Moms....

Well....I've had a heavy heart these days. Grace being in Kindergarten has made me realize the importance of what "little" time I have left with her. She's done fabulous. Had a few issues but none surrounding behavior. Which has surprised me. She's a little stubborn and hard headed, but she has a heart of gold and such a sweet, sweet spirit. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, that God has purposed me to be her mom. We've had some rough times at home lately....one very personal issue that the Lord is wanting me to share later....still not sure how to word it. But he's working on it. And the other with just realizing that I HAVE to TRUST him with her. She's come home saying some things that are not nice that I know she's hearing at school and to be honest....I don't handle it well. Lord knows I need help with not freaking out over some things. I want to be who she needs and lately...I've been questioning my ability. Last night, I was sitting with my core group of women, at Panera, eating soup, cake, sharing prayer requests, and discussing life's aggravation's. It occured to me that two of my core friends have a very hard day coming up for them tomorrow. They lost their mom three years ago tomorrow to cancer. Such a dear, sweet lady who couldn't love her daughters anymore. I know she would be so proud of the women they are. They are both just really fantastic people who I consider myself privileged to know. Great moms. Great women. Great wives. But who still just want to hug their mom. Tonight, we had a pretty bad bike accident which included Grace riding off of our drive head first into the culvert full of jagged river rock. I screamed, and ran to her, preparing myself for the gapping head wound I knew would greet me. She of course was crying, but there was nothing. No blood. Nothing. The mom took over and all the little attitude struggles we've been having were gone. I just wanted to be her mom. Tonight, I hugged her a little tighter when I put her to bed. I hope we will all hug our little ones tighter. I wish my mom was here to hug me. And Amy and Ali would give anything to hug their mom just one more time. Thankful tonight. And praying for my friends. Don't forget to mute the music at the bottom of the page before playing the video.

The Night Before Kindergarten...

Well....I knew this day would come eventually, but heaven knows I didn't think it would happen this fast. It just seems like yesterday that we were given this scared to death little girl. And in 4 short years here we are. Grace is beside herself with excitement and I am beside myself with the unknowns. What will she do all day? Who will she play with? Will she be sweet? Will other kids be kind to her? Have I taught her everything she needs to know before tomorrow? (Too late if I haven't!) OH Man! They don't prepare you for this part of parenting. The letting go part I mean. And even though I realize that I'm not sending her off to college and to conquer the world tomorrow, I realize how time has flown by and how precious every minute is. (Even though my wonderful husband has informed me that we will remember tomorrow on the day we drop her off at college. I could have hit him.) I so hope that kindergarten is everything she is hoping it will be. I pray God will surround her and protect her innocence as long as he sees fit. I pray he will give her friends that will be good for her and friends that she can be good for. Whatever he gives us.....I hope we handle it in a way that is pleasing. And now for one of the "first" firsts....one of our first glimpses of our larger than life kiddo.....

Cowgirl East Meets Cowgirl West!

There are lots of pictures on this post so forgive me....but they are fantastic pics! Grace and I drove (yes, I said drove) to Texas. I don't know why I had the urge to drive 12 hours instead of fly 2 to East Texas. Seeing Judy was a great motivator, but I have always loved to just get in the car and.....go. So....It was just me, Grace, and the lovely GPS lady. I changed her voice for entertainment along the way. Kept me awake. I learned lots of stuff along the way...but that's another post for another day. Judy has these great friends who have horses and they are kind enough to fuel my child's love (fascination, obsession) for the four legged creature. I don't know where this love has come from, but I have the faintest inclination that it will NOT be leaving us anytime soon. I do believe a horse is in our future. When she's, like, 10 or so. Here's the little cowgirl and the big cowgirl Ms. Marie....

And this is Ms. Marie's silly cowboy husband, Mr. Curtis. He and Grace swapped hats.

She is loving every minute of this! And all I'm thinking is, "How much is a horse going to add to our monthly budget?"

Talking very softly to Blondie....

She rode her for awhile but mainly just wanted to stand there, pet her, and talk to her.

This picture is kind of dark but I hope you can see the smile on her face!!!

I believe we have a horse whisperer on our hands here....

Oh my....

I am thankful for the sweet hearts of Curtis and Marie for allowing Grace to explore her fascination of horses and teaching her all about them. Thanks guys! You are definately one of the highlights of our trip!

The Little Rock Climber

Well, this weekend brought a new kind of "new" for our family. Hiking. In the woods. With a 5 year old. Who is scared of nothing. And fearless. Get the point?

When I was in school at Auburn I did A LOT of camping. Mostly because it was cheap and there were always tons of us that went and we had a blast! I discovered during those years I spent in God's country (I'm talking about Auburn) that I loved being outside. Hiking, camping, anything. I even spent a summer in upstate New York as a summer missionary which fed the love for being outside. Now when I got married, it didn't surprise people to know that I married a man who loved to be outside and camp and canoe and hunt. I believe Brandon would live outside if he could. And then we built a house in a neighborhood and my idea of vacation became beach, beach, and more beach. And then if we had time go to the beach again. Right before we went to China to get Grace we moved to a house on 12 acres that bordered a wildlife refuge with a pond. Wasn't sure I'd like it at first but I have since rekindled that love for the outside. Most mornings you will find me on the porch drinking coffee looking over the fields, and in the evening after G is in bed I'll be on the back porch looking for what ever kind of life comes wondering out of the woods. So- this year, with the beach being what it is and everything, we decided to do something different. G is old enough now to do such things as hiking so we went for it.

This trip was mainly about hunting and scouting some things. What does one hunt in the heat of summer you might ask? Well, one hunts a new and better place to hunt next hunting season. With this in the back of our minds (or Brandon's mind) we set out for southern Illinois where it is just as hot as it is here in the Tennessee Valley! We explored Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge and Giant City State Park. G was ALL over it! I think we may have started something with this little trip! As you can tell, you can put the girl in the woods and she will STILL be girly. Even while she's climbing on rocks!

And when we weren't climbing on rocks we would find one to relax on. For some reason, I don't think G will require a tent when she camps. She would be completely fine sleeping on the rock!

This trail was absolutely gorgeous. There was no telling how old some of those trees were and the amount of times the topography of the land had changed. It was like a huge history and geography lesson wrapped into a short 1 mile stretch of land. On one rock we found this....

I wonder what this person was thinking when he hiked this trail. Did it look the same? Probably not. Was it as hot? Could have been. How tall were these trees then? I wondered what J.L. Parker was thinking when he was on this trail. Or was it even a trail then?

One thing I learned really quickly on this hiking excursion with Grace... the child has got to learn about safety and interpreting trail signs. We turned around for 5 seconds and she was almost 5 foot off the ground climbing a huge rock. I think rappelling will be in our (or her) future! Brandon went up after her and tried to have a conversation with her about why we just can't run at mock 10 up a rock surface.

And wherever Brandon went, G was close behind. Either screaming, "Wait up Daddy!" (We didn't see a ton of wildlife on this trip. Probably because of all the screaming and loudness coming from termite.)

This was, by far, the best trip we've taken as a family this year. I am already scopping out another state park for us to go to. And if we weren't planning on being in China next summer I'd probably be planning a trip to Montana to visit one of our National Parks. As in all things lately, God spoke something to me on that trail. We got to one part that was wet and muddy, and I tried, really tried, to problem solve with Grace and see which way she would pick to get to the other side. I tried to talk to her about the importance of keeping our feet dry (we didn't have on boots), it was next to a little drop off and trying to keep that in mine. After my monologue, which I'm sure Grace enjoyed, she declared, "I know the best way to go Mommy." To which she promptly, (and quickly) went right through the middle of it! Not the way I wanted her to go! I wanted her to go around the sides so that she wouldn't be muddy and that there would really be NO chance of the mud leaving it's mark on her. Well, that's just really not like life for us lately. Sometimes, the best way to go is right through the middle of life. Where, even though you might come out muddy, you always come out on the other side and the better for it. There are things that happen everyday that we deal with. Some from our past, some in our present, that God wants to use for his glory thereby leaving his mark on us where we can say, "Look what God did through that. Look at how God used that for His glory." There are some situations in my life right now that have left their mark on me. The Bible says that God works everything together for the good of those who love Him. I'm beginning to think that it doesn't necessarily mean for MY good. It could mean that something hard could work out for the good of Grace. Or Brandon. Or some other person. And that I am just the vessel. Then...it's all good. So who cares if we got muddy. A little mud hasn't ever hurt nobody!

And here's my favorite picture from the whole weekend. A not so little, little girl who LOVED her first hiking trip!

P.S. I miss my jeep. I will seriously be thinking about this the next time we buy a vehicle. The jeep would have made the trip SO much better. Just saying.

Reynolds Turns the Big 2!!!!!

How sweet is this precious face?





Her daddy, Jason, is precious too but trust me.....that little face is GORGEOUS!!!! She LOVES farm animals. I think I am partially responsible for that since Grace did give her the Fridge Farm for her birthday last year. Her birthday this year was at the petting zoo in Danville and wouldn't you know it? A storm showed up and showed out and we had to wait to pet the animals! Goats, Llamas, bunnies, and miniatures horses are so much fun, but they are especially fun after the rain!!!! Reynold's kept saying, "Goat, Goat" and, "Hop, Hop" for the bunnies. I've never seen
a child so excited and ready to pet wet animals as this one!

There was also a hayride.....here are Lauren Grace, Mary-Peyton, and Grace.....

And most importantly.......CAKE....KAY CAKE...from The Corner Bakery!!!! Reynolds had a candle cake and then everyone had cupcakes!!!!

Reynolds....you are such a beautiful blessing from God Almighty! Your Mommy and Daddy cherish you and the joy that you bring them. Mr. Brandon, Grace, and I are so glad we get to know you and your family! We are so excited to watch you grow and become the little girl that God is growing you to be! You are a treasure, to so many people. You are a princess of the Heavenly King sweet girl! Happy Birthday! And Mommy....get ready for those 2's!!!!!

My Most Prized Possession...

I love this time of year. Around 6:00 every night the temperature is perfect and during this time of year I purposely plan our supper time around it so that we can eat outside. If it weren't for the 6.5 million misquitoes that drink tons of my blood (they love me and Grace) it would be perfect. Well, tonight- despite the misquitoes- it was perfect. Grace and I had a LONG day in Birmingham at an eye appointment, then the adoption clinic, and you could say....well....Grace's listening skills were not performing at thier best today. So tonight I'm so thankful that God made my heart sensitive to the lesson he was trying to teach me.

I, of course, was frustrated because Grace had been a tornado since we had gotten home. I'm sure we lost almost an entire box of crayons to the dogs because someone didn't put them up when she was finished, and the guest room looked like a hurricane had gone through it because of the insane number of times that Grace had changed personalities and put on different dress up clothes. In 10 minutes we went from being a butterfly, to an agent spy that looked strangely like an indian, to someone vaguely resembling Hannah Montana and then to a ballerina. And then it happened.

Grace walked outside and said, "Mommy, I have a prize for you." Now she had already told me this like six times inside the house. But I was so "busy" trying to get supper outside so that we could have the perfect dinner. Really, I am SO ashamed to say, I reluctantly took it just so she wouldn't ask me again. It is the pink envelope she is holding in the picture. Inside of that envelope are ALL of her valentines from her party at school- last February. When I asked her why she was giving me her valentine's she responded, "They are my most prized possession." So then I asked, "Honey, why are you giving me your most prized possession?" Her response was, "Because I love you."

{Enter the gasping and the Ahhh comments here}

This sweet, sweet angel taught me a HUGE lesson tonight. I mean, trust me. She's had better days. And even in the difficult situations we had today, she loved me so much that she looked past all of that to give me her most prized possession.

Isn't that just like God? Even in all of our ugliness that we have sometimes God loved us enough to give us his most prized possession in his perfect and Holy son Jesus. When I was taking advantage of this teachable moment with my child and explaining this to her she responded just like Grace usually does with...."Yea. I know that already."

Thank you so much God for loving me enough to look past all the trivial, crazy, and stupid things I get side tracked with to remind me of what is most important. I have kept Grace's prized possession and will put it away to give her later on in life when she needs a reminder (just like I needed today) that she is one of God's most prized possessions.

So- for that- she earned herself a little ice cream Sundae with WHATEVER she wanted on it. I honestly don't know how she ate all of that, but she did! And she loved every bit of it! And I'm so happy I had my camera handy to capture the moment!

Melodi is 17!!!!!

There is nothing that makes you feel older than watching the kids you know get older. So much older that they're becoming more like young women and less like kids everyday. And Melodi is one of those young women. I still remember when she was 8. I would go over to her house and she would climb in the jeep and I'd let her drive it around her neighborhood. She was pretty good at it, but she had lots of practice on the golf cart at her Pa-Paws. I have been so honored to watch her grow and mature not only in age but spritually as well. She is precious.

And now...I get to watch her with my little one. And now she's the one who is picking up my child and taking her on girl's night out instead of the other way around. Melodi, you are super special to me and we are so priviledged to know you. In a world where there are less and less Godly women as role models I am SO glad that Grace can look up to you. I don't worry when she's with you (outside the normal mom worry that is) and I'm thankful that we have you to share this life with. Thank you for being you. You are loved! Most especially by the Chinese princess, asleep in her room right now with the Melodi sign you made her on her door. Love you girl!!!! And please, if you can stop growing up we would really appreciate it. Thanks!