my favorite event of 2013

Happy New Year, everyone! May God bless you in 2014!

georgia on my mind!

One of my favorite weekends to visit back home in Georgia is Mothers’ Day weekend, which also normally happens to be the weekend that my dad’s birthday falls on. I love going and being with my parents on both of these very special days. It is so special to be able to celebrate this special “holiday” together with my mom… and I love that it is on a Sunday because worshiping with them at New Hope Road is one of my favorite things, too.

Since I haven’t blogged in a while and haven’t shared photos in a while as well, here are some wonderful photos from our weekend in Georgia! Enjoy!

We stopped first at LegoLand Discovery Center in Atlanta… Can you tell who was most excited??

It was really fun!

My dad and Clara. He grabbed her any chance he got!

Clara at the Yellow River Game Ranch, where we went for my dad’s birthday.

This ride-on toy is sooooo old!!

See…?

Benjamin chasing a chicken, for real. Ha!

I wore Clara in her sling for some of the day.

Mothers’ Day morning with my family! Aren’t we a good lookin’ bunch?

I loooove my little family!!!

My grandma got to meet her first Great-Granddaughter :)

I love my beautiful mom!

It was such a great trip… I can’t wait to go back!! I’m already dreaming up plans!!

Thanksgiving Throwback

Happy Thanksgiving, friends! I hope you all had a lovely day filled with family and love and blessings! We had a very quiet day with just the three of us, but it was a really nice Thanksgiving, filled with my two favorite boys and my little tiny girl who is still “baking”. Our meal wasn’t huge, but it didn’t need to be and I enjoyed cooking all of it for my little family. I missed my family today, but even so, it was nice spending time with my boys.

Here’s a little Thanksgiving Throwback from Benjamin’s first Thanksgiving… another Thanksgiving where we weren’t able to travel to see family, but spent it with friends instead. Can’t believe how much time has passed since then! Wow!

Happy Thanksgiving, y’all! And in case you were wondering: no. We do not go out at crazy hours for Black Friday. Hello, pillow! {But for those of you who do, be safe and don’t get into any altercations over flat screens! ha!}

I am Blessed.

{found on pinterest}

When you have a million hormones warring against each other and your sanity, it’s easy to let the negative ones get the better of you from time to time. It’s one of the downsides of pregnancy, at least in my experience {which would be nearly 1 year total so far}. There have been times when I have found myself thinking “Who in the world AM I?” because I don’t recognize myself amidst the floods of tears {that honestly happen way more than I am comfortable admitting}, the flurries of anger, and those moments when patience just SNAPS.

I know it’s normal. I still don’t like it. I don’t like feeling pretty happy one moment, to waaaay down in the dumps the next, to HULK!SMASH the very next. Who would? It’s exhausting!

There is one thing that does help me, and that is to sit down and realized how blessed I am. Blessed. Me. The crazy, moody, if-looks-could-kill-you’d-be-dead pregnant chick. I really am blessed, beyond measure. I know I could never count them, but I’m going to at least list a few that I’ve been thinking about lately.

.I am blessed with new life growing inside me, being formed, “fearfully and wonderfully made” {Psa 139:14}, and no matter how many bad days I have, I know that the end result is worth more than that one-hundred times over.

.I am blessed with a sweet, sweet three-year-old, who prays for me every night to feel better, who gives me kisses all the time and asks me if I still feel sick. He is so filled with compassion and has such a gentle, kind spirit. I am so blessed to have my sweet Benjamin!

.I am blessed with a caring, loving husband who has gone above and beyond, even on top of everything else he has to do, to take care of me and the baby and Benjamin. I know that if it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t be able to get through this. He is always asking me if he can help or get me something, or if I just need someone to bawl all over, he is there, no matter how silly the reason.

.I am blessed with a mother and a mother-in-law who have both sacrificed of their own time and money {yeah, it isn’t cheap coming from Georgia to Alabama!} to come and help out around the house while I have been so sick. I shudder to think of what my house would look like if neither of them had taken the time to come down… seriously… it would not be pretty, and I am forever grateful that they did!

.I am blessed with wonderful, caring friends who don’t mind my hormonal texts looking for a little reassurance, or chat with me on facebook to help keep my mind off of feeling sick! It really does make the time go by so much easier!

.Okay, a material blessing, but I really am thankful for my Kindle. I’ve been able to do a lot more studying with it, thanks to a larger font size that doesn’t make me {too} dizzy. I’ve been able to knock out a bit of my to-read list. It’s kept me occupied and I’ve really been enjoying it.

…. I know that all these blessings come from Christ – the Ultimate Blessing, if you ask me – and I am so thankful to God that I can sit down and name a few off the top of my head like this. He really has been mindful of me, and I know that He is taking care of me.

Feeling pretty blessed this evening… not to mention pretty tired, but you know, even that is a blessing… maybe I’ll actually sleep good tonight! Ha!

Our Easter Adventures

 

Easter had me all nervous. As most everyone knows, Thursday was the first day of our hardcore potty training. By Saturday he was supposed to be fully trained, if we had stuck with the method we had initially decided to use. However, by Friday afternoon we had decided that the method wasn’t the right one for Benjamin {as we know him a lot better than someone who just wrote a general method to cover a wide range of personalities}. We decided to change a few things in the method {we added no-nos, according to her, ha!}, and as soon as we did, we started seeing a change. The last time I updated you about the process was Friday, and as it happens, until yesterday evening, Friday had been the last day that we had to mop up any accidents. Saturday Benjamin did very well and we were so proud of him!

Anyway back to Sunday. I was so nervous because all weekend we had stayed in the house and had not gone anywhere… okay maybe a brief trip to the deck but that is all. We stayed home. We got some Pull Ups for Bible Class {we called them Bible Class Undies so that he would not think it was a diaper}. We took his potty to church and stuck it in the nursery bathroom.

Sunday he stayed dry all day long except at naptime. We were able to enjoy our Easter day without mopping up any accidents or switching out wet undies for dry ones. Success!

In fact, we spent the afternoon at some friends’ house and even had an Easter egg hunt for Benjamin.

 

 

 

We had such a good time. We are so proud of Benjamin and his success with Potty Training. He isn’t totally trained, but the good news is he even kept his bed dry all night last night. Progress! We love our big boy!

Pumpkin Spice Means One Thing, And One Thing Alone.

To GOD Be The Glory

The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases,
His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning;
great is Thy faithfulness.
"The LORD is my portion," says my soul,
"therefore I will hope in Him."
Lamentations 3:22-24



I have been blessed beyond comprehension! I was just thinking today that all I ever wanted for my life once I realized where my priorities were was to be a godly wife and a godly mother - and I am living my dream! I'm attempting to at least! I am so blessed, so entirely happy! My life isn't perfect and it isn't without it's troubles. There are things that I wish we had or could do but we are just waiting for God's good timing - because His way is always the perfect way. How relieving it is to know that I'm not in control! God is my pilot!

To GOD be the glory, great things HE has done! I have been blessed with a wonderful, loving family and I couldn't be happier tonight! God is so good!

Mothers' Day Weekend

Dear Friends and Family -

Hi, it's me - Benjamin! I had a really good time this weekend at my Great- Mimi and Granddaddy Bob's house with Mommy and Nana and Papaw. I missed Daddy a lot and missed my own bed, but we still had a good time! Here's what we did:














As you can see, we had a pretty great weekend with a pretty special family! I love my family!

Love,
Benjamin

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I hope you all had a fantastic Mothers' Day. Mothers are sometimes under-appreciated and I love that we have one day to set aside just to celebrate our mothers. I know my mother deserves more than just one day, which is why I try to make her feel loved every time we are together and every time we talk! I don't know about you guys, but I could never tell my mom just how much she means to me and how much everything she has done for me means to me still!

Our weekend was great, and we made some priceless memories. I missed my Hubby a lot! And while being a single parent isn't relaxing {at all} even for a weekend, it was nice to be able to kick back with my family and share my Benjamin with them. When we got home on Sunday evening, I was surprised with a super clean house which is probably the best gift anyone could ever give me! I love my sweet Hubby so much! He also went and bought a new car seat for Benjamin too, because his old one was just a bad fit for our car I think.

Another wonderful Mothers' Day - they get better by the year I think! Now that the weekend is over, it's back to the swing of things, and I'll spend some time catching up on all of your blogs soon.

One more thing, for my special boy...

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My Dear Sweet Benjamin,



When I was growing up, I never wanted to be married or have babies when I was as young as I am. Sometimes things turn out differently than what we planned - and Benjamin, I wouldn't change the way my life turned out for a second! I love being your mommy so much! You may never know how much I really love you, and how much your daddy and I do for you. You may never realize the sacrifices that have to be made to make sure you live a happy and comfortable life. But that doesn't change the fact that we know it's all worth it. It is so worth it to be your mommy, to see you smile and laugh and learn, to receive your hugs and kisses. You may run me round in circles some days and make me feel completely drained by bedtime, but I wouldn't trade one second of it!

I pray that I am the kind of mommy that helps you to know how much we love you, but more importantly how much Jesus loves you, and how much God loves you! I pray every day that I am the kind of mommy that God wants me to be, so that one day we may all be together in heaven!

My ever-growing, ever-changing, sweet baby boy -

God has blessed me by entrusting you as my sweet darling baby, and I am blessed beyond measure!

I LOVE being your mommy!

Love ALWAYS,
Mommy