More Sweet Things!

I continue to be overwhelmed as the most adorable little things come in the mail for Matthew!

My friend, Sarita, sent the cutest little outfit and onesies the other day! I can't wait to see how cute he is going to look in these!


And speaking of cute........how adorable is this little hat?!! Awww!!! I love this bib too! It even has a little pocket for crumbs. My friend, Holly, sent these to me. :)

Thank you so much, ladies, for making me feel so special! I cannot wait until Matthew gets here so I can try all of these cute things on him! :D

I wanted to ask everyone if you'll say a prayer for my in real life friend, Kathy. She had a heart attack last week and is now home recovering. Please just pray for a speedy recovery and that she will feel much better soon. Thanks!!

Last night, we went to my pastor's house and had dinner with their family. We had a great time and the girls had so much fun playing with their girls too. He asked me if I would like to be in charge of all the social media stuff for the church and I think that will be really fun! If you use twitter, tell me everything you know, because I've never gotten into it and need to learn all about it. Ha!

Easter Partying!

Yesterday was a fun day. Kaylee and Lily both had Easter parties at their school. Madison's grade is old enough that they don't have parties anymore. :( LOL!

Here's Kaylee in her pretty Easter dress:
And, Lily in hers:
Lily had lots of fun finding her eggs and then they had a party in their classroom.
Kaylee also had an egg hunt and party.
I love Easter weekend! Good Friday marks the anniversary of my adoption being finalized (33 years ago) and so it is always a special day for many reasons! Easter Sunday will be the 2nd year anniversary of my family going to church together! The Lord has done so many wonderful things in my life and blessed me so much and I can look back and see how He has always been right there leading and guiding me.

We will be going to church Sunday and then heading over to my MIL's house for lunch and our annual Easter egg hunt with the girls and Zoey. It is so nice to have today off with no school or dance! I think I better use this time to get some packing done! One week until moving day!!!

Happy Easter Everyone!!!!!

Lifepoint Church, Mont Belvieu, Texas

I knew when I saw that Kelly was having "Show Us Your Life" be about our churches today, that I just had to participate! What I really want to show though, is that it isn't so much about what church you go to, but that you begin to follow the Lord. Because once you truly begin to do that, your life will change in ways that you never imagined possible! Then, you can get in a good bible based church (no other will do) and begin to have that fellowship that is so important! Being in church is all about being a part of God's family. Jesus never spoke of church as a building that you go to, but rather the act of belonging in God's family. As believers and followers of Christ, we are the church! But, the church as a building exists because so much more can be accomplished for Him when we all bring our talents and gifts together to make things happen.

My family goes to Lifepoint church in Mont Belvieu, Texas. Our church was a church plant that began in 2008. They began meeting in a local high school. Our Pastor and a few other families felt God leading them to start this church and they left everything and risked everything to do so. I will be forever grateful for them being obedient to God, because it has changed my family's life forever and eternally.

Shortly after they started this church, Hurricane Ike hit our area and totally devastated everything. My pastor and his family were displaced from their home for months. It is so true that when the devil knows something awesome is about to happen, he will make sure to try and stop it. But, I don't think he knew who he was up against! It was shortly after all that, that I began to blog. Suddenly, I saw this whole world of wonderful Christian women and I wanted to be like them! I had been saved since I was a young girl, raised Southern baptist, but had not been in church for many years. I had 3 young girls and I wanted them to be raised in church. Not only that, but I had lost my Mom a few years before and was struggling with anxiety and grief over that. I knew my only hope was to get in church. I rededicated my life to Jesus and then I watched this love story between He and I unfold, and it has been the most beautiful experience of my entire life!

With my anxiety issues, it was one of the hardest things to do, to visit new churches. I decided I would start by going by myself and taking only my two oldest. My husband was not raised in church and I didn't really think he had any interest in going anyways. So, I went to a few churches and then the night before I was supposed to go back to one I had visited, the idea popped into my head that I should try out Lifepoint. I know now that that was God speaking to me. He knew exactly where we needed to be.

The second time I was to go back to Lifepoint was going to be Easter Sunday of 2009. I was so sad because I had hoped to really find a church and get to know some people before Easter, but I had only been to this one once. Still, I got us girls ready to go and to my surprise, my husband said he would like to go with me! And not only that, but the church was taking family portraits that day too, free of charge, to all the families that came. They were still such a young church and by then, we were meeting at a local recreation center.

That was such a beautiful blessing, to have that photo. It was a precious moment captured in time, of my family all going to church together for the first time. I just love the way God works!
Beginning to go to church was creating changes in our family that I never could have dreamed possible. It was redeeming my marriage and changing my heart as well as my husband's. I never in a million years would have thought we would all be in church.

I thought that I was going to go to church and serve in church and be this model Christian. That was what I thought you did when you go to church. But, I learned that it's not always about me or what I do. You see, God was working on my husband and he gave him, as a new Christian, an opportunity to serve that was tailor made for him. Our church was working on getting its own building and construction/engineering is what my husband's family owned company does. It was in that season that I realized it wasn't just about what the church was doing for us, but it was about what God knew we could contribute to the church. I saw my husband spend almost every single night after work and every free minute on his weekends for months, working on our new church building so that our church could reach more families just like mine. So, there wasn't really much I could help with, but because I listened and followed God to where He was leading us, not only can I be confident that my husband will be with me forever in eternity, but also we now have a beautiful church building where even more families lives can be forever changed! God has a way of using what we think are simple little decisions, when we are obedient to Him, and using them in mighty ways!

We moved into our new building on Easter Sunday of 2010. That was such a special day for all of us!
We also got to witness the church's very first baptism service, done in one of our member's swimming pools!
And we had our first Children's Christmas program in 2010.
It is so true that God will do exceedingly more than you could ever dream or imagine possible! I can't even begin to list or tell you all the ways that God has used our church to help us grow in our faith. The main thing I have learned is that no church is perfect and Christians are not perfect either. The important thing is not how your church can serve you, but rather how you can serve your church. Where is God leading you and how can He use your talents and spiritual gifts to contribute to your body of Christ? Our church has a motto that it's not about SERVE US, but it's about SERVICE.

Also, remember that once you make the decision to get in church, you will be hit from every angle and every obstacle from the enemy to keep you from going. You just have to keep pressing on and listening to God and trusting that He will lead you where you need to be. I have at times been a total pain to the people I've gotten to know at my church, and still they forgave me and reminded me that we are family and that we all make mistakes. When my Mom died, I was so alone and so afraid of what would happen to my girls or my husband if something happened to me. I no longer worry about that, because I know that we have a church family who will always be there for us, in whatever way we need, no matter what. I can't tell you how much that means to me.

I am so glad that the Lord led us to Lifepoint. It has been life-changing for us, for sure! I love to write about what I learned at church every Sunday, because I remember when I used to blog and was so scared to go to church, but blogging was where I began to learn more about the Lord and it made me start to yearn for a closer relationship with Him. My hope in sharing what I learn at church, as well as my struggles and triumphs as I grow in my faith, is that someone out there might be like I was, and want to know Him too. I do believe that one of my spiritual gifts is to take some pretty good word-for-word notes of our sermons at church every week. LOL! I really do take it very seriously. I am a super shy and quiet girl, and writing and sharing my story and what I learn is the way that I can best serve the Lord!

This past weekend was the two year anniversary of that first time that I visited Lifepoint. As I look back on these two years, there have been ups and downs, beautiful moments and moments I wish I could forget (mostly because God is working on me learning that my way is not always the only way.....Ha!). But, I wouldn't change it for anything. It has been a beautiful story that He is still writing; a story of hope unfolding! I pray that if you don't have a church home, to just keep looking and keep listening.......my story is proof that He will always lead you right to where He wants you to be!

Progress and Mini-Me!

It's been so much fun to see the progress each day on this house. Can you see the arches they did a few days ago?

Morgan has worked all weekend on installing the electrical boxes/wires and all the recessed lighting cans. I had to go over there today and make sure all the plugs were in the right places. Women have to decide those things, you know. Ha! I also had to decide where the cable plugs needed to be in the girls' bedrooms.
There are a few things we noticed in framing that will have to be changed this week. One is that the dining room window is off by 6 inches. When Morgan centered the light in the dining room, it was really obvious that the window was not centered. I'm not sure how the framers managed that, but it will just have to be taken out and redone. Also, we realized the opening in the kitchen, that is there so that you can cross the hall into the garage or pantry, was way too wide. It wasn't allowing enough room for our fridge. As it was, our fridge would have been sticking out past the opening, so we are moving it over and making it smaller. It will still be wide enough, as wide as a standard door.

They were going to paint the exterior today, but it was way too windy out there. Madison and Kaylee went to a cooking class today, so Lily and I went out to see our house. She wanted to go swing and Morgan told her not to touch this little grill they had out there because it was hot. The workers had grilled fajitas for lunch and Morgan said it was yummy! :D

Lily put my glasses on earlier, so I took a picture of her with my phone. Funny!
It was a battle this morning to get myself out of bed for church. Morgan was already gone to the house to work before I woke up. I'm so glad I did though! We had a great message and then I took the girls out to eat at the local Chinese buffet place. I never thought I would get back to a point where I didn't feel like going to church. I used to look so forward to it every weekend and would never dream of missing. But, for some reason, the past few months have been so hard to get motivated to go. I think part of it is because we quit going to our small group and so I just feel out of the loop. As I was lying in bed this morning, discussing this with the Lord, a thought came to me that I am supposed to go to church to worship Him. It's not about going to socialize or feel like part of a group or to feel needed or wanted, although those can be great things that happen as a part of fellowship. But, I should want to go to church simply to worship Him. Then, our message was about obstacles that might be holding you back from living the John 10:10 life. I think it was one I needed to hear. I think most of the time, I am my own worst enemy. I'll be back later to talk about what I learned.

It's Starting to Look like a House!

I can't believe they have gotten so much done this week! Last weekend we had just dirt. Wednesday, we had a foundation. And today, all of the rooms are framed.

LOL....you can't see the front door because of the big pile of dirt.
View from our living room. Those will be windows that look out onto the water.
I had no idea from looking at the plans how big this back porch was!! I think it is one of my favorite things. It will be perfect to have tables and chairs out there for parties and things like that. It will be covered by the roof too. The girls can play out there and draw with their chalk. I told them they could ride bikes on that porch. Haha!
View of back of the house.
View standing on back porch.
Brick we picked out.
Morgan brought home samples of brick and roof colors. It is SO hard to visualize what they're going to look like on an entire house! The girls and I drove around yesterday looking at light colored houses, to try and get an idea of what color roof to get. :D
Deciding on what color to brick the house was hard too. We were thinking a red brick originally, but decided we wanted a light tan brick this time. It's one of those things where if you don't just choose, you could spend months looking at samples and going crazy! And we decided to go with a black roof. I want a dark brown wood door for the front too. I think that will be so pretty!

Well, the girls right now are in my bathroom doing each others nails. That's the first time I've let them loose with the nail polish. Let's hope it's not all over the bathroom when they get done!! Ha! Today was awesome at church. It's the first time we've went to church since Christmas Eve. I just have not felt like going at all, then my Dad was here last weekend so we had to miss. I was glad to be back and they had a band there today which was amazing! I'll be back later to tell what I learned. It was about "toxic relationships".......I felt like I could definitely relate to that lately!!

Christmas Eve!

Today has been a great day! The girls and I made and decorated cookies while Morgan worked over at our new land, and then we all got ready to go to our first candlelight Christmas Eve service at church!
I decided at the last minute not to take my camera. I just took these with my iphone, thus the horrible quality. I just wanted to enjoy the service though and not worry about taking pictures. It was so beautiful the way they had all the candles all around and with the Christmas tree all lit up. At the end, we all got to light our candles and the girls thought that was really neat! We were just making sure that Lily held hers up so as not to burn the church down or anything. LOL!
The girls don't normally go to "big church" with us, because they have their own kid's church. Lily kept talking and asking loudly if it was over yet. Ha! I almost started laughing during the prayer because she's such a little stinker! It was really special though because we did the Lord's Supper. You can see in the picture, they had the bread and cup sitting on the table and each family got to go up one at a time. That was my girls first time to participate.
It was a great excuse for them to wear their pretty dresses again. And they'll wear them to Grandma's tomorrow too! I found myself during the service just being really moved, because it still reminds me of God's awesome faithfulness, every time I step back and not take for granted the fact that my family is in church. It still amazes me how the Lord worked. I can look back over the past year and see so many times that the enemy tried to convince me that church was not the place for us. But through it all, the Lord always made sure to have the right people, His faithful servants, who would not let us give up. There really are no words to describe what being a part of that kind of family is like.

So, after the service, we went out to eat and then we came home and the girls changed into their PJ's so that they could open their presents from us. We have always opened our presents on Christmas Eve. It's just easier that way, so the girls can wake up Christmas morning and see what Santa brought and then we usually head right over to my in-laws to open presents and have Christmas lunch with them.

I'll be back later to share our cookie decorating pictures and opening presents. I hope that everyone has a very Merry Christmas tomorrow!!!

A Day Full of Memories!

What a day!! Today was a long day, but full of precious memories and was a great way to get our Christmas break started off right!

The kids at church were singing today, so it gave the girls a great chance to wear their pretty Christmas dresses!

Here is a video of the kids at our church singing "Silent Night". It was just precious and they sounded great! We were all so proud of them. What a special moment for our church.....this was our very first Christmas program for our kids!



I took this picture when they were practicing before the service.

After church, we drove out to our property so that Morgan could ask me where I wanted our house to be. Ha!

You can't really tell, but there's quite a big drop from where the girls are standing, to the water.
There's a huge hill you have to walk down to get to the water, but it's going to be so neat because our house will be at the top and when you're up there, it just looks like you're overlooking the water. You can see how tiny Madison and Kaylee look at the top!
Aunt Barbara would appreciate these pics.......she has a tire swing at her house that the girls love to play on and today they said it was just like Aunt Barbara's house!

You can see in the background, they left behind a metal building. That will be moved and Morgan will use it for all of his tools. Yay....no more tools in the garage! :D There was another little shack that he tore down yesterday and burned.
Lily said she wanted to walk on the "bridge" before we left.
Morgan worked out there yesterday and today. Basically, as soon as he got word the money was funded and the land was ours, he was out there plotting his plan of attack! LOL! He had to pull this huge tree stump up and will have to move the septic system and they had buried a bunch of junk too that he will have to dig up. It seemed like all these things were right where we need our foundation to be! The people who owned this land were using it for a boat restoration business they had.

See how huge that stump was?!
Morgan getting his burn pile ready.
While Morgan worked, the girls and I got ready for our church's kids party. They were having a PJ party and watching the Polar Express too. They ate pizza, had popcorn during the movie, and hot chocolate and cookies afterward.
Lifepoint Christmas tree photo. :)
It was a day full of great memories!!

Fall Fest!

Fall Fest is something our school district does every year to promote red ribbon week and raise money for lots of great programs at our school. They have lots of games set up for the kids, lots of booths, food, fun, music, and all kinds of things for the whole family to enjoy.

I remember 2 years ago, walking around and seeing the Lifepoint booth and really wanting to go check it out, but being too shy. That would have been their first year to have a booth; their first year to be a church! Ha! And now look.........me taking pictures of the Lifepoint booth, because Lifepoint is my church. Wow......God is really amazing, isn't He?!

Last year we did cotton candy. This year, it was deep fried oreos. Over 2000 of them. According to my pastor, about a quarter of a million calories. LOL! I know they were a big hit though, because I kept hearing everyone talking about them. I tried one for the first time, and I know they sound really gross, but they are really yummy and don't even taste like oreos.

Talking about oreos reminds me that Lily used to call them Or-ee-WAY-o's. :D
I can't take any credit for those oreos though, because I didn't help, but Morgan did for awhile. Once we got there, the race was on to make sure the girls got to do everything they wanted to do. We played games and they got their hair spray painted. We ran into my MIL who was there running the local Chamber of Commerce booth.
We did the petting zoo. It was really bright and windy. Kaylee's expression cracks me up.
Then when I was putting the pics on my computer, I saw this one. I don't even know what that expression was all about. Typical picture.......Madison paying attention and smiling pretty. Kaylee with a funny expression. And Lily not paying attention at all, chomping on a cookie. I just love these girls! Ha!
Madison and Kaylee wanted to get their faces painted. Cute!
It was a really fun day! It just keeps getting better and better each year, I think!

Pumpkin Party Goodies!

Lily is having a pumpkin party this week at school, so I made her classmates some goody bags.

Her class is the monster mashers class, and I had a cartridge for my cricut that had this monster shape on it, so I cut a small one out to make little tags. I love how they turned out!
Here's what they looked like. Super easy! I just got clear plastic bags, put a little activity book and a Halloween fruit by the foot in each one, and attached the tags. I didn't want to do candy, since they will get so much of that anyways!
Yesterday, our school district had Fall Fest and we had lots of fun at that! Our church had a booth there giving away free fried oreos, and they seemed to be a big hit. They were yummy! They said that they served almost 2000! I'll have to do a post on that sometime this week. I also have 3 weeks of church posts to do on our "true-ish" series. It's a really good series!

Hope you all had a great weekend! I am still trying to get into the blogging thing again. So far, it looks like the crazies are staying away. I'm still being very cautious though.

Baby Shower Fun!

Friday night, I stayed up late finishing up the decorating on my diaper cake and I was so excited that it came out okay! LOL!

One secret I found out........well, maybe everyone else already knows this but I didn't, was to use velcro to make the diaper cake stay on the platter. This was my first one to make and I never could find any tips on how to attach it to the cake board thing, so I was just going to take some sticky velcro, put some on the board and some on the diapers and latch them together. But, by accident I put the rough part of the velcro on the board and when I sat the diapers on there, they automatically stuck to it, without using the soft part of the velcro. I guess that makes sense, since that's how the diaper tabs work to keep the diapers closed. Ha! So, if you ever need to make one, just put the rough side of the velcro on the cake board and when you sit the stack of diapers on there, they will automatically catch and not come loose.

The whole idea was that I wanted to make sure that all of the diapers would be useable once they took it home, so I didn't want to use hot glue on them. I attached the other layers to the one beneath them by using clear jewelry stretchy cord that I already had and then you couldn't see it since I was using the green shredded paper as grass. For the giraffe, I actually stitched him to the diapers with thread. All they will have to do is snip the thread and he should pull right off. I didn't want him coming off on the ride there! LOL!
I got these cute wooden animals at Hobby Lobby. The theme we were doing for the shower was these colorful animals.
I hung the monkey facing out because I thought he looked cute like that!
Here's the expecting couple. They work for one of our church members, who owns a jiu-jitsu place, which is where we had the shower. This was a very emotional and special time for us ladies as a church. This couple has really no family, and are also in the process of adopting her baby sister who was placed in foster care. She is 7 mos. old. So, she was going to give herself a shower and when we found out about this, we said we wanted to do her shower. What an honor and privilege to be able to be the hands and feet of Jesus, to shower this couple with love. They were blown away, as were we, with all of the things that everyone brought and how everyone chipped in to make this such a special day. It was amazing!! And I personally had a blast making things for it!!! It is true that when you do things for others, you are blessed so much more in return.
The reason I made the shirts is because we wanted to hang them up for decoration. It turned out looking so cute, huh?!
The diaper cake and some cute letters that my friend Amy painted.
I had some extra animals that I didn't use for the diaper cake, so we put them out for decoration.
Here's part of my gift. Don't you love the little guitar outfit? I love rock star stuff for little boys!
We didn't get to go to church today because Lily got that croupy cough last night and I ended up holding her and rocking her until around 2am, just so she could breathe better. Of course, she feels fine today but still has a cough. That kind of thing always seems to get bad at night.

Well, this week I have to make Kaylee a dinosaur costume. Wish me luck on that! LOL!!!