My Old Stomping Grounds

Wow, this picture is six or seven years old!  I found it tonight looking through old picture files.  It was taken at the Alumni Center at the University of Texas.  Look at how much Tucker looked like a blonde Carter!  I forgot how light his hair was then.  I guess it's still light, but not quite like this.  I adore this picture.

I can't believe how quickly the kids are growing up.  In a week and a day my baby Carkey will be THREE!  My BABY will be THREE!  I just cannot grasp this.  I keep telling Patrick we need another baby in the house, but he's no where near agreeing with me.  *sigh*

List #5
1. Three healthy blessings
2. Old pictures
3. Technology that's making picture taking easier
4. Precious first graders
5. Long hair (note to all: NEVER let me cut it short again!)
6. Patrick's getting home a little earlier than I thought
7. New friends
8. Asking a friend if I could drop in and a happy yes answering me
9. Mom time while the kids played
10. Dancing with the kids
11. Technology that puts music at our fingertips
12. Short naps meant early bedtime
13. Tucker's starting to eat new foods -- yea watermelon!
14. Change is coming, and sometimes that's good
15. Sweet tea
16. Delicious baked treats
17. Carter sang along with me tonight at bedtime
18. The next couple of days are packed with friend time
19. Quiet time to write this list
20. Finally learning the ropes
21. Grace
22. Birthdays
23. It's almost the weekend
24. It's almost summer!
25. Joy for friend's good news
26. Peace
27. Hope for tomorrow

Night night!

List #4

This picture was taken last summer when we went to LegoLand.  Presley was 3 and Carter was 2.  These little loves haven been BFFs since Carter was born -- they are inseparable!  So sweet :o)

Today was a hard day because we are waiting to hear from the Lord on something and we thought we were getting a clear answer today.  And we did...but the answer was 'still wait'.  It never gets easier!  But in the Waiting Place I have learned that God is faithful, and He is never late.  And so we wait with expectant hearts and open hands.  In the Waiting Place I've discovered I'd rather be with Him in the waiting place than anywhere else...even the Promised Land.  We'll get there, but for now...we wait.

While we're waiting, here's today's list of things to bless the Lord with...
List #4
1. Steadfast friends who encourage me while we wait
2. Hearing word of a prayer that became a praise
3. God allowing me to see the power of prayer at work
4. Our sweet new friends are finally traveling to Ethiopia today to meet their new baby
5. My students were really well behaved today
6. My teammates that make working fun
7. Hope for the future
8. Patrick was home at a decent hour
9. I got to go to Mardel for an hour, alone.  Heavenly!
10. Rainy nights mean extra snuggles
11. The persistence of the Holy Spirit
12. A love for reading and an easy access to books
13. Sorry, but I have to say it today: Pinterest!
14. My smartphone
15. Technology that keeps ups connected -- so many encouraging texts today
16. Litte bit of time today lay down before we got the little ones
17. A safe place for the little ones to go everyday
18. 7 days til summer for Tucker
19. Quiet time to make this list
20. My one year bible, chronological plan
21. The storm coming early tonight rather than in the middle of the night
22. A roof over our heads
23. Comfy beds beckoning me
24. God's good plans for me
25. Hope against hope
26. Being certain of things not seen
27. Faith
28. Old photos :o)

Now it's lights out!  I've got little ones to snuggle with ;o)

Memorial Day -- Remember Day

Yesterday was Memorial Day; a Day to Remember.  I put up this old picture from this past summer on the 4th of July, 2012.  This country is broken, and yet has so much to celebrate.  I saw this quote from Louie Giglio on Twitter and I thought it summed things up nicely:

"Spilled blood bought freedom.  Brave hearts defend it." #grateful #memorialday

Memorial Day is a fitting day for me too, because I feel currently like God has me in a place of needing to remember.  Recalling my own rocks of remembrances of the ways He's showed Himself in my life.  He is so good.

So, here is List #3:
1. My country
2. The brave men & women who defend it
3.  The many who lost their lives so I could be free
4. Hope for the future
5. Spending the day with the kids
6. That the huge bruise Carter got from nailing the corner of the wall seems to be fine
7. That Carter shakes off even the biggest of spills!
8. Movie time snuggles after lunch
9. The kids played relatively well together for the majority of the day
10. Tucker did his math fact practice with minimal complaining
11.  A surprise cookout with Nana and Poppy
12. Keelie's steadfast support and encouragement
13. A memorial day of my spiritual life
14. Having old bible studies to see where I've come from
15. A steadfast God who is more than I could hope for or imagine
16. Growth in my spiritual life over the years, though there's so much more to go!
17. Beth Moore!
18. The faith of my forefathers
19. The great cloud of witnesses cheering me on
20. Angels fighting spiritual battles for me
21. Potentially amazing news
22. The freedom to let it go
23. Recalling scriptures at 'just the right time'
24. This computer and website
25. Early bedtimes
26. TV time with Patrick at the end of the day
27. Hope

When the Reasons Don't Come As Easily...

I love this picture.  The kids are so sweet in it.  I'm putting up here because it makes me smile, and today has been a bit of a doozy.  One mood affected another affected another, until before you knew it everyone was ready to call it quits well before the end of the day...though some may have thrown some tantrums more elaborately than others...!

Isn't it just like the enemy to come at ya full force right when you decide to focus on your blessings?  Well, I've got a tiny enemy and a GINORMOUS God, so I'm gonna press in and find my 27 blessings for today.

List #2:
1. This picture.  Taken at the wedding of our MeMe's beloved daughter Taylor in December.  She had the cutest ring bearers and flower girl :)
2. Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes...especially mine
3. Sunday Church Day -- love my church home!
4. Love that my kids say 'Yea! Church!' as we head out on Sunday mornings (Thanks Gateway Frisco!)
5. The amazing guest Pastor Jimmy Evans' sermon on fear -- WOW.  It was great!
6. Pastor Robert was at church today, healed and well -- amen!
7. Einstein's Bagels gift card made the perfect after church lunch
8. Family ice cream at Baskin Robbins
9. Low prices at such Baskin Robbins
10. Presley's new dress she wore today
11. The monogram it had on it -- and the lady that made it
12. Watched a whole Hallmark movie during naptime
13. Long naps
14. Patrick was home all day
15. My friends once again supported me (via texts)
16. Very rare alone time before church for worship and reflection
17. God played a song I hadn't heard in forever that helped me remember
18. Time to journal
19. Book I'm reading was written just for me (One-in-a-Million by Priscilla Shirer)
20. Pastor Jimmy mentioned the Promised Land, which I had been noticing has been in every book, sermon, and message lately
21. Grace for a messy day like today
22. Hope for tomorrow
23. No work tomorrow!  Memorial Day
24. For the men & women who lost their lives so I could be free
25. God gave me an idea for a schedule this summer
26. All five of us home all day long and the house isn't that bad off
27. Having the opportunity to come alongside a friend in prayer and spiritual battle
28. Diet Coke

Take that, Day!  I feel better already!
Bless the Lord, O my soul!

10,000 Reasons

How did I possibly get so lucky?  Look at these sweet faces...and there's still another behind the camera.  Four people.  All mine.  

Sometimes in life we (ME!) let life's blessings gloss right over us.  We (ME!) get so beat down in the day to day, so caught up in the 'how is this going to work out', so lost in the 'will that dream ever come to pass', that  we don't stop to catch our breath, and see all the blessings around us.  

Our God is a Good Daddy.  And for whatever reason, our Good Daddy chooses to bless me in a myriad of ways.  I was inspired recently by a blog written by one of our pastor's wives to find 10,000 reasons to bless the Lord.  If you can praise him for 28 (sometimes 27) things a day for a year, you can find 10K reasons to be thankful, and to give him the honor due.  

So here we go... List #1:

1. The Father -- always near, always loving

2. His Son -- my Savior, Redeemer, Defender, High Priest

3. His Spirit -- my Friend, my Comforter, my Encourager (we are recently getting VERY aquainted!)

4. Patrick -- my best friend here on earth and partner in crime for the past 12 years

5. Tucker -- my beloved first born 

6. Presley -- exactly the girl I always wanted

7. Carter -- my constant reminder that God is in charge!

8. My parents'

9. Saturday morning donuts and coffee with Nana & Poppy

10. My family

11. My friends, my amazing, incredible, steadfast friends

12. My 'fab five' friends that I've known for most of my life

13. My friend Keelie, my rock

14  MeMe! My treasured friend and my babies caretaker 

15. My church -- my awesome, amazing, incredible church

16. My bible -- God has given me a heart for His word & I relish it

17. Bible studies -- nothing soothes the soul more than the depth of His Word

18. This morning's walk around the block with all three of my kids chasing each other on their scooters

19. The flowers they stopped to pick

20. The lawn guy that was working next door that I was able to get to do the yard 

21. A trim and clean lawn and flower bushes!

22. The trash that my dad took out for me without me asking him to

23. Saturday morning coffee with French Vanilla creamer

24. A full pantry and fridge

25. Sweet text messages from the Hubby

26. Nap time!

27. A DVR full of kid shows

28. That the house is mostly clean

Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul

Worship His Holy Name

Sing like never before, O my soul

Worship His Holy Name

I'm BAAACKKK!

Well, a friend of mine passed me along her blog today, and I was like, 'hey, I used to do that!'  And I miss it.  I miss having a diary of the things the kids are doing and saying and experiencing.  Even with zero people reading the ol' blog here, I like having it for me.  So, here we are, dusting off the cobwebs of the old www and resurrecting the Party of Five blog!  Here goes:

It's easy to see why I stopped blogging -- reasons 1, 2, and 3 are very cutely pictured in the shot above :o)  Tucker, Presley, and Carter (Bubba, Sissy, and Carkey still in this neck of the woods) are now 8, 4, and 2 respectively.  It's hard to believe Presley just turned four and Carter will be three in a few weeks.  How time has FLOWN!  The kids are really growing up and we are entering a new phase in the house -- we really don't have a baby.  Carter is a whirlwind of activity these days -- it's hard to remember him in a sedentary stage.  The other day the three of them were playing upstairs for a pretty good amount of time, and I was able to clean the kitchen almost completely uninterrupted, and it hit me like a ton of bricks...we do not have a baby any more.  The kids are growing. It's amazing how quickly it sneaks up on you that time has passed when every minute seems to last a year.

I have million things I want to write about tonight, but for memories sake I will bring you up to speed on their little lives...

We decided to have Tucker do a victory lap in first grade :o)  Though academics were fine, maturity was lacking...and in truth may still be!  Ha!  But it has been the best decision we could've made for him.  He's definitely made more connections and friendships and I'm glad about that.  (He still doesn't really like school, but that's a whole other blog topic!)  He's finally tying his own shoes and we've almost mastered our fears of the bicycle.  There's a whole lot more of growing up to do, but really, who's rushing?  He'll be grown up and outta the house before I can blink, and I know I will wonder why I was in a rush to get past the little things.  He still loves to build things -- it used to be tracks and race courses, now it's anything and everything Legos. Not exactly the 'follow the directions' type Legos building, but Legos building none-the-less!  He is also currently obsessed with Star Wars (the original saga).  I love that boy :o)

Presley is our beloved Mini-Mama. She has such a tender heart and she's such a natural nurturer. She loves to fold laundry and organize the house.  The other day she asked me outta the blue - Mommy, can I organize the laundry room?  HA -- she SO didn't get this from me!  She is Carter's best friend and second mother.  Whenever we sit down for a meal she first puts his bib on him before she sits for her meal.  She'll bring him a kleenex and put it on his nose and tell him to blow.  She wraps her arms around him if she thinks he gets too close to the street.  She is the sweetest thing.  I love that girl :o)

Carter, like I said before, is a hot mess!  He loves all things Star Wars because his Bubba does.  He loves to play with the little Legos people whom he calls Munjas for ninjas.  He only wants munjas with hats on them. Of the three kids, he's the most content to play in a group or go upstairs and be lost playing in his room for an hour.  I recently read somewhere that at age 4 a girls sounds are 100% words, but a boy's sounds at the same age are 60% words and 40% sounds -- this is exactly true for my little ones. Carter makes so many noises in his play -- he's hilarious!  Crashing, booming, streaking, squeaking, Chewbacca-ing -- he does it all.  He is all boy, but a total momma's boy.  He's the only one of the three that prefers me to Patrick -- finally!  I love that boy :o)

Patrick and I at this stage in life are like ships passing in the night.  His work hours are crazy and I'm always exhausted.  But we make a commitment to have couch time at the end of the day and watch a show or two and talk about life.  I love that man :o)

So that's it -- that's a five minute update.  2013 Journal Entry Number 1 is in the books! Yes!  (The pictures and tickers will have their update eventually!)

Our First Pets!

I have been trying to find opportunities to say yes to things that I can say yes to lately, because as a parent of small children I feel like I'm always saying no. So when Tucker asked if we could get a fish, I happily said yes!

Patrick took the kids to the pet store and brought home "Shu Todoroki" (named after a car in Cars 2) & "Rapunzel". Clearly, they were so excited! So glad we said yes....