet Clara Grace,

I never thought that I would ever be a mommy to a little girl. I had always seen myself as a mommy to boys, probably because Benjamin came first and there were four years between him and you. I was afraid to be a mommy to a little girl because I didn’t know if I’d be very good at it. Being a mommy is scary sometimes. But I am so, so thankful that God chose me to be your mommy and that you are my little girl.

You have been in our arms (let’s be honest, mostly my arms, you little mommy’s girl!) for one year now. One whole year! This year has flown by and we have gone through so many changes together. Can you believe that you have moved three times already in your short little life? You have gotten eight teeth and have two more on the way! You aren’t walking … yet. You prefer that mommy carry you everywhere and if I don’t carry you, you just speed crawl wherever you want to go. You can say mama, dada, bubba, and thank you (when you want to), and you know what sound a puppy makes.

Clara Grace, you are a precious, sweet, funny girl and we love you to pieces. I am so excited that it is your birthday and I can’t wait to celebrate with all our family and friends! You are such a blessing, and I am so, so proud to be your mommy!

I love you, a bushel and a peck!

Benjamin at Five Years Old.

Here’s a fun little thing that I did with Benjamin the past two years. I wanted to do this again because it’s really neat to look back and see how his answers have changed. Plus, he’s hilarious. So here’s a quick little survey, with Benjamin’s answers in Bold.

1. What is your favorite color? Red.
2. What is your favorite toy? Uh, my lego watch. {Which he got for his birthday}
3. What is your favorite fruit? Apples?
4. What is your favorite TV show? Jonah {VeggieTales}
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Peanut Butter Sandwich!
6. What is your favorite outfit? My Georgia outfit! {which he also got for his birthday}
7. What is your favorite game? Raymond Legends
8. What is your favorite snack? Moon Pies
9. What is your favorite animal? A whale
10. What is your favorite song? Jesus Loves Me
11. What is your favorite book? My whale book, I mean my library book.
12. Who is your best friend? Dylan {okay this was cute}
13. What is your favorite cereal? Honey Comb cereal
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Play Pokemon
15. What is your favorite drink? Capri Sun
16. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Well, right now I’m going to take my watch.
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Honey comb ceral
19. What is your favorite thing for dinner? Spaghetti
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? A lot of different stuff that grown-ups can be.
21. What is your favorite movie? You already know… {he says, exasperated} Jonah. VeggieTale Jonah.
22. Who is your favorite superhero? Batman & Robin
23. Where is your favorite place to go? Lanett
24. What is your favorite Bible story? Jonah in the fish
25. What is your favorite Old Testament story? How ‘bout Genesis? And my New Testament one is Matthew.
26. What is your favorite memory verse? “In the beginning, God made the heavens and the earth.” “That’s in Genesis 1:1”
27. What is your favorite letter? “The robot one.” {Yeah, I don’t know, either.}

If you’d like to read his previous years:

Benjamin at Three Years Old
Benjamin at Four Years Old

happy birthday to a little girl who is missed.

Today, I am thinking of the little girl who we fostered for that short time a couple months ago. Today is her birthday and it’s a day I had hoped at one point that we could be there for, where we could throw her a party and shower her with love and gifts and make her feel loved.

I don’t know where she is, or who she is with, or what’s going on with her but I pray that she is healthy, happy, and safe… and I hope she is having a wonderful birthday and I hope she feels loved.

Happy birthday, O!

 

We love you!

little bitty girl,

tomorrow is your birthday.

i want you to know how much your daddy and i have anticipated this day. you will never know how much we love you and how many times we prayed for you. i feel like this time with you growing inside of my belly has gone by so fast and yet so slow at the same time. it’s been a difficult journey, but i know that no matter what, all of that will just melt away when i hear your first cries and see your sweet little face.

your big brother is so excited to meet you. he loves to talk about you to anyone who will listen and i can’t wait to see his face when he first sees yours. i wonder if you’ll look like him or if you’ll look completely different. i wonder what your personality will be like – will you be as energetic as you have been the past nine months? will you have a larger-than-life personality that will keep us on our toes? i have a feeling that your big brother is going to be your inspiration… i can just imagine you trying to do all the things that he does, and i can’t wait.

tomorrow is your birthday and although i'm scared of the major changes this will bring to our life as a little family, i am excited more than i can express.

bitty girl, we are so in love with you already. we can’t wait to meet you and hold you and show you just how much we love you.

happy birthday, bitty girl.

benjamin at 4 years old.

I did this last year after Benjamin’s birthday, asking him different questions as a fun little survey to know his thoughts on different subjects. I thought it’d be fun to do it again. Benjamin’s answers are bolded.

1. What is your favorite color? Red
2. What is your favorite toy? My trains.
3. What is your favorite fruit? Fruit snacks!!
4. What is your favorite TV show? Clifford!
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Peanut Butter Nutella Sandwich!  
6. What is your favorite outfit? Spider-Man
7. What is your favorite game? Indiana Jones and Lego Batman 2
8. What is your favorite snack? Moon Pies!! 
9. What is your favorite animal? Cows!
10. What is your favorite song? Jesus Loves Me
11. What is your favorite book? “Jangles” {which is the dumbest book ever…}
12. Who is your best friend? Gabe!
13. What is your favorite cereal? Apple Jacks {same as last year!}
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Play!
15. What is your favorite drink? Yogurt drink!
16. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas!
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? My Toys & books
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Yogurt!!!!
19. What is your favorite thing for dinner? Hamburgers!!!
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? A grown up!!
21. What is your favorite movie? Clifford!
22. Who is your favorite superhero? Super man! 
23. Where is your favorite place to go? Bible Class!
24. What is your favorite Bible story? Jesus on the Cross
25. What is your favorite Old Testament story? Noah!
26. What is your favorite memory verse? “Jesus died on the cross.”
27. What is your favorite letter? “B-E-N-J-A-M-I-N, that’s what all my favorite letters are.”

 

He cracks me up. These are totally Ben answers. Goofball! Here are a few pictures from his birthday, in case you haven’t seen them:

four.

Dear Benjamin,

Today you turn four years old. You’ve been talking about your birthday for the past two months now, asking if it’s January yet and finally realizing that the whole month isn’t your birthday. I can’t believe how big you have grown and how much older you seem even day by day. Time is really flying by and I can’t help but to think it’s all bittersweet and wonder if it always will be.

You have grown into a very sweet little boy. I sometimes marvel at the compassion that you show others, and how caring and kind you are to people even if you don’t really know them. You are one of the friendliest little boys I’ve ever known, and I get so tickled at the way you can strike up a conversation with just about anyone anywhere we happen to go, no matter if they completely follow your train of thought.

Benjamin, please don’t ever stop telling me that I’m your best girl… at least not until you have a wife of your own to tell that to. You will never know how much that warms my heart. You will never know how much your random hugs and kisses mean to me and how much I cherish the time that we get to snuggle in mommy’s bed.

Although you have had a rough couple of months here lately with your asthma, you always seem to take everything in stride and even when you’re exhausted and hurting from shots or IV’s, you always keep a pretty decent attitude about you, as decent as one can expect from a little guy like you. You’re cheerful by nature, even if you have your bad moments. You always seem to know how to make the best of your bad situations and I think your creativity helps you in that.

You are just so very creative and imaginative. I love your love for books and for pretending. You are a clever boy and your vocabulary and understanding amazes me sometimes. I love that you have a thirst for knowledge and finding things out, never short of any question, always wondering how to spell words and things like that. Don’t ever lose your thirst for knowledge, Benjamin.

I appreciate your desire to be helpful as much as possible. I love when you ask to help me vacuum, even though it extends the chore to at least twice the amount of time it would take. I don’t mind it one bit. I do have to remind myself sometimes to let you help even when I know I want something done quickly and efficiently, because you’re learning to someday be a helpful husband to a very lucky wife.

In a couple of months you are going to be taking on a brand new role as a big brother to your baby sister. I cannot wait to see how you fill this role because I know you will be amazing at it. I know that you are going to be so helpful because you already are, telling me that you are going to take care of me. You already love your sister so very much and I know that she will love you just the same. She is going to look up to you as she grows up and I really can’t think of a better role model for her to have as a big brother than you. I hope that you will always look out for her.

Benjamin, my prayer for you most of all is that you continue to love God with all of your heart and that you do your very best to act the way He would want you to, not out of obligation but because you want to. I want you to learn how to love your neighbors as yourself. I want you to learn how to be a gentle person, a peacemaker. I want you to always remember that we don’t live alone on this planet and that we should love people just as God does. Above everything else, never stop loving. It’s the most important thing you can do for others.

I wish you the happiest of birthdays, Benjamin. I love you, forever and always. I am so proud of you.

Love always,
Mommy

happy birthday to my love

happy birthday to…
my best friend,
the handsomest man,
my favorite preacher,
my ‘other half’,
my entertainment,
my confidante,
my source of strength
and inspiration,
the man I admire most,
the man I adore most,
who challenges me,
and forgives me,
and loves me,

the father of my child,
the best daddy Benjamin could have asked for,

who takes care of us,
and sacrifices so much for us.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CARL!
I love you more than words
can express, always.

 

2nd Birthday Party!

Benjamin’s party was Saturday and it was a blast! There were a ton of kids there and Benjamin enjoyed playing with all of them. The biggest hit were the balloons we had blown up and tried to tape to the pillars in the fellowship hall at the building. As soon as Benjamin walked in the room, he flipped out about the balloons and pulled some off of the pillar… oh well! He had fun running around with them and so did the other kids. We ended up with a lot of balloons on the ceiling but the guys took care of that. The party wasn’t extravagant by any means and it was barely organized but it was tons of fun and Benjamin loved every minute of it!

Here are some pictures from his party! Enjoy!

(Cookies and Cream cupcake recipe can be found here!)

(Birthday banner from Old Navy)

Balloon frenzy!

We took butcher paper and crayons and laid them out for the kids to draw on… well the kids were so busy with the balloons that the adults were the ones who did most of the coloring! ha!

Birthday cupcake!

We had asked that nobody bring gifts since we had just gotten everything put away finally, but some people wanted to and we didn’t turn them away! He got some really cute gifts, including this jersey in the colors of the high school team here!

And he got this. We’re not Auburn fans, but we’re good sports.

To everyone who came and/or helped out, THANK YOU! You made the party super fun!!

Ben Turns Two

Here are a few pictures from Benjamin’s big day! We didn’t do much because we were waiting for the internet guy to show up (don’t you hate having to schedule your day around someone who’s over two hours late?), and because our party is going to be on Saturday and we’ll have a bigger celebration then. Benjamin still had a very good day, though, and I gotta say… I am so glad that Benjamin is still at the age where quantity of gifts does not matter. We could have given him just a Toy Story balloon for his birthday and he would have been just perfectly happy!

The setup for Benjamin’s birthday.

He loves this balloon!

Opening gifts.

Yay! Big gift from Nana and Papaw!

He had been wanting to open this all day.

Playing with his new trains!

I wonder where Benjamin went….

He had such a great day! Can’t wait to share pictures from the party later!

Benjamin, you are TWO YEARS OLD!

Benjamin, my sweet darling boy, you are two years old today. I really cannot express my feelings today. You’re not really a baby anymore – you’re officially a toddler by clothing standards I guess, although you don’t fit into 2T yet (you’re just now starting to fill 24 month shirts and you’re still not really wearing 18 month pants and keeping them up without a cloth diaper). Your daddy and I have really been blessed by your shining presence in our lives and we are ever thankful that God saw fit to entrust you into our hands. It’s a big responsibility but we are so happy to do our best. You are such a joy and I have really enjoyed spending more one-on-one time with you since Daddy has been going to the office during the day and it’s just me and you to hang out.

Benjamin, we are so proud of all your accomplishments in this past year. You have done so much, like really getting active, starting to talk and then beginning to speak fairly well (at least to me you do). You learned how to swim, you learned how to count and you can recognize your alphabet. You know SO much Bible trivia – that really makes mommy so proud! You are a helpful boy and you are ever affectionate. You are so friendly even to people you don’t know very well and I have been amazed at how well you have adjusted to our big move. It’s like it didn’t even happen! We get a lot of compliments on how well you behave in church and out of church, and that really does make mommy so very proud of her precious boy. You are such a good boy!

Welcome to your third year of life, Benjamin! I pray it will be a good one and we can continue this journey together! I can’t wait to see what’s around the bend for us here in Alabama and I know that you will exceed our expectations like you always do! We love you, big boy! Can’t wait for the party on Saturday!

***********************************************

(I’ll post more about our new home later!)

It'sha Burfday!

Today is a very special day, friends, because today is my sweet husband's 23rd birthday!

Happy Birthday, Carl!

You see? I rarely put his name in the blog because I thought maybe that would make it more secure... really I don't know why I do it anymore because you already know everything else. Okay now I am scaring myself so... moving on!

Anyway, I'm a big birthday person, but Carl on the other hand is not, really. I've been asking him for a while now what he might want to do or where he might want to go on his birthday but all he has said is nowhere special, he just would like to hang out with friends since we haven't in a while {on account of us being out of state}.

However... we've been sick. I dunno if that is going to happen today, sadly. But, we're going to make the most of it, aren't we, babe?

In fact I'm going to make special cupcakes for him! Hooray! I feel really bad because I was unable to get out and get anything special for Carl for his birthday... like, really, really bad. So hopefully a good old blog post dedicated to my sweet husband will do the trick... And here is where I gush about him!



My husband is a really, really amazing dad. He is so involved, and so loving and caring. I knew that he was great with kids when we met, but I never imagined that anyone could be such a wonderful father. Happy Birthday to the best daddy I could ever want for my children!



My husband is so good looking. I hope you all enjoyed that first picture! That was definitely not me shaving his head. No, I was too busy busting my tailbone outside in a rainstorm. Seriously. {and then a couple days later we found out we were expecting!!} Anyway, he is good looking. He asked me a few times who was better looking, him or Johnny Depp? And I say MY HUSBAND, of course! Sorry Johnny! My husband is the most handsome man! Happy Birthday to the most handsome fella in the world!


My husband is fearless. I can't count how many times he has killed a bug for me when I am just shaking with fear. Okay so maybe I'm a weenie. But still. I always feel so safe around my husband and I know that no matter what, he is always going to take care of me. Even when there is a roach the size of my hand {not exaggerating, folks!} running at me on the wall in the bathroom... Carl, you know what I am referencing to... Happy Birthday to the man who will always protect me!


My husband is so giving. It may look in that picture that both of those ice cream cones were his, but they weren't. One was for me. I was at home, moaning and groaning about my broken tailbone. Or maybe I was sick... I dunno! Either way, it was for me. He carried the whole thing back for me. But that's not just it. He is always so very giving. He showers me with things that I don't deserve, like my chocolate chip waffles I had to have last night. Or that shirt we paid full price for at Target, that is still eating me up with guilt! Happy Birthday to the man who is always so giving!


My husband is my favorite preacher. He is such a good speaker. I am really proud of him and so proud to sit by him as the preacher's wife. He loves God's word and you can tell when he delivers the message in the pulpit. He will go to all lengths to teach and bring others to salvation. I admire him in so many ways. I wanted to marry a preacher, and boy howdy did I hit the jackpot on that one! If you want to listen to his sermons, you can check 'em out here. You can also read up on what it's like to be a preacher on his blog. Happy Birthday to my favorite preacher, hands down!



My husband is a silly nerd. I say that with the most affection. He is always making me laugh, even when I don't want to laugh. It is really fun being married to him and it's really interesting sometimes because you never know what he'll do next... I love him to death and I am so glad that he is a silly nerd because he's my silly nerd. Happy Birthday to the man who keeps me laughing!

I really could go on about how loving and forgiving and honest he is. If you know Carl, you know how much he loves our family. He makes mistakes, and he fixes them, and I love him so much for it. It says to me that he's not prideful. He knows that he is not always perfect and he strives to be pleasing to God. He's perfect for me. Even though we're not perfect. {Does that make sense?}

Happy Birthday to my best friend, my husband, my companion.

I love you!