New years eve!

AAHH! I thought it would be fun to invite the people from church over to our house for a New Years eve party/game night. SOOO we announced it at church and everyone was really excited. It hit me a few days ago that 50+ people doesn't feel like too many when you are talking about the size of a church body, but when you are talking about how many people will be in MY house at one time, IT'S ALOT! So yeah, I am freaking out just a little. Please pray for me to be calm and not stress about little unimportant things. I want this to be a great time for our church to grow and get to know each other!

P.S. (added later) We had a great party, with lots of our close friends showing up. It was not stressful at all. Not as many people came as I expected. We had a very good time visiting and sharing our yummy foods! One of the couples from church that I really have been wanting to know better, came and stayed really late. Justin and I had a chance to get to visit with them and talk to them way more than we can at church. God knows just what we need!

Our house!

My Mother in law made a plaque for Justin when he first moved out that said " Home is where you start from." I think you can take that many ways, but  I like to think it means Louisiana will always be home for us. BUT, God has amazed us with His amazing provision and love by giving us a HOME here too. I realized recently that I hadn't actually shown you all our house. So one day after I cleaned it up real nice I took a few pictures. It has all of our Christmas decor up, which I love! It is hardly ever this clean, and even more rarely this quiet. I just happened to catch that moment on camera :)

This is the living room from two different views! (that is Justin sleeping in his chair. Like I said it isn't this quiet very often.)

 

 Bathroom. We only have one! Poor Justin. That is tough with all these girls in the house

 

Kitchen, which I LOVE!!!

AND the "Man room!"

Now, the rooms I didn't get were the laundry room, our bedroom, office and the girls room. I'll catch those next time.

 

I realize I totally posted all of these post out of order, so sorry about that :)

Andrea's birthday!

I am so upset that the sweet pictures from Andrea's birthday will not download. I promise I will get them up soon. She had a wonderful little party with her friend Audrey. We got her a "little tikes" castle which she loves. She had such a fun day. She enjoyed telling everyone at church that she was three and everytime anyone asked her how old she was she would hold up her three fingers and then say "You can sing me happy birthday if you want!!" Is that not the cutest thing you have ever heard! Also the morning of her birthday we were cuddling and I was telling her how now she got to hold up three fingers because she was a big girl, she got a very excited expression and asked "Can i DRIIIVE now?!!" LOL! I love my baby girl so much! Cant wait to show you the pictures!

Quiet holiday

Well the title says it all. We truly had a laid  back Christmas this year. We didn't get to travel because Justin had to work the midnight shift the night of Christmas. It really ended up nice though. He was off on Christmas eve, so we made our traditional funnel cakes on Christmas Eve, and opened one gift, then opened our stockings and the rest of our gifts on Christmas day. What a wonderful day it was too. I even got to take a nap on Christmas day :) Hope you enjoy this little peak into our holiday! Have a wonderful new year!

 

Thank you to all of you who sent your gifts by mail this year. It was such a blessing to have that little piece of you here with us. The girls were very good to ask as they opened their gifts who they were from. Andrea continues to check who each thing is from. As she put on her outfit from Granny today she wanted to know "Who 'dis from?" And Mom I love my "WALL WORDS". They look great on my wall. They are on the wall right when you walk in the front door. And it is just the tone that I want to set for our home!  We love you family!

Skating : 0

Today, the older two girls and I were able to go to a skating birthday party for their little friend Jillian.  It was a lot of fun. Lexi and Jilli have been really good friends since we moved here to Lubbock. Lexi was only 2 and a half when we moved here, so they have had a whole 4 years of playing together, dressing up, birthday parties, museum trips, and just plain having fun.

Today was not only a blast for the girls but I had a whole lot of fun too. I was brave and decided to put on a pair of skates. I used to LOVE to roller blade and roller skate when I was little. It was so much fun teaching the girls. They were both troopers. As many times as Jenna fell she never got tired of it the whole two hours we were there. I even got to impress them with by skating backwards! It was so cute seeing how excited they were. Lexi kept saying "Mommy, your DOING it!! "Good job mommy, your doing it"

Sweet girls! It was a good time for us! We had a lot of fun!  

LOL

Sometimes my kids do something that is just so incredibly silly that I will laugh out loud! Tonight after we got home from a birthday party the girls took their balloons and made people out of them. They even gave them names. You can probably guess the name of this lovely BLUE beauty! YEP, you got it, Madam Blueberry!  

Thankful...

My little sister informed me last night that I needed to get to it, and write on my blog! :)

So I began thinking this afternoon what I was feeling today and what I wanted to say out loud! (because at least one someone is reading my blog :) I realized today I am grateful! Thankful for my home.

Louisiana will always be my/our homeplace! It will always be the place that I get butterflies in my tummy as I get closer to it. It will always be the place I miss 'til I feel sick to my stomach! But... today I realized I love my place here in Lubbock! Those of you who have lived in Lubbock are probably laughing, because what I hear most people say is that they cant wait to get out of this city.

Not Me! I love it here!

I love the weather. We really have seasons here! Winter,Spring, Summer, and Fall.

I love our dear friends in Lubbock. They are all so very good to us. We have made deep lasting relationships here!

I love our church body. Our little church is a place that is truly reaching out to the lost and ministering to the people who gather every week. I love working with all of those children and seeing them be amazed at the stories in the bible.

I love MY(our) house. It is the perfect house for us. It has so many elements that I am just in love with

I love my family! Our little family of five is so happy here. All of our girls have their little friends, and their little things that make this their home too.

So today Kayli, I wrote it down just for you! I am Thankful!

I'm a big girl... #5

       (Granny, you cant tell in the picture, but she has her hair bands in with piggy tails!)

As I watched all of our friends shower my baby girl with gifts my heart swelled with pride. Not because I wanted all those extra toys, or because she even needed them, but because I saw the love that each of those gifts held. Each person that gave her a gift knew my baby! (not so baby anymore!) They gave her gifts that they KNEW she would love, and be grateful for. She received so many nice things. The thing that meant most to me though, was the people that came to her party. They love my Jenna girl, and I am so grateful for that. We are blessed with true, good, and loyal friends! Thank you God for that.

Princess Jenna truly enjoyed her day of being treated like royalty! She was the princess that invited all of her princess (and prince) friends. Because it was a dress up party, there was lots of changing outfits. You will notice about 4 or five wardrobe changes!

She was blessed with lots of friends, big and small!

 

We played lots of princess games. Pin the crown on the princess, pass the frog (hot potatoe) and musical thrones!

And we decorated crown for the royalty to wear!

 

We have a tradition with the girls where they get to pick and make their own cake! It is a lot of fun, and we usually get pretty creative with it! Jenna used candy on hers this year! Yummy!

Thanks again Ashleigh for all of your help. I couldn't have pulled it off without you!

Friday Outing

  On Friday morning the girls and I (all five of them) went to the Science Spectrum. It was a lot of fun. Here are a few silly shots I caught as they were playing

Grace and Audrey on the Fire truck "CHEEEESE"

 

The Three Amigos!

Here is Audrey and Andi playing the drum! Aren't they so cute. (Yes, I did make them stop the repetitive loud sound as soon as I took the picture :)

Grace, our little weather girl!

It was a good day!

So many things to be thankful for!

 

So many things have happened this week that have reflected God's amazing provision. Really though there have been things that have happened this week that I realize are not even needs really, just things that God has blessed us with because He wants to.

 

The biggest and most significant day of this week was today. It marked the last day of Justin's training. He is a true Lubbock Police Officer. He drove his car home for the first time last night, with lights going, and as he pulled up he "yipped" (that's really what that little chirp horn is called) at us. It was so fun to go and sit in his car and look at all the little buttons and gadgets. He took us all for a ride around the neighborhood this morning. I am so proud of him. He has worked so hard, for so long to come to this stage of our life. We are finally done with "training", and we are moving forward.  Praise God for that! God also provided the mid-night shift for Justin. It is the shift we prayed for. It really fits the place that our family is at right now. I am so relieved to know we will have him home in the evenings again.  We wont have any holidays this year, but we kinda knew that from the beginning. I guess we will have to do like Courtney and Amber do, have Christmas on the Eve, or on another day. Who knows!

 

Another little praise (big for me:) is that I found the table I have been looking for since we moved into the new house. I really wanted something for my living area before my sisters came this month. (I get to see BOTH Courtney and Amber and their families within a month. Court and her crew at the beginning of Nov. and Amber and her crew at the end of Nov.) I couldn't find THE table that I had in my head, or that I could afford. I found it on Craig's list for FREE! I got this table and two side tables. I expected a junker that I could refinish and make work. But I love it, and it fits perfect. I know God orchestrated the whole thing, and it makes me so thankful!

SO Court, and Amber now my living room will be mostly decorated when you come. It is so important to me that you feel cozy in my home! I cant wait to see you!!

No school

Yep, I am confessing! I did not do school today with the girls. WHY!!?
Because I needed to be renewed! My heart was tired, my body was weary, and I felt on the verge of tears. I asked myself what would help me feel better?!

Ps 51:10 "Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me."

In my case today it was a clean house. It renewed my spirit. I know it sounds funny, but as I cleaned, i thought through some things that needed to be thought through.

I asked myself "Why do you feel so frustrated?" "Why do you feel so tired?" As I cleaned I didnt come up with any answers but i did decide this... stop complaining and DO something about it!
I took a deep breath, and I took action. (at least in my head :)

SOO... cleaning my house cleaned my heart, and renewed a steadfast spirit within me! Thank you God for doing the work inside me, while I did the work on my little home. I feel better inside and out!

What gives you a renewed spirit!? What helps you take a new breath and start fresh? Please tell me, I really do want to know. Is it nature, friend time, scrapbooking, golfing... what is it!?
Please share!

Fall family night...

 

Last Friday night the girls and I got to go to a fall fun night at one the families house from our home school group. It was so much fun. We did miss Daddy though. He had to work. There were so many little things to do and enjoy.

Games, food, roasting marshmallows, hay ride, and of course just spending good time with good friends! We have really enjoyed being a part of this group. All of these people are just normal people striving to do the best thing for their family. It feels so good to share ideas, and dreams for our time at home with our kids. One of these families have started going to church with us. Also the Mom (Ashley) will be teaching my girls piano. I am SO excited. It is one of those things I have always wanted to do. Who knows, maybe I will learn a little bit too!

Hope your week has been great! God Bless!

Enjoying God's Little and Big Creations!

 

We had a great couple of weeks. Lots of learning and discovering!! We are studying some really fun things in school this year, and I am trying really hard to let these girls experience God's creation first hand. One of the things we did last week was go star gazing. WE are studying the planets and constellations. We drove outside the city limits and stared at the sky. We found the big dipper, found what I think was Venus, and just enjoyed country sounds!! When we got home Lexi jumped out of the car, looked up and asked "Mommy, where did all the stars go?" Yes, this is one major downfall of living right smack in the middle of a large city.

Then today we went on a nature walk with my friend Angie and her 3 kiddo's. I was so blessed by the breeze and the sunshine. I needed it. Those girls had a blast too. We discovered so many little things! Caterpillars, prairie dogs, flowers, beetles, cat tails, and even got to feed the ducks! We had so much fun! It was a good day!