Wordless Wednesday!

Five prayers for my daughters....

There is something I've come to realize I need to guard against as a Mom. I sometimes want to be God in my girl's lives.

I want to write their stories
I want to set the course for their future
I want to determine what's best for them
I want to prevent them from ever being hurt
I want to be their protector and provider
And I want to be the one to set anyone straight who messes with them.

Despite the sleepless infant nights, toddler tantrums, soon to be tween eye rolling, and then teen/older decisions that could break my heart...they are mine. To love. To lead. To launch.

And I want to make it all good!

When things happen and will happen so beyond my control I eventually have to face the reality that I am not God. And I can not operate as if I am.

So, struggling with the gap where my Mommy capabilities end and trusting in God begins....when it comes to my girls, I want to trust God with everything beyond my control yet it is so scary.

So...how do I deepen my trust? How can I make peace with the limits of what I can and can not protect my girls from?

Pray

Simple as that! Prayer is the only possibility with real possibility. I pray that God will lead my girls down the path that he has chosen for them and they will lead a happy, healthy, fulfilled life.

Let her learn early in life that to obey You, God, is the best way to the life her heart truly desires. {1 Samuel 15:22}

May she find comfort in Your ability, God, to reach her, hold her and rescue her. {2 Samuel 22:17-18}

Let her find confidence in You, God, even when hard times come and she doesnt know what to do by keeping her eyes fixed on You. {2 Chronicles 20:12}

May she keep herself under control and not give full vent to people and situations that anger her. {Proverbs 29:11}

Let her walk in the security of Your assigned worth to her. Give her a strong work ethic and health to accomplish all her goals. Give her a heart that desires to extend her hand to those in need.  Protect her for the right husband, a man of respect and godly honor. And let her be a woman of joy and laughter whose Christ-centered character is what makes her most beautiful. {Proverbs 31}

I will still  fret and worry and want to mess with anyone who messes with my girls but I pray these prayers for them to have powerful and amazing things happen in their lives that are beyond my control.

And, I can hold strong knowing that my prayers today, though I may not see for years to come... but that is where prayer is the possibility with real possibility. And that brings me to the place where I can say...'Hello, my name is Mom, not God.'

Ambereveryday2014!!

Day 69!
Never NEVER never thought this would happen...but it did on the way home from dance class!! The two 'big girls'....who does not think they need a nap...passed out! And then there was Lily! :)

Day 70
Enjoying a beautiful afternoon at the Softball field!

Day 71
Ahhh...sometimes it is just nice to relax at home and watch a movie!

Day 72
Nothing like getting laundry folded! {putting it up is a WHOLE different story!} :)

Day 73
Enjoying the rehearsal dinner and watching Alexis strike a pose!

Day 74
Watching these two beautiful little girls do SUCH a great job at the wedding!

Day 75
Spending time with some dear old friends!!

Day 76
St. Patrick's Day!! Wearing my green...eating my green salad...and green cupcake {the Pizza doesnt count} :) and drinking my ALL TIME favorite sweet tea from McDonalds and having my meds to make my sinus infection GO AWAY! Perfection.... :)

Our weekend recap!

We have had a busy week gearing up for Wedding season that has fast approached! Our weekend was kind of low key with our same groove of life! :) Lily is getting better and better by the day about being potty trained. She still has her moments of pooping in her panties, but at least it has cut down some. She...so far....has had to 'pee pee' incidents. She is great about telling us now when she needs to go and she stays dry throughout the whole night, so she gets to wear big girl panties at night now! :)

Our weekend started off with Brittney and Mitchell's rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. We were hoping for no rain over the course of the wedding weekend...and luckily it worked out perfect with no rain! We did the typical walk through of how the 'wedding is suppose to be' and then had dinner at the Alumni house! Brittney did a great job on decorations. It was really pretty!

On 'Wedding day Saturday' we arrived for set up and pictures. The overall wedding was really short and sweet and to the point. It lasted 10 minutes flat! Tyler said at the end that that was what a wedding should be like! :)

We enjoyed dancing the night away and Effina's resturant's delicious food! We were lucky enough {and Alexis was SOOOO excited} that Meg and Mal spent the night with us after the wedding!! I LOVED having them spend the night with us!!
 Congrats to Brittney and Mitchell! I just love Mitchell and think he is such a great, down to earth, funny guy! Brittney looks so happy and that is what matters!

I capped off the Wedding weekend with more wedding fun at Misty's Bridesmaid's luncheon. It was so nice and so elegant! :) Her step-grandmother did a beautiful job for us and made some great 'girl food' as it was called! We all enjoyed catching up and talking with Misty about wedding stuff and what all of our jobs are going to be for Friday and Saturday! Tyler and the girls enjoyed lunch with Nan, Brandi and Pawpaw for Pawpaw's birthday at Classic while I went to the luncheon. We had a great....and busy weekend! One wedding down..... 3 more to go before this wedding season ends!!! I just love weddings!! :)

Rehearsal time!!

This picture CRACKS me up! Alexis was BEYOND thrilled that Mal did her hair for the rehearsal and wedding. She told me that she was going to do her 'serious face' modeling pose and hold her hair so everyone can see how pretty it is. So, there is the 'serious pose to show off her hair!} :)
{Mal did a GREAT job on the girl's hair, Meg helped with Lily's, their hair was SO pretty}

The Bride and the flower girl practicing!

The girls were so excited to be in the wedding! Layne {the ring bearer} held a sign that said 'Uncle Mitchell' and Alexis held this sign as they walked down the aisle! Lily threw the flowers...well she kind of forgot to do it because she was following Layne and Alexis...but she still did a great job!

The wedding girls!

My little family!

My beautiful....and TAN...cousins! :)

This was precious to me!! Britt had this idea to have everyone write on these little sheets and then hang them on this pretty frame. Her idea is to make a Wedding quilt with all the sheets of what people wrote to them! {Such a cute idea!} Well, this is what Alexis wrote! :)

So sweet!!

Misty's Bridesmaid's luncheon with all of her Bridesmaids!

Ellen DeGeneres has nothing on us with her Oscar selfie!! We SO top her!! :)

Happy birthday Pawpaw!

We hope you had a very happy birthday today!!

Wordless Wednesday!

It's game day!!

It is that time...game time! What else could be better than a beautiful, great weathered afternoon full of eating dinner at the field and watching softball! That is exactly what we did! The girls had a great time and I did too! :)

Lily is loving her purse! She insists on taking it everywhere.she.goes.

Alexis said that was the best hotdog ever!

A great afternoon to eat outside and enjoy a great game!

or.......clean out your purse! :)

Our days...Ambereveryday2014

We have had a great week and a GREAT weekend because....guess what!!! THE TIME HAS CHANGED! Yep, I LOVE this time change! I love that it gets dark later and that Spring is around the corner! I LOVE it! :)

Nothing better than having a great weekend with great friends and having the time change! :)

Day 62
These two slid this duster around together for about 30 minutes!

Day 63
Lily LOVES stories...especially with her Daddy!

Day 64
Wacky Wednesday at school for Alexis! It is Dr. Suess's birthday celebration week! Alexis had so much fun dressing up!!

Day 65
Alexis and Lily love to do puzzles. Lily was so proud of herself as she put them together! Made me smile!

Day 66
YAYYY!! It is Friday! They were excited! :)

Day 67
Two very serious drivers! :)

Day 68
TIME HAS CHANGED TODAY!! WHOO HOOO!! We love this weather!! :)

Wordless Wacky Wednesday!

Negative...whoo hoo!!!

Lily had her allergy tests today....and she did SOOOO good! She was a little trooper for sure! As the nurse did the test, she didnt shed a tear! The whole time the nurse kept doing the 'pricks' Lily would say "Mommy, what is she doing?' "What's that?" She acted just fine too while we had to wait on the results!

Dr. Grubbe came in and looked over her back and said that she didnt have any major reactions {tested negative} to what they tested her for. She did have three 'small reactions' to Trees, Cottonseed and Egg, but Dr. Grubbe said that none of them were significant enough to be of concern about them.

He did determine that based on her Allergy tests and the fact of her being continuously 'congested' that she is more asthmatic than having allergies. With that being said, he gave Lily some medicine that will hopefully help with it. Also, he determined that she is Milk intolerant which means she is 'Lactose Intolerant.' So, she is going to need Lactaid which is a pill that will help her digest Lactose and hopefully cut down on her 'big poops' that she has had. So overall I am very pleased with her results! It has answered many of my questions about how Lily has been! Hopefully the 'plan' we have come up with will help her!

Ambereveryday2014!

Day 55
It was a beautiful day outside Monday! So highlight of my day while I was cooking to look out and see this! :)

Day 56
Lily had a gumball that was bigger than her mouth! We enjoyed dinner with Gran, Ben, Nannie, Hogan, Aunt Pam and Richard!

Day 57
Love watching Alexis learn and helping her do her homework!

Day 58
Such a beautiful afternoon! I love love love love love that it is getting darker later and Spring is coming soon!!

Day 59
Yet another time to celebrate Alexis with her end of the month book log! She of course had her very own mushroom pizza! The girls did such a great job coloring! Alexis is a pro!

Day 60
Night o' fun!!! Misty's lingerie shower was SO much fun!! We all had a great time celebrating her!!

Day 61
Nothing better than two cute girls before Church!!

You Know....

You know how you feel when you have the BEST beach vacation EVER....where you do nothing but lay in the sand and the sun all.day.long. or lay by the pool, eat nothing but the best Seafood around. Life is great right! When finally that dreaded day has come that you have to pack up and head back to 'reality' you may say "OOHHH it stinks to have to go back home" "OHHH I dont want to leave, I want to stay!" You know.... yeah.... you know how that is!

Or, you know when you go to your Grandparent's house and you are nothing but spoiled the entire time you are there and given nothing but everything you know you dont get to have at home with your parents, such as juice the entire time or candy galore! You know how you are nothing but a Queen or King the whole time you are there and pampered at your ever beckoning call! Yeah..you know, having to go back home to structure and rules and the dreaded bed time that you dont want to do because you are 'not tired'...yeah...you know...yeah how that is!

I remember adorable, cute, precious, I could squeeze his cheeks as a little child Blake Murphy! {I could still squeeze his cheeks as an adult!} :) When he was little he was able to spend several days at my house with Andrew and I during the Summer. We would have the BEST...BEST time playing and having him with us! I can still picture him hiding under my parent's dining room table so his Mom and Dad could not 'find' him when they would come to pick him up! He thought they couldnt see him hiding under there...meaning he would get to stay and not have to go back home! He would grab the legs of the table and the chairs and NOT let go and bawl his little eyes out as Vic would drag him out from under the table! He would grab on to me and squeeze me for dear life to not let go because of course being at Aunt Donna's where he got to do what he wanted and play with Andrew and I all day was the best!

With all of this being said, just because you 'dread' to have to go back home or scream and cry because something you LOVE doing is over...does NOT mean you dont want to be at home! Does NOT mean that your home life is SO horrible that you dont want to be there! Does NOT mean there are 'concerns' that need to be addressed!! In all retrospect, it actually means that you value good things...but maybe those good things are just that! Good things that make life a little better but in NO way will EVER take the place of home!

This is my home and these are my people! There should be no doubt with these two little girls how much they are valued, loved, respected and blessed! Daddy and I love these two more than anyone will ever know.