the simple things in life

Oh, the simple things in life. How we take them for granted. Paul is in CA. Paul has been in CA for 5 days. Paul will be in CA for another 7 days. I am home with Courtney. All day. Every day. And it's been raining. So we are home. All day.

Sounds bad, right? Oh, no. It's not. It's becoming awesome! Yes, there are tough times, times I am at the end of my rope. Even times (actually A time) Paul called and I answered the phone in tears and simply said "here, YOU try to talk to Courtney". ...she would NOT go to bed, nothing more, nothing less... But what I have actually realized is that I take so many small things for granted.

Being a stay at home mom since the day my daughter was born, I know nothing else. Courtney knows nothing else. If I was to say "Mommy is going to work", she would literally look at me like I was crazy and probably say something the the effect of "no, DADDY is going to work". It's the way it is in our family and I am truly BLESSED to have the ability to say that. Times like now especially as Paul is in CA to earn money as he was laid off 2 weeks ago.

Since Paul has been gone I have quite literally spent every waking moment with Courtney, other than 2 hours of gym time. Don't want to be a liar or anything. And on the honesty note, that is A LOT of alone time with your daughter. (she rarely naps) It's tough some days, especially when it's raining to think of things to do. Even Courtney is tired of tv! That's where the simple things kick in. Seriously. Playing ball...yes, we play ball IN our house...with her. TICKLING her. Coloring. Making the only thing each of us knows how to with play doh; snakes. Playing pretend. Reading a book. Watching WipeOut. Letting her help put dishes up. Watching her play in the rain. Playing in the rain WITH her. Letting her figure out how to button her jammies; even if it takes longer than I do.

All these things we have been doing together. And many times she has just looked at me and said "I love you, Mommy". Or just her giggle. Today we did something for Daddy...he doesn't know yet, so I can't go writing about it on the internet...and she looks at me and says "THAT is why Daddy loves me". Really, our 3 year old knows these things!?

Tonight I read Courtney a book before bed. I will admit, I do not always read her a book. It's just not part of our bed time routine...but tonight she asked and I did. I read her this book:

it is 63 pages long and has a paragraph per page. Not the shortest book in the world. But I read it, and I LOVE reading to her. And when I said "THE END", she grabs the book and says "my turn to read it to you". And you know what? I let her. And I'm glad I did. I learned tonight. I learned that my daughter not only loves me reading to her but she really pays attention. She went through each of the 63 pages and read it back to me. No, not word for word. She can not read, yet. But she told the same story right back to me in her words. It was PRICELESS.

It's the simple little things in life that matter. May we all remember that.

Courtney turns 3...almost a month ago!

I absolutely can not believe that my little girl is 3! Where does the time go? My sweet girl had the time of her life for a 3 year old. Nana and Bopa were in town and took us bowling...she has become a Wii bowling maniac and I think it helped her in the real world even. She can now throw the ball herself and actually knock some pins down. It was fun.


One of her best buds, Brady, joined us. He was trying to point the balls in the right direction. :-)

Thanks Dad for taking a great family photo!

drum roll......ANOTHER 4-wheeler! She was so stinkin' excited about this thing.

another drum roll?!?!?! Her FIRST haircut. Yes, at THREE! Daddy went so she didn't really get a 'cut'. She got a very very very very very very very very little trim. Thanks Tracie! You are awesome!


A few weeks before her birthday I decided I wanted her hand prints...I thought of the wall...but quickly realized we can't take the wall if we move...so we started this canvas. To add hands each year until they don't fit anymore.

The party...birthday girl is READY!




Brady and Courtney in the gutter water...where every 3 year old belongs, right?
One exhausted birthday girl!

Easter 2010...finally!

Easter 2010 was awesome. Courtney was old enough to enjoy the egg decorating and old enough to learn the reason we celebrate Easter. We went to church Friday night and the kids sat with us which went very well. At the end of the service Pastor Mike gave families time to have the Lords Supper together and take their time before leaving. Paul took Ethan and I took Courtney. It was a great time for both of us. Paul to get a little deeper with Ethan and me to start explaining to Courtney. Courtney was able to comprehend what Good Friday was, the day Jesus died. And she knew for what...our sins. And I was even able to get her to understand what sins are. Kinda bit me in the butt soon after as we are walking to the parking lot when I had her tell Daddy what a sin is she replied "When I throw a fit and when Mommy yells". Ouch. But good. Saturday night we decorated eggs...lots and lots of eggs. Our neighbor is a distributor for Paas Egg Dying kits...so we had lots and lots of kits. Kits I'd never even seen before. One had nuts and bolts! Redneck? We stayed up way too late that night and had a blast and made a mess. Uncle Garrett was in town to enjoy the fun and clean up the mess...seriously. Thanks Gar! :-)

Easter morning we went to service then off to the War Eagle Mill for their 33rd annual egg hunt. We were not impressed as if Paul wouldn't have picked Courtney up and ran with her, she would not have even gotten the one egg she got. But she didn't care. She was still having fun. Since that egg hunt was a bomb Daddy ran in and hid the eggs we had colored so Courtney could find lots of eggs. Garrett was a good Uncle and 'helped' her. It was precious.

Our favorite neighbor EVER!

This stuff washes off, right?

Garrett making by far the best egg.

That's my husband.

That's better.

Our mess...

Proud baby girl...at nearly midnight!

Finding a few eggs from the Easter Bunny.

You will only get this picture if you watch Yo! Gabba Gabba! Hoooold Stilllllll.

LOVE THIS PICTURE!!!!

Egg hunt with Garrett.

This is so our daughter!

iPhone minus Facebook

So a few days ago I set my status on facebook to "Deleting facebook from my iPhone". And I did. I got a few (more than I get on any other status update) comments and questions of why. I guess I could say I didn't REALLY know at first. Just knew I should. As the days have gone on, I have grown to know why. I have a feeling I am not alone here, but I also have a feeling that many people will just continue the way I was.

Lately, I have realized just how much I checked facebook. I'll take a picture of Courtney. Instantly thinking "I'll upload that to facebook". Something funny will happen. Instantly I'll think "I will post that to facebook". I'll be at a stop light. Instantly I grab my phone and think "wonder what's going on in the facebook world". My baby girl would ask me something and I'd say "hold on, just one second...(as I finished a post to some one's facebook status). My husband would get home and I'd have a story to tell him...something I had learned on facebook. You see, I was letting facebook totally consume me!

Another thing I realized: NOTHING is private anymore. Thanks to facebook. Well, thanks to the users OF facebook. So often people are living their lives on facebook. And sadly, comparing their life to facebook friends, their marriages to things they read on facebook. But you see, so often we don't realize that most people 'fluff it up" for facebook. Of course you aren't going to read "my husband and i got in a huge fight last night. he slept on the couch and we woke up this morning not speaking". Just not 'cool' to post. But those things are a reality! There was recently a radio program that did a study on facebook and the damage it can cause in marriages, families, and even jobs. And boy to I believe it! The home is not a home, it's an open door on facebook.

Want another realization? Oh, this one is good. I realized that I was putting 100% into facebook. BUT when it came to marriage, not even close to 100%. When it came to my children, closer to 100% but still not there. Even down to my house, and being a stay at home wife, that also means my job. Not 100% there either. Now, as I laid on the couch and read a book about husbands/wives giving each other their "left-overs" at the end of the day, was I able to continue to give 100% to facebook and give my husband 70, 60, 50, even 40%? THAT was a big thing to realize.

One more, then I think I'm done...for now.

Facebook was kicking my blog's butt! So not fair! See, I created this blog for my children. "What?! For your children?!" You may ask. "One of them can't even read!" And you are right. But, they will both get copies of this blog when they are older. When I learned that you can print your blog to a book (looks like a yearbook, kinda cheesy but awesome none the less) I decided that I would create this blog for them. For them to look back at pictures, read stories, remember things we did, learn things we (Paul and I learned) as we raised them. What an amazing thing we can give them! And I have been failing them, my children, whom I absolutely adore. Again, SO NOT FAIR. As I would post to facebook, pictures and little stories I would think "I need to blog this". But facebook makes it so easy to toss a picture up from my phone, type a short little thing on something funny Courtney said that day, etc. I was getting too lazy to blog, NOT NOT fair.

Some, or maybe even all of this may seem so trivial to you. But if we are honest, if we really really honest and think about what God calls us to be as Christians, Christian wives, Christian husbands, Christian friends and Christian parents...are we really using facebook the right way? Or are we letting it consume us and even take time away from God (I did not even start to address that!)? John Piper said "One of the great uses of Twitter and Facebook will be to prove at the Last Day that prayerlessness was not from lack of time". I will add that it will prove that our priorities are so often messed up.

NOW. I am NOT saying I am anti-facebook. I am keeping my account. I will update things occasionally. I think it's a great way to share pictures and keep in touch with people. But people like our men and woman serving our country in a war with little or no way to communicate from Afghanistan. Like people on mission trips who are encouraging others. Or family and friends in other states who do not get to see your children daily. But not our neighbor, not our friends that live down the street! Invite those people over for dinner. Show them those pictures personally. Call them on the phone. Tell them that funny story so you can hear their laughter.

....and that why I deleted facebook from my iPhone.

Spring, is here?

Spring is poking it's head into our lives and we couldn't be more excited! It's been a COLD winter and we are all ready to get outside and enjoy family time outside of the house. Sunday we got a little sneak peek and it was awesome! Courtney and I busted out the sidewalk paint (super cool stuff that dries into sidewalk chalk). We made some letters and some flowers and a heart or two...apparently that bored my sweet baby as she took the paint brush and began painting her hands. She made LOTS of hand prints all over the driveway...then, off to the feet! Oh she is precious...stepping ans squishing her feet into this paint with such joy. Hopping and dancing and spinning little Courtney foot prints all over the driveway. Daddy even grabbed the camera for the rare shot of me and Courtney together. LOVE these pics. She is so precious.

Is The Grass Greener...

oringinally posted by Cindy Beall

I've rented two movies over the last week or so. We were fairly disappointed because both of them included infidelity. And it's not just because we hate infidelity (which we do) and hate how it ruins marriages (which it has). We hate how it is glamorized by film makers.

Very sad.

I've always been disturbed when I hear someone say about his/her spouse, "I'm just not in love anymore." Since when is mariage always a feel good thing? Ask anyone who has been married if they live in a fairy tale world where they always feel in love. Feelings are so incredibly misleading.

You know what I think? (This is where you say, "yes".) I think that we are in love with what we pour into and what we concentrate on and what we create. If you start to pay attention to the next looker who walks by, you'll be doing that for the rest of your life. Hear me...There will always be good lookin' poeple around you. Period. Get used to it and walk away. If you wanna be in love with your spouse, pour into him, concentrate on her and create new memories and habits that will bring joy for years to come.

Moral of the story? If you find yourself thinking the grass is greenre on the other side, don't move. Just water your own yard.

I'm just sayin'.

Courtney's Room is D.O.N.E.!!!!!

Holy moly...I can't believe its done...well, is it really ever d.o.n.e? I started out with lavender walls. The two colors we had in her old room and just rolled with it. I made a couple mistakes and just kept painting. Oh, the joy of paint. You mess up a strip, just make it bigger. You go out of the lines, just outline it all. Seriously, I love how it turned out. It's kind of 'princess-ish' but hey, she's our little 4-wheeler riding princes. It is what it is and she likes it. The hardest part was the Bible verse. And not painting it. Although that was simply time consuming! As I sat down to come up with a verse, many came to mind. Her verse her Auntie Shannon first gave her "Be strong and courageous for the Lord your God is always with you" Joshua 1:9. Once of my favorites "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" Philippians 4:13. From James for simplicity "Jesus Wept" John 11:35....what was I searching for seemed so simple! One verse to give her an idea of what the Bible is and why God wrote it. HA! That is funny. Then. It came to me. I was listening to a sermon by my oh so favorite pastor of all time Perry Noble (sorry Mike, you are a close 2nd though) and he quoted Roman 12:2 "Do not be conformed to the ways of this world. But be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect". That was it! What prayer do I have for my little girl? To NOT follow the ways of this world! But to follow the will of God! I was so excited when that came to me. Then, as I designed the cross to go along with it on Photoshop, I thought of a way to help her learn the meaning of the verse as she grows up. Although she is smart, I doubt she will know what the word 'discern' means for a while. So, I painted certain parts in pink to stick out and be a 'shortened' version of the verse. "Do not be conformed, but be transformed by God." I sure love my little girl and I hope through my creativity, I am able to help her relationship with God grow...we now read that verse every night and it means so much to me. It also helps her with her letters...last night she wanted to point at each one and ask me what it was. I would tell her and she would say "yes! Mommy, that's right."

*on a creative note. Yes, I made the crafts in her room and yes, I am for hire! :-)