So Many Things.....

...so little time.

there is so much going on in my world these days. half of you have already given up on me and my blog posts. and quite frankly, i was starting to give up on them myself.

but i will say that i've missed you, sweet blog page. you allow me to vent, to record, to wrap my life up as it happens in just a few sentences on a page. so i am faithfully going to start back. who needs pictures? i have words, lots of them. and besides, if it helps get out things that are swirling around in this head of mine and makes me feel better, than why not throw out a post here and there?

sooooooooo here's the breakdown of our lives in a nut shell. really bigger than a nut shell, so here goes:

we are moving.....AGAIN! there are a lot of things i hate about those three words - we. are. moving. but there are a lot of things i am extremely excited about too.

hate:
- leaving some of the dearest friends i've ever known in my life
- leaving the most incredible, amazing neighbors i've ever known in my life
- knowing that julia is leaving the day to day interaction with some of her friends, even though SHE doesn't fully grasp it
- leaving our sunday school class
- moving from my beautiful, very well laid out floor plan, now very neat and clean, staged home
- leaving the people in our church who we dearly love
- leaving NEXT and all of the incredible people we've worked with over the years, especially warren samuels
- leaving a close sam's club
- leaving a close sam moon
- leaving la hacienda ranch
- and pretty much anything about leaving

i don't like change, despise packing and i absolutely HATE unpacking.

excited:
- the thrill of moving to a new place
- a new church
- being close to jason's best friend and getting to know some of the other friends there
- moving into a rental to pay down debt
- meeting new people
- full time day care
- being closer to brad and shannon
- being closer to lashay and steve
- a simpler life
- in some sick way, actually having to PLAN to go to sam's club, sam moon and maybe i'll be skinnier if there isn't a "la ha" near us

where are we going? WAXAHACHIE, TX! jason accepted a position as the pastor of connections (small groups) and missions. he starts september 6th. he will commute back and forth to mckinney until we sell our house.

pray we sell our house quickly.

i will work with NEXT through the end of the year, probably. maybe just until november-ish. they are going to be moving to flower mound around then so i'll help train the next person and then stop working there.

i will find a new job in waxahachie.

we are excited about the move and absolutely know god's hand was in it 100%. doncha just love when you know god's in it 100%? i like following god's plan rather than our own. it's both scary AND exciting all at the same time.

mom will move with us. she's putting her house on the market at the beginning of the year.

sooooo, be on the outlook for more postings in the future.

tonight? we go to def leppard, cheap trick and poison with some peeps from our sunday school class (see i told you they were awesome!).

Coming Soon

I haven't forgotten, I just can't download any pics because my computer is full. And I don't like to post without pictures. New blogs and blog updates coming soon.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Years?!?

....and although he has learned way more bad things about me over the years than I even care to mention, he still likes me!!!

Yep, it's been SIX years since we tied the knot. I can't believe it. It still amazes me how you grow closer and closer to someone over the years.

I never understood when people who have been married for 20+ years would say how they love each other more now than the day they married, but I'm starting to truly understand it as we experience, go and grow through more together.

Anyhoo, here are some fun (skinny!) pics of both of us from back in the day......













































And here are two sweet children who are a product of our marriage.....

Free Giveaway at Jelby's!!

Check it out, my friends. My sister-in-law, Shannon, is giving away a free set of Ahhh-MA-ZING burp cloths.

I love what Shannon wrote, so I'll copy it here......

Anytime is a good time for a giveaway when it's for a baby! Jelby's burpies are the perfect gift to give your own babies, a first time mom, second time mom, anytime mom, or just to have on hand for the last minute shower. This giveaway is for one set of burpies. You pick em' and she'll ship em'!

Click here and enter to win!

MOM's Day

THAT WAS THEN...

Julia and I:


























Julia so sweet...













Julia and Johnathan...

















Johnathan and I:













THIS IS NOW...
Ohhhhhhh, what a fun Mother's Day I had.

Thursday morning when I dropped Julia off at school, they had a little breakfast for us moms. They had put together a photo book for the whole year starting with Julia's first day of school picture this year, her height (36 1/2 inches) and her weight (30 lbs). She is now 38 inches tall and 31 lbs.

All us moms sat on the floor and looked at the books with our little ones. Then we ate muffins and opened little gifts they had made us. It was really really special. The gals at our church made it memorable.




























Then, here are some pics of the kids making BMom and Boppy's Mother's Day cards (only we called it BMom Day and Boppy Day since they aren't THEIR mothers).....BUT! I wouldn't be their mother without our mothers.

Julia was so into it, covering every detail. Johnathan, um, he ate his paint! Thank goodness for non toxic paint (and washable, I might add!):
















































































































































So on Sunday, actual Mother's Day....I had just taken a shower, gotten dressed and was about to start blow drying my hair and getting ready for church when Julia walks in with a dozen red roses and right behind her was my little man carrying me a card.

Then I opened the gift I have been talking about since January. A hair dryer!!


I HATE HATE HATE drying my hair, and I needed something more powerful than the one I had (it was getting slower and slower with each use). Love it!




So we went to church, our whole class skipped Sunday School to go out to lunch together for Mother's Day, then mom came over, we gave her the homemade card and other gifts, then she and I left to go see Earth. Very good.

Then we got back to a dinner that hubby made for us (he's a keeper) and then Julia, Boppy and I planted two big plants together as well as a little Julia-sized herb garden.






















































Then the kids went swimming at the Bankhead Waterpark (this is what I call it now). Soooooo nice!

It was a great day. A wonderful reminder of God's little gifts. Even though it's tough at times and I don't know what I'm doing half of that time....it is so rewarding. God continually reminds me of the two lives He has given us responsibility over - a true blessing.

Hope YOU had a wonderful Mother's Day!

Fifteen Dolla....

...make my kids holla!

Doncha love when a small purchase of just $15 from Walmart ($16.24 with tax!) can make you and your kiddos smile!?

Here are some pics of them playing in their new pool...

Weekend O Fun

Jason went to the annual Harris family reunion in Comanche, TX last weekend while I was at the women's retreat in Pine Cove, TX. Julia and Johnathan got to play with their cousins, Mallory and Morgan. And they got to spend time with their BMom and Pop.

Here are pictures from his weekend:























And pictures from my weekend...we went to Canton on the way to Pine Cove on Friday (left at 6 AM, thanks to Jen Bishop being obsessed with getting to Canton when they opened....mission accomplished!). There, we saw some pretty interesting scooter concoctions.

We were totally making fun of all the young people renting scooters, only to find that at the end of the fifteen thousand two hundred and twenty two miles of shopping grounds, WE were the silly ones and those people were making fun of us walkers! Here's a pic of a husband and wife scooting around, well they were actually going negative two miles per hour. He had a trailer hooked up to his scooter and they had tacked down a white plastic lawn chair to the back of it, equipped with a basket underneath for her purse and purchases. So cute! And then we have the classic John Deere Scooter. Very clever.




























The retreat was called Tea Time in The Woods (the reason for the crazy hats). We canoed, played team building games, had lots of free time, learned the Lord wants us to pour our lives out to others (the tea pot theme!), we got to know other gals in the church better, squeezed in a game of wahoo, we did the zip line (thought I was going to die!) and rested rested rested (something I cherished every moment of!).

Let me just say something about the zip line video. Even though it may look like only a few feet off the ground....it WASN'T! And although it may look like we are just slightly flying by.....we WEREN'T! We were FLYING.FAST!