Another good one!

Another Christmas has come and gone. It went by so fast it seemed. This year our plans ended up being a bit scattered...at last minute we ended up at Adam's parents' in Brandon on the 23rd then as usual at my parents' on Christmas Eve. It was for the most part the same routine except for a few specific things...lil Jerry is overseas & Grandaddy in heaven. We did, however, get to spend almost 2 hours "with" Jerry via skype which was good. In the past few weeks especially I've been missing my brother and anxiously awaiting his return which turns out will be sooner than I had originally thought! :) I've kinda done pretty well emotionally as far as Grandaddy being "gone" is concerned. It really didn't "hit" me until we were opening presents. When I opened the gift bag from with the usual envelope my grandparents & it was signed "Love Gramma." Not Gramma and Grandaddy...just "Love Gramma." And we didn't get done w/ Santa Clause real quick in order to get dressed & ready to head to Union Christmas morning so we could visit & be ready for Christmas dinner at the prompt hour of 11:00 a.m. And like Laini has already said we didn't get our "Chrima Joy, Chrima Joy" from that old familiar voice that always brought a smile to your face.

Regardless, it was another good year with some extra special "homemade" gifts that dad & I agree need to be apart of our tradition from now on. Those "homemade" things seem to be so much more special & neat! And I don't know about everyone else but I had a ton of fun getting them ready & "creating" them! :)

(Thanks Annie again for all of your help & encouragement!)

I hope that each of you had a very Merry CHRISTmas & a blessed New Year!!

Look what I found!!

WOW!! Now, that was a loooooooooooooong time ago! Seriously, it was at least six years ago and I'm sure maybe seven! Woah!! SO MUCH has happened since that "time" in our lives. It's crazy where life has taken us since then...where God has taken us since then. And quite honestly, I NEVER thought that we would be where we are right now (i.e. married with 2 beautiful kids in MS). Yeah, yeah, yeah, Laini says she never wanted this whole picture but that's a bunch of MESS and she knows it! haha! I was most definitely the sister that NEVER wanted kids, mess, I NEVER wanted to get married!! I had way too much to do--to accomplish! Well you know that old phrase "Never say never." Yeah, that one pretty much came back to bite me in the rear. hehe :) And even though we didn't start this union the right way, I really believe we've made decisions that have brought us back into the path where God is leading us and let me tell ya that is what is the GREATEST!!! No, we are NOT perfect by ANY means--we DON'T make all the right decisions, but I do believe with all my heart that because of the path we chose after our initial "failure" that God has truly blessed us and continues to bless us even though we so don't deserve any of it!

Adam and I have two beautiful, smart and healthy children that I have been so blessed to be at home with as they grow instead of missing all of their little bits of growing up because of work. It most definitely has not been easy to make that choice to stay home and I do have to remind myself why I'm making that decision almost every day, but I wouldn't change it for anything in this world! I've just been so blessed. Oh yes, there are days that I just want to scream...days that I'd really like to be at an outside job so I could actually have "me" time...some days even that I think why in the world didn't God give me a second chance when I know people who went WAY further than I ever did and they're still a goin with no major consequences or others that have families now too but can go out and buy whatever they want for their kids or take them places, etc. Then I catch myself and think, "How dare you?!" There is no comparison of sin...no level...sin is SIN!! And I have an AMAZING life that so many would give up so much to have. Even though I know that God would have still rather I not made the decisions that deserved my "consequences," He made something so beautiful out of something so ugly!

Adam and I recently (Sunday actually) celebrated our six year anniversary. It has been most definitely an interesting, many times DIFFICULT, six years. But I can honestly say that I love him more today than I did even the day we exchanged our vows, and THAT is how it should be...in my opinion. Now that doesn't mean he never drives me absolutely NUTS or me him, but I so appreciate the man he is still becoming and the amazing father that he is to our children. And again I say that I am SO BLESSED!!

A Few Things continued...

The last picture from the last post was on the swing on our front porch at the "new" house. This was right after we had taken some family pictures at the church.

Now as you can see we had a ghost & a kitty cat for Halloween. I tried so hard to talk Landry into being the Scarecrow so Andee could be Dorothy because Aunt Laini wanted to be the Wicked Witch of the West (lol), but his mind was set on being a ghost...a white sheet ghost! haha! Anyway, they were cute & had a good time.

The next two were taken at Camp Dixon last week during Thanksgiving break when we went to help Granpaw load firewood. My sister, brother & myself used to LOVE playing on the trees that dad cut down for firewood. As you can see Andee was serenading the whole grounds at the "top" of the tree. As for master Landry...he really surprised me that day climbing up into the already cut branches that we had stacked for a "burn" pile actually. Uncle Jerry, he fell a few times & never end cried! Can you believe it?! ;) They had a lot of fun & it was fun to watch them follow in our footsteps. hehe :)

We are looking forward to a "homemade" Christmas this year. I'll try to get as many pictures posted as possible!

LOVE TO ALL!

A Few Things...

The first few of these pictures are some of the last ones that we took at our "old" house. A home that Landry told Adam just the other day that he missed some still. It was a good little house...not technically our "first" house but most definitely our "first" HOME. We moved into that house at the end of April 2006 when I was almost 5 months pregnant with Alexandrea. Over the 3 years we were there I repainted the entire house...it looked like a completely new place. But it was about 30 miles from work & school. So we prayed & looked & were blessed with a rather LARGE new home that's only 3 miles to church and mom & dad's, about ONE mile from school for Landry, and about 17 miles or so from work for Adam & me. We've been here for 4 months now & it most definitely feels like home...I still have plenty "touches" I'd like to add but that will come. We are SO blessed!