His Grace is Enough!

April has just flown by! I can't believe tomorrow is May 1st and I couldn't be more excited! However, these past few weeks have been crazy busy around here. With me going back to teaching and our little family adjusting to that, we've hardly had time to stop. But it's amazing to me how God just provides what we need.

A HUGE answer to prayer is that the Bible and Bookstore building sold. This has been a prayer for years and it has finally been answered. Praise Him! Please be praying for my sweet mother-in-law and grandmother-in-law (Janet and Billie) as they are closing the store this Saturday. This store has not only been a part of  the family for many years, it has been a ministry to the Baton Rouge community. But they know it is time to say good-bye. Please keep them in your prayers, as well as the details of everything coming together for the closing. We know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him and have been called according to His purpose. Even though things are very overwhelming and emotionally hard right now for them, we know this is part of God's plan. Come by Thursday night (5/2) if you can and share your memories with them. Saturday will be the last day the store will be opened too. So anytime you can stop by to bless Mrs. Janet and Miss Bille would be great!

That's the biggest thing that's going on right now in our family. But we are looking forward to Anna's graduation in a couple of weeks and before we know it summer will be here! 

AG is just getting to be more fun every day. Her sweet smile (which is usually always on her face, even when she's fussing) melts our hearts and we just fall in love all over again. She's eating rice cereal now and loves it, we're about to start her on some veggies. Maybe we'll start with green beans? Ha! (Matt hates green beans) She's doing fantastic with our sweet babysitter...it's me who tears up when leaving in the mornings. But teaching is going well. It is different coming in at the end of the school year, but we're pretty much adjusted now. I'm proclaiming this truth as we finish out this school year and with these changes going on- His grace is sufficient for me, for HIS POWER is made perfect in weakness. Oh how I've seen Him work through my weaknesses! I'd like to share more about our lives, but this is all for now. Here are a few pictures from this last month! 

My friend Courtney took some INCREDIBLE 6 month pictures of Addie girl, wish I could upload all of them, but here's one of my favorites. Hopefully I can put a few more up later. 

               First time sitting in the shopping cart! At Target, of course!

     Laura's Sip and See Shower for baby Jackson! Lovin all these babies!!

Rodeo fun! 

First time eating rice cereal and she already knows what to do! 

                  First time swinging outside and LOVED it!

                      Happy Birthday Granny B!

Marching Into April

Well, March has just flown by! We've had another wonderful month with our sweet girl. She's just changing so much.  So, at the beginning of the month we took a little trip to Whitehall, Louisiana to the annual "Critter Dinner" that my Aunt Ginger and Uncle Jack have every year at their house in the country. And it was so much fun! It was also one of the coldest nights of the year, so keeping baby girl warm was my focus most of the time. But we did enjoy our time and it was a fun experience. Here's a few pictures from the day...

                                                                     

I went to the Woman's Conference at The Chapel, which was amazing. My mom, Mrs. Janet and several friends were all there, so it was fun getting to have some much needed girl time. Susie Larson was the speaker and she challenged me in my faith for sure. God definitely used the conference to reveal to me just the circumstances I'm in and how He's using them to shape me into who He's called me to be as not only a woman, but a wife and mother as well. Many women in our church made it a fabulous weekend and I'm so blessed to have gotten to go to it. 

We also went to the St. Patrick's Day parade and it was a lot of fun. I ran with Becca in the Crescent City Classic in New Orleans and it was so much fun! I surprised myself and actually ran the whole 10K- praise God (He's the One that made that happen! 

And at the end of the month we celebrated Easter. We're praying that Addie Grace will one day receive Christ as her Savior and celebrate like we do on Easter and EVERY DAY. We had such a wonderful time with our families this year and are so grateful for the salvation we have in Jesus, our risen King! 

 Easter Day

So, here we are at the beginning of April. Addie is 6 months old! When did that happen? She's already half a year old and it is so amazing to me how fast it goes. Next week our lives will look a little different. I'm doing a long-term sub position at PBS. So I'll be finishing out the school year with a class of 2nd graders. There are so many mixed emotions. I'm excited to be getting back into teaching and I think it's a wonderful opportunity. It is definitely God's provision for our family. But I'm for sure going to be sad to not be at home with our girl. I've just gotten so use to it. I know, I've been so spoiled! I'm sure it will be an adjustment, so please be praying for us in this transition. We are so blessed to have found someone to keep her at the house and Matt has Fridays off, so I'm glad he'll get to have some time with her at home. 

Go Cubs!!

I know that HIS GRACE is enough (2 Corinthians 12:9) and He will give me the strength (Philippians 4:13) to be both Mommy and teacher. I just hope that my focus can be where it needs to be at home and at school. I want to be both an excellent mother and teacher, excellent (Philippians 4:8), not perfect! But it's going to be a challenge. I know God will use this to grow me and I trust that He will be my strength! I keep telling myself, take it one day at a time. That's all I can do. As for what the future looks like, we don't know, we only know that He's got a plan for it and it is to prosper, not harm (Jeremiah 29:11). Claiming this truth as we start something new. AND summer will be here before we know it! Praise God from whom all blessings flow!