Love It!

As you can see from my blog, I don't post often. However, I would like to say that I absolutely LOVE Christmas break! I love the season and most of all I love that Dane, Parker, Mollie and I are home all together, all day for about two weeks. I just love spending time with just us - no stress, no work, no school, no extra-curricular activities. I love it! I wish it was like this everyday! As Dane and I said - I guess we need to win the lottery to do that! There is nothing better than just fun family time!

I hope you had a great Christmas as we celebrated our Savior's birth! Thank you Jesus for your sacrifice! Love to you all!

Santa!

Dane and I went to Birmingham to attend my annual Christmas party with all my high school friends. I really had a great time catching up with them. I wish I got to see them more often. I really look forward to it each year. I am truly blessed to have such a wonderful group of friends from both high school and college that even though we don't get to see each other often, when we do, we just pick up where we left off and it feels like no time has past. Dane and I even were able to bring home a Snuggie as our Dirty Santa gift!

We then spent the night with my parents. My parents were very kind to keep the kids Saturday morning while Dane and I went out to do some Christmas shopping. It really helped us get a lot of it accomplished! :)

After we went shopping, my parents wanted to take the kids to see the Santa they had at the Indian Spring Town Village. We had such a great time. A family from Indian Springs volunteers to host Santa and provides refreshments and Santa gifts to the kids. Parker and Mollie got a candy cane and a box of crayons. You can come and take as many personal pictures as you would like. Also, you can stay and talk to Santa as long as you would like too. Each child got at least 5 minutes. However, needless to say, Mollie did not like Santa!! Parker had a great time. We think that Mollie has something against beards because she also does not like to be around my dad, who has a beard. We are hoping that she will grow out of that soon! But I will have to say that this Santa trip was one of the best experiences. It was nice not to feel rushed. It was nice not to have the pressure of buying the Santa pictures afterwards and it was just a small, warm environment. What a blessing this kind family provides to the Indian Springs community. Thank you!

Thanksgiving and the Past 3 months! :)

Well, I know that it has been forever since I last posted. I am really going to try to do better. I enjoy reading everyone elses blog and I love keeping up with everyone's family through them, so I decided I need to try again. So here goes...

Parker and I started the week off at the beach. We had a great time! We played tennis, rode his bike around the Warf, built sand castles and threw the football. We got down there Monday afternoon and my parents came and joined us on Tuesday afternoon. Parker LOVED having Pops down there too. Parker thinks that Pops hung the moon. Since Parker gets up at the crack of dawn and so does Pops - they usually go on a walk on the beach together and sometimes even watch the sun rise together. I got to spend time with Mom shopping. It is always more fun having someone to shop with (Dane does NOT like shopping!).

After the beach, Parker and I left on Thursday morning for Nana and Papa's at Lake Eufaula. Dane and Mollie had driven down to Lake Eufaula Wednesday night. We had a great Thanksgiving lunch and then headed back to T-town Thursday night. We were glad to visit with family and glad to be home.

We had to come back Thursday night because according to Dane, we had to be home for the Iron Bowl. We watched the game (me and Mollie at home and Dane and Parker went to Uncle Deron's so we could appropriately cheer for our own team and not feel bad about it! :) Unfortunately, the game did not come out to my liking - but the Tigers did pretty well. I am still VERY glad to be an AUBURN TIGER!!

We have not gotten the Christmas decoration out yet, but hopefully will soon. Today, I took Parker and Mollie to the park and Dane helped a friend move furniture. We are looking forward to a restful Sunday tomorrow.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

(By the way, I found out why I don't blog often. I started writing this when I thought the kids were asleep at around 1:45pm and it is now 7:07pm and I am just finishing because of the kiddos. Oh well.....better late than never, huh? )

How to find time...

I am just entering a quick blog to say, yes, I am still out here. I just need to find some time to write. Hopefully, it will come soon. But until then....

SILENCE....

God has a sense of humor. I have experienced that my times. One that I will always remember is going out on CCC Lake Tahoe Summer Project saying multiple times, I will not work at McDonald's. I REFUSE to work at McDonald's. Well, guess what...I worked at McDonald's - and I love it!!! It was a great experience.

But I write this time about God's sense of humor in a little different way. As I sit writing, I cannot talk. I have lost my voice. This has never happened to me before. The funny thing is that I lost it this weekend at a women's conference in Birmingham. I had had a sore throat this week, but nothing too big. My voice was horse and got worse and then by Saturday afternoon I could barely talk. Funny thing is that in this, God has taught me something that I don't think that I would have learned otherwise...

We sang a song at the conference that had the words "I lift my voice to the Lord." Well, not having a voice at the time made me think. God said to me - "it is not necessarily your voice, but your heart that I want you to lift to me." I think that sometimes it can be just words that we sing, rather than a state of our heart. It really helped me focus on my heart rather than just on the words we were singing. Because so many times, I use praise and worship as a prayer and I sing it with my voice. I mean, I feel the words in my heart, but I have never sung the words with my heart. This time, I really experienced singing the song with my heart and not my voice. That was a great experience.

Since I have not regained my voice yet, I am sure that God will show me more things that I need to learn as well. But in that I also struggle with when is it going to come back. It is difficult not being able to talk. If I want to talk to Dane, I have to walk over to him, tap him on the shoulder and he has to turn around and look at me while I mouth the words to him. I cannot talk to him while he is in the den and I am in the kitchen. When I hear Parker say or do something that is not the best, I have to walk over to him and get him to look at me while I try to mouth to him. Have you ever tried to get a 4 year old to look at you for a while and try to read your lips? That has been an interesting experience. But most of all, other things have affected me - such as Mollie brought me a book that she wanted me to read that I have read to her many times before - and I could not read it to her tonight. I had to get Parker to read it to her the best that he could (Dane was at a meeting - otherwise he would have been reading it!!) Also, I always read Parker a Bible story at night and we pray aloud together (one of my most favorite times with him) - but I could not do that tonight. But Dane did - but I love doing that and spending that time with Parker. It makes me think, when will I be able to read the Bible to him again? When will I be able to call my husband on the phone and verbally tell him "I love you," instead of texting it to him? But with all those thoughts, I hold on to the thought that my God is awesome, He is a healer and and He is in control. For that, I am thankful. I will never be more thankful for my voice as I will when I hear it again!! :)

Until next time....

Fun times....

Well it has been a while since I have updated my blog. Since then, we have been on Spring break where we took a trip to the beach. It was beautiful while we were there, but unfortunately too cold to really get into the water. But we had a great time! Then we were home for three days before we left for Charleston, SC for my sister's wedding. There she married a wonderful man, Jeff Coleman. It was a beautiful wedding and she was a gorgeous bride. Parker was adorable in his suit and Mollie was a great flower-girl! Parker pulled Mollie and my niece, Penny, down the aisle in a wagon. It was precious! Most of all, Parker danced at the reception like I have never seen him dance before!! He even gave a toast to his "Aunt Les!" I will post pictures of both fun trips soon. But I will say, that it can be a little difficult to drive 8.5 hours with 2 little ones. Thank goodness for the DVD player and movies to keep them occupied! :) We had a great time one our two vacations, but we are glad to be home and actually unpack for a little while!

Some baseball and a picnic....

Dane and I were so excited - Parker hit his first home run today!!! It was a great hit and he ran all around the bases and then slid home! I just wish that I had my video camera running. It was priceless! And to top it all off, his team won!! It was great!!

After baseball, we went to our church's Easter picnic. We had a great time and really enjoy hanging-out with everyone. My mom and dad came up and were able to watch Parker's game and go to the picnic with us too. I love some mommy time!! I really do not think you can get to old for that! It was also nice that while the kids were napping, my mom and I were able to go to downtown Northport and enjoy some shopping. Great times!!

I hope everyone has a great Easter and is able to take some time to really be with Jesus - for He is RISEN!!

God has a plan...

Recently, I have been surrounded by people who are going through a lot of changes in their lives. Some changes are good and wanted changes and others are not. However, in all of these, we have been able to see God's hand at work in them. I am so thankful that we serve a God who promises "all things God works for good for those who love him," (Romans 8:28). However, in knowing that, He does not promise to us that we will see the good here on earth. But we know that good will come. To that, I am thankful.

Designer Stuff...???

Why is it that people care about designer labels? I just do not understand it. Now, I will say that before I was walking with the Lord, I did care about designer labels. I had to have Guess Jeans, D&B purse, etc. However, now, I think, it cost how much??!! I just cannot fatham paying $300 for a bag, or $100 for a pair of shoes, etc. It is so worldly. That money could go else where. Shoes are shoes - they all cover your feet. And even with that some of the expensive ones are probably the most uncomfortable! Purses are purses - they all carry your things. I can buy one that costs $30 that does the same thing as one that cost $300. Now, anything that I have for me or my children that is any type of designer, I definately did not pay the price. I probably got it from Little Lambs or something similar, or it was bought for them by a family member. However, someone once said that the expensive things last longer. Probably a little truth there, because they might be made a little better (maybe) but after a while, I am sure it "goes out of style," and then one would want the newest designer purse or shoe, etc. So is it really important for it to last long? It just bothers me when people are so concerned with name brands and the up-to-date styles - that they are willing to sacrifice things or go into debt for them. Is that a crazy thought, or do I just need to keep up with the times? (Sorry I just had to vent a little there....)

Some Random Pictures

I cannot believe it!

I have to tell this story that happened this morning. I got up and was getting ready. I was in the kitchen getting Mollie's things ready for school. She was still asleep but Parker was awake and getting ready in his room. It was quiet for a longer period of time then normal. As I went to go back to my room and finish getting ready, Parker came into the kitchen. He said, "Mommy, go look at my room." (He had a crazy little grin on his face.) I had no idea what to expect, there were a lot of things going through my mind as to what I was going to see in his room. As I walked in his room with him, I could not believe it - Parker made his bed all by himself!! And most of all, we have never asked him to do that. I was so proud of him and he was very proud of himself. Even though you could tell that a 4 year old did it, it was adorable! I even had to take a picture of it! I was so proud of him!! Way to go Parker!! :)

How do people do it?

I am just wondering how people go through this life without a church family? Or without knowing Jesus as your Savior? I just could not imagine that. How can you look around and not see God everywhere you turn? It constantly reminds me how truly blessed I am and how thankful I am to Jesus for my salvation. God is good all the time - and all the time God is good.

The test blog...

Okay, I am trying this again. I have not completely figured out this blog thing yet. So if you have any tips, please feel free to pass them on. I really just wanted a place where I can journal about random things. Needless to say, that is why this blog is appropriately named "Random Thoughts." Well, now that I have spent an hour on this just trying to figure out where to write this and how to publish it, I have having to close down for the night. Mollie and Parker have school pictures tomorrow and I need to find something for them to wear. I also will be attending a funeral tomorrow and need to get some things in order. I just need a couple more hours in the day to get everything done! Til next time....

What is my greatest fear?

Recently, I just watched Beth Moore's video on the Ester Bible Study that I am doing. WOW! She really challenged me. She encouraged us to be couragous, and not to live in fear. She asked us to think "What is my greatest fear?" Then say If _________ happened, then _________. And being a Christian, it would be If __________ happened, then God will take care of me. She challenged us to live totally without fear. What a freeing concept!!!