my sweet boy... 1st day & tons of fun in between...

So, this is my sweet boy. We only have two full weeks of school left. I can not believe he is almost finished with kindergarten! WOW! These are just a few of the most memorable moments of the year!! They are not cropped or edited, just as is!! Man, I am so proud of my sweet man!!

fun with my butter...

so, this is a "simply for me" post.. yesterday was a great day! church, followed by lunch with new friends, and then a fun day messing around the house! i love spring. i love being outside just for the sake of being outside! the kids played, rode scooters, and chased the puppies. it was just easy, fun, just a laid back sunday afternoon! after cheating at lunch i decided a short run might make me feel better, so as i shed my flip flops for tennis shoes i noticed butter also shedding his flops for shoes! he demanded to run with me! so, off we went- around the neighborhood for a jog! it was such fun! i hardly noticed how out of shape i still am, because he kept asking me, "mommy, what's a jog?" i answered every time, "this, what we're doing is a jog!" he never got it, kept asking till we got home,,, then he looked at me and said, "so, a jog is running, huh? the kid cracks me up. he is so cute and mischievous! when we walked in the house he told noah that we had gone for a jog and noah missed all the fun! only a mom (one who hates to run) would agree that "jogging" was fun and promise to do it again-- just to make a precious little boy happy!

the past, the present, and today...

today i find myself lost somewhere in the past. i have been listening to Caedmon's Call. that could be the reason for the stroll down memory lane and the longing for yesterday. most of my college memories are somehow linked to this band! each song is grouped with memory after memory, story after story, hope after dream. it is an endless parade of laughter and tear soaked tshirts. the longer i listened the stronger the feelings of longing became, and after a while i realized the longing was not for the past itself. the longing is for the faith of the past, the urgency of the past, the heart of the past. you know as a college student it was so easy to follow Christ blindly! it was so easy to place my trust in his big able hands and let go. as a mom and a wife it is so much harder to do that! to just let go and trust that He (God) has everything in control. to remember daily that He has a plan that my feeble brain could never fathom. as i sat and continued to listen it became obvious to me that the "girl" who was able to let go and the "kid" who wanted to run after the Savior; to trust Him blindly was still here. she is older (only a little) and maybe even a tiny bit wiser, but she is more careful with her heart and more protective of her longings than before. it seems that life keeps getting in the way of God's big picture (whatever it may be) and that the still soft voice of the Father is often overshadowed by the yelling and screaming of the world. it turns out; the yelling and screaming was and is nothing but confused people without the hope of a Savior. today those voices are still here, the yelling and screaming of the world continues, but Jesus is alive and His soft calling is like a megaphone. it blares in my ears all day and all night! He asks over and over, where are you and what are you doing for me? Today I answer. I am here; waiting, ready for you to mess with me. Mess with my longings and rock my world. Today(more than yesterday) it is clear, His plan is bigger and better than any other option this world has to offer. His plan offers more than confusion and frustration. His plan is full of hope, redemption, grace, and mercy. His plan is full of love.




 she is STILL here. she is ME! 


so today is his soft voice yelling at you like a megaphone? are you gonna get up and do something or sit back and continue to listen to the frustrated and confused voices of the world around? i pray that you choose to get up and let Him mess with your life!

spring break (part 1)

so, we started our journey on sunday! we made a quick stop in nashville for some family time and then headed on towards Kentucky! we made it all in one piece, with all three kids, all our stuff, and pretty peppy after the long car ride! of course, the kids loved the hotel! our kids love any hotel! they jumped from bed to bed, darrin jumped from bed to bed, and i prayed we didnt get kicked out of said hotel!! 
the next morning we headed to the "Creation Museum".  noah was so happy!! here are pics from our day!

noah & buddy davis
(noah's hero & fellow dino lover)

cousins.....

here are a few pics of the trips to nashville we made last month! we are really enjoying darrin's family all being closer (kara & george have finally made the move to nashville) ! it makes visits such fun!

yes, they are all close to the same shot, but i was trying to capture a bit of each kid and their personality! the moment was so funny. it deserved more than one pic! they were all wearing their superhero "gear" eating cookies! no rhyme or reason to their "gear" but they sure did have fun!!