Oh, Kindergarten...

Life post flood has been pretty chaotic... Moving from our home to our parents' home back to our home, church programs postponed, schools closed "until further notice"... all made it impossible to obtain any regular routine or sense of control.  If anything, this flood has made us ALL realize that we really have no control in any situation.  Properties bought in NO FLOOD zones, houses built on hills off the ground, well made and thought through plans for the last half of 2016 and the new school year... it was ALL an illusion...  It hit hard for everyone!  No one soul remained untouched or unaffected by the events that unfolded in our community mid August.  Not even our sweet babies.  I personally threw away soggy notebooks and new school supplies, watched my little niece process the fact that she was now homeless, witnessed my friends' sweet kiddos recognize their belongings in the debris piles on the roadside, even consoled my own daughter as she sobbed while we burned all her flooded books and tossed moldy Cabbage Patch Dolls. 

Y'all, it was hard and it will be hard for a while.


But last week the clouds parted, and we got a little bit of our normal back when our community schools resumed classes.  We had only been to school ONE WHOLE day when the rains started, so it was literally the first day of school, take two.

Unfortunately BOTH Jude and Aubrey Lane's schools received significant flood damage.  So when school resumed last week they were at new temporary locations.  But, hey- we'll take it. 


Jude is pretty easy going and went back to a school he used to attend so re-entry was a breeze.  It was Aubrey Lane I was a little bit worried about.  Not only was she going to a new school, but she's in kindergarten.  She had only been to school ONE DAY so she didn't really have time to make any friends or get a feel for school itself.  And she wasn't very interested in going back.  But I tell you what, kindergarten has been FUN!


First, I just ADORE her teacher and the staff at the entire school.  When we pull into carpool in the morning, they are there and ready for their babies.  If there are tears, and there have been, the carpool teacher will call Aubrey Lane's teacher to the car, and she is so tender and encouraging to her.  They all are like that with their students.  If a bow has been forgotten, and it has been, the teachers are so quick to help us find it like it was their own daughter or granddaughter's bow they are looking for.  It really does feel like a big family.

Aubrey is learning so much! And I can see that she is being pushed at just the right pace.  Her teacher has been teaching for FORTY-TWO YEARS so she knows children so well.  They have so many extras to make sure the students are getting the most of this season in life- there are so many fun events and days like Spirit Day where kiddos get to wear spirit shirts and bitty cheerleader uniforms.  It really feels picture perfect.  My only one regret is that we didn't start there earlier!

Over the weekend, Saturday to be exact, we celebrated the return of another normal routine- dance class!  We went to Open House where there was face painting, photo props, and of course AL's sweet teachers.  Other dance companies had sent tons of dance shoes, dance wear, and even costumes to help out the flood victims.  It was awesome to see.

On the way to the Open House, I don't know what came over me, but after realizing that Aubrey Lane was now in kindergarten and did not know how to tie her shoes, I decided to give her first lesson.  I figured this was something that would take 15 minute sessions everyday for the next week or two before she got it.  I guess she wanted to prove me wrong, because after only 10 minutes she got it!  And now I have a shoe tier...

The second week of kindergarten came around along with a double ear infection for Aubrey Lane.  But no worries, she got to bring Corduroy to the doctor with her.  Every kindergartner gets to bring Corduroy home with them to spend the night when they are good, and apparently it's a BIG deal!  She was so proud packing him out of the classroom, and she brought him home and had a tea party so he could meet all her other "friends".  Oh, kindergarten, you are so fun.  Well at least for now.  We will have to give another update in a month or two.

Stay tuned for Jude's second grade take two post.

More Than Just a Biscuit

*WARNING- this post is kinda long and has no pictures.  A post full of pictures is on its way.  I promise.

So we have been extremely busy with the building of our new house.  The floor DIY is about to kill us all!!  Since we spend sooo much time in the new house, there is hardly extra time to do regular life stuff that we need to do like say laundry, clean house, grocery shop, cook... you get the picture.  Thank goodness for my mother in law that has been practically raising our kids for us lately.  

So anyway, last week Lane worked that Friday and I spent some of the day in the new house working and some of the day in our current home just trying to catch up on things.  When Lane got home from work, I hadn’t cooked dinner yet- mainly because I haven’t grocery shopped yet.  So he ran and got some of my favorite bad for you food- spicy fried chicken, mashed potatoes, red beans and rice, and of course the biscuits.  Most of y’all know the place...  

I know, I know... We’ve been eating horribly during this DIY, but I’m certain  the meal quality will improve once we are in our new house.   So to all my healthy friends, don’t deem me a lost cause yet.

Lane comes in with the takeout bag and starts unloading it on the counter so I can fix some plates.  He does a quick inventory for me, but before he could finish he lets out a deep breath of frustration and looks to the ceiling.  The fast food service forgot to give us all our biscuits and there was only one in the bag.  Those of you who know which place I’m talking about understand that the biscuits are actually the coveted part of the meal.  And we live pretty rural so to go get the biscuits would have taken at least 30 minutes. 

Well our four year old immediately became aware of the circumstances and started to cry.  I’m telling y’all, biscuits are a BIG DEAL!  Because I know my husband considers me first above anyone else, I reassured him that I didn’t need a biscuit to be happy with the meal. However, because my husband considers himself last after everyone else, he turned and reassured our daughter that she could have the biscuit.  She accepted without out a second thought or a THANK YOU!

I stood there in our kitchen spectating this small moment and something just didn’t sit well with me about the events that I just witnessed.  I know how everyone in my family feels about the biscuits.  I know that my husband was just as disappointed as my daughter was.  I was not surprised that my he gave the only biscuit to our daughter.  However, I was surprised that she took it without thinking twice- like it was owed to her or something.

Memories from my childhood came racing back to me.  Remembering my own mother saving the best piece of chicken for my father, and if there was only one biscuit, you can believe, he was going to get it.  And there was no argument from me or my sister.  

I looked over at my husband who was quietly fixing his plate.  He was tired.  Real tired.  His shoulders were low with it it and his words few.  He had been up since 3:30am to make a 40ish minute drive to work a 12 hour shift all without ever complaining. EVER!  And our daughter AND myself had just shown no appreciation or RESPECT for the king of our castle.

Not only had that happened, but I watched Aubrey Lane admire her full plate and knew what had to be done.  I knew she was going to be very upset and that’s natural for a child her age.  I quietly called her and asked her did she think she should give the biscuit to her daddy who worked all day so that we could want for nothing.  Things started to get dramatic quickly as I expected.  I tried reasoning with her at first, then just demanded that she give the biscuit to her father.

Lane started to object because he is Lane, but then he realized what was really going on and stayed quiet.  This was more than just a biscuit.  This was about respecting my husband in all areas.  This was about Aubrey Lane honoring her father.  This was a lesson for her too.  Yes I hated hearing her cry and felt awful for it, but all I could see was her 20 years from now, a young adult breaking down because her father and I prevented her from feeling disappointment and frustration as a child.  I could see her as a young wife and mother not respecting her husband because I didn’t restore divine order in our own home.

I haven’t been the best wife to Lane or role model for Aubrey Lane.  I’ll admit it.  I don’t say thank you near enough and have put a huge demand on all my husband’s time between work and this house build.  Then I give him grief if he forgets to take the trash out.  God’s word commands the husband to love his wife and the wife to RESPECT her husband.  Why not love? Because men need respect more than anything else.  Gratitude translates to respect, and respect translates love to them.  It is their love language from their wives and children!  Respecting our husbands in Godly ways will certainly grow their love for us, and even grow our love for them.  So I want to encourage any wife or wife to be reading this post (thank you for hanging in there), to go out of your way today to show your husband a special gesture of gratitude and respect. I can almost guarantee you will be blessed in return.  And if you aren’t, don’t be discouraged because when we honor our husbands, we honor God, and we should do that without the need for reward.

I stayed persistent and eventually even Aubrey Lane realized giving up the biscuit was the right thing to do.  When she gave it to Lane she was insistent he have it, and in true Lane fashion, he broke it in half and shared it with her. But a lesson was learned.

Lions, Tigers, and Bears...

Lane and I have been trying to spend a little extra time with Jude before the new baby comes because we know the baby will need a lot of attention in the beginning. (Which in hindsight might be a bad idea because Jude may be even more attached to us and used to getting all our undivided attention... we shall see.)  


Anyway, a couple of weeks ago on the Saturday before Mother's Day, we traveled to the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans with two of our closest friends, Darren and Nicolette, and their daughter, Hannah Grace.


Jude napped off and on through the zoo but it was still a great day spent with our little family and our awesome friends!  I did manage to get some cute pictures throughout the day...




Our friends.. it was Nic's first time ever to the Audubon Zoo...

Nic had to walk away... She couldn't handle her baby petting a snake.

About this time, Jude woke up with some serious "stroller hair"... so he got to pet the snake and other animals too.

Lane and Hannah Grace... She LOVED him and he was so good with her.  I think he needs a daughter. I'm just sayin...

We paused for a break and I got some cute pictures of our friends! (It was cute, but I wasn't climbing into the tree for pictures as big as I am.)

And Jude got to see some of his favorite animals...

 ZEBRAS!  Or "EEBA" as Jude calls them!

Then Jude decided to go back to napping.  We took him through the water mister to cool him off and he slept through the whole thing!

And I didn't get in many pictures cause I was taking them; okay by me because even though I am small framed, pregnancy has a tendency of making me HUGE everywhere.  Nevertheless, my hubby did get a picture of Nic and me cooling off.

We finished the day by stopping by Pottery Barn Kids, which was torture for me not knowing the gender of Sweet Pea.  But I managed to be too tired to really shop for long so I left without spending a dime.  Lane says he loves to shop with me when I'm pregnant.  I go right in a store and come right out.

The day was great.  It was actually my Mother's Day treat since we'd be spending (planned to spend- but the emergency room got to see us instead) with our moms.  Lane even started the day off by treating me to Krispy Kreme just like he did last year for my Mother's day breakfast.  

We plan to do more special family outings before it gets too hot and I get too pregnant which won't be long because I will be 31 weeks preggo tomorrow!  

Hope everyone has a great day!

Angel

Easter Eggs

So.. thanks to an ear and sinus infection coupled with an allergic reaction to mosquito bites, I did not get one picture from Easter Sunday.  My sweet redhead was running fever and he had a mosquito bite on his left eye lid of all places... so he had a crusty nose and an eye that was swollen completely shut.  Not a great photo opportunity.

Thank goodness this Mama shamefully did not buy him a new Easter outfit so there wasn't that much to be missed out on.

I did, however, manage to get some Easter eggs died a few nights before Easter.  This is the first time, we've dyed eggs with Jude.  And I got a cute idea from here and here on Disney's Family Fun website.  I thought it would give a twist to traditional egg dying.

So I gathered my supplies and set up my work space.  My hubby brought me some pipe caps which made great egg stands, and I didn't have the heart to melt beautiful Crayola crayons to eggs so I went to the dollar store and bought the cheapest box of crayons.  **Hindsight is always 20/20, but I should have just went with the Crayola brand because the pigment in cheap crayons is, well.. cheap.

I followed the instructions and starting coloring on the eggs after they had cooled for about 5-10 minutes so that they didn't burn my redhead.  Another tip... only boil a few eggs at a time because the cooler they are, the less the wax will melt to them.

I got my redhead to all ready to scribble on some eggs.  However, he seemed more interested in "Papa" with the camera and watching me doodling on the eggs.

Even Papa got involved with the egg dying party...

Tip number three, if you want a more tie dyed or abstract look to your egg, start with an egg fresh out of boiling water.  The extra hot egg will cause the wax to run making it eggstra eggciting... I'm a nerd, I know, my hubby tells me all the time.

Then once your done with your art work on your eggs... let them cool in the bottle caps, or pipe caps in our case, for an hour.

Next, place the cutest redhead you can find behind the decorated eggs to take some pictures of your artistic work.

Dying eggs with my redhead was wonderful and it was a total bummer that he was sick for Easter Sunday, but as I mentioned on my Facebook:  I would have been sad if Easter was only about egg hunts, candy, bunnies, and new spring outfits.  But Easter is really about celebrating the resurrection of our Savior and the fact that He is ALIVE with us today!  So there was no point in being sad over missing some Easter Sunday festivities.

I hope you had the happiest Easter!

Angel

Jude's First Easter Party

Well... here it is, just as I promised.  A post just of Jude full of cute pictures. 

Today was Jude’s first school party.  An Easter party!!

I was so excited to get to bring him to school with his Easter basket (the same little cheap basket he’s had since his first Easter) to hunt eggs with the other children.  

All Jude’s teachers were so nice and gathered around him to help him put eggs in his Easter basket.  And then take them out (Jude’s favorite part, and it was more like throwing them out... thank goodness they were plastic) and count them.

And I even got a picture with my little redheaded egg hunter.

And, of course, the eggs were full of different kinds of Easter candy.  Jude doesn’t eat much by mouth and has never had candy, so Mommy gets a treat ;-)  Of course Papa (Lane) is lurking around to make sure Mommy doesn’t get too many sweets.  I’ve been calling my hubby the Food Nazi!

Jude really does have some great teachers at his preschool.  I can’t say enough good things about them.  I’ve had such a good feeling from the first time we visited the school.  And Jude just loves it there!

Well that’s it for now.  My little egg hunter is down for a late but much needed nap after all of his adventures.  And I have some cleaning to do for this fun Easter weekend.  Later we are going to attempt dying eggs using crayons with our little redhead, so stay tuned for some more pictures!

Happy Thursday!!

Angel

A Day of Rest

So... this weekend was not the most eventful of weekends thanks to my sweet Jude having a nasty little stomach bug.

Thank goodness Sunday is a day of rest because this is what my family (except me, of course) looked like late Sunday morning:

Jude had been up all night crying and Lane up with me rocking him.  So they were both tired and taking up too much space in the bed for me.

Jude had another rough morning today, but seems to be starting to feel a little better.  

Hope your Sunday was as restful as our's was!

It's here...

Spring, that is!


Well not officially by a calendar but the weather is actually insisting that Spring has already begun, and so has a purely blissful state of mind for me! 


I love EVERYTHING about Spring!  


I love the wind.  I love the blooming trees.  I love the new plants arriving at my local nursery.  I love planting my gladiola bulbs and vegetables and anything in the ground.  I love spring projects.  I love wearing sandals and white clothes.  I love dressing my sweet redhead in jon jons, plaid shorts, boat shoes, and seersucker.  I love fishing and hitting golf balls with my hubby.  I love to hear the birds in the morning.  I love hanging clothes out to line dry.  I love the sound of lawnmowers and tractors.


Speaking of tractors, I am thankful for my very rural residence for many, many reasons.  


One example...

Jude gets regular tractor rides with his Paw Paw Gary!

You just can't do stuff like this in a subdivision.

On other bright news... Jude is still doing AWESOME in preschool!  I just learned today during my first parent/teacher conference that he has a new word approximation- "apple".  I'm so proud of him!  Words just can't express it for me.  


By the way, can I say just how weird it feels saying "I have a parent/teacher conference today." My baby big boy is growing up.


On Sweet Pea/ Butter Bean news... everything seems to still be going great.  The expected baby really just loves Jude because every time I am holding Jude, the baby becomes real excited and wiggly.  This just blesses my heart beyond measure.  


My prayers are changing for this baby everyday.  Of course I pray for health, but I am just mainly giving thanks for this sweet gift God has given us.  When Jude was given no hope three years ago, Lane and I completely surrendered our precious baby to our Savior.  We did not ask for healing, but for only honor and glory be brought to His name through our situation.  We gave thanks for what the Lord was doing in our lives.  


I'm not a saint by any means.  This was the hardest thing I've ever done in my entire life.  I have had many moments of faithlessness and doubt, but this was the prayer God gave me on that desperate night.


That was three years ago... and today without even meeting this baby, we are doing the same.  We already love this baby tremendously and that is why we have already surrendered it to our heavenly Father.  Glory and honor will be given to His name, the sweet name of Jesus, regardless of the health and genetic make up of our Sweet Pea.  

All to Jesus I surrender

All to Him I freely give

I will ever love and trust Him

In His presence daily live

I surrender all

I surrender all

All to Thee, my blessed Savior

I surrender all

Picture of the Day

It's been so cold here; cold enough for a very cute bomber hat on my very cute redhead.

I'm so ready to dress him in some spring outfits, but at least his winter wardrobe is pretty cute too.

Hope y'all are staying warm!

Hugs and Kisses,

Angel

Giving Thanks For All My Blessings

“... I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move.  Nothing will be impossible for you.”

Matthew 17:20-21

This Thanksgiving, our hearts are overwhelmed with blessings.  Three years ago, I thought that the struggles and hardships of our new life would drown out and suffocate any blessing we had to be thankful for.  

Praise God I was wrong!  

Praise God for His grace!  

Praise God for my multitude of blessings!

You see, when God gave us Jude, He gave us a very precious gift.  Because we have walked down this path, we have been given the vision to see how beautiful the small joys in life can be.  This gift of insight has also allowed us to focus on our blessings instead of dwelling in our shortcomings and disappointments.

Another precious gift we have been given through our walk with Jude is the ability to live in the moment.

“To enjoy your work and accept your lot in life--that is indeed a gift from God.  People who do this rarely look with sorrow on the past, for God has given them reasons for joy.”

Ecclesiastes 5:19-20

 I wasted so much time three years ago worrying over the future: the unseen, unknown, uncontrollable future.  I was missing beautiful moments in the present.  So I made a choice (yes, attitude is a choice) to live in the here and now.  Today is so good!  Why spoil it with worries over that uncontrollable future?  

And when that future day comes, God’s grace is there and his joy pours into that day as well as the days before.

“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Jude is a huge blessing to Lane and me as well as our families and even to the people who know him.  We are so proud of Jude and so thankful for our precious son!

However, there is one area of my life that I have had to struggle with:  the prospect of future children.  It has always been a desire of my heart to fill my home with children.

After learning that Jude’s genetic diagnosis was inherited from me, I painfully tried to accept the fact that Jude may be our only child.  I prayed and prayed on direction and guidance on this delicate matter.  

Yet my fear of having another stressful pregnancy followed by an intense year of hardships and a lifetime of adversity kept me from stepping out in faith.  At one depressing point, about a year ago, I had even let this circumstance become bigger than God.  Thankfully, my focus was returned to the Lord; and my joy was returned as well.  

The Lord has rewarded our faithfulness with another gift...

It should be here some time in July!

Lane and I were not sure if we should tell people yet with our history and our high risk situation...  the fact that I am even expecting is still sinking in!  We are praying for and claiming a healthy pregnancy and baby.   We decided that the more people praying for this baby and our family, the better!  So please remember us in your quiet time!

**I LOVE LOVE LOVE all your comments-- they make me feel so loved and encouraged!!




Happy Thanksgiving,
Lane, Angel, Jude, and Baby

Happy Anniversary..

to Lane and I!!!  


Four years ago today, I married my sweetheart!  

Happy Anniversary, Lane!  I'm blessed to be your wife and Jude is blessed to call you "Papa"!  

Fall Festival

Hi!  Thanks for coming back to take a look at the pictures of my FAVORITE redhead at the Fall Festival at our church. I’m a little late posting this because we had a lot going on. 

WARNING!!! THIS IS MAINLY A POST OF PICTURES! SO PLEASE EXIT TO THE LEFT IF YOU ARE WITHOUT DESIRE TO VIEW PICTURES OF THE SWEETEST REDHEAD DRESSED AS THE CUTEST LION EVER!!

Okay.. like the warning clearly stated, this is mainly a picture post.  There were too many cute pictures to choose from and they tell enough story without my intervening!  However, I’ll give you a little summary..

We dressed Jude as a lion (tried to get him and his dad to wear Mario and Luigi costumes but Lane said no and I found the lion at Babies R Us on clearance from $29.99 to $7.50 and wasn’t going to pass up a sale like that)

We are a “participating” family.  We make sure that Jude’s uniqueness DOES NOT prevent him from any experience a three year old should have.  So Jude played carnival games and visited the petting zoo where he petted a baby alligator.. YES, I SAID ALLIGATOR!

We got to take some sweet pictures of Jude with three people we love very much! 

A Frog (Mrs. Kim), a Clown (Mrs. Nicole), and a Maw Maw!!

Oh.. and they are all out of order.. for some reason Blogger loaded them that way and it’s kind of hard to switch them around on my laptop.

Hope you enjoyed the Fall Festival pictures!