4th of July Fun

9 months and having a blast! She's crawling everywhere and getting into everything! I know, everyone keeps saying "just wait until she's walking."  We are enjoying seeing her grow and develop such a little personality. She seems to already be a little social butterfly and smiles when we're around new people. She's also very adamant when she doesn't want to do something and gets a little attitude. As for now, it's still cute. I know it won't be for much longer-ha! 

Another Fabulous Fourth!

We had a blast at the parade in Kenilworth, enjoyed seeing lots of friends and family too. We also had some pool time the next day with family. Lot of fun! And going out to the country with the Hamilton's that weekend was such a sweet time. It was nice to get away from the city for a little while and relax in the country! Here are a few pictures!

AG is so loved by her grandparents! They've already spoiled her rotten!


                                             These Daddy's love their girls!

Making Memories 

Getting some MeMaw love! 

~Sweet Summertime~

It's summertime and we are loving it! We're getting into our "summer schedule" and adjusting to life with me being home again. The school year ended and here we are already a week into June. Since June is my birthday month and anniversary month, there's a lot to celebrate. I had a wonderful time with family and friends celebrating my birthday all week. I've felt so loved!

One thing about the summertime in south Louisiana is it is HOT and very HUMID! But that is why we spend a lot of time at the pool, inside, or staying outside for only a little while. We've actually had more visits to the pool already and we're loving it!

Something I've been wanting to challenge myself in is being content. For as long as I can remember, I've always wanted to know- what's next? What can I do to stay busy today? What can I get for the house? What new clothes do I need (or nowadays, what new clothes does baby girl "need")? Anything to keep me going or having something to do with my time. I came across this blog, nancyrayphotography.com. On the blog(which is like ten times cooler than mine, by the way), she shares about a challenge she's doing called "The Contentment Challenge." As I read about it, I thought, "no way, this would be too hard for me." But as I started to really think about it and especially in the summer with more time on my hands, I knew I needed to do this right now. I prayed about it and I knew God was leading me to take on this challenge. Go ahead and look at the blog if you're interested in all the details and guidelines. The challenge is to "give up shopping for clothes, accessories, household decor, and "stuff" for 3 months to focus our hearts and minds on the root of true contentment. You actively pursue fulfilling activities that will replace your addiction to material things."(Nancy Ray)

So I'm not putting this on here to say, "look at me, watch me do this because I'm so awesome." By far, I'm putting it on here so that I can have accountability and maybe even encourage you to try it as well if you're struggling with this. It is to pursue something greater and something that has eternal fulfillment instead of temporary joy. Because usually when I buy that new item that I didn't need, it's only a temporary joy. The challenge is to help me gain perspective on the things that really matter and have eternal value. It is to help me to spend time resting, being more intentional with my time and ultimately being content. I'm doing it for the months of June and July.

My goals for June are to read the book "7" by Jen Hatmaker, get rid of clothes and stuff we don't use, learn some basics of sewing (got a sewing machine for my birthday), cook at least 4 times a week, and have/maintain a healthy lifestyle (eating, exercising, etc). Now, some of these are just basic goals and some have to do with the contentment challenge, but either way, there they are. I get a little nervous putting them here because that means you know what I'm working towards. But that is something else I really want for myself is to be more authentic, to not pretend I have it all together in front of other people. Because I DON'T and I desperately need Jesus. So, ultimately, I hope that's what you see, is my need for HIM in every aspect of my life. And this challenge is something I hope He uses to make me more like Him.

"But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world and we cannot take anything out of the world." 1 Timothy 6:6-7

                                                                   Baby dedication

                                                  Anna graduated from nursing school!!

                                        Katie and Steven are getting married in September!

                                                  Family night at the box! Geaux Tigers!

                                            Fun memorial day at False River with the family.

                                                            First time in a big pool!

                                                          Happy Birthday Mommy!

                                                        Loving our little family of three!

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!

A Fast & Furious February

It's already February?! This is a busy month for us. Last weekend we had some wonderful friends (Cecily and Marcelo) come stay with us. We hadn't seen them since their wedding, which was almost three years ago. We had such a wonderful time with them, it was so good to catch up and show them around Baton Rouge. What a sweet blessing to have time with friends you don't get to see a lot. It was sad to say goodbye, but hopefully next time it won't be so long before we see them again. Awe, just realized we didn't take a picture with them when they were here.

We've been enjoying time with our middle school students as well, in fact, there were two events on Sunday-Fuzzy Slippers, a True Love Waits girl time and a Super Bowl party at the church with all of the youth. Addie was able to go to both! Whoa, what a day for baby girl. And it was also the day she turned 4 months old. It's crazy how fast she's changing! She did have to get her four months shots the other day, and well, not only did it just break her little heart, it broke mine too! Tears all around! But everything was great on her checkup! I'm so thankful for that!

 SO much LOVE! We are just falling more in love with our girl every day. What a sweet little blessing she is! God is so good. He just continues to teach and mold us into the parents He's called us to be. It's not always easy and we're always learning something new about parenting (as I'm sure we'll be doing for a long time), but it's so wonderful. I love having this incredible opportunity to be a mommy! It's one I pray I never ever take for granted.
 So as we're reminded about love this time of year, we're especially blessed to have our little love bug. And every day I just pray to love like Jesus. He is love and when we read His word we see what true love is. He's the One who showed us the true meaning of love on the cross.

Now we're getting ready for Daddy's Amazon trip. Matt's getting ready to spend 8 days on a boat going down the Amazon River, stopping along the way to reach out to people in need. They will supply medical needs, food, clothes, toys, etc. to people in Brazil. He's been wanting to go on this trip ever since we've been at The Chapel. The Chapel does this trip every year. And now, he's finally getting to go! He's looking forward to sharing the love of Christ in a very unique way. If you would, please pray with me. Pray that God will work in amazing ways through the people on the trip, that everyone will stay well and safe, and mostly that Jesus would be made famous. Also, Addie and I may need some prayers as well, as we'll be back home without Daddy for a week. Thankfully, I'll have family close to take care of us. We're just so excited about this opportunity for Matt to be a part of reaching the nations for His name. I can't wait to share about the trip in a few weeks!

Happy New Year!

This month has been full of excitement! Addie is growing and changing all the time. She's been smiling so much and it is the sweetest thing in the world. We are just falling more in love with our girl every day. Christmas was such a wonderful time (as I talked about in the last post) and well, we didn't exactly make it to midnight this year, but had a delightful New Years day! We really enjoyed Daddy being home more over the holidays too. We had some great quality family time. It truly is the most wonderful time of the year! :)

As I reflect back on 2012, there are so many amazing things that happened. We went through a lot of changes that's for sure. We took a little vacation to Branson, I ran my first half marathon and we transitioned from two incomes to one. But most importantly we welcomed our daughter into the world.  I got to experience being pregnant (which was great for the most part, those last few weeks were pretty tough though). But it truly has been absolutely incredible becoming a parent. I absolutely love it! Well, good-bye 2012, you will definitely be a year to remember!

So, here we are 2013, with new goals and new hopes for the new year. We always include family goals and this year since our family has changed, our goals look different. We'd like to read through the Jesus Story Book Bible with Addie, have family prayer time, have three family nights per month and three date nights every month as well. Matt and I would also like to read through the Bible this year (we tried to do this last year and well, I made it to October). We got a little distracted with Miss Addison. Matt and I are both working on getting into shape, so we've made some changes to our diet and we're trying to exercise more. We both have other personal goals as well. Hopefully we can keep these goals and look back at this year with the satisfaction of meeting our goals.

It's always exciting to me to start a new year. It's so full of hope and anticipation. It's like starting a new journal (which I'd like to do). You get brand new, blank pages and you don't know what could be written in those pages yet. One thing I HAVE to always keep in mind is that I can't do it alone. I must first rely on Jesus to help me meet those goals and to follow His way in meeting them. I also need accountability. I'm relying on Matt for that for sure. We're both going to keep each other accountable as we strive together to meet our goals. But most importantly, I hope we focus on what really matters. I hope ultimately, we honor Jesus in what we do, we love others the way that He does and we just find our satisfaction in Him alone. So, I'm excited to see what the Lord has for us this year. 2013, here we go. May it be another wonderful year!

                         beautiful blue eyes

                            happy girl

                     Daddy and his girl