30 years old!

When you're a kid, you feel like 30 is a lifetime away!  It sounded so old.  These days, 30 is sounding REALLY young to me. ;-)  Those of you that know me, know that I am, well...sneaky.  Not a whole lot in my house gets by without me knowing it.  Something pretty big got by without me ever even half way suspecting it.  My husband and our church family planned a surprise birthday party for me and pulled it off!  There was a church wide cookout scheduled for last night at our friend's house.  It was in the bulletin.  Our pastor sent out an email reminding everyone about it.  We got to the house, parked, and walked into the house.  I walked into the kitchen and noticed pink decorations all over and everyone started singing "Happy Birthday".  I think even then it hadn't started to sink in that the whole "church wide cookout" was really my party.  I was so surprised.  I felt so loved! Then I turned around to go get something for Hannah out of the other room and my parents walked in!  They drove 2 hours to come and celebrate with us.  I am so blessed!  I can't believe that James was able to keep it a secret!  He did so good.  He was so nonchalant about the "cookout".  Then I had another surprise!  Everyone pitched in and got me one of these bad boys:

Seriously?!  I have wanted one of these sooooo bad, and now I have one!  I'm still in so much shock, I don't even know what to make yet!  

I am so blessed to have such an amazing husband, wonderful family, and awesome friends.  I mean really, who could ask for more?  

  

I'm back!!!

Oh my!  I knew that it had been a while since I updated this blog...but 2 months?!  I had no idea it had been that long.  There have been so many things that have happened since I posted last!  My Nathan turned 4 in October. Wow!!!  I can't believe he is already so old.

My birthday boy! =)

He is such a fun part of my life.  I love how his whole body smiles when he is happy.  For those of you that don't personally know him, when he smiles, his whole body wiggles.  He can't even help it.  He radiates joy.

Today Hannah is 6 months old!  It has gone by so fast already!  I can't believe that in just 6 short months that she will be 1!!  If the next 6 months go by as quickly as the last, it will be too fast.  She is so fun and has such a sweet personality.  She is rolling all over the place.  When you lay her down in one place, you never know where you are going to find her when you check on her next.  

Hannah eating her first bite of cereal.  Can't you see how much she loved it?

Joseph is still enjoying the 1st grade.  He is so smart!  A little too smart for his own good if you ask me. =)  He loves being the biggest brother so much.  He's getting so tall and is growing up before my very eyes.  He is turning into such a sweet Godly young man and I can't wait to see what He has in store for Joseph's life.

Joseph holding Hannah

This photo captures my children PERFECTLY!!!

C.V. Pickett

  5 days after Nathan's birthday, my grandfather went to be with the Lord.  He was a wonderful man and will be missed greatly.  For my prayer warrior friends, please pray for peace and comfort for my grandmother as she learns to live life without her husband.











James is doing great!  He is working a lot, which is nothing new.  I am so blessed to have such a wonderful husband that works so hard to take care of all of us.  He is my knight in shining armor. xoxo

James and me at Nathan's party

Anyway, that's us lately.  I'm gonna try a little harder to make sure I keep up with this thing in the future!  Blessings!

A time to celebrate

A Time for Everything

 ¹ For everything there is a season,
      a time for every activity under heaven.
 ² A time to be born and a time to die.
      A time to plant and a time to harvest.
 ³ A time to kill and a time to heal.
      A time to tear down and a time to build up.
 ⁴ A time to cry and a time to laugh.
      A time to grieve and a time to dance.
 ⁵ A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.
      A time to embrace and a time to turn away.
 ⁶ A time to search and a time to quit searching.
      A time to keep and a time to throw away.
 ⁷ A time to tear and a time to mend.
      A time to be quiet and a time to speak.
 ⁸ A time to love and a time to hate.
      A time for war and a time for peace.

 ⁹ What do people really get for all their hard work? ¹⁰ I have seen the burden God has placed on us all. ¹¹ Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end. ¹² So I concluded there is nothing better than to be happy and enjoy ourselves as long as we can. ¹³ And people should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labor, for these are gifts from God.

Ecclesiastes 3: 1-13 

What a great weekend of celebration!  Saturday, August, 21 was Faith Lynn's 8th birthday in heaven!  It's such a bittersweet day.  It is a reminder of her life, her death, and her eternal life with our Father.  The celebration started out on Friday when my grandparents came to town and stayed in a local hotel.  We went to visit, had fried catfish, swam, and just had a whole lot of fun!  The lighting was AWFUL at the pool, so I only have this one pitiful looking picture to share. =(

Of course I had to get one of Hannah enjoying the pool too...

Can't you see her excitement?

Saturday morning was a little difficult for me.  I was sitting there with Hannah, looked at the clock, then realized at that exact same time 8 years prior I was holding Faith.  Even though it was a tough moment, I'm so grateful for God's gift of memories.  We went back to the hotel and had a yummy waffle breakfast with my grandparents.  Hmmm...didn't think to take any pictures.

After breakfast, we caravaned to the cemetery where we met my brother and sister-in-law, their 2 girls, and my dad for Faith's birthday party.  For some people that might be weird...but it's a wonderful celebration of Faith's brief life here on Earth.

After we had our cupcakes, we headed over to our traditional restaurant and met my mom, sister, and niece for lunch.  Here's the whole crew:

Hannah

Ava, Joseph, Emma, Jill, Claire, & Brian

James & PaPa

Mom, Dad, & Nathan

Grandmaw & Lindy

Me, Grandmaw, Lindy, & Mom

All in all, it was a great day remembering our sweet Faith.  

James & Faith

Faith,

We love and miss you so much!!!  Eat some of heaven's special cake for us!  We can't wait until we get to see and hug you again.  Thank you for being our special baby girl.

XOXO,

Mommy, Daddy, Joseph, Nathan, & Hannah

  

Summer's Coming To An End

This is the last week before Joseph goes to school and is an official 1st grader.  *wiping a small tear*  I can't believe how fast the summer has gone.  I know several moms that are doing the countdown to when school starts back.  They are ready for the kids to be back.  Maybe I'm weird.  I don't want him to go back.  I enjoy him being at home.  He and Nathan have had so much fun together.  Don't get me wrong, they have had their fair share of arguments; and I have had my fair share of being totally frustrated with them.  But in all, we've had a great time.  Tonight we go to meet Joseph's teacher.  I have been earnestly praying about who he will have for this school year.  I pray that he will have someone that will love him almost as much as I do, that he/she will be able to teach him well, and that he/she is someone that he will have fun with.  We'll see tonight!

Here are some pictures from a couple of weeks ago.  We had a whole Saturday at home to just be together as a family.  It was so nice!

Joseph being pushed down the slip-n-slide

Nathan being pushed down the slip-n-slide

Do you get the feeling that Dad is having more fun?

Me going down the slip-n-slide

Me trying to remember why I thought that was a good idea

Nathan making me feel better

Joseph and James having fun

Nathan getting ready to take a ride

What can I say?  They love their daddy.

God's artwork for us while we ate our dinner outside

And of course, Hannah after her nap