The Wilsons

Unsure...

2010-06-12T10:06:00.002-05:00

I have had several family members, whose names shall remain silent, :) who seem a little sad that I haven't blogged in awhile...so, I've been searching as to the answer.

Here's my internal struggle for the past year almost. I have been struggling with the reality that my blog is SO "available." Really, this has never been that big of a deal to me up until this past year, mainly because I am really good at being nieve and believing that only people who know and love our family will be reading this blog. This is probably mostly true, but I am now trying to figure out if I'm ok with the "world" being able to see pictures of my family and knowing what's going on with us. Its a weird struggle because I do love having this blog as a journal of thoughts, pictures, and stories to reflect on. I have always been a "journal-er" growing up, so its definitely a release to write, but, this is just so stinkin' "available".

I've had several friends take their blog "private" or to make things easier, some have just changed their blog name so that their name is not in the address. So smart.

Sooo...this leaves me in this struggle of what to do.

Know that I am still here, living life, a VERY BLESSED life indeed. I'm simply trying to decide what to do with this whole "blog" thing. So, I am going to make a decision soon, and will let you in on how I decide to do this.

Thanks for caring, even if my readers are just the ones who HAVE to care...family. :)

Stay tuned for a decision. :)

Our Beautiful Dancer...

2010-02-28T15:57:00.013-06:00

This past fall we put Mia in a Worship Dance class at my parents' church. The girl teaching the class grew up with my brother, so I knew she was a phenomenal ballerina and loved the Lord. She taught the girls the fundamentals to ballet, but would also incorporate worship music and free dancing to the Lord. So great!

Mia loved dance, but I think there was too much "taking turns" time, and not enough activity for her because by the end of the semester she was asking to do gymnastics again. I would highly recommend this class to anyone, so let me know if you're interested and I'll get you the info. So, here are some shots of our little ballerina.

Stretching...

I just can't get enough of her in her ballerina outfit!

She got to take the class with her cousins Bailey and Addison. What beauties!

Poor Eisley just had to wait...

Doesn't she look thrilled? She'd rather be dancing with her sister!

He's in LOVE with his ballerina!

Yep, Classy Ballerina. :)

And for Fall...

2010-02-16T22:10:00.014-06:00

I would like to say that Fall is most definitely my favorite season of all! I just LOVE it! I think I love it for all the colors, all the pumpkins, and "harvesty" look of everything. I also just LOVE the smell of fall! I can almost smell it now...(Oh, wait, there's still snow outside since I am posting this in February! oops!) Anyways, we didn't really take any pictures of Thanksgiving, but we did take some festive pictures in Childress with cousin Zoe! They turned out super cute if you ask me...

Cousins!

Sisters

Beautiful Cousin Zoe

We did have a GREAT Thanksgiving, though! This was our first year to spend Thanksgiving in Amarillo. Can you believe it? My FIRST year in 27 years! It was still hard though. I adore spending our usual Thanksgiving in Childress with Jody's family because they usually have some of Jody's extended family from Colorado join us, so that was definitely missed this year. (But we did spend a few days before Thanksgiving in Childress to see his family, even if for only a quick time.) I am SOOO thankful for such great in-laws who are so gracious to support us in our holiday "sharing." We had a wonderful dinner here in Amarillo with my family and both sets of my grandparents joined us as well! I'm a blessed woman!

The only "Thanksgiving-ish" picture of our girls with their cousins Bailey and Addison (at B & A's school Thanksgiving program.)

Halloween 2009

2010-02-15T16:22:00.015-06:00

What a great time we had for Halloween this year!

Halloween was on a Saturday, so it seemed like the perfect year to go visit Jody's family for Halloween and make an entire weekend out of it. It was the first time we got dressed up for MaMaw and Papa and got to go trick or treating through Childress! I love small towns like Childress because they always seem to have such great city-wide holiday events. Halloween in Childress is no different. The downtown businesses open up to pass out candy to all the little trick or treaters. Everyone goes! It was a great time, and the girls seemed to have a blast!

This year, the girls went as a Butterfly Fairy Princess and a Lady Bug. I bought both girls costumes at the same time (and actually very early in the month for me!) but when I tried them on them, Eisley's looked super cute, but Mia's...not so much. So, I decided Mia could just wear her ballet outfit and we could make wings and the tu-tu. Easier said than done. I LOVED the way Mia's costume finally turned out (with the GREAT help of Jody with the wings! And the tu-tu was actually fairly easy to make, too.)

Also while in Childress, we got to celebrate Jody's grandmother's birthday with his entire extended family! She is a fabulous lady who loves the Lord, and I am honored to be a part of her family! So much fun!

Enjoy the pictures....

Mama Bea opening cards and presents (with Mia's help, of course.) :)

Always a joy to spend time with Uncle Zach, Aunt Amy, and cousin Zoe!

Sweet sisters!

Mia the Butterfly Fairy

MaMaw with the girls (they seem pretty interested in their candy. Imagine!)

Butterfly Fairy and Ladybug

Gotta appreciate those wings! No, really, YOU DO! :)

Downtown Childress

We ended the evening trick or treating at Mama Bea's house.

Sweet Cousins. They all had wings, and we didn't even plan it! Great minds think alike, huh Amy??? :)

Beautiful Zoe!!!

Family!

Eisleys 2nd Birthday Party...

2010-01-21T15:50:00.016-06:00

I guess its about time I posted pictures from Eisley's birthday party. (Lets just forget that it was actually 3 months ago, oops!) :) We had such a great time with such great friends and family! We had Eisley's birthday at the play area at my parents church. Its a GREAT play area, perfect for this age, plus, you don't have to worry about the weather (which was great because it actually snowed for a little while that day in Amarillo.) We actually had Mia's 3rd birthday at this same place! We had a lot of fun and were so blessed with such great friends and family! Enjoy the pictures!

Yummy sandwiches, chips, and cupcakes!

My sister did an amazing job on these cupcakes! She very talented!

She's a little shocked as to why everyone's singing to her. She just wants the cupcake.

Can I just eat the cupcake now?

Now she dives in!

Sweet sisters!

Present time! (With Aunt Amy's help) :)

Sweet friend, Kayt Ingram. (Or as Eisley calls her, "My Tate") well, close. :)

Cousin Zoe was there too!

Fun times! (Plus a huge jungle gym upstairs)

Nana, Grandad (my parents) and cousins Bailey and Addison)

With MaMaw and Papa! So blessed with 2 GREAT sets of grandparents!

Family! So blessed! Happy 2nd Birthday to my baby girl!

My Baby Girl Turned TWO!

2009-10-26T20:24:00.008-05:00

I thought it only seemed fair that since one of my last posts was on my big girl's 4th birthday, that I should return to the world of blogging on my baby girl's 2nd birthday. (or a few days after.) I'll admit, I have really struggled to start writing again. It has just been hard to get the motivation to sit down and write, but I have truly missed it! I hope to start back again now that life is a bit slower. (and I do mean "a BIT") So, here you go...

The Beauty Then...

Eisley Mae Wilson - TWO YEARS AGO on October 24th

The Beauty Now...

Eisley Mae Wilson - October 24, 2009

So, I thought I'd just let this post be devoted to a few pictures of Eisley on her 2nd birthday. We had a WONDERFUL weekend celebrating together as a family. I'll admit. There's just something different about the baby of a family and this mamma. I couldn't believe how many times I got teared up at the thought of and definitely the talking of Eisley turning 2. It got to the point where Jody would just start talking about it, just to see me tear up. Its ridiculous! It didn't help to think back to Mia's 2nd birthday and how I was about 3 months pregnant with Eisley at that time! I can't even imagine that right now! We definitely want more kids, but the Lord has not yet put the "Go" in our hearts. I feel like I'm getting a bit closer to the thought, but I'd like to again empasize the "BIT".) :)

Eisley has truly shocked me. She is NOTHING at all like I thought she'd be, from day one. When she came into this world with a head FULL of BLONDE hair, I was shocked, since Mia was so dark headed. Then, as she has grown, her personality is different then I expected. I really thought she'd be a lot more laid back, especially since she has such a strong, leader of an older sister, but I was wrong. This little girl has quite the voice of her own. She will let you know what she wants, and how she wants it. And don't even think about getting something out of place, she does not appreciate that! If you don't have your shoes on, she'll ask you about it, again, and again, until you put your shoes on. If you've been wearing a hat or scarf all day, and decide to take it off, she might go hysterical on you until you put it back on. Its funny really. (Even though now I'm striving to "direct" her through these moments of outrage.) She needs order. She does have such a great sense of humor, though. She always has this look in her eye like, "yep, I have a secret, and I'm not telling you." It's funny. She's very similar to Mia, which I guess I expected complete opposites. This girl will not be walked on in the years to come. I can't wait to see how God uses this strong girl! (and may the Lord continue to direct us in how to "guide" her through this strong temperament.) We are more in love with this girl today, than we ever imagined! We are very, very blessed!

This weekend seemed to be our first weekend in a long time without anything to do, so it was perfect! The weekend was spent getting birthday donuts, going to a pumpkin farm here in town, carving pumpkins, and just being family! Loved it! I'm so blessed. So, now I'll simply let the pictures give you a glimpse of our weekend. Enjoy!

More birthday pics I took...

Eisley's birthday donut choice "sp-inkles"

These girls love their donuts

Mia in the corn maze at the pumpkin farm. "This way, or that?"

"Oh, how I hope this Daddy guy knows where he's going."

The leader (It IS who the Lord created her to be.)

On the hay ride back...cheetos in hand, makes it an even greater ride.

In the Corn Box. Very cool idea.

Working very hard to fill up that pail. A girl on a mission.

Lovin' it!

Team-work. They're a great team. (well, usually.) :)

The popular event of the day, the cow train ride.

Yep, still Cheetos in hand.

Let the carving fun begin.

Mia's NOT impressed with Dad's creation.

Mia LOVED this part...the GUTS!

Eisley just wanted to look on from a distance. She's not crazy about getting messy.

Daddy and his helper.

The final product! (with our fire in the back!) Jody's not crazy about his creation, but I LOVE it!)

Our haul of pumpkins from the Pumpkin Farm. They were half off, so we got ALL these for $19. NICE! (We haven't put them outside yet, but they actually look cute here on this chair.)

A break...

2009-07-09T23:30:00.005-05:00

I'll be honest. I know EVERYONE is busy, especially during summer. I really do hate using that phrase, "we've been so busy." I feel like it can be a cop-out at times or just something to say. But, I have to say it. We have. Its been a crazy summer for our family.

I should be used to this lifestyle by now. Summer is usually the busiest time for us, especially for traveling with Jody's ministry, and this summer is no different. Its not really even that Jody's had many worship events this summer, but the few he has, plus a couple of family trips, youth ministry stuff (which will be ending mid-August), and remodeling/carpentry jobs Jody has on the side, WOW, it just hasn't stopped. I'm exhausted at this point. And even some days, weary. Will this ever slow down??? It will. I know it will. Don't get me wrong. Each of these things in our life, have been such joys in their own ways, but I just need rest. I need my whole family to rest. Really, I know this is coming in August, I can see the light at the end of this tunnel. But I'm trying to enjoy each day individually, rather than focusing on the "what's to come."

So, sorry for that overflow of words, but it was all to say...I am going to stop worrying about blogging. It really is the farthest thing from my mind each day, but yet, I feel guilty that I haven't documented our good times or that I am letting people down. But, that's just something I am putting on myself. So, I just realized through the past few days, that I am not going to have an intention of blogging again this summer until things calm down. (Hopefully that means August.) I want to. I really do. Especially since I am the worlds worst with printing pictures to document our family's life, BUT, for now, I will take a short break. IF, for some reason, I find some time and energy to spend blogging and uploading pictures, I will, but until then, don't be too bummed that you haven't heard from me or seen updated pictures. (OK, this is probably only to my family, but I'm good with that.) Blessings on each of you!

Now to leave you with a couple of fun pics of this summer...

The birthday girl in June....(Yes, she's in her pjs. It was a Pajama Birthday. So fun!)

Have you ever enjoyed an Oreo as much as this girl???

The family at Mias birthday party. (Please don't judge me for the lack of tan. I've seen the sun since then. Promise!) :)

Many Happy Birthdays...

2009-06-09T22:30:00.006-05:00

I just can't believe it! Today is my big girl's 4th birthday!!! I just can't believe it! Four is a crazy year...I can no longer consider her a baby, or a toddler. She is officially a big girl! We are currently at church camp right now. (Mia will probably be spending a lot of birthdays at church camp in her years to come, sorry babe.) We've had a pretty great day. She's had a very fun time telling everyone its her birthday, BUT as soon as anyone starts to sing happy birthday to her, she clams up! I guess she doesn't like all the attention after all. (Funny story...at dinner tonight, a whole table of friends that we all know very well started singing Happy Birthday to her. Everyone at camp was pretty much gone from dinner, but I guess this terribly embarrassed her. Jody picked her up afterwards, her face was bright red, and then she started kinda hitting Jody, IN THE FACE. Not too hard really, but it did stunn both of us. She never does this kind of thing. I knew immediately that she was just really embarrassed and didn't know how to respond. It was so sad. That birthday song is horrible really. No one ever enjoys it anyways.) :)

So, all to say, we've had fun today playing, and even swimming. Mia will have her real party Saturday morning after camp's over. (even though I really wanted to just not have a party at all this year since life's been so hectic and there just wasn't ever a "great" time for the party. But, of course, I persevered.) It will be a fun "Pajama Party" theme. Kids get to wear their pjs, jump in bouncers, eat donuts (and fruit and muffins) and drink juice. What more could a kid ask for. Hopefully I can post pictures of the party in a timely manner, but NO promises. :)

I thought that since I was giving a shout out to my daughter for her birthday, I'd go ahead and appoligize to my husband for not blogging on his birthday. His 28th birthday was this past Saturday (the 6th). Jody knows how crazy our life has been for the past month, and that I've had NO time to spend on the computer doing fun stuff like blogging. (not that he even looks at this blog anyways.) But still, I wanted him to know how much I love him, and how thankful I am that the Lord brought me to him exactly 9 years ago last week! AHHH!) Ill tell you what, its really not easy on a mamma/wife to have a child's and husband's birthdays only 3 days apart. Poor Jody really gets jypped, especially in the craziness of this past month. I've had to work so hard to get Mia's party stuff together before camp that I really couldn't focus on him. Poor guy, and he's always ready for a good excuse for a party. Someday, Jody, I will get you that Marriachi band to play for your birthday around a campfire like you have been asking for!

Well, what more to say. I am sitting in our "hotel" room here at camp, Eisley sound asleep in the Pack N Play, Mia breathing loudly as she sleeps in the bed next to ours, and Jody out being "youth minister" to all the other kids. Its nice though, to be in bed, and hopefully asleep sooner than I am at home. (Not to mention that I've had a horrible headache all day today, so I'm ready for some good sleep.)

Here's a picture of both my birthday LOVES! (here is daddy and Mia, a little over 2 yrs old)

All my pictures of the birthday girl today are on my phone and I haven't downloaded those yet, so I will just post the oldest picture I have on this computer of Mia. (We didn't get this computer until she was about 18months old- kinda Eisley's age, YIKES!!!!) Love to you all from the beautiful campgrounds!

Mia at 18 months old

Mia on her 2nd birthday (and I have NO pictures on my computer of her 3rd birthday since I let other people take the pictures since my camera is not that great. I might need to get those pictures soon!)

A month...

2009-05-26T21:59:00.025-05:00

Yes, that is how long it has been since I last blogged. Does it count that I have blogged a TON of times in my head????

So, what's been going on since I last blogged in April...

-I began working again, but VERY part time. I am working again as a casemanager for a foster care agency. It was really the perfect opportunity. They have given me the freedom to work ENTIRELY from home so that I can still be a full time mommy! I went ahead and put Eisley in Mother's Day Out on Thursdays (Mia was already going on Thursdays) so that I could go into the office at least once a week to do work, print papers, makes faxes. Its been a pretty big adjustment, but I am really enjoying it. I enjoy getting to use my degree again. I am just kinda helping them with overloaded caseloads, so really I might not be needed in the next few months, but I am around as long as they need me, and as long as its not taking away from my family. Its been fun.

-Jody and I got to attend an amazing marriage retreat with our church. SO wonderful!

- Had a garage sale on my birthday...it was a bummer in so many ways...didn't make much money.

- As I said, I had a BIRTHDAY on the 9th of May. I am now 27!!! It doesn't even seem real! I still feel like I just graduated high school.

-The same weekend as my birthday was Mothers Day. Jody and the girls made me feel incredibly loved and special! Thanks for an amazing birthday/mother's day weekend Jody!

-Finally had our first weekend to do NOTHING...so we planted lots of flowers. Most are still alive today. Big Deal for this girl with a brown thumb.

-Went to Colorado with Jody's entire family for his cousins graduation. I love Jody's entire family, including his extended family, so it was really great and fun. The LONG drive was not as bad I was expecting with an almost 4 year old, 19 month old, and my niece who is 9 months old. We were gone for 5 days, and had a great time!

-Now I am exhausted, and ready to crash, but I had to force myself to take time to post on this blog, rather than doing some much needed work or going to bed. :)

So, maybe I need to take a break from blogging. But, I really don't want to. I really enjoy having an online record of our family's fun times, especially since I'm really bad about printing out pictures. Who knows. I think I will try again to get better about blogging. (Even though June is actually a TON crazier than May.) Oh well...

For now, enjoy some pictures from our fun trip to Colorado.

The GIANT ice cream cone in Raton, NM on our way to Colorado, YUMM!

Mia and Eisley and our niece Zoe at the giant icecream cone.

Beginning of our time at the Colorado Springs Zoo.

The Giraffes were fun to watch

Eisley and cousin Zoe

Sweet Sisters!

(Daddy's behind her, I promise.)

Jody's sister, Amy, and her daughter, Zoe

Mia and MaMaw riding beside her

The giraffe wanted to be in the picture too

Eisley wasn't so sure about feeding the birds, she'd rather look at them from a distance

MaMaw and aunt Amy helping Mia feed the birds.

Eisley LOVES her PaPaw. (She was showing him the big apes!)

I know, I know...she's got the most squeezable cheeks ever!

At the Denver Aquarium. Watch out Mia! That fish is as big as YOU!

Eisley loved the fish too!

Yep, all the kids in the extended family...looks like fun, huh?????

Waiting, in the rain, of course, to get into the aquarium. Its a popular place!

Hey Dorie and Nemo

Thank you Baby Praise! (Even if you did almost put Amy to sleep...she was driving. Yikes!)

And finally, the reason we went, Jody's cousin, Lauren, graduated from high school. Congratulations Lauren!!! (Outside graduations are beautiful, except when it RAINS!!!) Not to mention Colorado doesn't mind having 8am graduations..left the house at 6:30AM, and yes, with the girls!)

It was 18 months ago today....

2009-04-24T13:03:00.003-05:00

That we fell in love all over again!!!!

Eisley Mae Wilson on day ONE....

And now, 18 months later!

We are honored to have such amazing daughters! Happy Half Birthday, Eisley!

PRE-Easter Egg Dying

2009-04-15T15:04:00.001-05:00

My sister's family and my family all gathered together at my parents' house a few days before Easter to dye Easter eggs. We had a lot of fun, although we had to dye the eggs quickly because the girls didn't have the patience to wait for each egg to sit long enough in the dye to become vibrant colors. The eggs turned out beautifully! (Maybe my sister, Jody, and I all re-dyed the eggs after the girls ran off to play, just to make the eggs brighter. Us big kids had fun too!) :)

The dyeing went well except for when Mia accidently put her hand on one of the bowls of dye and it splashed green dye all over her face and clothes. Needless to say, she was covered in green dye and crying hysterically. We finally got it all washed up off her face, her clothes into the drier quickly (thanks mom for quick thinking) and the clothes (and Mia's eyesight) were restored. Good memories!

So, here is our several attempts to get a good Easter picture with the girls in their matching shirts. This is just an insight on what we go through with picture taking of 4 girls under the age of 4. Enjoy

Yep, I took these egg pictures with my sister's camera. Its amazing how a fancy camera can make the photographer look like they know what they are doing! :)

Happy Easter!

2009-04-12T22:02:00.006-05:00

WOW! What a wonderful day, celebrating the Resurection of the Lord! It definitely made me a little more emotional this year, having just recently walked where Jesus walked, even to the point of where he walked to his death, the place of the death on the cross, and then to the tomb. (and everything in between!) Oh, how His life has become even more real to me! Happy Easter!

At the house, before church.

After church we went to my parents for lunch and easter egg hunt. This is Eisley and my Papa. She LOVES her Papa! (even though the look on her face doesn't really show it. She was tired.)

Daddy and his girls

Not a great family picture, but the best we got. The sun was so bright, in case you can't tell by my half closed eyes. Definitely not a framer!

Mia, Bailey, and Addison on the egg hunt.

Way up there????? The Easter bunny was NOT thinking. Ahem...

Memaw and Papa watching the fun.

Sweet girls!

Ah, sharing!

"If only I could figure out how to open this candy."

The most wonderfully amazing daughters EVER!

Sweet!

Tour Day 4 in Israel (Sunday)

2009-04-04T10:56:00.008-05:00

I guess since the snow is gone, I will finish documenting our days in Israel last month. Yep, its officially been a month since we took off on our trip.

We were quite sad to have to check out of our hotel in Jerusalem on this day. It was really strange for me to leave Jerusalem. My heart was genuinely sad, kinda an aching feeling as if I was leaving my own home. It was really strange. I know that it is simply because it is the Lord's city, and my Spirit is VERY aware of that. I truly WAS leaving "home."

For the rest of the day, we finished doing touring on our drive to Tiberias. It was amazing how green the land became from Jerusalem (very dry and kinda dirty looking) to the lush, green, rolling hills of the Galilee region. Simply beautiful.

This is the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The Muslims have control of this area right now.

Jody and I.

This is the spot where it is believed that the Holy of Holies was (according to the geographical location.) It was POWERFUL to stand by this spot. Really, My Spirit lept within me.

A quick roadside stop on our journey to Tiberias. This is our friend Dee riding a Camel. I almost rode one, but then really thought it was a waste of money. The ride was like less than a minute long.

This is Bet She'an (the location, not the Asian lady in the picture. We don't know her.) (funny side-note, Jody took two pictures of this sign, and both pictures had an Asian woman in it. Two different Asian women. We laughed pretty hard.)

Bet She'an was a city that was excavated fairly recently. It was a city that was covered in a mudslide within a matter of seconds. It was fascinating because the mud did such a great job of preserving the city. Very cool.

Megan sitting in the Coliseum.

Check out the beautiful coliseum. I bet it was phenomenal.

The view from our drive. Getting into the green Galilee region.

We ended our day with baptisms in the Jordan river, just like Jesus did. This was a beautiful location.

Most of our group did the baptisms. The leaders, Tom and Terry, had already done this, so they just took pictures. (please pay no attention to the seriously unflattering gowns.)

Please take notice of us all laughing and how Chris (already in the water) has his hand over his mouth. The water was FREEZING!

See, look at Jody's face. FREEZING!

And my face, FREEZING! (and Chris is laughing at me)

Remarkable.

What a sight!

The beautiful location of the Baptismal site.

I thought I'd give a quick disclaimer real quick about our baptisms. You see, I have had a ton of people comment about what an amazing sight it was to see us being baptized in the Jordan river, and especially to see Jody baptizing me.

Well, like I made it abundantly clear, the water was freezing, and as much as I would have LOVED for it to have been a more emotional, romantic even, awe-inspiring experience, I'll have to be honest...I really had a hard time getting over the freezing cold water, especially when I was put under the water. It literally took my breath away, and not in the way I had expected.

So, YES, it was such an honor and amazing time to have my HUSBAND baptize me in the same river that Jesus himself was baptized in, but, I just wish the water wouldn't have been so cold. Next time I will wear my wetsuit! :)

We finally made it to our hotel in Tiberias. We had a GORGEOUS view of the SEA OF GALILEE from our patio. AMAZING!

Once again, another busy, but Glorious day in Israel!

Blizzard of '09...Day 2

2009-03-31T19:02:00.004-05:00

(Yep, that's Mia, sportin' daddy's hat, yes, without a shirt on, and yes, that is a blizzard you see in the backyard. Mother of the Year award goes to ME!!!)

And the fun times continued Saturday, even though the snow started melting VERY quickly!

Yep, LOTS of snow

A snow drift on the front porch roof, and thankfully Jody didn't loose an eye by being on the phone outside when the drift actually fell off the roof, inches away from his head!

Building snowmen with Daddy.

Mia built two snowmen/snowgirls, one's name was Mia, the other's name was Eisley.

Mia could have gotten lost in those drifts.

Then we made snow icecream for my first time ever...it was really pretty good.

Eisley liked it.

And so did Mia.

It was fun, even though it melted way too fast. Looks like we have another chance of snow on Wednesday, but this time it shouldn't be a blizzard. Crazy Amarillo! (Or, maybe its a true April Fools Joke. We'll see)

Blizzard of '09...

2009-03-27T19:11:00.009-05:00

Yep, you read that right. We were in a BLIZZARD yesterday in Amarillo. It was so great! It did remind me that if we ever move, a fireplace is definitely a requirement! I love having a fireplace!

This was the first year that Mia actually enjoyed the snow instead of being scared still of it, literally! She had so much fun playing in it. Today is the part of snow that I don't like, the ugly melting process.

So, here are some fun pictures of our Snowy Spring Day.

Yep, going down the slide.

Helping Daddy carry in firewood. (we didn't get enough the night before.)

Funny face. We all (minus Jody) wore our Christmas pjs the night before, it just seemed appropriate. She's watching Mia and Daddy in the snow.

Before the snow fun.

After the snow fun.

Making Snow angels.

The snow fight begins.

Making Snowballs.

Not fair! (Mia LOVED it!)

This was round 2 after lunch...Front Yard.

It looks like Jody is just dragging Mia through the snow, he's actually swinging her around in the air.

The snow drifts were taller than Mia.

Watching her sister and daddy, once again, while she's in the warm inside. She didn't seem too jealous.

Peeking over the shrubs.

Round two ended with Mia realizing she had a ton of snow on the skin of her back, she was mad, and ready to call it a day.

Tour Day 3 in Israel...

2009-03-23T17:51:00.005-05:00

Day 3 in Israel was great. We got to go to the ancient fortress of Masada (I can't really remember the history of it, it was pretty impressive though, I'm just not good with details.) After this hot time in the middle of the desert, we went to En Gedi (this was where David hid out for a while. This place was a GORGEOUS place in the middle of the desert. From waterfalls, to pools of water, to wonderfully beautiful caves where he hid out, wow, not too bad for a king in hiding.) We ended the day with a quick 10 minute swim in the Dead Sea. (Any longer can seriously dehydrate you.) This was such a crazy experience. You seriously float without any effort. Actually you have to use a LOT of effort to NOT float. We also got to cover ourselves in mud. (People pay lots of money for this in the states. Little did we know that we should have really let it dry for over an hour. Oops. My skin still never felt softer.) We had a great time on this day.

We had to take a cable car up the mountain. I was kinda nervous. I never realized I was a little scared of heights.

View from the top. Thats the dead sea in the distance.

Looking down. Nope these aren't ant hills. You can still see the piles of rocks that made out the Roman campgrounds before they attacked Masada. Its not recreated. Its the originals.

The "kids" on top of Masada.

A miniature scale of Masada.

Jody and Chris walked down the mountain. This is their self portrait. It took them about 45 minutes to walk down this very steep, very HOT mountain fortress.

This is just one of Several waterfalls at En Gedi. This place was GORGEOUS!!!! David had a nice, relaxing hiding place.

Jody in one of the waterfall pools.

Megan and I at one of the waterfalls. The water was too cold for us to get in.

Floating in the dead sea. Chris in the background, Linda behind us (you had to be VERY careful on your belly, it would dunk you fast.) It was effortless to float. It was like you were on a raft.

Getting mud masks. It was so funny!

These caves are all over the place. It finally made sense to me why everyone in the Bible hid out in caves. They were nice and cool, plus they are everywhere so it would be hard to find you in them.

Once again, another fun-filled, eye opening day!

Day 2

2009-03-22T11:09:00.009-05:00

On the 2nd day of touring Jerusalem, we visited many sites of where Jesus himself walked. We started off at the Garden Tomb of Jesus, then went for a time of worship on the Mt of Olives (here we sat on an overlook of Jerusalem, where Jody led us in a time of worship and we were able to sing out and pray over Jerusalem, it was one of the most powerful times in Israel for me.), and ending the day in the Garden of Gethsemani. This was such a wonderful day of picturing Jesus himself in each of these places. I will never read the Bible the same again. (oh, we also got to go to a Holocaust museum today, it was also quite moving.)

Jody leading us in worship in the Garden. We also had communion here. I could have stayed here for several hours. It was a beautiful Garden.

"Excuse me sir, He's not in there. He is RISEN." :)

Quite possibly Golgotha, where Jesus hung on the cross. Can you see the skull face in the rock. (Kinda hard to see in a picture.)

Jody and Chris are so Spiritual. Ahem...

The tomb entrance.

Where possibly Jesus was buried. Wow, can you just imagine????

Jody leading worship on the Mt of Olives. POWERFUL!

Looking out from the Mt of Olives.

The Holocaust museum.

The Golden Gates. Wow! Where Jesus will re-enter His City!

Garden of Gethsemani

Cathedral at the Garden of Gethsemani

Quite possibly the exact Olive Tree that Jesus sat and prayed under, while the disciples slept. (Yes, these trees really do date back to Jesus' time.)

This was one of my favorite days in Israel! Ah, the history I learned! This transformed me!

More days to come...

We are home...

2009-03-17T22:01:00.004-05:00

I am still waiting for my head to stop spinning, but its just not happening. Maybe tomorrow.

We got back to town Saturday afternoon, after a very LONG 12 hour flight, then 4 hour flight, then 1 hour flight. (all with some layovers in between.) We made it back with no real issues, and believe me, I was BEYOND ready to see my girls! They greeted us at the airport with amazing roses, big signs, and even bigger hugs and kisses. (more pictures of that later.)

Since it has seemed like a whirlwind of laundry, jet lag, adjusting, and then going to Lubbock Monday night so Eisley could get tubes yesterday morning (which couldn't have gone better, well, waiting the 3 hours before her surgery could have been shorter, but I'm just glad its over. Eisley's doing GREAT!) I have just not had time to sit down at the computer to post pictures of our trip. And honestly, even the thought of that has seemed overwhelming. That's why I decided that I am going to try to make a post every day for the next couple of days with some pictures of each day of our trip (well, only the touring days.) We'll see if I can hold myself to that good plan. I can not promise you captions on ALL the pictures. I'm having a hard time remembering what each picture was of.

Both Jody and I are so glad to be home, but both of us talk about how our hearts long to be back. I don't know if I could necessarily live over there, but I would LOVE to visit Israel once a year, at least, for the rest of my life. We just simply loved it and want to go back with each and every one of you. I hope you each get a chance in your life to visit this Glorious place that Jesus Himself grew up. Amazing.

So, for now, I will try to post some pictures. (as long as the internet isn't too slow. It has a mind of its own.) Enjoy!

Day 1 -

On this day we visited the recent discovery of the City of David, Peter's Cock Crow, Southern Steps, Western Wall, Rabbinical Tunnels, and simply received a great overview of the history of Jerusalem.

An overlook of Jerusalem, what Beauty!

Our hotel bath, everyone seems curious about our accommodations, it was a Sheraton, very nice

Even a few English shows, like CNN, Fox News, MTV, and VH1

Our "home on the road" our touring bus, good times

Another overlook of Jerusalem

You can see the mount of Olives from this view (that big tall building is on the Mount)

Jody and Tom at the Western (Wailing) Wall

A Jewish class in Jerusalem

Sitting on the Southern Steps (Yep, Jesus taught on these steps)

They had Coke in Israel, but it wasn't so yummy.

The Southern Steps at dawn

The Western Wall at dawn

The Women side of the Western Wall (yep, segregated)

Tiberius...

2009-03-09T10:45:00.004-05:00

Yesterday, we checked out of our hotel in Jerusalem, and make the trip here to Tiberius. Its about 60 miles away, but we made it a day long trip, seeing many sites in between. Today (Monday) we spent the day working at a school. We did a lot of dirt work, including Jody working VERY hard digging a drainage tunnel away from the side of the school into a little pond area. We also cleared out a bomb shelter of a lot of debris. (Many bomb shelters around the area are used as storage, so when the actual NEED for the shelter comes, it is by no means suitable for people. We really had a great day. We will work there again Wednesday and Thursday.

Let me just tell you, I have been completely overwhelmed by the magnificance of the Lord. Every now and then, his spirt just hits a little more, then a little more, and today was just one of those days. Its GORGEOUS here in Tiberius. We have moved from dirty desert BLAH (even though the city of Jerusalem is amazing in its own Glory of the Lord, but not by looks, if that makes sense.) to a city of lush, green beautiful hills and a gorgeous Sea of Galilee. Our room has an incredible view of the Sea. Its just breathtaking. So, as we were driving to our hotel (which is about an hour away) I just got to listen to my music and watch the beauty of the Lord. I was really overcome by emotion on our way home as I listened to a band call Jesus Culture. They are a worship band, and it was one of the first times here in Israel where I heard the words to a song that I love to sing with and worship with, but NOW it meant something completely different. I have seen, felt, experienced so many things of the Lord over here, so the words of the Bible just mean so much more. I know I'm not making much sense, but just believe me, it has just been amazing. The Lord made it clear to me that this trip would be a life-changing experience for me, and wow, it has already, and we aren't finished. God is just so amazing, and His beauty amongst His people is just breathtaking!

Our internet at this hotel is MUCH slower for some reason, so I can't post any pictures yet. Instead, I will leave you the lyrics to one of my "bus songs" today that literally brought me to tears by its new meaning to me. (Don't forget to keep checking in on our trip website. It has lots of details and pictures of us here.)

My Romance (Jesus Culture)

Look at the way the flowers bloom for you,
they want to show you their beauty, Lord
Running waters dance,
You and I romance

Unto You, be all the glory

Angels dance around You
The earth it sings about You
Open up the heavens, Lord,
Let your kingdom come to earth

My praises all surround You
My soul can't dance without You
Open up the heavens Lord
Let your kingdom come to earth

Jerusalem has been AMAZING...

2009-03-06T15:51:00.003-06:00

I'll be honest, one of my favorite things here in Jerusalem has been being able to use the Skype program to talk to my girls (and mom, and sister, sister in law, and even Brad and Ashley). It has been such a blessing to see them face to face (on the computer) and talk with them in real time, and for FREE!!! (Thanks Ash for the heads up that Skype is DEFINITELY the way to go when millions of miles away!)

Okay, other than that, Jerusalem has really been amazing. Today was a little more of an emotional day since we got to spend time worshiping at the Garden Tomb, Garden of Gethsemene, and the Mt of Olives. Its as if I could even smell the Lord Jesus there with us! Oh, it was incredible.

I'll be honest, I'm super tired, and ready for bed. So, since I've already fallen asleep for 2 hours, then woke up frantically because not only were we supposed to call Chris and Megan back to play cards tonight, but we also needed to go buy the internet so we could call the girls. So, now we have fixed the internet, called the girls, but no card game because we can't remember what room Chris and Magen are in. So, I will go to bed now, but I wanted you to still check out some pictures of our trip and a blog that Terry (One of the leaders of our group) has been working on for the past 2 days. The trip website is HERE.

I hope everyone is doing well. We are excited about our day tomorrow. It will involve more travel time than we've had so far, but we get to see many more neat things, including a swim in the dead sea. So, goodnight to all (even though its just the afternoon for all of you Texans.) :)

We're here!

2009-03-04T14:31:00.002-06:00

Hello from Jerusalem! So, we finally made it to Israel. Our plane landed in Tel Aviv today (Wednesday) at 4:10pm (which was 8:10am in Amarillo). We had no issues really, except having to sit on the runway in Dallas for 1 hour and 20 minutes. But we finally made it to Newark for a 5 hour layover, and then had a 9 hour flight to Tel Aviv. Jody and I both took some good medicine, so we ended up sleeping at least 6-8 of those hours. (I lost count.) We heard it was a VERY bumpy ride, but neither of us remember it. We then had a bus ride from Tel Aviv to our hotel in Jerusalem. We are all pretty exhausted, but had a good dinner, took a little walk with another couple on the trip, then came back to our room to talk on the computer with our girls. (Oh how I am LOVING Skype!) Well, I haven't downloaded any pictures yet, but I really want to go to bed now, so I will just have to leave it at that. Goodnight all!

PS...Michael Medved was on our flight from Newark to Tel Aviv (for those of you who even know who that is. I only kinda know of him through Jody listening to him on the radio.)

PPS...my blog settings and sign in are ALL in Hebrew. How in the world does that happen, and how do I change it. Hmmm...

It's almost time...

2009-03-01T22:35:00.004-06:00

*Update...I originally thought that Israel was 11 hours ahead of Amarillo time, but now I think it is only 8 hours. (That is only if Jody's iphone is correct, and he assures me that his Iphone is NEVER wrong. Hmmm.) Leaving the girls tonight was rough, really rough. But we did it! The first few days are always the hardest, well, until the last couple of days, but we'll do great, I promise. Goodnight to all!

*I think this is the group blog for our trip to ISRAEL. Feel free to check in on it to see what we're doing.*

This Tuesday (yes, 35 hours from right now) Jody and I begin on our journey to Israel with 10 other people. We will be gone for 12 days. This is definitely the longest I have EVER been away from the girls. Just tonight, as I have started packing (which is amazing for me. I am usually a very last minute packer. What if I need something? That's always my excuse.) it began to hit me that we will be leaving in two short days. I am truly holding back tears right now as I type. (The keys are getting blurry. Hold it together Sarah!) :) Since I'm pretty sure tomorrow is going to be kinda crazy, I thought I'd go ahead and fill everyone in on how they could be praying for us while we are gone. Hopefully I will be able to spend a little time blogging while I'm away, and even post pictures, but we'll see. So, here is a brief summery of what we will be doing, and how you can pray for us.

Praying...

- For Eisley to get BETTER. (She has been sick since Wednesday with a constant fever, probably just the flu like her sister had earlier in the week.)

-For Jody and I to be able to enjoy our time away and allow the Lord to transform our view of Him, the Bible, and everything in between.

- For the Lord to protect my heart from missing the girls and home too much. I know He will do this for me.

-For strength, rest, HEALTH and safety while we travel.

-For my motion sickness to not bother me at ALL. (We will get to have a dinner on the Sea of Galilee.) If Jesus can calm the exact same sea, HE can also calm my stomach on that sea. (oh thats good, if I say so myself.)

- For the week to fly by for the girls, and for them not to miss us too much.

-For both Jody's and my families who are caring for the girls while we are gone. Give them strength, patience, and a great time loving on our girls.

Our Schedule...(Israel is 11 hours ahead of Amarillo Time.)

Day 1 and 2 (Tues, 3/3, Wed 3/4)- Travel to Dallas, Newark, then Tel Aviv (then driving to Jerusalem) settle into our hotel

Day 3 (Thurs, 3/5)- City of David, Southern Steps, Western Wall, Temple Mount, and the Rabbinical Tunnels

Day 4 (Fri, 3/6)- Today we walk where Jesus walked. Mount of Olives, Garden of Gethsemane, Peter's Cock Crow and the Pavement, and the Garden Tomb.

Day 5 (Sat, 3/7)- Fortress of Masada, float the Dead Sea, Ein Gedi, and Qumran

Day 6 (Sun, 3/8)- Travel from Jerusalem to new hotel stay in Tiberias. Will also visit Beit Shean, and Gideon Springs.

Day 7, 8, 9 (Mon, 3/9- Wed 3/11)- These days we will be doing work at a school (plastering, painting, etc.) Jody will be very good at this.

Day 10 (Thurs, 3/12) Today visit the Golon Heights, Caesarea Philippi and Mt Arbel. And dinner on the Sea of Galilee.

Day 11 and 12 (Fri, 3/13-Sat 3/14) Checking out of our hotel, then visiting, Mt. of Beatitudes, Capernaum, Tabgha, then travel back to Tel Aviv airport. GOING HOME!!! Should arrive back in Amarillo on Saturday afternoon.

So, yes, we are very excited, a little nervous, but so excited. We both know that it is going to be a life-changing trip, and I can't wait to see what the Lord has for us! Thank you each for praying for us and our families. Blessings!

The saga continues...

2009-02-26T23:41:00.004-06:00

Late last night after church, we left Amarillo to go to Lubbock for Eisley's tube surgery. Like I had mentioned previously, Eisley had a fever all day, but we had been treating it with Tylenol and Motrin alternating, hoping to nip it in the bud. She continued with the fever all night. We didn't get to Lubbock until after midnight, and after a rough night's sleep (only like 5 hours before we had to get up again.) we headed to the hospital to check in at 6am. After taking Eisley's vitals and everything, it was finally decided by the dr and anesthesiologist that they could not do the surgery today due to Eisley's fever. (I guess its pretty risky to put a child so young under when they have a fever, even though the actual procedure only takes like 5 minutes. I guess it can make the lungs weak and even allow pneumonia to set in, even in such a short time.) Even though we wanted what was best and safest for Eisley, oh wow, we were seriously bummed. Not to mention how guilty I was feeling about making the drive to Lubbock even after my husband was second guessing it. I really was believing in full faith that she would wake up without a fever, but it just didn't work out that way.

I was bummed for a good hour probably, but after a WONDERFUL blueberry muffin and dirty chai from our favorite coffee shop (shout out to Justin, Marla, and Sugar Browns) I finally got over it, knowing that the Lord would take care of this tubes surgery later. We did reschedule it for the Tuesday after we get back from Israel. And although that is only 3 days after we get back home, and traveling yet again will be the furthest thing from our mind, we know that we need to get it done as soon as possible. SO, all to say...I'm good with it. The good news is that we were back at home by 10:45am and I was able to enjoy a little bit of my Mother's Day Out. Thank you for all your prayers!

Doesn't she look sad, scared, and not feeling so great. She totally knew something was up in this strange place. But at least Mickey Mouse Clubhouse was distracting her some.

I'm getting "Flustrated"

2009-02-25T11:59:00.005-06:00

Well, that's how Mia says "Frustrated", and don't try to correct her because she gets very mad! So, this is why I'm "flustrated."...

-Sunday Morning Mia woke up with a high fever all day, took her to the dr. Monday (still had fever and body aches), and yep, she has the flu. (She is much better now though.)

-Eisley was doing something with her little chair (I actually did not see what happened, Mia gave a brief play by play of what happened, but I'm still not sure.) and fell with the chair hitting her in the nose...HARD. This left a BIG bruise on her nose, along with a little nosebleed. If she was a boy, I know I wouldn't have been so concerned. Oh, the joy of girls.

-Eisley goes to get tubes put in tomorrow in Lubbock, and what happens this morning??? She wakes up with a fever. Yes, its a low one, and she just pretty fussy, but we are praying hard against it!!!! (and Mia is coughing like crazy!)

-I get a call from my mom a couple hours ago saying that she fell down some stairs at church and hurt her ankle bad. They took her to the hospital to get x-rays and saw that it is a bad sprain. She's in a lot of pain, and will have to put it up with ice for 24 hours and wear a splint. What makes this even worse (well, not worse, but not better either.) is that Mia was supposed to stay the night with my mom tonight (my dad's out of town on business, of course.) while we stay the night in Lubbock. Thankfully I have a wonderful sister who is always so quick to step up and save the day! (Thanks Jill, especially for talking me through my tears earlier too!)

So, all to say, I am REALLY frustrated with Satan! That sounds really spiritual, but its beyond obvious that he is trying to mess up our week, and especially our week of preparing for Israel! (we leave next Tuesday!) We are claiming healing over EVERYONE and we know that all is going to be great. It has just made me really emotional today. I know I'm getting a little nervous about leaving, especially leaving the girls for so long, but Satan is NOT going to steal my joy and excitement.

-(UPDATE) since I first posted this, now our garage door will not close. Its acting like something is in the way of the lasers, which won't let it close unless you hold the button down the entire time...REALLY????

This is what I feel like doing!

So, what I am asking is that you pray for us, our family, the tubes surgery tomorrow, my mom's ankle to heal quickly so she can take care of my girls with ease for the next two weeks, and just for Satan to back off! Thank you each for your love and support! Hope your week is going better than ours! (I really do know that I will be laughing about this by the end of today, but for now, I will be "flustrated" and emotional!) Blessings!

EVENT: Valentine's Party

2009-02-19T20:17:00.007-06:00

So, this is the sequence of events lately, now that Eisley has formed an opinion for herself, especially when her sister has something she wants.

Step One...Mia is very much enjoying the icing on her cookie.

Step Two...Eisley gets very irritated that she doesn't have a cookie and that her sister is not sharing.

Step Three...Hey new friend of mine that sits next to Mia, "You gonna eat that cookie on your plate?"

Step Four..."Anyone sharing at that table???"

Step Five..."Fine, I'll just eat the table."

Step Six..."Score!!!

Silly sisters.

Update...

2009-02-13T12:19:00.004-06:00

Wow! What a serious whirlwind of a week it has been! It felt so good/hurt so bad to finally make it back to the gym this morning. What a release! (we'll see if that's how I still feel tomorrow!) :)

Anyways, so we went to Lubbock for the ENT apt on Wednesday. It was a VERY long day as we left the house around 8:30am and didn't get home until around 10pm. Both girls first had hearing tests. Mia's hearing test went very good, but Eisley's wasn't quite as good. The audiologist said that all the fluid behind her ears is definitely affecting her hearing some, but the tubes will clear that up. So YES, we are having tubes done for Eisley. The doctor was VERY confident that she needed it. We really liked the dr. He was so great with both girls! The even greater part of the day was that the surgery was able to be scheduled before we leave for Israel! That was my biggest prayer of all! It will take place on Thursday the 26th. I can't tell you how ready I am. But I am a little sad (and glad at the same time) at the thought of all the progress she is going to make in the 11 days that we will be gone! I just know that her clearer ears are going to make her walk so much better and even talk more. I hope that she comes running to me when I walk in the door after Israel!

Well, thank you each for all your prayers. Eisley's doing much better, but I can still tell that her ears continue to bother her, even on day 5 of antibiotics. Oh well, we are persevering! Again, thank you for the encouraging words and prayers! I hope you each have an amazing, LOVE- FILLED weekend!

Daddy and his other PRINCESS!!!

What a week!

2009-02-10T17:43:00.006-06:00

So, as of last week, Eisley started having a horrible runny nose, and slight chest cough. So, of course, I started her on a decongestant we had at the house. It helped some, but didn't get much better. Sunday morning she woke up with a fever, so the girls and I stayed home from church. (Which was kinda nice because it was pretty cold and overcast, which is the perfect cleaning weather for me!!!) We did medicine all day to control her fever, which kept leaving and coming back. That night before we put her to bed, she felt VERY warm, so I took her temp again, and this time it was 103.4. So, I called the on call dr, and he told us we needed to take her to the ER. Thankfully my in laws were in town for the night, so they were able to stay at the house while Mia slept. It couldn't have been more perfect for them to be here. (Thank you soooo much Randy and Becky for staying so late that night! I know it was exhausting!) (Oh, did I also mention that we were also in the middle of a HUGE thunderstorm, which was why my in laws hadn't made it to their hotel yet.) We ended up spending about 3 hours in the waiting room before we decided to leave without seeing a dr. (Long story short, her fever broke around hour 2, so she was acting much better, and was definitely tired, so we left.)

Eisley leaving the dr apt. She was already doing SOOO much better!

We thought the fever was over for good, but it came back the next morning, waking us up at 6am. We finally got to see our dr that afternoon, and guess what it was??? Yep, another ear infection and an unknown virus. I've lost count of how many ear infections Eisley's had since Nov, but I think its around 6. Funny thing is that we go to the ENT dr tomorrow to talk about tubes. I know that tubes in kids is a very controversial thing among parents these days, but I want you to know that I am VERY good with her getting tubes. I am so tired of ear infections, not to mention having to load her with antibiotics every two weeks. (No exaggerations!)

So, we are simply praying that their will be a quick opening for her to get her tubes done before we leave for Israel in 3 weeks. We are also good if the Lord heals her before tomorrow. If we go in and the dr see's no signs of chronic ear infections, we will definitely consider her healed. We also know, though, that the Lord can also heal her through the tubes. So, please pray for us tomorrow. Mia and Eisley will both be seen tomorrow, but I'm not concerned about Mia. We won't do tubes for her. Anyways, thats kinda an update for our family this past week. I'll tell you one thing...I am SOOOO TIRED of sicknesses! No more! Hope you are all having a great SICK FREE week! Blessings!

Pay no attention to the stuff in the dining room...a post about that soon to come.

Recipe Exchange...

2009-02-03T14:58:00.006-06:00

My great friend, Ashley, had the amazing idea to do kinda a "recipe exchange" in the blogging world. Like her, I too get so tired of making the same 'ole things every week, and struggle at times to find new, SIMPLE, meals that my whole family will enjoy. (Although my husband is perfectly great with me making the basics every week. In fact, he not the biggest fan of my trying new things. It has to be super amazing for him to allow a new recipe into the weekly meals.)

If you want to join in on the fun, simply follow the the link to Ashley's blog, and check out her comment section. Make sure to add your recipe name and link to her comments as well! I'm so excited to have new recipes!!!!

Here is an amazing recipe that if ALWAYS a hit in my family, and I recently got to make it for my in-laws too, and they seemed to like it a lot as well. (Or maybe they were just being kind.) :) Its a recipe from a lady that I love, adore, and admire.

Brenda's Chicken Pot Pie

1 (29 oz) can homestyle mixed cut vegetables, drained (Veg-All)

(I also add one small can of diced potatoes, drained, because my husband enjoys the extra potatoes)

1 can cream of chicken soup

2 1/2 cups shredded chicken, cooked

3/4 cup milk

1 cup shredded cheddar/jack cheese

salt/pepper

1 box Pillsbury Pie crust (room temperature)

1 egg beaten

1.) Mix vegetables, soup, chicken, milk, cheese, salt and pepper

2.) Place 1 crust in 9 inch pie plate

3.) Pour chicken mixture into pie plate-place top crust on top (I like to weave the top crust like an apple pie, or even use cookie cutters to make seasonal designs on the top, like snowfakes, christmas trees, or hearts)

4.) Use foil or pie edge saver along crust

5.) Bake 45 minutes to 1 hour until golden brown at 350 degrees

*Serves nicely with a big salad or fruit salad

Here's an old picture of Mia helping me make Chicken Pot Pie one night (This was actually taken almost a year ago to the day.)

What's new???

2009-01-31T14:24:00.006-06:00

I really have found it hard to blog recently. I know a lot is going on right now, but I just felt like I haven't had much to say. So, I thought I'd give a little update on what is going on around the Wilson household in this season of life.

So, as of mid-January, Jody took the position of INTERIM youth minister at a church here in Amarillo. Actually, it is the same church we were at 3-4 years ago. At that time, Jody was the associate youth minister and led worship for the youth. I could honestly say that I NEVER thought that we'd be back in youth ministry, but the Lord brought this about through a series of events, and with much counsel through trusted friends, we decided to do it. We have a desire to bring healing and restoration to this youth group by showing them the Lord's greatness! This is a part time position with Jody only having to be there on Wednesdays and Sundays. We continue to go to our home church, Messiah's House, since they meet on Saturday nights, we just can't go to our Wednesday night lifegroup for a few months. (Which we miss terribly! But its just for a season!) This position plus the part time salary Jody gets through his worship ministry, Lionsong Ministries, allows Jody to not really have to depend quite as much on remodeling jobs right now to make ends meet. I truly believe the Lord has told me that this season (which may be anywhere from 3-6 months possibly) is going to be a time of rest for our family, but mainly for Jody. It will give him more down time to write new songs that the Lord is pouring into him, and also just time to devote to his ministry. We are having a great time with where the Lord has brought us. Its a little tiring come the weekends, but totally worth it! This position is also so great that they have told Jody upfront that he can continue to travel WHENEVER he needs to with worship events with Lionsong. This was a huge blessing since that is his true heart! Anyways, we are once again learning how to minister to youth when its not always so fun. (I really don't miss High School and Middle School, by the way.) We would ask for your continued prayers and support through this season and that we would be sensitive to the Lord's voice at all times.

The second thing is that Jody and I have the opportunity to go to Israel in March. Jody was asked to lead worship for a group that is going over there, and they are allowing me to come too!!! We are having to raise the support for my way, which is completely awkward, but its totally worth it. Please visit our Lionsong Ministries website HERE for more updates. We know the Lord has opened this door for us, so we know without a doubt that he will provide for it! We will be there for 11 days, which seems like an eternity when I think of leaving our girls for that long, but I know the Lord will protect my heart and theirs while we are gone. (Huh, Ash???) We will get to do many things, including a lot of sight-seeing and walk where Jesus walked and worship where He worshipped. I just can't describe to you my excitement, which is huge since when Jody first talked about the trip I would just cry at the thought of being gone from the girls and home for so long. I know we are going to be eternally changed from this trip! Have I mentioned how excited I am about this opportunity??? :)

Well, I can't help post without posting pictures so I will try to find a few random pictures to put on here, and I'm sure they will be of the girls. :) Blessings to each of you! Happy Superbowl Weekend!

Oh yeah, we've been doing some painting and stuff to our house. We bought it almost 5 years ago, so we've been needing a little change here and there. Mia had fun with it, too, obviously!

Fun in Eisley's room before bed one night

Having fun with dad at the "man store"

Attempting to take a New Years picture...no one really cooperating.

Praying for Ashley...

2009-01-20T17:48:00.003-06:00

My dearest friend, Ashley, left last Thursday to go with her church on a mission trip to India. I am so proud of her for going. She is leaving behind her son, daughter, and husband to go minister to the people of India. This was a fairly hard decision for her as a mom, but she knew the Lord was calling her, so she went.

She had many people offer to pray for her during her trip so she was able to assign people to specific days of her trip. Although I think about her often, therefore, I pray for her each time I think about her, today is my assigned day to pray for her in a more focused way. I know the Lord is using her in so many ways to reach the women and children of India, but I also know that He is teaching her so many new things about Himself at the same time. I know she will see the world differently when she returns home on the 29th (yep, 2 weeks is a very long time to leave her family!!!) and I am excited to have that impact me as well!

So, I ask that you would also pray for my dear friend Ashley as well. You can read about her trip and specific prayer needs on her blog here. Thank you for lifting her up!

A new year...

2009-01-17T22:49:00.008-06:00

I have had a SERIOUSLY hard time getting back to blogging. It seems like through the rush of the holidays, it just was a little overwhelming to think about blogging. Yes, I've had MANY things that I COULD blog about, but it just couldn't happen. It hasn't helped that our internet has been super slow so every time I try to blog with pictures it takes forever!!! I really have blogged three times recently, but could never post them. UGH! Very frustrating! Oh well. So, the thought of trying to "catch up" on the last month and a half worth of "events" that have gone on made me cringe. Maybe I will post about them later if I get the time, but for now, I will just go from today on. (well, with a little look back on Christmas cookie time with Mia, Eisley, and my sisters girls Bailey and Addison.) Enjoy, and Happy New Year everyone! (I know, a little late for that!) :)

Before...

During...

When you turn your back on a 3 year old with sprinkles...OOPS!

Eisley wanted to decorate cookies too...but needed to be shirtless.

Cookies anyone???? Yikes!

I SWORE I would NEVER match my girls...whelp, never say never. OOPS. But don't they look sweet? (now, I don't do it ALL the time, just every now and then.) :)

Aren't we cute too??? Just kidding! But I do LOVE this man!

Happy New Year...

2009-01-01T16:12:00.004-06:00

What a great time to show you a video of Eisley's newest trick...Hope you enjoy!!! I pray that you each have an amazing year of many great blessings!!!!

(Great job on the video, Jody!!!!)

Candycanes and cupcakes...

2008-12-16T20:28:00.011-06:00

"If all the snowflakes were candycanes and cupcakes, oh what a snow that would be. Standing outside with my mouth open wide, AH AH A AH A AH A AH A AH. If all the snowflakes were candycanes and cupcakes, oh what a snow that would be."

Mia had here Christmas program today at Mother's Day Out, and Mia's class had the cutest outfits EVER! They sang the song I wrote above, and they boys were dressed as Candy Canes and the girls as cupcakes. We as parents had no clue about this and it was the cutest thing EVER! I am saving the cupcake outfit though, maybe you will see it again on Eisley at a future Halloween! (Yes, it was THAT cute!)

I just LOVE LOVE LOVE this Christmas holiday season! We have already celebrated one Christmas (with my immediate family) last weekend, and then we have my extended family Christmas this coming weekend. Only to be followed by our own Christmas next weekend, then on to Jody's family in Childress after that! Its a lot of traveling, but it is SOOO worth it! I just love the sights and sounds of it all!

We also had a few snowflakes this week, so have been able to finally enjoy a fire in our fireplace for the first time this season! I love having a fireplace! So, enjoy these great pictures of our first fire of the season and our sweet little cupcake! Merry Christmas!

Don't be fooled. That is a REAL tree, not a fake one! It's probably the best looking one we've ever had!

Yes, I know. Eisley's stocking doesn't have her name on it yet. (We didn't hang them last year because we couldn't find them.) I'll take it to the Monogram shop soon.)

Our 'lil cupcake, even with a cherry on top!

My mom and her "lil cupcakes

Oh, and a shout-out goes out to my sister-in-law, Leah! Today is her birthday, so, Happy Birthday Leah! Hope your day was amazing!

There's no place like home...

2008-12-09T17:57:00.003-06:00

We are still in Kansas. We have been here since Saturday night. Jody led worship at a church here in Garden City, KS Sunday morning, then is leading tonight for a prayer service (which they are practicing for as I type.) We've had a great time here in the small town of Garden City (which Jody so appropriately puts..."we have yet to see a Garden or a City.") The people have been so kind to us, and we have had wonderful time alone. (The girls have been splitting their time with both of our parents.) So, I thought I'd just share a little with you about our time here...

-we started the trip off with a 30 minute (or more) detour on our way to GC. (I was driving, Jody was typing. Everyone told me that it was just a straight shot, not to veer off at any time...EXCEPT at one point where I WAS supposed to veer off, but no one told me that!) That just proves that Jody should ALWAYS drive on trips.

- I went to a women's Christmas dinner and ornament exchange at the church here, and had a wonderful time. (which, between us, :) going to events that I know NO ONE really stresses me out and makes me very nervous, but I really did have a great time.)

- we have eaten at Applebees twice (and maybe one more time to come after the service tonight.) and I only really liked my meal once. Bummer. Note to self- stick with what works.

- we have been to Target 4 times, to both shop a little and get a lot of coffee (They have a Starbucks in there.)

- we went to a movie (which we haven't done in a long time!) Everyone really needs to see the movie Australia. It was amazing!

- we have slept in for two days now, and loved every minute of it! (and in our king size bed at the hotel...WANT ONE BAD!)

- we ate dinner at the Lone Star Steakhouse. Yep, shout out to TEXAS! It was pretty good, but not as good as a real Texas
steak!

- we made an 11:30PM trip to the Walmart one night...which we never get to do TOGETHER at home. What Freedom!

- they have a Buckle here, it was a nice experience.

- Jody got me to go to Golden Corral for lunch today (there aren't many options here, but don't tell Jody that I kinda enjoyed it.)

- and one of the best parts was that it snowed here this morning, so I got to experience my first snow for the season here the same day it was snowing for the first time in Amarillo. It was a fun blessing!

well, thats about it for our time here in Kansas. It really has been a good time. I always love a little alone time with my husband! He is truly my best friend, and I always have fun when I'm with him. But, I AM ready to be home with my girls!

Sick of it!!!!

2008-12-05T09:38:00.012-06:00

I am so sick of being sick! I am sick of sickness being in our home! UGH! In the past month, both of my girls got an ear infection...then two weeks later they BOTH got ear infections again (or the others never cleared up) which included one of Mia's ear drums rupturing. Then we also ALL (minus Eisley) got the horrible stomach bug (and shared it with Jody's mom, dad, sister, 3 mth old niece, aunt, and cousin over Thanksgiving. And now, I found out yesterday that I have strep throat, sinus infection, and an almost ear infection. I was hurting REALLY bad yesterday! My throat hurts pretty bad still today, but I do see progress. At least my horrible headache is gone! Thank the Lord for medicine, even if it did have to come in the form of a shot!

I really believe strongly that this sickness has been a huge attack from Satan on our family. We never get this sick this often!!! I know the Lord is doing great things in our family, and even preparing us for things unseen, so I really can quickly see this as an attack from the enemy! Please join me as we pray against this! Its kinda ridiculous!!! Jody is leading worship this weekend through Tuesday night in Kansas, and I get to go with him! Just him and me, and I am so excited! (Thanks to Nana, Grandad, MaMaw and Papa for watching our girls for the next 5 days) Not that Garden City, Kansas is going to be an exciting of a town, but it WILL be fun just to have some alone time with my husband! Therefore, I HAVE to be feeling better by tomorrow morning!

I had thought about posting a sad picture of me sick, just to get the point across, but then I quickly decided against that, realizing...Who in the world would enjoy that???? NO ONE!!!!! So, instead here are some other pictures from happier times over the Thanksgiving week (when people weren't sick!)

Mia was ALL excited to see Santa and give him her list (a piece of paper she had writen stuff only Santa could understand) but when it came down to being right next to Santa, she freaked out once again, and did NOT want to be near him. So, at least this year I didn't force her to sit in Santa's lap like I did last year.

Mia last year in Santa's lap. She didn't out-grow it. Maybe next year???

Eisley, "um, yeah, I'm sitting in Santa's lap, no big deal. I'll just sit here and suck my thumb. What's the big deal Mia?"

Our family with Jody's mom (his dad was...you guessed it...at home sick!)

Jody's sister, Amy, and her husband Zach (Zoe was sleeping in the stroller)

Our family, waiting an hour and a half to see Santa...OUTSIDE!

Daddy and Eisley

Eisley waiting so patiently to see Santa

Mia waiting for Santa...and it was SOOO cold outside!

Eisley still waiting

Our niece, Zoe, she's getting so big!

Great Deal!

2008-12-01T12:18:00.003-06:00

So, this past week my mother in law showed me an amazing ad for United. This ad has a tremendous deal for this week (it expires in a few days though). I cashed in on this deal yesterday. Finding such great deals like this makes me feel like such a great wife and mom in how I saved us so much money. Very Thrifty! So, here's the ad! I just couldn't keep this deal to myself. We definately enjoyed our yummy lasagna meal yesterday, I hope you will too!

All you have to buy is the Party Size Lasagna, and then you get a salad, 6 pack of Ozarka water, bakery french bread, parmasean cheese, and a spatula for FREE!!!!

Lets just start with Halloween.

2008-11-25T16:35:00.016-06:00

I know, I know...Its been over a month since I've blogged. Yes, part of my excuse was that our computer was broken, but i've had that back for a week now. But I did have my parents' laptop for most of that time, but I just could find the "umph" to blog when I couldn't post pictures. So, please accept my appologies. Its amazing the "umph" it requires to blog again after such a long delay.

Now, a lot has happened in the past month, including my daughters FIRST birthday! (Which was actually the day of the computer "incident") I don't have the pictures downloaded from her party yet, but I assure you when I do, I will make a sweet post about my one year old. (Actually, 13 month old now.)

For now, I will start with some Halloween pictures. It was a very fun night. We have been planning with the Ingrams for several years now for our kids to all go as something coordinating. We thought about the Wizard of Oz, but that wasn't good for this year. Last year we were going to have Mia and Noah be Pebbles and Bam Bam, but it didn't work out then either. This year we decided on a football player and Cheerleaders. Then we decided that since their parents are all Red Raiders, then it was only appropriate for them to be supporting Tech. We didn't realize it at the time, but we later realized that Halloween was actually the day before the big Tech vs Texas game, so it was PERFECT! I'd like to say our kids had a little to do with the big win the next day! (Maybe they should have been wearing their costumes last weekend. Hmmm.) Needless to say, we had a great time, and the girls really enjoyed themselves too! I hope you all enjoy the pictures, and I guess I will post again in a month. KIDDING!

The Family

What, mom???

Cheerleader Eisley

Great, huh?

She can't smile any bigger...really.

Mia and Noah

Cheerleader Kayt! What a beauty!

Our friend Noah...AKA Texas Tech Football Player (But seriously, this guy really may be one someday! He's quite the athlete!)

I'm back....kinda

2008-11-03T21:37:00.002-06:00

So, it has now been a week and a half since our computer had half a bottle of water spilt on it (I won't mention who's fault that was. But all I'm saying is that it wasn't my fault. Or the girls. But I'm not saying who's it was.) :) So, I am waiting ever so patiently for it to get fixed. Thankfully I have been able to get on my parents computer a few times to check email quickly, but thats it.

So, I promise, when our computer is fixed, I will get back on and post important things and pictures like my daughters FIRST BIRTHDAY, Halloween, and other fun things. (like how Eisley now has her third tooth, and closely followed by her fourth, fifth, AND sixth teeth shortly behind.)

Happy Voting tomorrow, and Happy Birthday to my dear friend MARLA tomorrow!!!! Hope you have an amazing day, Marla! Take that much needed four hour nap, k?

Jody's favorite things...

2008-10-19T17:44:00.014-05:00

So, I have been tagged by my sweet friend Magen, so here is a list of things that probably no one else cares about but me, but here I go anyway...

Here is some things my husband loves, but in no particular order (only the order that comes to my mind.)

1.) Playing sports of all kinds with his friends (baseball, currently playing flag football, loves basketball, and desperately wishes he could have played soccer in Childress, but they didn't offer it.)

2.) His ministry, Lionsong Ministries

3.) Leading worship (and simply just growing closer to the Lord!) (and music in general)

4.) Coffee, oh boy, does he. I think its an addiction that began when he was in 3rd grade drinking it BLACK!

5.) His bff, Brad. Really, sometimes Ashley and I wonder if they like each other more than their spouses. (that sounds a little more homosexual than I intended.)
I don't have a picture of them, so follow this link to an AWESOME picture of the guys. (Just think, they did this for HOURS!)

6.) His beautiful daughters

7.) His IPHONE. (its new, and already starting to annoy me a little, but I know its because its new.) I took this picture of Jody, on the day he got his iphone...seemed to be an appropriate picture.

8.) Scooters, oh wait, I think the manly term is Vespas (he desperately wants one, DESPERATELY!)

9.) Converse shoes

10.) The Boston Red Sox

11.) Watching Texas Tech and the Broncos

12.) ME!!!!

I tag...Jill, Amy, and Marla

Happy Birthday to my dearest friend...

2008-10-13T19:16:00.003-05:00

My friend Ashley and I have been close now for about 10 years now! (Wow, can that even be possible???) She is the best friend anyone can ask for. She is the kind of person that is so easy to talk to, which is why everyone in her life thinks the most wonderful things of her, in fact, everyone thinks they are Ashley's best friend. She is the first one to offer help whenever you need it. I treasure the long, long talks we've shared, and even the short, pointless ones. Whether we were in high school going through boy drama, (shout out to the "ad-aphobias" well, at least it worked itself out for you, ash. Luckily for me, it didn't) or having such fun on our sonic coke dates. I was so blessed to get to join her at Tech and for her to invite me into her circle of friends, which are the same people that I still adore! (Shout out to Mandy, Megan, and Magen) Ashley is such a woman of the Word of God, and I totally admire her in that. I love that she is the first person, after my husband, that I can go to for any kind of decision, concern, or for a good laugh. (Really, no one makes me laugh harder than her!) I love that we have children around the same age, and that we can go through this journey of parenthood together. (Also, thanks for returning the support of a suprise pregnancy when I found out I was pregnant with Eisley a month after your suprise pregnancy with Kayt.) She is a wonderful mom to sweet Noah and Kayt, and an awesome wife to Brad. Its even more of a bonus that both of our husbands are not only best friends, but both in the ministry, and oh how we need each other's support for life in the ministry. I really could go on and on about my dear friend, but there are not enough words to describe how highly I esteem this friend! So, I will just simply wish her a very happy birthday today, and I know that you have been showered with love and sweet wishes today! Love you Ash!

(Oh, I tried to find the oldest picture I had of Ashley and I, but when I found one, my scanner wasn't working. So, lucky for you Ash! Oh, and we really need to stop taking so many pictures of our kids together and start taking more of us. :) ) So, heres the only one I had on my computer. Sorry if you hate it Ash. It was either this one, or you in labor with Kayt, your choice!) Everyone can see even more beautiful pictures on her blog!

The home stretch...

2008-10-11T22:50:00.013-05:00

It is almost Sunday, and I'll be honest, I'm ready to go home. We should be able to go home tomorrow, even if its in the evening, we're good with that. We'll just have to see how the day goes, and how getting the coffee stuff packed goes as well. Thats the plan though, and I am so excited. Today was kind of a bummer because the weather was not ideal for balloons. It was very windy and stormy. They had to shut down the festival and send everyone home, even the shops because the weather was not good. This was a bummer, but it was fun to spend the afternoon and evening all together, chaos, but still fun. We even went to PF Changs for dinner, (thanks Justin!) and it was so good! Tomorrow will be filled with packing, cleaning, and hopefully one more time at the park, and then some driving. We have had SUCH a good time here, and I can't wait to come back again next year!

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this picture! (great job dad!)

Check out my hot chocolate mustache

Ballooning is hard work!

Too cute!

I'm in LOVE with this man!

Amazing Latte Art, huh?

The man responsible for the latte art, Skylar (and mia's best friend!)

We did it! (And Happy Birthday to my sister!)

2008-10-09T12:01:00.018-05:00

This morning was "the morning!" And, we did it! We woke up at 5:15am, got the kids together, bundled up in many layers, and in the car by 6:15am with cheerios in hand. It was work, and a few tired tears were shed by my Mia, but we survived. This morning was the Special Shapes Balloon Rodeo, so we knew the kids would love seeing all the character balloons, and we were right. We were able to stay at the park until around 10am, which was much longer than I thought we'd survive. We had yummy breakfast burritos, the kids had oh so unhealthy minuture donuts, and then had yummy chai for the moms and hot chocolates for the kids, made by their daddys. It was a great morning. The tiredness is starting to hit, and Marla and I will probably be joining the kids for naptime after lunch, but it was worth it! So, enough talking, I will post pictures now, even though they don't really do the balloon festival justice. It was quite a sight!

As the sun was rising...

The boys working hard

Mia and Jonah loved this "coffee cup!" We didn't want to correct them.

Me and the girls (remember, super early equals no makeup!)

Marla and her boys

I took this one for my sister in law, Amy, who LOVES clowns! Wink, Wink! Love ya Amy!

Twin bumblebees before parting ways, it looked like they were kissing. So cute!

The look of AWE!

Eisley's look of awe

They are EVERYWHERE! Its a lot better in person.

Me and the girls

Jody hard at work giving out Chai samples. (Who wouldn't want to take a sample from this guy, I said FROM him, not OF him, he's all mine, people!)

Oh, and I have to make a shout out to my sister, Jill! I hope you have an amazing Birthday today, Jill! Love you!

My sister when Eisley's born (Jill, we have GOT to start taking pictures together, this is ridiculous, I have NONE of us together!)

Oh what a great day...

2008-10-08T20:15:00.007-05:00

We are over half way through our adventure here in Albuquerque. Let me tell you though, it has gotten SOOO much better than the last time I wrote. We have all gotten more sleep so that helps with emotions for sure!

Yesterday we all loaded up and spent the afternoon and evening in Santa Fe. We had a great time. It was only about a 45 minute drive, so not too far. We ate an amazing raspberry crepe, and then had a wonderful dinner. The only bummer of the evening was the $53 we had to spend on a locksmith to unlock our car at 9pm. Not fun, huh? At least it worked though!

Eisley and me in Santa Fe (and the great baby wrap Sunny gave me. Thanks Sunny!)

Really???

Today was definitely the ultimate payoff! Our husbands came home from the coffee stand early (around 11:30am) and handed Marla and I each an envelope. In the envelope was a gift certificate for a Spa down the street. They bought us an hour massage, pedicure, and a manicure. Isn't that amazing! I was so overwhelmed! (where was this when I was having my breakdown over the weekend? kidding!) Needless to say, we had a wonderful afternoon!
Me and Marla at the spa (if we look a little zoned out, we had both just had massages)

Tomorrow Marla and I are going to strive to load up the kids around 4am to head to the Balloon Festival for the amazing early fun shapes balloons. We'll see if we regret that later tomorrow. :) It'll be quite the memories though!

Here from the Big Balloon Festival...

2008-10-06T17:48:00.012-05:00

So, here we are on day 4 of 10 at the Albuquerque Balloon Festival. I'll be honest, its been kinda a rough start...Just imagine, 4 kids (2 3 year olds, and 2 11(ish) month old babies), 2 full time moms (shout out to Marla), 2 dads who leave the house for the coffee stand at 3:45am (yes, I said AM) and who return at who knows when later in the day, lots of "that's mine, no THATs mine", tears from early waking children who are still trying to adjust to the new surroundings, really, need I say more. Don't get me wrong. We really are having such a wonderful time, its just been a pretty tiring start to the long 10 days. Today has been a ton better. I got more rest myself, so I have definitely been a more emotionally fit mom. But, Marla and I have noticed one thing...polygamists have one thing right...having multiple moms sure is amazing. You always seem to know what the other one's about to do, extra hands to clean and cook, really, it just makes things easier. But that does mean double the kids and double the chaos. Anyways, we are all having fun and even got to finally see the fun balloons last night at the park. Its was so breathtaking!!! I was overwhelmed at the beauty. So, now I will post some pictures for fun. Happy Monday!

The Barnards and The Wilsons (minus the dads) We even had people ask us if we had two sets of twins, yes, thats what it feels like actually

Doesn't she look like a tourist? (thanks Ash for letting us borrow the monkey backpack...it was a lifesaver!)

Eisley and I behind the coffee stand

So many balloons

Jonah and Mia

Eisley and River

The Sugar Browns coffee stand at the festival

Jody (in his barista apron) and Darth

Peer Pressure...

2008-10-03T00:11:00.006-05:00

*I want to make a shout-out to my awesome friend Mandy for the awesome Fall Blog Tag! Thanks Mandy for taking the time to do that for me! You're the greatest!*

Jody's first pictures from his new IPhone, he's so high-tech now

I really thought that once I was grown up, married, with kids, (you know, far away from middle school and high school) that I would never feel "peer pressure" again...Guess what, I was WRONG.

I have been meaning to make this post for awhile now, but today really made me activate those thoughts. So, let me play this out for you a little...

On the way to Mother's Day Out this morning, this was my conversation with Mia...
Mia: "Mommy, can I play volleyball today at school?"
Me: "Well, Mia, you need to ask your teachers." (Then I thought about it, and realized she meant basketball because they have a program called KinderTots for those who pay a good amount of money for the semester, and they are taught how to play basketball. Well, lets use the word "taught" loosely since we are talking about 3 year olds. Now, mind you, we did not sign Mia up for this because its really pretty expensive and we didn't think she'd really care.)
Mia: "My teachers told me that I had to ask my mommy."

So, I was like, "Ah, man, how do I explain to Mia why she isn't doing this program." Oh, it gets worse...SO then, I am dropping off Mia in her class (yes, 15 minutes late, as usual.) and I am flooded with a sea of blue. (The KinderTots kids all wear matching blue shirts.) Really, they are going to rub this in my face..you know, that my child is like one of 4 or 5 kids NOT participating in this. My heart really sank. Like I was doing an injustice to Mia, or that she was to feeling left out. I left her school, feeling HORRIBLE.

This leads me to my issue...Peer Pressure amongst parents. I have been noticing lately that the pressure on me as a parent is starting to rise. I am starting to see myself being influenced by what other parents are putting their children in. Or, I have been noticing me, along with other parents, comparing our children. Maybe I'm alone in this, but I sometimes find myself looking at other kids Mia's age (and even Eisley at times) and comparing her to them. You know, Mia is doing this and they aren't or just the opposite, they are doing THAT??? Oh no, Mia doesn't do that yet! Is something wrong with her??? Well, let me tell you, I get so sick of doing it. I quickly find myself doing this, at least most of the time. And I try to take those thoughts captive and make them obedient to Christ, but its really a struggle at times. She is only three, and I am NOT ready to have to fight this battle for the rest of her life! Yuk! Please, let me know if anyone else has a tendency to do this too.

Oh, one last thing, lets not forget that on Tuesday, when Mia was getting ready for gymnastics, she tell me she wants to wear her ballerina outfit (just a cute little leotard, but definately more for ballet.) to gymnastics. I told her no, and she proceeds to tell me, and I quote..."But mommy, all the other kids get to wear them." Really???? She is three!!! Is it too early to ask her "If your friends jumped off a bridge, would you???"

Mia's gymnastics outfit (nope, not like ALL the other kids...or so she says)

Our week...(and some pictures.)

2008-09-27T13:28:00.003-05:00

So, we've had such a busy week this week as I was trying to get stuff together for a garage sale at my parent's house. I am so sorry that I've had a hard time blogging. So, I'll try to make it up this week, but no promises. So, here is a brief review of our week...

Monday...Went through the house trying to get out Garage Sale stuff, and catching up on laundry.

Tuesday...Mia had gymnastics, then the girls and I headed to Childress where Jody was leading worship at a See you at the Pole rally. (Jody and the other guys came down later that afternoon.) We got home VERY late that night. Not fun!

Jody at his dad's church for the rally.

Wednesday...I got in (last minute) to get my hair done. It was about 3 weeks overdue! I always go darker in the fall, so I did! I went from blond to brown. (Now Eisley and I really don't look much alike. My "paid for blond hair" was our only matching quality.) Then more getting ready for the garage sale.

Summer look...

Fall look...(yes, a self-taken portrait.)

Thursday...Mia went to MDO and Eisley and I helped out at Day 1 of the garage sale. Long day, but at least I made a little bit of cash. That night, both Eisley and Mia stayed the night at my mom's house so I could come over very early in the morning to help, without having to wake the girls up early. It worked out perfect! Since Jody and I had a free night together, we went to see a late movie! We haven't been to a movie, or a date, in a long time. It was so nice!

Friday...I had an early start again for the garage sale. This day was slower, but a still made a couple of bucks. Then that evening, Eisley had an apt to get her pictures taken. (I do milestone pictures for the first year, you know, baby, sitting up, standing hold on to a chair, then free standing and walking. It should be 3, 6, 9, and 12 months, but that never happens for me. Oh well. This is the 3rd stage pictures.) Well, we get about 3 pictures taken, and Eisley falls down, and it was all over! She was so upset for the next like 10 minutes, and would not get out of my arms, so we had to reschedule the pictures for next week. Bummer. I am praying she will be more rested and not remember her traumatic pictures. (it really wasn't that traumatic.) So instead, we all went to Old Navy, and they were having a great sale. We got several necessities, and when we got to the checkout, we realized that if I bought one cheap thing of chapstick, it would push us over $100 which allowed us to get the full 40 percent off, therefore, we got to save $40!!!!! Wow, we were so excited!!!! What a deal!

This is Eisley in her new carseat (well, Mia techniqually got the "new" carseat that converts to a booster when she's 4, and Eisley got Mia's old one. Oh, I hope she's not scarred by hand-me-downs. I totally know what its like to be the second girl who didn't always get new stuff.) We were waiting for dad and Mia to get to Old Navy after our unsuccessful photoshoot.

See what I had to deal with at the photo shoot. Not a happy baby that evening. Cheerios just weren't enough!!!

Today...This morning Eisley and I went to my very good friend, Melissa's, baby shower. (Mia was not in a good mood this morning, so she got to spend the morning with Jody. They needed some bonding time anyways.) We had a great time. Melissa is due late November, but she definately doesn't look like she is two months away. She looks great and got so many great things! Now, we are just finishing up lunch, waiting for Jody to get home from his lunch with a friend, so that i can make a very over-due trip to the grocery store. Yuk! I'm not looking forward to it, but it HAS to be done! Then, we will head to church.

Melissa (in the middle) opening all her gifts...

Melissa (I told you, she doesn't look like she has 2 months left!), me, and Eisley (sorry its kinda fuzzy. I need a new camera)

*Bonus Picture of super cute Eisley's shoes!!!*

So, its been a great week, a busy one, but great! I hope you all had a great week too!

Another part of my Heritage...

2008-09-18T11:03:00.006-05:00

So, its kinda strange that the day I would post about the heritage of my spiritual foundation and growth, would be the same day as the passing away of part of my life heritage...my great-grandmother. My Grammy Woods passed away in the middle of the night this past Sunday in her lifelong hometown of Stephenville, Texas. She was 97 years old, but she never once acted her age. Yes, the past few years have been a little more of a struggle with her health, but even at 90 years of age she was still working on her farm with all her cattle. She also LOVED playing in the band and singing for the "old people at the senior citizens center." Yes, she never considered herself to be one of those "old people." Even though I didn't get to see her much in the past several years since she never left Stephenville much at that point, she is still dearly loved. She left behind such a strong legacy of life, strength, and passion. I pray that I can be as passionate about what I love as she was. What a remarkable woman. Thank you Grammy for the legacy you have left behind, and the heritage that will continue speaking for years on end.

It was so great though to get to spend some time with all of my dad's family, including my cousins that I am so close to. (hopefully I will have pictures to share when my cousin emails them to me.) We had a great time just talking and laughing. Its never fun to have something so sad have to bring you together before your usual holiday gatherings, but it was still such a joy to be with family. None of our spouses were able to join us for the funeral, but it was kinda fun for it to be just the original family (minus my cousin Aaron who couldn't make it.) It was just like old times. Thank you Memaw (Grammy was Memaw's mom) and Papa for allowing me to have the table and chair from Grammy's house. Each time I look at them I will be reminded of Grammy and the life she so strongly lived. Thank you for blessing me with this fun furniture! We love you and will continue praying for you during this hard time.

Thank you Randy, Becky, Amy, Zach, and Zoe for taking care of our girls. It helped more than I ever thought to have my hands and time free while at the funeral. I am so blessed for family that is so quick to step up and help at a moments notice. I love you all! Thank you!

Heritage...

2008-09-14T16:33:00.002-05:00

So, this morning the girls and I (Jody was leading worship at another church) joined my parents and my brother and his wife (my sister and her family weren't able to go) at my parents' church, Paramount Baptist, here in Amarillo. It was a special service for the church's 50th anniversary. This was the church I grew up at. I attended this church from the time I was born until I went off to Tech, then got married. When Jody and I got married and moved back to Amarillo, we knew that the Lord was not calling us back to this home church of mine (it had also become Jody's church during the few years that he lived in Amarillo before going to Tech.) It would have been easy to just go back to my church home, you know, back to familiarity and comfort, but instead, the Lord had another path ahead of us. I would not have traded that for anything!

So, as I was sitting in the service, I began to become overwhelmed by emotion. The Lord began to show me all the heritage in this church, especially the heritage I inherited through the 21 years I was a member of that church. This was the church that I grew up going to mission friends, pre-school, GA's (you Baptists know what I'm talking about), then youth group and college ministries. This church is where I asked Jesus to be the Lord and Savior of my life at the age of 7, and was then baptized a few weeks later. This is also where I attended numerous Disciple Nows as both a student and later as a leader. This is where I went to many, many church camps. This is where I began the journey of this relationship with Christ that continues abundantly today. This is where I learned what it meant to tell people about Jesus both in other countries, and at my own school. This is where I was blessed to be a summer youth intern while in college and had the privilege to teach many girls Bible studies and take girls to hang out at Sonic. This is also the church that I ended up meeting the love of my life and best friend, my husband. This is also where I made so many lasting friendships! I have so many fond memories of Paramount. It was the foundation of who I am today. I am so thankful that I was raised in church, and on top of that, a church that was striving to teach me who God is and what it meant to have a relationship with Him. Even though I no longer attend this church, I still love it. I was truly brought to tears in the moment it hit me in all the Lord had done in me during my years at this church. I am so blessed!

A new week...

2008-09-08T22:25:00.003-05:00

So, slowly but surely I have begun feeling better. It wasn't until this weekend that Jody and I realized a small detail to this story of my severe headache. Last Monday, I was pulling out of the garage (in a hurry), and backed right into Jody's truck. Oh, I hit it pretty hard. Hard enough to dent my car pretty bad, and even bend his bumper a little too. We didn't think much of it, until it dawned on Jody that maybe I had a little bit of whiplash/minor concussion. I didn't agree with his thoughts really, especially since I woke up that morning with a bad headache that lingered all day. But, the past couple of days, I've had a small headache lingering and now my neck and shoulders are hurting a little more. Who knows. We don't have insurance right now, so its not like I can really do anything about it right now, but if it doesn't get better soon, I might have to break down and go to the chiropractor. We'll see. For now, pain medicine once a day is taking care of it pretty well.

Oh, and as of this past Saturday (the 6th) Eisley officially has her first tooth. Yes, my 10 1/2 month old got her FIRST tooth. I was beginning to wonder if she'd ever get teeth, since Mia had a mouth full at this age. Its been a rough few days of teething, but she's getting better. Tooth number two is soon behind, I think. I would have taken a picture, but my little turtle of a child clamps down pretty hard and does not let a finger in her mouth without a fight, much less a picture to be taken.

Hope you all have a great week! Blessings!

Our week, not a pretty one...

2008-09-05T11:28:00.002-05:00

So, I think it is time that I update you all on our horrible week this week, well, it was mainly MY horrible week, but of course, everyone was affected. I'll just give you a play by play...

Monday: I woke up with a headache, so I just treated it with sinus medicine and ibuprofen, but it kept coming back, so I had to do this pretty much all day. (I'm used to headaches, but this one was a little different, especially since medicine wasn't taking care of it.) But, it was bearable.

Tuesday: Around 2 or 3am I woke up with an agonizing headache, like I had never known before. I finally woke Jody up around 7am and he ran to get me some migraine medicine. This did not touch it at all! I laid in bed in horrible pain, along with throwing up about every 2-3 hours. I couldn't sleep either because the pain was so strong!
We finally decided to go see our Dr friend at his clinic. I got a couple of shots and a couple prescriptions sent home too. I finally slept for two hours, and woke up feeling better, or so I thought. I felt better for about an hour, then it was CRASH again.

Wednesday: I had another horrible night of really bad pain (oh, and don't forget I have still been throwing up every 2-3 hours. even though you might want to forget that part! As do I!) The Dr had told us that if I don't get better to call him back the next day and I might need to go to the hospital. So, we finally called the Dr at 8am and he got us a room at the hospital by 9:30am (praise the Lord I didn't have to sit in the ER, since I had to be laying down at all times.)
We get checked into our room, and I am just in agonizing pain. After a couple of hours of I'm not sure what, they try to get me an IV started. But since I was severely dehydrated, they couldn't find a vein in my arm. Oh, they tried, six times they tried, and had to give up. They even called the Life Star paramedics to try to get the IV started but they were out making rescues all afternoon. Finally, our good friends, our pastor and his wife, came to see us. They prayed over us, and even prayed that the Lord would bring up a vein for the nurse to use for the IV as soon as possible. So, they left and 5 minutes later we call our nurse back in to try again, and guess what, there was a vein. Now its not an ideal place on top of my right hand, but it worked! That's all that mattered. They started out with some medicines, but they didn't seem to help much, then to a very painful Potassium drip for like 6 hrs. They even gave me two shots of IMITREX in my belly for the migraine, but still, no relief. Finally, around 2:30am on Thursday I got to have the real IV to get me hydrated.

Thursday: I woke up feeling a little better, had a CT scan (which came back normal) and even had a bath. I was doing good for a couple of hours, then started hurting bad again. They just kept giving me medicine, and after I choked down a little real food for lunch, I started feeling better. Finally by the evening I was feeling much better, and was ready to go home. The Dr finally agreed and allowed me to check out around 8pm.

This leads us to today. I woke up not feeling real great, kinda queasy, light headed, and a little bit of a headache still. Don't get me wrong, I'm better, but not like I'd like to be. I just ask that you continue praying for us. Eisley is also getting her bottom two teeth, and it has not been a pretty process. The final diagnosis is what they THINK was a severe migraine that led to severe dehydration. All tests and blood work came back good, nothing bad. So that is good.

I do want to thank my mom and sister for ALL their hard work in caring for my girls and for my mom cleaning my house (which is so nice to come home too, and it needed it bad!) I could not have done this without their generous help! And for Jody, he was amazing through all this! He took great care of me through this whole thing. I guess this is the "Worse" part of "for better or worse." I am so blessed with amazing, caring, helpful, and generous family and friends during my sickness. Thank you for each of your continued prayers as we ask the Lords complete healing in my body, and strength back to me. Along with Him giving back this week that we lost. I am so glad the Lord is my Healer!

More pictures....

2008-08-29T16:56:00.004-05:00

Here are some more pictures of our new niece, Zoe. Since we had to come home the night she was born, these are the only pictures I have on my camera. Hopefully we will see her again very soon!

Up until I saw this picture clearly, I really thought Zoe looked like her mom, but not in this one, she is ALL Zach here

So, maybe Eisley's a little jealous that she is no longer the baby in the family

Happy Birthday Zoe!

2008-08-26T17:40:00.007-05:00

Zoe Terah Detwiler was born today at 2pm. She is 6 lbs 6oz and is 19 inches long. She is completely beautiful, with a full head of black curly hair! Jody's sister, Amy, is doing well too, as she is recovering from the c-section! We are so excited for this new addition to our family! Happy Birthday Zoe!

Proud Daddy, Zach

The new mom and baby

Birthdays and a Birth Day...

2008-08-25T21:52:00.007-05:00

I know that I am seriously overdue in posting, but I still thought I would post a few pictures of my twin nieces birthday party last week. They turned 3 last Wednesday, and had an amazing party (with amazing cupcakes my sister made.). Bailey and Addison are so dear to us, and are truly Mia's best friends. They are all only 2 1/2 months apart, so its practically like they are all the same age. Happy late birthday Bailey and Addison!!!!

Addison, Mia, and Bailey

My sister's yummy cupcakes, and so super cute! (Hey, Mandy, move back to A-town and you and Jill can open a bakery!)

Eisley (yes, covered in water) and Nana

And yes, you read it right, tomorrow will be another, Birth Day, literally. My sister in law, Amy, (Jody's sister) is having her baby girl Zoe Terah tomorrow afternoon by C-section in Childress. We are so excited to meet this little girl! Please pray with us for her, Zach, and baby Zoe! We just can't wait! Happy early birthday Zoe! (I will definately post pictures of this later!)

As for us, we once again have a very sick Eisley. Isn't this just ridiculous!!!! She actually has a stomach bug! I took her to the dr today and she even got "sick" at the dr THREE times! Oh man! It was not pretty! Needless to say, she has been on a strick Pedialyte only diet and even Zofran for the vomiting. She has been sleeping a lot today, so hopefully it will be gone by morning before we have to go to Childress. Oh, and I can't forget to mention that Mia starts gymnastics tomorrow morning!!! I'm so excited! Now, parents are only allowed to watch once a month, but believe me, when that day comes I will have tons of pictures! I'm so excited! So, yes, we have a crazy day ahead of us tomorrow, but what a great day! Blessings!

Five Years!!!!

2008-08-19T15:57:00.005-05:00

So, this past Saturday, Jody and I celebrated our Five Year Wedding Anniversary! I can not believe that it has been that long! On one hand, it seems like we have never been apart, but then on the other hand, it seems like only a short time since we said "I do."

So, for our anniversary, we were beyond blessed to go to Las Vegas. We went some friends of ours and had an AMAZING time. The Lord blessed us more than I could even begin to write about. He took care of us by providing this wonderful trip, wonderful foods, an amazing room at the Palazzo Hotel, and just an amazing time with one another. We are so humbled and thankful all together for this trip!

The even better part of the story was the Friday morning before we left. Jody surprised me by taking me to get my anniversary present from him. Now, he didn't tell me that's what we were doing. He tricked me by telling me he needed to show me some cabinets that his painter was working on. I really didn't have time since I was trying to get the girls packed, but thankfully my mom came by at the perfect timing (yes, pre-arranged) and so I grudgedly went with him. (yes, I was irritated a little because I was already running late to meet my sister in law for the children exchange for the weekend.) Anyways, we pull up to the mall, and I just looked at him saying, "we're not going to the painters, are we?" Nope. So then I thought he was surprising me by wanting me to pick out some jeans. (since all of mine have holes in them, and he told me to get some earlier in the week, but didn't.) Which, again, I thought was sweet, but 30 minutes is NOT long enough to try on all the jeans in the mall (which is usually what it takes to find the right jeans. You girls know what I'm talking about.) Nope. That wasn't it either. He walked me right into the Zales to pick up my NEW RING! Yes, I was blown away! You see, when we got married, I wanted simplicity. So I asked for just a solitaire princess cut diamond, and a solid wedding band to go with it. Even mentioning that someday for like the 5th, or 10th anniversary, it'd be nice to get a diamond band instead. And so, MAYBE I've mentioned it a few times in the past 5 years, and boy did he listen! I was COMPLETELY shocked! I did not expect this at all! And, boy is it gorgeous. So I made sure it fit, and then handed over my wedding set so they could take the old band off, and replace it with the new one. Have I mentioned how gorgeous it is???? I love it. I still keep looking at my finger and not realizing that it really is my ring.

After much request, here are pictures of my ring (even though it doesn't really do it justice.) :)

So, good job Jody!!! My husband is amazing! I am so blessed to have spent the last five years with the love of my life. He is more than I could have ever imagined! He's so funny, talented, kind, generous, and an amazing father. I praise the Lord that He chose me to be his helpmate! I am honored to be called his wife! I love you Jody!

Amazing Italian Restaurant the night of our anniversary

*UPDATE* Jody's mom went to the dr this morning to get the results from her PET scans a couple of weeks ago, and the results were wonderful! The cancer had NOT spread internally. This is amazing! The dr even said that he'd be surprised if he ever had to see her again! She will continue to see her dermatologist and be treated with a topical cream for her skin, but that's it! Can you believe it? God is amazing! He is our HEALER! Thank you each for your prayers and kind words!

Becky and Eisley

Don't be jealous.

2008-08-12T14:55:00.006-05:00

Now, don't be jealous. Jody and I went to see Lyle Lovett in concert last night here in Amarillo. I know, you may be thinking "why in the world would you want to see him?" Well, the truth is, if we weren't given the tickets for free, we wouldn't have. But Jody was actually really excited to see him. He's wanted to see good 'ole Lyle in concert before, so I figured I'd be the supportive wife and go. It was really a fun concert. The musicians were incredible, so that was of course what Jody loved about it. Lyle's pretty funny too actually. (Maybe that's why Julia Roberts married him at one time. It definately couldn't have been for his looks.) I hope you each have a wonderful rest of your day.

My poor baby's face! Its even a little swollen! Its a little better today, but she's still not well. YUK!

Its never too early to have my daughter start washing dishes, right? (No, no, no, she asked desperately to "help me". I'm not a slave driver!) :)

Amy's baby shower in Childress

Sickness..Blah!

2008-08-09T23:00:00.003-05:00

First, I do apologize that its been a solid two weeks since I have posted. I just haven't found the time or energy to do it. So, here I am now, at 11pm on Saturday night, while the kids are asleep, and my husband is watching some fight at a doctor's fancy house, and with my favorite Olympic event on...gymnastics. This seemed like the perfect timing.

So, we went to camp in Austin two weeks ago, and we had a great time!!! The Lord moved so strongly! It was also great to be completely available to my husband since the girls did not go with us again. He ran the 24 hour, counselor only, prayer room. The counselors really took hold of it, and it was just amazing! Each night at midnight we had an hour or more of warring worship, and it was just always so powerful! What a great week, but of course we were again so ready to be home to our girls! Thanks Mom, Dad, Randy, Becky, and Aunt Amy for taking care of our girls all week! We are so blessed!

This past week was a great one. We simply spent the first of the week with the mornings at VBS at our church, then the rest of the week was just recovering and being home. It was nice. I know I complain every now and then and just seem overwhelmed with my very THREE year old Mia and her independence, attitude, and frustrations. But I would like to say that we had a GREAT week this week. I was finally reminded of my sweet, and compliant Mia. It was as if the Lord gave me a sweet breather to give me perseverance through this "terrible THREES". Anyways, it was refreshing. But poor Mia, she became very sick on Wednesday, with a high fever, and all she complained about was that her knees hurt. I know, sounds strange. We simply had to give her Motrin and Tylenol for 24 hours. Her fever finally broke early Thursday morning and was back to her active self.

Then, this weekend we went to Childress again. This time was for Jody's sister's baby shower. She is due in a month and we couldn't be more ready to meet baby Zoe. Amy got wonderful things at her shower. This girl will definitely have plenty of pink! :) I will try to post pictures later.

The not so fun part of our weekend was that Eisley woke up screaming around 3am this morning. Now, I am not exaggerating when I say this, but this was literally her first time to wake up in the middle of the night since she started sleeping through the night around 7 weeks. I know, she's always been a tremendous sleeper. She could not be comforted for about 2 hours. Jody, being the amazing dad that he is made a run to Walmart to get some gas medicine for her. We really thought it was gas because she kept moaning and screaming randomly. It was completely out of character for her. My sweet in-laws even woke up (I am beyond shocked though that Mia slept through it all.) and helped us try to care for her. She finally fell asleep in Jody's arms. Then, all day, she has been crying off and on. We finally figured out that it is probably not gas. It is actually more a sensitivity on her back. Strange, I know. Maybe its a kidney infection or something like that. Each time you move her to a new position, she screams. She has also had a fever from 101-102.6 today. So, we came home this evening (as planned) and after many talks to the on-call nurse and Dr we decided to not take her to the ER like we thought we'd have to, and just wait to take her to the Dr's office tomorrow during weekend hours, which will be after lunch. I will be sure to update you with what is finally the reason for this issue. We will continue the Tylenol and Motrin, but for now, she is sleeping peacefully, and will hopefully not wake to a scream again.

*UPDATE* We took Eisley to the dr this afternoon. She has Foot, Hand, Mouth Virus. Therefore, she has big ulcers all on her throat and now a rash all over her body. The back pain and sensitivity was probably due to the fever. If she keeps her fever down through tonight, she should not be contagious anymore. I am thinking this is probably what Mia had this week, and she then gave it to Eisley. Mia broke out in the rash on Friday, but I just didn't think anything about it. You know, we are trying to teach her to share. Hmmm.

Well, sorry for the long, detailed post, but I guess that's what happens when you take two weeks to post. So, if you are still reading this, I thank you. :) Good-night to each of you.

Updates...

2008-07-25T16:25:00.005-05:00

Becky had her PET scan Thursday (yes, I said in the previous one that it was either an MRI or CAT scan, but I was wrong.) She said it went well, but she won't have any of the results for about 3-4 more weeks. That part is not fun. But, the good news is that her dr had told her that if he was even the least bit concerned about the results, he would refer her more quickly to a collegue, but he's not. So, that is why she will not see her dr and get the results until he gets back from his 2 week vacation. (Ah, the life a dr must live.) We are just claiming that the test results come back completely clear.

Thursday was also Eisley's 9 month birthday. I just really can not believe how fast time has flown by. I feel like Mia's first year was the longest ever, and poor Eisley's first year is just a blurr. We took her to her 9 month check-up, and once again, she is doing WONDERFUL! She is now weighing in at 17 pounds 13 ounces and is 27.25 inches long. This is just wonderful! It puts her in the 25-50 percentile, which is completely average. Its amazing to think back to only a short 3-6 months ago when she was struggling to even make the weight charts, and now she is doing wonderful. In the past two weeks she has also started crawling. Now it is still a good army crawl, but hopefully she will pick those knees up and start crawling more efficiently within the next few weeks. She gets what she is crawling after, and that's all that matters to her, I guess. She babbles like crazy, saying "da-da", "ba-ba", and even sounds like she says "hi" after we say it to her. Its super cute. "Ma-ma" will come, eventually. :)

So now, I am just finishing up some laundry to get packed once again to go out of town. This time, we are leaving this Sunday through Friday to go down to Austin again for a church camp. This one will be very fun. Its with our pastor and his family, and lots of other friends of ours. Its always a week of fun! So, I will not be writing next week, so don't miss me. :) The girls are going to be spending part of the week with my parents and the second part of the week with Jody's parents. I am so thankful for our amazing parents that they would want to love on and spoil our girls for a week so that I can be with Jody at camp. We are so blessed! Have a great week!

This is actually from Eisley's 7mth checkup in May, she's a little bigger than this now. :)

This was how Mia felt about Eisley getting a shot. Thankfully Eisley didn't need any shots at her 9mth apt

Fear...

2008-07-22T14:48:00.003-05:00

"But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed." Isaiah 53:5

So, Jesus died on the cross, not only for our sins, but so that He could bring Heaven to Earth. He was bringing healing, peace, everything, so that we can experience LIFE! Because of Jesus' death on the cross, we are HEALED.

Last Thursday was like any other day. Mia went to Mother's Day Out, I got a few things finished around the house, and then got ready for my parents to come over for dinner. UNTIL, Jody's parents called and told him they were coming to town to visit someone in the hospital (Jody's dad is a pastor, so this is common.) Jody's sister and her husband were also in town working with Habitat for Humanity with their youth group. Jody's dad asked if they could come over when they got into town and talk with all of us. Jody tried to get his dad to tell him what they needed to talk to us about that they would drive 2 hours, but Randy wouldn't budge. The way he was somewhat lighthearted in his conversation made us think that they were probably moving, maybe they received an offer at another church. We had no clue. So, we waited for them to get to town. Of course, during our wait, many things flooded our minds with "what if."

So, Amy, Zach, Randy, and Becky all arrive to our house, and after we all sit down, Amy says, "so are yall moving or what?" Becky then tells us, "no, I wish." You see, Becky has been sick off and on for a very long time, nothing severe, just many, many, somewhat small things. She is a diabetic and has just had all sorts of other health issues. It’s kind of ridiculous. (She will tell you that too.) She recently had some skin patches pop up on different parts of her legs, so two weeks previously, she had seen a dermatologist who took samples from the patches and sent them to get tested. In the mean time, one patch became infected, so she saw her local Childress dr to get antibiotics. During her visit at the dr last Wednesday afternoon, her Childress dr decided to call the dermatologist to see if Becky's results were in yet. Well, they were, and the results were not good. The dr said the results came back as cancer. It is called T-cell Lymphoma. (I think that’s what it’s called.) We were all shocked with this news. This doesn't happen to people you know, much less people you love DEARLY, much less your family. Honestly, we all handled it pretty well. Some tears were shed, but we all seemed pretty peaceful. We all know that our God is the ultimate HEALER and he can heal Becky of this cancer. I can't imagine how we would have reacted if we didn't know this truth. Becky has remained so peaceful this past week. She has even been joking about it, especially about the way people react to her news. She could already write a book about peoples reactions to her cancer news. Its kind of funny, and I'm glad she is in such good spirits about it.

She went to the Oncologist Tuesday here in Amarillo for her first appointment, and we could not have received better news. The dr said he is familiar with this kind of cancer. It’s a cancer that usually stays on the skin, and will occasionally go internal, but it’s fairly rare. As long as it stays only on the skin, it can be treated with a topical steroid cream. People can live with this forever. He was not worried at all. He truly believes that it has not invaded her body, but she will have an MRI or CAT scan (I can't remember which) tomorrow to make sure its not internal. This was amazing news. Its amazing the burden that has lifted off each of us. I really thought we were all handling it so well, and we were, but it was weighing us each down emotionally and spiritually. We can each breathe a little better now. There will still be a fight ahead of us, but we can handle it. The Lord's strength is more than sufficient for this. We are over comers, Becky is an over comer! We praise the Lord for that! We would definitely appreciate each of your prayers during this time, and I will continue with updates. Blessings to each of you! Sarah

Becky when Eisley was born

Another fun week...

2008-07-19T17:18:00.013-05:00

Well, about a week ago, my girls and I went to Wichita Falls with my sister and her girls to stay with my grandparents for a couple of days. We try to do this every summer, even though I wish is could be more. Both of our parents' families live in Wichita Falls, so we always have fun seeing our family. My mom's parents also have a great pool in their backyard, so its always so fun to do some swimming/laying on the water while we're there. This time I was a little bummed out though. I had full intentions on taking advantage of afternoon naptimes to lay in the pool and get a tan, but instead, it rained pretty much every day we were there. We were able to get the girls in the pool a few times when it wasn't raining, but not much time for me to get a tan alone. Oh well. We had a great time overall. Thanks Memaw and Papa and Memaw and Papa. (no, I was not repeating myself, and yes, both sets of my grandparents have the same grandparent names. Creative, I know.) Thanks for a great time, even though we had our fair share of melt downs with all the girls (well, except Eisley.) Three is the new Two, didn't you know. Anyways, we were there from Sunday until Wednesday. During our stay, my Memaw also taught me how to use my sewing machine that I got for my birthday 2 months ago. Watch out, I am now a sewing machine. (I will post pictures of that experience soon.) :)

I do have to also give a shout out to my amazing husband, even though he never reads this. Even though Jody was working so hard while we were gone, he did miss us a ton. (Sometimes its nice for the girls and me to do the leaving since he leaves us more to lead worship.) When I got home, I was greeted with an amazingly clean and picked up house, he installed Eisley's ceiling fan in her room that I've been waiting for over 9 months, and he bought me a great bouquet of flowers and a sweet card. He is amazing! I was pretty overwhelmed! Maybe we should go out of town more often.

This weekend, we are in Childress for Jody's cousin's wedding. We are having a great time, as always.

Here are some pictures of our fun times in Wichita Falls. Enjoy!

Before...

After...

Sisters, Eisley is not happy

All the cousins...Yes, Eisleys blond hair makes her look more like my sister's girls

Big girl! She did swim with floaties all by herself...She wanted to swim without any floaties or help from me...She kept saying, "I'm a big girl, mommy!" Her favorite saying

Yes, two different set of floatation devices..Safety First!

Mia and her cousins (Bailey and Addison)

With Papa J (sorry, Memaw, I didn't get a picture with you. Oops)

With Memaw and Papa W at IHOP the morning we left

Thursdays...

2008-07-11T16:42:00.010-05:00

Thursdays are always great days. Mia goes to Mother's Day Out on Thursdays so that means that I get to have some time to myself (and Eisley). Its funny though, I usually find myself a little bored without a toddler running around asking me questions every minute. The peace is priceless.

I did make my first attempt at making homemade laundry detergent. It is as easy as Ashley said, UNTIL I went to take it out to my washer and dryer, and SPLASH! Yep, I dropped it. Needless to say, my garage has never been so sparkling clean! Oh well. It was probably best because I realized later that I had forgotten to put in the baking soda and Borax, you know, the vital ingredients. I made my second attempt this afternoon, and it did actually make it to the washer and dryer.

We then had a great night that night! We had some of our best friends Brad and Ashley (yes, the same Ashley as mentioned earlier.) and their two kids, Noah and Kayt, over. We had fun. I made some yummy pepperoni rolls. Then Ashley and I took the oldest kids down to the park for a little bit. The best part was that Ashley and I finally got some much needed alone time. (well, we did have to hop in the car, with Kayt in tow to try to drive her to sleep. Turns out, Kayt has an ear infection and that is why she was a little fussier than usual. She did go right to sleep though.) Ashley and I got some coffee and then sat in the car at the Park and just talked. It was so refreshing! Ashley and I have been friends for about 10 years now, and so many times I just miss the times that we could just go driving and talk and talk and talk. Ah, the good 'ole days. Summers are hard on our friendship with the Ingrams. With both of our husbands in ministry, summer is the busiest time for both of our families, so we usually have to just deal with the fact that we don't get to spend much time with our friends that only live 4 minutes away. Oh well. Summer will end, and we will have our friends back. So here are some fun pictures of our great night!

Kayt (9mths) and Eisley (8mths)

A rough day...

2008-07-07T17:22:00.002-05:00

Well, I always try to prepare myself for the few days after being out of town, but this time seems a little different. Usually, when we go to Childress, we seem to stay on schedule pretty well. (Meaning, the girls usually sleep as late as they normally do, nap at the appropriate times, and go to bed ABOUT the same time as at home.) Now, I am not an anal schedule-keeper, but the schedule we have works for us. I am willing to vary in and out of the schedule for special times with the family, but this weekend just seemed all out of wack for some weird reason. Naps were taken WAY later than normal, and shorter, and bedtime was WAY later too.

I like my girls schedules for two main reasons...
1.) (the most important reason) Attitudes are much better when a good nap is taken and bedtime is on time. Griping is lessoned, and whining is a little bit less. Plus, cooperation to mommy's instructions is by far better with more rest.
2.) My patience is also better when I've had a little quiet and down time, therefore, I'm a better, more understanding mommy.

Needless to say, I have lacked severely in the patience department for the past couple of days. Today was not much better. I had to take the girls to the dr this afternoon (yes, which again delayed naptime by a couple of hours). Mia has an "almost" ear infection, but mainly just a cough and cold. Eisley has a full ear infection though. (I almost didn't even take her because I thought all her symptoms were just from teething. Whew! Boy was I wrong!) Anyways, once the medicine gets started we will be doing well. (Sidenote...Eisley weighed in once again a pound heavier than two weeks ago. She is now 17 pounds 10 ounces. Yikes! She really needs to slow down now, even though I never thought I'd be saying that!

When we got home, I got the girls down for a nap, started picking up the house, then, I get a call from Jody (girls have been napping for about 45 minutes) saying that he locked his keys in his car. WHAT! I have to wake up the girls from napping, and a quiet house. Oh, don't worry, for about 30 seconds, I did try to reason with myself that it'd be okay to just run and help Jody since he was literally only a minute away. But nope, I made the wise choice, woke the girls up (they were not happy either) and went to rescue Jody. Now, they are both back asleep (which I did NOT think would happen), and I'm hoping that will stay like that, at least just for a couple more minutes.

Anyways, all to say, I really need the Lord's patience right now! I am lacking it severely! I know it is partly to do with the fact that I am still trying to get over my head cold, but I can't blame it on that fully! Oh well, give me a few days, and hopefully we will be all on track again!

A weekend away...

2008-07-05T17:05:00.003-05:00

So, its been awhile, I feel, since we have taken a weekend to be with Jody's family in Childress. The Wilsons seem to come to Amarillo several times a month, and we usually see them each time, even if its just quickly over lunch, so I feel like we really do see them often. So, since we had a great weekend ahead of us, and a festive one at that, we decided at the last minute to come to Childress for the weekend. I was very excited to come to Childress for the 4th. In the 7 years Jody and I have been together, I really don't think I've ever spent one here. (even though Jody begs to differ, but I really think he is thinking of some other girl before I came around. Ahem!)

I really love coming to Childress. I love that I love my in laws! Really, and I'm not just saying that because they read this blog daily (hey Randy, Becky, and Amy). But I really do brag on them all the time. They love me as if I was truly born of them. They love on our girls immensely as well! They are such givers. They would do whatever it took to make sure that we were in plenty. I can't even begin to count the amount of times they have bought us groceries (of course, when we really didn't have money to buy them for that week, and the Lord was the only one to tell them that.), or buy us countless meals, or, other random things that we need. (Toilet, water filter when Mia was a baby, etc.) Now, I'm not just saying I love them because they buy us things when I know they could use their money to buy their own necessities. I am truly blessed with amazing family, and I am so thankful that I don't get to join in on horrible "in law stories."

Anyways, all to say, we came to Childress Thursday afternoon, and are going back home Sunday afternoon. Its always filled with great fun, food, and board games until 1pm. (Which I am the Apples to Apples champion two times running! Yes, I am really funny!) We went to the city park yesterday around lunch for the 4th of July booths. It was seriously hot and miserable, so we only walked around for about an hour until we went home. Being that it is a small town, the pyrotechnics guy that usually does the fireworks couldn't come to town for the actual 4th, so we get to have fireworks tonight instead. Just makes the holiday last longer. But we are having a great time, and eating Becky's amazing homemade Butterfinger ice cream. YUM! Well, I guess I better lay down for a minute before the girls wake up from their naps. Sorry that I don't have any pictures. This mom dropped the ball by leaving her camera at home. Oh well, Eisley's first 4th of July, no big deal. (yes, its really a big deal to me!) Happy Independence Day (or weekend!)

And, he's off again...

2008-06-28T22:31:00.003-05:00

Yes, remember just yesterday when I mentioned that my husband was coming home..well, he did. Jody got home yesterday around lunch, but, yes, its true, he is off again. Jody left this afternoon to head to Childress for his cousin's bachelor weekend. I know he needed to go to support his cousin, and visit with his other cousins, but seriously, did it have to be all at once. No big deal, he will be home again tomorrow around lunch, but then he's leading worship again tomorrow night. Don't get me wrong, I'm so glad he has all this worship stuff, but, I just want to spend a little quality time with my husband, and the girls miss their daddy. In fact, this is what Mia asked me yesterday before Jody got home, she said "mommy, daddy doesn't live at our house anymore???" WOW! I couldn't believe that she had thought that. Now, she did giggle after she said that, so I am assuming she knew she was just kidding, but it did give me a slight glimpse at what divorced couples with small children go through.

Anyways, I just thought I'd fill everyone in on just a couple of things I have learned while Jody's been away...

1.) Around thursday of this week, I noticed that I was finding myself a little "bored" at times. (now, I use that word loosely because, as a mom, there is always something to be done.) Now, why?, you ask. Well, I quickly realized that I was not spending all of my spare time picking up tons of stuff and putting things away, before I could ever do any real cleaning. I was also not feeling overwhelmed with things thrown over every available space. This is when I realized that I was not crazy when I always thought that Jody does not pick up after himself. Mia and I are actually very mess-free people. But don't you worry, the moment Jody got home, the house was once again a mess. Now, I am not bad-mouthing my husband. I am saying this all very respectfully, especially since I have already informed him of my new finding. Man, we need a housekeeper, or really, someone to go behind my husband to pick up after him. Oh, wait, we do have one, its ME! I love you Jody!!!

2.) I love that my three year old is very affluent in her language. She always has been. She started talking from a very early age, and always seemed to be very precise, and clear in her words. But, as the week came to a close, I seemed to grow very weary of her constant talking, questions, and the main question "where are we going to go???who's coming over???" (she is truly her daddy's daughter, with the need to constantly be doing something social.) Even tonight on our way to church, I tried to play the quiet game, but it failed to work, of course. Does that make me a bad mom???

3.) I had forgotten how rough teething can be on a little baby. Poor Eisley, my usual very content and happy baby has been a little more fussy than usual. Come on teeth, please make your appearance so that we can get this over with!

4.) I think I am in need of a little alone time. Maybe when Jody gets home tomorrow I can get away. Maybe I will go to Starbucks, or just go for a walk around the mall. Something, maybe????

Well, goodnight to each of you! I am so tired and in desperate need for sleep. I hope I did not sound like debbie-downer. Just a little venting. So, if you read this whole entry, I thank you for hanging in there. If not, I don't blame you.

Jody's coming home!!!

2008-06-27T11:21:00.002-05:00

Yes, Jody has been leading worship at a camp all week, and he is finally coming home this afternoon! I'm so ready! I miss him desperately! Thankfully its been a pretty busy week for me, which somewhat distracts me from missing him. Mia went to VBS Monday through Wednesday mornings, and then had Mother's Day out yesterday, so it wasn't too tiring for me. (I always have a new respect for single moms when Jody goes out of town.) I got to go out to the camp two nights this week. It is a 45 minute drive out to Ceta Canyon, but well worth it to see Jody for a couple of hours. The girls went with me one of the nights, so we had a good time. Well, since Jody has our Mac and I am using our old, wait, very old laptop that has a missing "a" tab (you never realize how often you use that letter until you have push it extra hard.) I don't have any updated pictures so I will leave you with my recent findings....

So, I have had a pretty economical week. Earlier this week I bought supplies to make more baby food (which, by the way, my last batch lasted for 2 months, yeah, you heard me, I probaby spent a total of $20, TOTAL. I would have usually spent $60 on baby food jars for 2 months. I don't know why I didn't do this when Mia was a baby.) I also bought supplies to make Dishwasher detergent. (part Borax, part Baking soda, and vinegar for the rinse cycle.) Now, I'm not so sure how I feel about this. I've used it a couple of times, and I feel like my dishes come out with a bit of residue on them. I will gladly receive ANY suggestions. I really want to do this! (Oh, and as I type this, the tornado sirens is going off again, but this time, it IS the last Friday of the month, and it IS 11:30am. Whew! Scared me for a second.) Anyways, I will be making my Laundry Detergent in a couple of weeks when my regular, store bought, uneconomical, detergent runs out. So, again, please, everyone send me your enconomical tips.

What a good day...

2008-06-20T11:32:00.010-05:00

First of all, can I just say that I love storms! I love cloudy days a lot, but when it starts storming I get just plain excited! I have been so bummed out that this spring and summer here has been so dry, except for the last couple of days. Yesterday was no exception. Mia and I were walking outside with my father in law (who was in town for the day, and thankfully at our house) when all of the sudden, I hear a siren...I thought to myself "Is it the last Friday of the month?" Nope, those sirens were for real, we were in a tornado warning. I immediately went inside (yes, my father in law and daughter were still outside. Randy trying to start my daughter out young to be a storm chaser.) I went in to watch the weather, and it was true. Jody was at work, which I wanted him home as fast as possible, but he didn't seem to care too much. I don't know what I would have done if my father in law wasn't here. I like all my chicks in the same place when there's a storm, and the head duck was not even concerned about coming home. But, we survived. Thankfully a tornado never touched down, and we never had to climb into our master bathtub either. (That would have been intresting though!) Needless to say, yes, I love storms, but when they get that serious, I get very nervous and don't like them so much.

Anyways, about today and why its a good day. We went to the dr today. It was Mia's three year check up and Eisley's weight check. I knew Mia's would be a breeze, and it was. She is a whopping 32 1/2 pounds and 37 1/2 inches tall. Right where she should be. Now, this was the first appointment with Eisley that I have been so excited about. On May 9th (yes, my birthday) , Eisley weighed in at 14 pounds 2 ounces. She has changed so much in the past 6 weeks, so I just knew we'd get a good report finally! So, needless to say, my wonderful pediatrician walked in the room, looked at Eisley, and immediately started crying, good tears. It was amazing! I love that my pediatrician loves us so much that she would be moved to tears that my baby girl is looking so much better! It was a moment I will never forget. So, yes, Eisley has gained 2 1/2 pounds in the past 6 weeks. She now weighs 16 pounds 10 ounces. And for those of you without babies, this is a huge amount of growth for her age. They usually stop growing this fast by now, and she gained over double what normal babies do in this time. I love it. I was one proud mama!!!! Both girls look great. Eisley's lower gums are actually swollen, which means she should be getting some teeth within the next few weeks. (Which explains her recent fussiness and ear pulling.) Anyways, enough is enough. I will stop going on and on with excitement. Yes, I would love to know what in the world was going on Eisley's tiny body that had made her struggle so much in gaining weight, but now I am simply beyond excited that we are through with that battle! I praise the Lord for the miracle of both of my healthy girls, and especially allowing us to walk through this battle victoriously! (Which is our promise each time, but sometimes the victory is hard to see come.) I hope you all have an amazing day!

Here are some pictures we had taken this week for Mia turning three and Eisley, well, turning 8 months I guess

Yes, Eisley pulled out her bow and broke the headband at the end of the session. I guess she wanted variety.

So much for one week...

2008-06-17T21:15:00.006-05:00

Whew! Another week has flown by, and too fast! I'll admit, I really don't do well internally when I have lots of things going on. You see, we had Jody's birthday, Jody's birthday cookout, Mia's birthday, Mia's birthday party (pictures coming soon), and then Father's Day all in one week. I'm the kind of girl that can't have multiple things going on in the same week, I just get like overloaded or something. I'm just a homebody, who needs some time and space to chill. Hopefully the rest of this week will bring some of that, maybe.

We did have a great weekend. We had Mia's birthday party this weekend. We had it at my parent's church. They have an indoor playground that is wonderful for kids big and small. Its a great place for a three year old birthday. (Chuckie Cheese's stresses me out, so we will probably never have her party there for sure.) It was a fun weekend. Jody's parents and sister and her husband all came to town, and all of my family was there too. And of course, lots of friends. We had a book party (which just meant that I made her invitations out of pages of The Cat and The Hat book, and put a cute poem on it to encourage people to bring books as a gift rather than more toys we don't need. Most everyone followed the rules. :) Much fun for sure!

And, last night, we finished the birthday celebrations with a cookout at my parents' house celebrating Jody's, Mia's and my dad's 50th birthday!!!! It was fun. So since I forgot my camera at Mia's party and will have to wait to get pictures from other people, I will post a couple of pictures from last night. Hope you are all having an amazing week!

Eisley

The girls

Mia is THREE today!

2008-06-09T10:40:00.003-05:00

Yes, its true. I did post my last entry on Jody's birthday, and now it is my sweet daughter's birthday today, only 3 days later. It was 3 years ago today that Jody's and my life changed so dramatically when Mia made her entrance into this world at 1:30am and weighing in at 6 pounds 2 ounces, and 19 1/2 inches long. I know everyone tells a new mom, "watch out, they will be older before you know it!" I always laughed, thinking, "whatever." But its true. I'm not sure where the last three years of my life has gone, but it has been amazing, none the less!

Mia is such a joy in our life. She makes me laugh so hard every day. She really is three going on sixteen. She is currently in a very independent stage right now. She tells me all the time, "I can do that by myself, I am a big girl." Its so funny that you spend so much time as a parent to make them more independent, but then the time comes and you want to help them do something, and they refuse your help, repeating exactly what you have taught her (about being a "big girl.") and then that can be frustrating at times. It is only the beginning, and I am well aware of that. She is so great though. I love that I can have such a great time with her. I love that my heart aches when I am not with her. I love her creativity and imagination. I love that she loves Eisley so much, and never gets tired of her baby sister who needs her mommy's help a little more than she does. I love that she gets so excited over simple pleasures, and is so quick to tell us "I had a great time at ___, mommy." I love that she is one of the most appreciative children I've met, as she is so quick to tell people "thank you." I love that she will tell me "thank you for making this dinner for us, mommy" after a simple meal of grilled cheese or turkey meat on a plate. I know I could go on and on, but I will finish by singing (OK, typing) the sweet song Mia sang today when she had no clue I was listening...."Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to Mia, Happy Birthday to myself, Happy Birthday to me. Yeah!!!" (and yes, she applauded for herself after her song.) I hope you all have a blessed day today!

Happy Birthday to my husband...

2008-06-06T17:37:00.005-05:00

So, today is Jody's 27Th birthday!!! I can't believe we are all getting so much older. Does anyone else remember when 26 or 27 sounded so old??? I mean, it was practically almost 30! Yikes! I just think its crazy, and not to mention that I still feel at least 18, and people still think Jody looks it. :) I love it! So, for Jody's big day (which, birthdays and holidays are so much more important to me than they are to him, so thank you Jody for letting it be a somewhat of an important day.) we started off with him having breakfast with a friend while I was at the gym. Then, we went to lunch together with the girls at our newly opened Rudy's Bar-B-Que. They have a Rudy's in Lubbock, which we loved when we were at Tech. It opened yesterday, so we thought it was a perfect birthday lunch. And, believe me, it was amazing! Tonight we are going to cook out steaks on Jody's new grill that I gave him for his birthday/Father's Day. I am pumped!

All Jody really asked for his birthday was a cookout with his close friends AND, get this, a Mariachi Band. Well, I don't think I could afford or fit a Mariachi band in our backyard, so I opted for the cookout. I have been secretly gathering all of our good friends to come over Sunday night to celebrate. I told him about the surprise today since I knew he would want a little time to work on the patio and yard and such. Either way, it was a surprise. He is so excited! Although, it almost didn't work out due to a lack of communication on his part. Earlier in the week, after I had called everyone, I found out that Jody was leading worship at a local church Sunday night. YIKES! So, I quickly called the pastor (good thing they are friends of ours) and told him the situation. Thankfully he was able to get a replacement for Jody so that Jody could attend his own party. Kinda funny, but I was nervous.

I love doing fun stuff like this for the man I love the most. I love that we are so different (he is crazy about big parties, I'd rather smaller groups) but yet are so compatible. He is amazing! I am so blessed that the Lord chose me to be his wife! I could have never chosen a more amazing husband for myself. He is willing to do whatever it takes to take care of his family. I love that he seeks the Lord the way he does. I love that he is so talented musically and creatively. I love the father that he is to Mia and Eisley, and the laughter that he brings to our home. I love that I am still able to laugh at him, even after almost 5 years of marriage. He is just perfect for me. Thank you Lord for the abundant blessing of my husband! Happy Birthday Jody! I hope you have an amazing day!

Oh, the joys of unpacking...

2008-06-02T15:47:00.008-05:00

So the month of May seemed like a complete whirlwind. I honestly don't even remember May coming and going. Its amazing really. May was full of so many wonderful things...My birthday, of course, my brother got married the next week, Jody and Mia were in a wedding the next week, and then Jody and I spent last week in Austin where he led worship for a camp on Lake Travis. I will definately blog about each of these events.

First I will start with the wedding in Abilene. We had a great time. And really, it was a perfect midway drive to Austin. Our friends Kyle Trafton and Amanda Dunn got married. It was a beautiful ceremony. We had a lot of fun hanging out with friends too. I'll tell you one thing though, Mia LOVED being at a hotel. We didn't realize until we saw her reaction at the hotel, that this was her first time to stay at a hotel, well, that she can remember. She was so cute. She got excited about every part of the hotel, especially the "alligator" aka, elevator (its too cute to correct her.) She kept saying over and over again "I'm having a great time at the hotel daddy." The purest joys of an almost 3 year old. I wish I got more excited about simple things like she does. The suite was a perfect layout for our family. The two beds and the big room were closed off from a little sitting area. This was so helpful for naptime and bedtime. I was prepared for Jody and I to have to sit outside the room while the girls fell asleep. It was a huge blessing! All to say, we had a great time. The wedding was on Sunday, so we got there Saturday afternoon, and Jody and I left Monday to head on to Austin (only a 3 1/2 hr drive) and my parents, who were at the wedding too, brought the girls back home with them to spend the week with Nana and Grandad. I am so thankful for amazing family! Here are some pictures of the wedding weekend....Enjoy!

The family

Mia and the other flower girl, Savannah

The newly weds, Kyle and Amanda Trafton with Mia, Savannah, and ring bearer, Spencer Craft

Our little girl is so grown up.

2008-05-22T13:59:00.009-05:00

Well, we did it! It was finally time for our little girl's first REAL haircut. Yes, she's had it trimmed here and there, including a big cut at 4 months old with her daddy's clippers (family was not so happy with us.) But yesterday, we finally gave in. Jody and I have been going back and forth about cutting Mia's hair for about 6 months or so, but when I was ready, Jody wasn't, or vice-versa. But, yesterday, we were in agreement. I originally wanted to wait until after all the weddings (she is a flower girl in another wedding this weekend.) since her hair used to look really sweet all curled. BUT, since I found out last weekend that her hair was too long and straight to actually hold the curl for longer than 20 minutes, I said, "forget it! Lets chop it!" So we did. We had a fun time though. I was hoping that we would actually be able to donate her hair to Pantene's Beautiful Lengths (similar to Locks of Love) but it was just barely too short. Oh well, we have many years ahead of us to get to do that again. Maybe when Mia is old enough to understand more about donating her hair. All to say, Mia LOVES her new haircut. She really beams when you talk about it. I have never seen her so proud about anything in her life. Her joy in it makes it completely worth my missing those beautiful long locks! (I will NOT miss the tears that came at times with my brushing her long hair though.) I took plenty of pictures, so enjoy!

BEFORE

DURING

AFTER

My little brother got married.

2008-05-19T11:32:00.007-05:00

So, my brother got married this past weekend, on Friday actually. It was a beautiful wedding! I just can't believe my little brother is married. I just don't feel like he is old enough. But I guess he is technically older than I was when I got married. Crazy.
We are excited to have Leah a part of our family now. She is a great match for Matt! We had a great weekend seeing all of our family and friends. Especially ones we don't get to see often enough!
I can't believe I didn't take many pictures. I guess I was really busy chasing around Mia and trying to keep her from messing her dress up. Not to mention that I had to curl her hair 3 different times. I guess she was simply blessed with my straight hair that does not hold curl well. It also didn't help that she was running around with her cousins, rather than sitting there prim and proper like I was dreaming of. And, of course, I didn't get any pictures of Mia with her other flower girl cousins, Bailey and Addison. I also didn't get a picture with my brother, either. Dang. The night went too fast I guess. Oh well, here are some of the pictures that I do have. Hope you enjoy. Again, I wish I had more!

The family

my newest sister in law, Leah. Welcome to the family!

My sister, Leah, and me

Mia was one of the flower girls

Jody's sister Amy, her husband Zach, and our family

2008-05-19T10:48:00.010-05:00

Thursday night was my brother's rehearsal dinner. My mom did a great job preparing for the night. The room looked beautiful, and the food was amazing! It was a great night!
The table centerpieces...Great job Mom!

My brother and Leah

Cool glasses Mia

Cousins...my sister, me, and cousin Brenna

Mia and me

My mom's brother Joe and wife Darla, from North Carolina. We had so much fun with them, we always do, even though we don't get to see them often enough!

Jody and me

Its been a busy 2 weeks.

2008-05-08T20:35:00.007-05:00

I am so sorry that it has taken so long for me to write. I cannot believe how busy the past two weeks have been. I know everyone can say they are "busy" but I am serious, I have no clue where my time has gone...Well, maybe I can give you a brief run-down...

Monday (4/28) - went to Eisley's 6 mth check-up, and she weighed in at 12 pounds 10 ounces!!! And, she made the weight chart, finally! She is officially in the 3 percent. We wanted to throw a party for her.
Tues (4/29) - The ECI nutritionist came out to do her evalutation. Other than simply giving us some helpful hints are what foods are the highest in calories for Eisley to eat (like squash and sweet potatoes), she told us that Eisley looked wonderful to her and she saw no problems. YEA!!!
Thurs (5/1) - The ECI physical therapist came out for her evaluation and also said Eisley looks great to her, and saw no need for any intervention. She kinda laughed even while wondering why she was even referred! It felt so great to hear that!
Fri-Sun (5/2-4) - Jody and I went on our church's marriage retreat and had an amazing, restful time together. What a refreshment it is to spend undivided time with my husband. I am so in love with him! Jody's parents kept the girls, so Jody and I went to Childress to get them Sunday and stayed the night. His parents cooked out for my birthday celebration (its tomorrow, actually) They are amazing, and treat as if I was truly their biological daughter. I am so blessed. We then drove home Monday.
Monday (5/5) - We were supposed to get our concrete patio poured on this day, but are actually still waiting. The rain has caused a severe hold up. Jody is not happy.

This brings us to today. I had an okay day. I did have a Mother's Day Tea with Mia at Mother's Day Out. It was very special.

So, needless to say, I am pretty worn out. Being a mom is by far one of the hardest jobs I've ever had, BUT, it is also by far the most rewarding. Just some days I have to remind myself of that more. :) I pray you all have an amazing rest of your week, and weekend. Blessings! Here are some pictures of the girls and their weekend with MaMaw and Papa.

Sisters...

Mia "helping" MaMaw with the dishes, I'm sure

I love this picture! Eisly is saying "I love your kisses MaMaw!" I love Eisley's expression with her eyes!

I celebrated my birthday with my brother in law Zach. His brithday was the 6th. Thanks Becky for the Rice Krispie cake! (a Wilson brithday tradition.)

Jody told me to show him how excited I was about my birthday present. That happy!