Video For Our Daddy-O

The kids have been working hard on making a special tribute to their Daddy for Father's Day.  

And I have been working really hard all week on keeping it a secret.  And if any of you know me I am HORRIBLE at keeping gifts a secret.  A few times I would catch Parker singing the chorus while walking around the house and I would have to distract him before Daddy caught on.  

Well, we (mostly me again) broke down yesterday and gave it to him early and it was a very special moment for all of us.

Happy Father's Day!

A Mother's Prayer

May God grant you peace
in the midst of a storm.
May God give you strength even
when you’re forlorn.
May you answer the door when
Jesus comes knocking.
May wisdom guide when
your mouth is talking.
May discretion protect you
and keep you pure.
May you never stumble
or fall for a lure.
May your heart remain humble
to the very end.
May uprightness and truth
be what you defend.
May the world not ensnare
or change who you are.
May the light that's within you
shine like the stars.
May angels surround you
body, spirit, mind.
May favor and peace be yours to find.
May rejection and pain
never reach you.
May your spirit grow bold
for what you’re called to. 

As you rest in God’s care I will rest, too.
Knowing that Jesus is watching over you.
Amen

Happy Mother's Day to all my Mommy friends out there.  And a very special thank you to my own Mom for putting up with me all these years.

Here's the song that the prayer above came from.  Make sure you have tissue close by!

A Beautiful Song - A Mother's Prayer from ourprecioussavior on GodTube.

"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?

Brooke's Baptism

A few months ago Brooke came to us and said she really had the desire to be baptized.  We had just watched one of her older friends get baptized so I thought she just wanted to do it because he had done it.  I asked her why she wanted to be baptized and she said "Because I believe in God and I know Jesus was His son and the Bible says if you believe you should be baptized." 

For the next couple months we talked about what the Bible says about baptism and why we do it.  I love this picture.  It just makes my heart fall in love with Brian all over again when I see him leading our children.  

A few weeks ago the church had a class for people who where interested in the next steps towards baptism.  We took Brookie to the class and they sent her home with a little work book.  She was all about that.

Pastor Brian and his family have become precious to us and Brooke was excited that he was going to baptize her.  

So many thoughts were running through my mind at this point.  

"Where have the last 6 years gone?"

"What will the next 6 years bring?"

And just how stinkin' proud I was of her.

Her face just screams pure joy.  She was so happy in this moment.  

Brooke's "Best BFF" and Ava where standing by watching. 

  

I love how Ava adores her big sister.

And Brookie's a great big sister to look up to.

We love you Brookie Cookie.  Daddy and Mommy are very proud of you.  You have an amazing heart and we are excited to see what big things God has planned for you.  

A few days after the baptism we got a package in the mail from Grandpa Jim and Grandma Marcia.  Grandma made Brooke her very own prayer shawl.  She loves it!

She also got a special prayer tin from a friend.  It has little papers in it that she can write her prayers on.  There's a poem on the top that I love. "When your head starts to worry, and your mind just can't rest, put your prayers down on paper and let God do the rest."  Brooke has already committed this saying to memory.

There have been many sweet moments watching her use her two new gifts.

While I was trying to get a picture of Brooke with her new prayer shawl Parker and Ava where standing by asking if they could be in the pictures too.  What happened next was too much fun!

These three are too much.  I still can't believe that I get to be their Momma.  

Daddy Daughter Dance 2013

It's that time of year again.

Daddy Daughter Dance time!

Time to bust out the sparkling grape juice and get the at home salon ready!  This is our third year doing this tradition and it just keeps getting more fun.

The girls look forward to it so much, and I love their excitement about it.

Ava said "Why don't you teach Daddy how to do this girl stuff?  He is taking us to the dance, this should be his job you know?"

Ava wore the dress Brooke wore two years ago.  

While I was getting the girls ready Brian brought me a picture he had in his bedside table from that dance.  The girls looked so little!  Here's a link to the post about that dance.  

Two years ago... seriously?  Wow.  

And I had to get a picture of Ava's shoes.  She had to have them.  She has a problem... a Michael Kors problem.  I blame Auntie Chelsea.

The girls helped me find what they wanted their hair to look like.  Ava picked this look.  She said it is like one of the fairy's on her Barbie Fairytopia movie.  

Brooke's turn for pampering!

Brookie's Cinderella dress.  I just love that brand.  It's like the 5th Cinderella dress we've bought.

Parker thinks Sissy is pretty.

Staged picture warning!  I told the girls to hug and act like they like each other.

That lasted about two seconds.

Daddy with his girls

A few minutes a go Brian sent me this picture.

And this one.  Looks like they're having fun.

And so are we!

Spending some one on one time with my littlest man.  We're enjoying a Thomas The Train marathon.  I was just informed that we have to "watch just 5 more Thomas and then we can take a bath and brush our teeth."  Sounds good to me boy!