Andrew

Andrew's sweet smile. What a gentle soul....

Style or what...

Look at her amazing hair! That took me two hours to tackle... too cute! I love it when she looks in the mirror and the boys come and see her with her afro and say, "oh mom, look at her hair!".

Talk about views...

Girls weekends are amazing... Cashiers, NC with 3 of my college friends for 3 nights in December! Who knew when you thought you were going to a "cabin" that you end up at the top of a mountain that appears as if you are in Aspen--not to mention it snowed one of the nights. I miss snow so much now living in Georgia so it was just the icing on the cake to wake up with mountains with freshly fallen snow. As you can imagine on girls weekends, we did a lot of talking, sitting, sleeping, praying, and just lounging. I got to get in my bed and sneak chapters of my book during the daylight hours not having to worry about when children were napping. It was incredibly bizarre to wake up and fix my breakfast and tea first, knowing I didn't have four more to go and knowing the dishes would be so tiny. It was amazing to reconnect after 10 years since college and see how God has worked in each of our lives.

Hebrews 10:24-25 "Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up the habit of meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another, all the more as we see the day approaching."

Thanksgiving

We were able to stay with my aunt and uncle for Thanksgiving who live now on my grandmother's farm. They have a cottage connected to the house where our family slept, and the boys got to get up each morning and go "hunting". At 7 am they were walking around this beautiful view; they also got to feed chickens which was quite the highlight. I miss Virginia so much when I see pictures like this. Can you imagine every day waking up to this view and having that much land for children to romp? AHHHH!!!

The other picture is Sydney copying me while I got to sneak away and have some time with the Lord. Sydney ran right to get a Bible and sat beside me. Quite a little moment.

Foot Surgery

Here are some pics from my foot surgery...

Terrible Blogger

Wow, these days go by and I haven't even remembered I have a blog. Thanksgiving was awesome, jam packed, and full of relationships, fun, and trusting in Jesus. It gave me so much time to reflect on how broken each of truly is, yet how God redeems the brokenness in His timing, maybe not all in this lifetime, but we do get glimpses. I don't think we walk around looking so broken, but each of us comes with a set of little pieces that were chipped at some point, some have been redeemed and some haven't and may not be until Christ returns. The beauty of family is that you come as you are; they take you with all the pieces. Sometimes we are need of great repair, and sometimes we are the instruments of repair. I find it startling sometimes to think through each person's journey. There isn't enough time in our lives to try to see each loved one's lens in which they may see life, but when we are able to, it helps give great compassion to each of God's creations. There are times I think too we want to run to our family to nurture us and pick us up, and then there are times we have to exert our greatest strength. I find the beauty in all of it is seeing how much love clothes each relationship, and that is how it all works. Without that love, it would be too prickly at times; it is the love that makes it flow, makes us forgive, makes us look past the chips and tears, and heals those spots.

On to Christmas.... ahhhhh! Let the fun begin...

Here are the pictures from when the kids got to be in a photo shoot for the Magic Elf... if you haven't heard of them, go to their website... www.magic-elf.com I think it is. They saw it as an opportunity to go see Santa; let me warn you, don't let your kids spend too much time with Santa... it is pretty revealing :). They loved dressing up, eating candy, and just having fun. They each got an elf as a gift, which is supposed to come visit tonight and cause lots of mischief. We will see how this one goes. We are to feed them saltines and water, which remind them of the snow at the North Pole. I think Sydney's is going to jump in my sister's suitcase who is going to Hawaii :).