Birmingham Tourists

Well, last weekend my old music minister from B'ham invited me over to sing in church on Sunday with the praise band. He is leaving to plant a new church with his friend and pastor Aubrey Spears. We look forward to seeing God work in that endeavor! So, for old times sake, I got to sing with them. It was an amazing treat for me to sing again with the band and Robert, and to see our old friends. When I look back a year ago, I couldn't imagine ever leaving that church, but praise God, He brought us to our new church here in Tupelo, and we know it's where we are supposed to be!
As a family, we decided to be tourists in Bham. We usually spend time just seeing friends when we go to B'ham, but this time, (and to you friends, I swear, we were there only 24 hours and didn't have time to visit!) we hung out at the good ole' Galleria. We NEVER went there when we lived there, but I swear, we had more fun than we've had in awhile. The girls loved that mall like they never loved it before! Here are some pics! We finished the day grilling at a friends house, and had such a great time with great food, great conversation, and great music.


O and E a Build-A-Bear rubbing the hearts on their hearts.

E got her elephant stuffed.

M and her bear, "Honey." She wasn't sure if she liked it or not.

Drew and E on the carousel.

O doing Wii fit. It was pretty cool!
Little M, and O....they love shoes! M actually walked out of the store with some on! That little shoplifter...

Fun quiz

I promise to blog about my weekend tomorrow! I have a bundle of pictures and stories just itching to be shown, but that will be for tomorrow! In the meantime, my friend Nikki had this on her blog, and I just had to share it, it was so much fun. This is for all you Austen lovers...
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Family, Fighting, and Flowers

This weekend, my brother and his family came to stay with us since we had my cousins wedding here in town. It was so great to spend so much time with them. Our kids really enjoyed getting to play together.....well....maybe not M, so much. My nephew Griffin seemed to feel the need to conk her over the head every time he got near her, so much of our time was spent separating them. I quote, "Griffin, are you going to hit M again?" Griffin replies, with a sheepish look on his face, "Uh-huh." Oh well... we tried.

As a side note...and I wish I had a picture of this.....but our cousins new wife threw the bouquet at the reception, and M's head caught it....I mean square in the face!! That's a wedding memory she won't ever forget...she hit a baby at her wedding!!! (M doesn't have a scratch on her, by the way.)

Also-"Kudos" to my niece Madison for catching a rose from the bouquet. Now, young lady, 11 yrs old is too young to be considering marriage!!!

What a blessing to share lots of laughter with family.

Summer Joy

"To get the full value of Joy, you must have someone to divide it with." -Mark Twain


Playing in the rain puddles..........

Picking blueberries with friends........




Eating at the restaurant afterwards.......and no, these girls didn't empty these wine bottles....

Making clay pots with Daddy........

Playing at the Splash Pad...........

Fishing for tadpoles............

But catching one tiny fish instead........(E gets credit for the fast hands on this one)

Does life get any better than this????

Happy 34th to Me!!

Well, what do you know, if it's my birthday, noone's going to make sure to take pictures so I can post MYSELF on my blog. Typical. So..no pictures, but a recap of the day.
Drew and I have tried, since the girls were born, to make a really big deal of birthdays. We have certain traditions we've tried to keep. For instance, whoever's birthday it is, gets to choose their very own breakfast. So far, the girl's choice EVERY year is chocolate chip pancakes with whipped cream, and 7-up floats. Crazy sweet, I know, but they usually eat every bit of it. So, when it's one of mine or Drew's birthdays, the girls have learned to hype it up. I love it. I felt like such a kid when I woke up Saturday morning, and the girls were taking my breakfast order and screaming, "Happy Birthday!" All day long, they kept saying, "It's your birthday, Momma, you can do/have/say whatever you want." Wow. What power. Can I pretend it's my birthday every day? That night, we all went to the local Japanese steakhouse that has the hibachi grill. My mom and dad joined us. It took awhile to be seated, but once we got seated, it was worth it. The girls loved the chef (except M does NOT like the fire!). My dad also branched out. (proud of you Dad) He ordered some sushi! Oh, Dad, you are so "metro!" My mom branched out, also, and tried the stuff! I don't think she was impressed. Luckily, Drew and I got to eat the leftovers of that! So, thanks to all for the birthday wishes, and thanks to my family for making me feel special! Happy birthday to me!!!!

RIP Oliver

Well, we said goodbye to our friend Oliver yesterday. Drew ran in the house yesterday yelling my name. His voice didn't sound normal. I ran outside, yelling to the girls to stay in the house. Oliver was laying in the driveway, and he was not moving. Oliver was an outside cat. We always made sure when we pulled out or drove in to the driveway, to look for him. But how much can you really watch a cat? They're so unpredictable! Drew apparently pulled into the garage and we think Oliver jumped in front of the car. After placing Oliver in a his box, we called the girls outside to conduct the funeral. The first thing E said was, "can we go get a new cat?" O cried a tiny bit, but didn't seem overly upset. I think Drew and I were the most upset. It's so hard to find a good pet, and Oliver was a good one! Plus, if I have to admit it, thinking econmically, that cat was worth around $250, with the neutering, shots, and flea medicine. Though he was a worthy investment, it stinks to have it all disappear in one second! After each saying what our favorite things were about Oliver, (fiesty, loving, licking our faces, cuddling with us), O closed us out with a prayer. It went something like, "God, thank you for giving us Oliver. I hope he's alright. We will miss him. Help us find another cat as good as Oliver." We will miss you, Oliver, and are so glad you were our special, very first, pet.

O the Second Grader

O is officially in second grade, now. It's weird, when I look back in my childhood, that is really when I start remembering a lot of school, so it makes me realize how much more permanent every memory we make is for her. I am praying hard that she will have a wonderful year in Mrs. Click's class at Rankin. I pray she will be challenged, and rise to meet the challenges, that she will thrive on learning new things, and really explore her creative side. I am so proud of her and can't wait to see what a year we have!! The scripture I wrote on her note in her backpack today is one of my favorites. It's Proverbs 3:5-6, in The Message translation, so she can understand it more clearly: "Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don't try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God's voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; He's the one who will keep you on track."

What is a teenager?

E and O were just in my closet trying on my shoes. E comes out with my tall black boots on, and wiggles her hips, and struts her stuff into my living room. She put one hand on her hip, cocked her head and said, "I'm a teenager." Drew says, "What's a teenager, E?" E replies, "You know, they go to high school and lots of parties and stuff."
I spend much of my time worrying over my 3 girls being teens. I'm no dummy, I know they won't be perfectly behaved. They will probably become really shallow and materialistic, and experiment with things sometimes, which gives me the shivers to think about. I pray about it almost daily. What building blocks must I give them when they're young so they will have a firm foundation to stand on when it really matters? When temptation REALLY knocks? God has appointed me, as their mother, to teach them how to walk as a Godly woman in this world. Their spirits, their clothing, their attitudes, their compassion, their mercy, their thoughts, their choice of a husband, and more, should all reflect His glory. THAT is a tall order for a mother to fill. I keep thinking about the scripture in Isaiah that talks about putting on "garments of praise." Here it is: "....to give to them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified."(Isaiah 61:3)
Oh, that they, as teenagers, would not limit their lives to high school and parties, but be "trees of righteousness," and have beauty, the oil of joy, and garments of praise!!!!

Good Times, Good Friend

"Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person; having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but to pur them all out, just as they are, chaff and grain together, knowing that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then, with the breath of kindness, blow the rest away."

My friend Heather and her children came to visit yesterday, and left this afternoon. This quote keeps running through my head, because we had such a good time. Having been on this journey in a new town for a year now, although I've formed some wonderful friendships here, it is such a relief to spend time with an old friend. There is such comfort in it. I loved our relaxed (yet enthusiastic) conversation, cooking together, and laughing together. It just doesn't get any better than that, folks. If you haven't spend time with an old friend lately, pick up the phone and arrange it now! It's nothing but nourishment for the soul.

This is a picture of the 2 babies in the bathtub!

Manhood

What a day, what a day. Yesterday morning, I noticed when I put food in Oliver's bowl, he didn't come around. I didn't see him in the garage, yard, or back porch. I just figured he'd show up eventually, so I didn't worry. Later on, Drew and the girls walked around the neighborhood some, but saw no sign of him. We went to bed with hopes he'd show up. Nope. No Oliver. I was seriously worried. So, this morning we typed up some signs, and hung them all over the neighborhood. We got back in and I called our vet down the road. They said someone had called in, and seemed to have our cat. I contacted her, and she said he had followed her around the neighborhood in her car. (I, in fact, got many calls today saying he was philandering around the block...he's such a bad boy) Ends up, she dropped him off at a "NO LITTERING CLINIC," a.k.a."SPAY AND NEUTER CLINIC." Is that not hilarious??? She volunteers at this clinic, and thought it would be the best place for him. While he was there, I just told them to go ahead and neuter him. Ouch! Alas, little Oliver became a man, and lost his manhood, in one day. That'll teach him to roam.
Below is a video of Drew's attempt to be funny. The cat's behind the door resting from his surgery.

She's well, alright

Well, O's minor surgery was a success. The wound looks nice and neat, and swelling is minimal. Her waking up from the anesthesia was pretty rough. She was just like a little helpless baby, it broke my heart. After an hour, though, she was fully alert, and starving! No matter how minor the injury, it's never easy to watch your child suffer. However...O is feeling mighty fine today. In fact, she's feeling so fine, she's sitting in time-out right now for being mean to her sisters. Sigh....back to the life of 3 sisters fighting. I'm praying that scripture for O, you know the one, Romans 5:3-5, "we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." I'm mostly praying the "suffering=endurance=CHARACTER...." for her, that she would remember what it is to hurt, and be compassionate to others.