"Know That You're Loved"

Lately with everything going on in the news my heart has been heavy thinking of all the families affected.  It has brought me to my knees in prayers of safety and protection over my family and loved ones.

Last night Ava and Parker had their Spring Program at their school.  They were absolutely adorable of course but one of the songs that Ava's class did got me thinking. 

"Be careful little eyes what you see... For the Father up above is looking down in love."

I really have learned a lot about this in the last year as my kids are getting older.  I have found that I can't even watch the news now when they are with me because there is so much ugliness in the world and it scares them.

I want them to have a healthy fear of the world around them.  Yes there is evil but it's not around every corner.  There is a lot of good in the world and the world needs the good news of God's love.  Yes there are people that do bad thing.  But for everyone one of those people there are hundreds more running in putting their lives on the line to help.

"Be careful little ears what you hear... For the Father up above is looking down in love."

A lot of times there is a lot of dramatics added to things on the radio or news.  One thing I learned from my years of training in early childhood education is children's brains are not developed enough to deal with "adult" issues.  They simply cannot process and separate it from themselves. If they hear it or see it; in their minds-they're next.  

"Be careful little feet where you go... For the Father up above is looking down in love."

As much as I want to protect my babies, I cannot be with them every step of the way.  The best thing Brian and I can do is instill morals and values in them today and pray that they hold fast to the truths of the Word all the days of their lives.

"Be careful little heart who you love... For the Father up above is looking down in love."

Even now Brian and I are praying for whatever prince shall come and win our girls hearts.  Likewise we pray that Parker will be the kind of man that will seek a woman strongly grounded in her faith and be the kind of man she needs him to be.

I once heard a quote that said "A woman's heart should be so hidden in Christ that a man will have to seek Him first to find her."  I love this!

"Be careful little mind what you think... For the Father up above is looking down in love."

Our minds are powerful things.  Sometimes we hear thoughts that are straight from the devil an believe them to be true.  It's hard to do but I pray that my children are able to take negative thoughts captive and believe the truth that God made each of us special.  

After the program two of Ava's sweet friends ran up to her and they where giggling and hugging.  I absolutely love their love for each other.  It's pure and it's simple.  Life is good in their world, just as it should be.

I pray that as these sweet little girls grow that they will "know that they're loved."

The past couple days I have had this song on repeat.  It really speaks to my heart.  This morning Ava was in my bathroom and I was doing her hair.  After I finished I sat down on the tub and held her close while we both sang this song.  Tears were just flowing down my face as I prayed that she, and all my children will never doubt that they are loved.  That they have earthly parents who love them to the moon and back and a Heavenly Father who knows every hair on their head.

Today I pray that no matter your circumstance-YOU "know that you are loved."

Recently...

Recently... I decided to update my blogs name.  It has been organized (slightly) chaos around here lately and I haven't had nearly as much time as I used to to keep up with things like I used to.  

When I originally started this blog I was great about updating almost everyday (all 525,600 minutes of them).  But recently, not so much.  I'm doing good if I get one update in a month.  Even with that it's a month or two behind.  I have had so many of you sweet friends and family telling me how much you miss my blog and beg for updates.  Thank you for pushing me because I enjoy having these posts to look back on as much as you say you love reading them!

Recently... My iPhone pooped out on me.  I lost some of my pictures and it just reminded me that I need to be so much better about keeping up with things on here so I don't loose anymore!

Recently... some of the pictures lost where of Brooke and Parker's school Valentines party.  *sad face* But I do have some of Ava's 100th day of school which just happened to be on Valentines.

Speaking of Ava, here are a few Averisms from the past couple months.  I'm sure there are many many more but these are the ones that come to mind at the moment.

"Last night Daddy pulled a bowl out of the cabinet and there was a spider in there and it scared the crabs out of him!"  (Winning as parents right?)

One night after we had finished putting the kids to bed Ava came out one last time to tell us something. And by something I mean nothing... the girl finds any excuse she can to get out of bed every night.  Any who, after she finished telling us nothing she peeked around the hallway corner and said "Oh and by the way... nice mustache!"  Then she winked, threw a thumbs up in our direction and headed off down the hall.  

Who's child is this?!

Recently... we got to go with Brooke on her field trip to the Dallas Aquarium.  Fun!

Recently... Brookie was a butterfly in her school play.  She was the most beautiful butterfly I've ever seen.

Recently... The Women's Ministry at our church pulled off another amazing retreat.  There was lots to learn and lots of love & laughfter.  Love these ladies.  Thanks for the memories girls!

Recently... We've been house shopping.  After lots of talk and prayer we decided the best situation for us right now would be to build a home.  It's been a great adventure thus far and after HOURS of being knee deep in design I absolutely cannot wait to see everything come to life. 

 I will keep you all updated on things as they go on.  As of now it's looking like we will be able to move in sometime in September so there will be plenty of time to talk about that later.

Which one of these is not like the other?

A few weeks ago we went to a home and garden show in Ft. Worth and we found these lovely lawn gnomes for our new front yard.  Whatcha think? 

Surely life sized lawn gnomes are not against HOA policy.  Right?

One of the homes we were looking at a few months ago had a naked lady statue smack dab in the middle of front yard.  Brian joked that he was going to wrap her in Christmas lights and put a Santa hat on her during the holidays.  All I could think about is National Lampoons Christmas Vacation and how we could so be that family.

That same house had a disco ball in it- and it worked!  Not just a disco ball but a whole 4th floor dedicated to the disco ball.  With lovely green carpet I might add.  I must say that the kids- Ava in particular was very sad when we decided not to buy the "Disco Ball house."  We came close, even walked through it a couple more times to be sure but in the end it wasn't the right home for our family.  

We pass the home often and you can see it from the road below.  Without fail Ava will say "There's my disco ball!  Are we buying that house yet?  You know it had enough room for a litter box.  We could get a cat..."  

Kids.  I just love the way their little minds work. 

Recently... Our church had an epic 10,000 Easter egg hunt.  Mr. E. Bunny himself even showed up and dropped 3,000 eggs from a helicopter.  My favorite part of the whole day was watching the joy on all the kids faces as they saw that giant bunny dumping eggs down to them.  It was priceless.  

While we where watching I was asking all the little ones around me what they thought about having the Easter bunny come just for them, just the way Jesus came for us.  Ava's comment again was one for the record books.  She said "Well it's pretty cool but that bunny is kind of creepy."

All dressed up and ready for Easter.

Love these three with all of my heart.

Recently... The girls got the honor of preforming to raise money for a local boy who has been battling stage 4 Neuroblastoma since 2010.  It was amazing to see the community come together and support such a sweet boy.  

On the way to the performance and even since the girls and I have had great discussions about why it is important to give back and help people.  I love that even at this young age they get it.  We are blessed so that we can be blessings.  It is that simple.  

I could go on and on about how my girls constantly amaze me with their forgiving and giving hearts but I'd probably end up in tears and the tissues are across the room so I'll save that for another day.  

Recently... Brooke lost her first top tooth.  She actually lost the other front one tonight (on my birthday!) but I forgot to take a picture.  I told everyone I felt like a horrible mother because I could not stop laughing about how silly she looked.  Still cute, but silly.  We were all there once right?  

Recently... the whole family underwent an extreme hair makeover.

Somebody, I won't mention any names... but it does start with an A and end with an a... got a big fat wad of gum stuck in her hair.  Luckily we were at the gym which just happens to be where our favorite stylist works.  We tried everything; ice, oil, combing it... we got a lot out but it was just so stuck in there we had to cut it.  I was surprised how well Ava took the news.  After she got over the embarrassment of the situation she was excited.

When Ava was almost done with her hair cut Brooke asked if she could get her hair cut short too.  At first I said absolutely not but the more I thought about it the more I felt led to let her do it.  It was something she was really really wanting and what was the big deal really?  It's just hair right?

I mean seriously if that's what she wants to rebel with- I'll take it!

I mean look at me.  And I turned out alright.

Right???

{Crickets chirping}

Guys?!  Right?