VBS Fun

We saddled up for VBS this week and had a blast. The kids, big and small, all enjoyed learning about Jesus. Here are a few of my favorites.

This is just super cute!

Water fight!

Eden's first hosre ride :)

Larry and I got to ride too.

That's espeically impressive becuse we were in kid saddles :)

I love that our horses are kissing.

Eden having a blast!

Why should the birds get all the yummy peanut butter??!

Gotta love that face!

Crazy Cowboy Larry!

Timmy and Corey's wedding

In April, Larry's brother Timmy married an amazing young woman named Corey. She was a beautiful bride! The wedding was the most laid back comfortable wedding I've ever been a part of. It suited their personalities perfectly. This past week I was able to give Timmy and Corey a wedding album with some of the images I was able to capture. Here are a few of my favorites.

First Dance

Father Daughter Dance

Mother and Son Dance

Pondering with Daddy

All Smiles

The Joy of Love

Brothers

All Girl!

Flowers

Do you know what this is?

This is proof of God's love and protection on our family. Last week I went into Eden's room and smelled something bad. Having two toddlers, smelling something bad is part of my daily duty. But this was a different kind of bad. I didn't know what it was and walked out, busy with my daily task. I went back in a few minutes later determined to figure out what was making the smell. I discovered this, Eden's melted nightlight and dress.

Eden's dress had fallen off her changing table and landed on the nightlight. It began to burn and melt. I'm not sure how long it was like that. I think it had just been 45 minutes or so since I had used the changing table for Josiah, but it could have been the night before. I'm not sure how long it takes to melt down plastic like that. When I pulled it out of the wall I was surprised and thankful the light hadn't burst and the dress caught fire.

As you can imagine, I freaked out a little. Then a peace and grateful joy came over me. I can only explain as the "peace that surpasses understanding (Phil 4:4-7)". This was a time in my life when I could clearly see, feel and literally smell God's protection on my family. It stopped me from the busyness of my day and made me examine my life, purpose and priorities.

Larry and I pray daily over our family. Each night I pray for angels of protection to guard my children. It has become such a habit that to see proof of a response woke me up to the reality that God does answer our prayers. Sometimes boldly, sometime with a more gentle hand, but always there is an answer.

This time, I can hold the proof of my answered prayer in my hand. Feeling it's heat, smelling the stench of the melted and burned fabric, I know we were sparred a potentially tragic outcome. I wonder how many other times, how many other accidents have been prevented by God's hand??? It makes me wonder if I and my family keep the angels of protecting busy?

There is a verse in Matthew that that brings me great comfort as a mother. "See to it that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their Angels in Heaven continually see the face of my Father who is in Heaven." (Matt 18:10) Jesus lets the disciples know that the children He uses in his illustration of humbleness have angels that protect them. How amazing is it to know our children have angels that protect them!

So often I let my mind dwell on the what ifs. That night light was right next to Eden's bed. My mother's instinct and paranoia goes into overdrive thinking of what could have happend. I have to choose my battle and tell myself to stop thinking of the what ifs, and instead focus on the what is. When I chose to be faithful instead of imaginative, I can see the situation for what it was, and is, an opportunity to praise God for being my protector and provider. I began to praise God for the blessing of His protection on our family, and our home. God alone is worthy of my worship. Even if there would have been a fire and I lost everything, God is still worth of my worship.

I've come to realize I can not control a lot of what happens to me in this life, but what I can control is my response to it. I can live fearing the what ifs and I can choose to freak out and catastrophize each situation that I face. OR I can choose to worship the Lord in all situations, Living in the spirit of freedom, not timidity that God intended. I choose worship!

This was one of those steps at faith building that the Lord does for me when I need to see Him working in my life. So as I approach things like going to Haiti and facing Eden's heart surgery, I can hold that melted nightlight and remember God's protection and acts of love towards my family. I can not control what happens in Haiti or with Eden's surgery, but I can battle my fear and chose to walk in Faith trusting God to take care of me. I'm also praying He sends a few extra Angels with us to Haiti :)

To PawPaw with Love :)

I want to wish my Daddy a very happy Father's day. I am the woman I am today because of the influence you had on my life. Your love for the Lord and our family has been a wonderful example of Christ's love. I miss you so very much and look forward to seeing you soon.

Ode to My Babies' Daddy

I had such a wonderful time looking through 3 years worth of pictures, picking out Daddy photos for Father's day. There were hundreds of pictures of Larry being an amazing Daddy, but these captured what I wanted to get across.



You see, I never thought we would be parents so soon into our marriage. In fact, I didn't think we would be parents until years into to our marriage. I was told I couldn't have children in my early 20's. I knew adoption would be the only way we could have a family and most agencies have requirements that you be married 3-5 years before they will place a child with you.


So you can imagine our surprise when 4 months after we were married, 5 pregnancy tests revealed that we were going to be parents sooner then we thought. I blame Larry for it. :) He started praying on our wedding night that God would bless us with children. GOD did! 19 months later He did it again! :)



For a man who had never changed a diaper before Eden's, He learned quickly. I was so impressed with how gentle he was and how much Larry wanted to be supportive. Nursing Eden and Josiah was very difficult in the beginning. Larry was right by my side, encouraging me. We teased that between the two pregnancies, Larry could have become a lactation consultant with all he had to learn to help me. He knows more about Breastfeeding, pregnancy and delivery than any man should :)

And he's great with our kids! As he awaits the time when Josiah and Eden will be big enough that they can turn our living room into a WWF practice rink, he is teaching them how to play and have fun. Thanks to Larry, We have horsie rides in the living room and the tickle monster is never far from striking laughter into a boring situation.

And for some strange reason, Larry's voice and commands receive much better and faster obedience than mine does??!!! Maybe it's because they hear me all day long, but our children are so eager to please their daddy. I think it demonstrates their great respect for their father even at this young age.

You would think as small as Eden was this was the first time Larry Read scripture over her, But it wasn't. He read it over her while she was in the womb. She must have known her Daddy's voice, because she would always calm down when he read the Bible to her.

This is right after Josiah was born.
The mess didn't stop daddy from being as actively involved as he could.

My Cute Men!

Eden's first time at the beach. She did NOT want her feet in the water.
She crawled up her daddy and remained in his arms the rest of the time.

I love Larry's big hand on Eden's little back. He is such a wonderful protector of his little girl.

I pity the men who try to pursue her in the future :)

Walking with Daddy.

Man time

Teaching Josiah the importance of ACC Basketball!

If Only I can teach him to cheer for FSU!

You can't tell in this photo but they fell asleep together watching the game. So CUTE!




Happy Father's day to the best man I could have ever chosen to raise children with. I believe God blessed me because of you and your faith. Your calm nature and love for fun was the perfect basis to start this family. I am so proud of the way you father our children, Treating them with love and respect, guiding them into a relationship with the Lord. I pray God continues to bless and strengthen you and hopefully will allow us to have more children in the future.

Happy 3rd Birthday Eden :)

I can't believe that my baby girl has turned 3. Eden is an amazing child, full of spunk and love. I am constantly amazed at how smart she is and how politely she speaks. She's a thoughtful child. Some of the things that come out of her mouth melt my heart, other stuff makes me laugh so hard I cry. The wheels of her mind are constantly running and she wants to conquer life "all by MYSELF!"

Eden is so much fun! She's a wonderful combination of pixie fairy and Energizer bunny. She's a total girly girl which makes her momma proud. She stands on her tip toes to go everywhere and loves purses, shoes, baby dolls and anything to do with Dora and Tinkerbell. She loves to learn and read. Each night she lays in bed she talks herself to sleep by singing or reading books to her baby dolls. Sometimes I listen to see what going through that mind of hers.

I recently asked Eden what she wanted to be when she grew up and she said, "a Mommy, and a ballerina doctor." I said that sounded like a lot of fun and that Daddy and I needed to start putting away money for school. Maybe we'll get her in some ballerina classes for fun too. I can only imagine how cute she'll be at her first recital. It seems just the other day we were bringing her home form the hospital. 3 years have passed so quickly, I can only imagine how quickly the next 15 will fly by.

Playday Every Day

Today I took my camera out, dusted it off and took it outside with the kids to capture some of our fun. We've been super busy the past few days and will pick up the speed in the months to come. Josiah has been sick. I'm sad that he's been sick , but we've had some sweet cuddling time lately. He's always loved snuggling before bed time and naps, but since he's been able to walk, he's stays busy. These past few days, he hasn't wanted me to put him down. I think he would be quit content to be held all day if I had the time and strength. I took him to the doctor on Sunday and he weighed in at 28 lbs! He's my little whopper :)

So getting outside was a fun, even though Josiah wanted to come in a nap shortly afterwards. He's been such a trooper.

Here are a few of my favorites from today :)

You can tell Josiah wasn't feeling very well. It's all in the eyes.

My children can find water and messes anywhere! Most of the time I let them enjoy them. Some times I even join in with them. That's why we say we have play days everyday :)

This is our cats' water dish. Sampson is looking at them like OK guys.... I'd like a drink, but not a bath!

What were you doing 4 years ago today?

Not many people will remember what they were doing four years ago today, but I do. I was running around like a chicken without a head. I wonder how that saying started??? If headless chickens do run around, then that's funny.... and weird!

Anyways, This time 4 years ago, I remember sitting on my washing machine having my pre- wedding melt down. It was the night before our wedding and I was a mess. I assume that all brides go though this. I've seen some on Bridezilla, but refuse to believe I could ever act like that ;)

My house was full of family that had come in from out of town. So to have what I thought was privacy, Larry and I went into the kitchen to talk. Since then my sister told me she heard our whole conversation while she should have been sleeping on the couch. Oh well, so much for privacy.

The conversation went something like this: I can't believe how much isn't done. There were all sorts of things that I wanted, things that right now I can't remember what in the world they were, but there was a lot of them. So you know they must have been crucial if I can't remember them now right?? :) I started to Squall, a word I have recently learned living in the country. "Squallen'" means you cry so hard that your eyes turn red and puffy and snot begins to run uncontrollably down you nose. It's a pretty gruesome sight, especially to a groom-to-be! The "for better or worse" wasn't supposed to start until the next day, But boy did Larry get a full dose of worse that night!

So as I'm squallen', I'm thinking this man has no idea what to do with me right now! And bless his heart, he didn't. BUT THEN, (I love BUT THENS in stories) he hugged me and said everything would be OK. He asked what was bothering me and what he could do to fix it. Then there was some pretty serious conversation about running off to Vegas and finding an Elvis to marry us and to heck with all the unfinished details!

After laughing through that thought. I calmed down. Larry spent the next 20 minutes convincing me that the important thing was we were getting married. The silly things I was worried about were just that, silly things that were not important. What was important was we would stand before our friends and family.. and GOD and declare our love to one another for the rest of our lives. Those silly details compared to our lifetime together wasn't enough to get that upset over. Wow! Perspective! Speaking Truth in Love. Maybe this man did know what to do with me after all.

So we got married. :) There were things that didn't go right, but I don't think of that now. What I do remember is the look on Larry's face as I walked down the isle to him. I remember laughing through our wedding (we haven't stopped laughing since then.) I remember thinking I had waited so long to meet the right man and get married. Wow! He was worth the wait!!!! God gave me a wonderful man whom he had been sculpting and growing for years. Then he gave Him to me. Next to my salvation, Larry is the best gift I have ever received.

And as these past four years have flown by so quickly! We have had to deal with so many BIG life changes in such a short amount of time. I figured it out recently, I have been pregnant or nursing for 43 of the past 48 months! So much for having the wife of your youth!

Having 2 children, one with a heart condition, Finishing grad school, moving to the country, starting life in the ministry and just living life together daily has been challenging to say the least. But just like the night before our wedding, Larry has been right by my side. Loving me, speaking Truth to me, making me laugh all the time, Loving me like Jesus would.

Are we perfect? Nope. Are we best friends? Yep! Are we so in love with one another that it hurts to be apart? You betcha! Is marriage hard work? Most defiantly yes! I have know nothing else in my life that has shown me my own sinfulness as much as being married has, But I wouldn't want it any other way. Because I have also known love so purely and deeply that I can only compare it to God's love.

So to my husband,

I love you more today that I ever thought possible 4 years ago, I can only imagine how deeply we will love one another 50 years from now. :)

And I have so many things to thank you for, Thank you for taking your vows seriously. Thank you for cultivating tender affection for me. Thank you for looking at me with that twinkle in you eye that melts my heart and makes me fall more deeply in love with you each time we touch. Thank you for providing our family a wonderful home and the financial security that enable me to stay home to raise our children. Thank you for making me feel like our marriage and family are your first priority behind your relationship with God. Thank you for honoring our marriage and holding it in such high esteem. Thank you for forgiving me and loving me though my many faults. Thank you for not keeping a record of my wrongs. Thank you for the countless hours of discussions we have had about our Lord. I know Jesus better now because I'm married to you. It makes me happy to know that when God sees us He sees the two of us together as one. Thank you for loving me like Jesus would. I am a blessed woman because of you. I am always your Beloved.