Monday, December 26, 2022

2022 Update

 Blogging seems to be a thing of yesteryear, but I occasionally step back into my blog to make sure it's still here! These are some some recent pictures of us from Fall of 2022.  


Molly is 14 years old and is in the 8th grade.  She's a natural beauty, but doesn't care anything about "beauty"! She's currently into all things technology like playing games on the computer, listening to her music with her earbuds, and scrolling YouTube videos on her iPad.  She still loves dogs and is interested in training dogs.  She has a long term plan and schedule of when she wants to get her first dog, what breed it will be, and what name she will give it.  She's my true blessing in life each day and I'm so thankful she's mine!

I keep myself busy between work, home, church, and everything in between.  It seems I'm always cooking, preparing to cook, or shopping to cook/entertain! I've been teaching in public school for 26+ years and it has changed so much.  I still enjoy it, but am thankful I'm at this stage of my career and not starting out! 

This year I've tried to intentionally make some big changes in my life.  I've use The Bible Recap (app) and You Version to read through the whole Bible!  Something I've never been able to do in my life.  It has been amazing to see how the promise of Jesus, Hope, and Joy is found from Genesis through Revelation.  I've also focused on my health and have lost 60 pounds.  I have a goal to loose 60 more this year, I'm preparing for that now!

Life keeps us very busy, but we try to make time for the things that count.  




 

Tuesday, February 8, 2022

Love What Matters

 I was honored to share our adoption story on Love What Matters this week.  The story never gets old and every time I share, I pray that it inspires someone to move towards fostering or adopting! Read my story here!



Thursday, July 9, 2020

Summer 2020

2020 has been a strange year!  We were sent home from school in March in order to quarantine because of Coronavirus-COVID 19 and things are still very different.  It's been hard four our country and the world to contain the virus and we are still unsure about how the next school year will proceed.

Molly and I took a break from our stay at home orders and took some beautiful pictures at a lavender farm close to home.  I always want to capture as much of her at each age/stage as possible!  She's still holding onto 11...along with her blanket (getting thinner by the day), bad eating habits, love of drawing, and addiction to the screen (movies, youtube, and sometimes games).  She's growing and changing fast, but still loves home and wants her daily "momma time" which I adore!





















Thursday, April 30, 2020

2020!

The days go by quickly these days and I never take the time to update this blog.  I am so thankful I took the time in the early years to record all of the events of each day, so I could go back and remember.  Your mind plays tricks on you as you age and you forget...but I will never forget the complete JOY I felt when I first received the referral to adopt Molly and the first time I was able to hold her in my arms!

She is now 11 years old and is entering the "tween" years!  She LOVES her home and usually never wants to leave.  She does well in school and has a sweet friend group she loves to "zoom" with.  We stay busy, but also try to take the time to relax and have fun too.





Saturday, January 19, 2019

2019!

It's been a long while since I've been a regular blogger.  Molly is now 10 years old and growing so fast!  She is has a few strong interests:
1.  Horses
2. Dinos
3. Soccer

But mostly loves being at home with her family!  We try to travel each year and my goal is to hit all 50 states by the time she's 18 years old.  She is a great traveler and really takes in the museums, historic houses, or other interesting places I drag her to.  She loves school and is a good student. She is self motivated to do good and I think learning comes somewhat easy for her.  I hope this continues as school work gets increasingly difficult. 

I can honestly say that being a mom is the greatest joy of my life.  I love being with Molly.  She's so fun and quirky.  After 5 years of waiting through the international adoption arena, being on this side of things is such a wonderful feeling.  I always try to encourage people who are in the waiting stage of parenting.  There is so much waiting involved in adoption, fostering, infertility, and relationships and it can be so isolating.  However, once you are through that you can see how God was working all the details in your favor. 

I'm going to try and hop on here more regularly this year.  We'll see how it goes! 

Monday, April 3, 2017

LuLaRoe!!

I'm a new LuLaRoe Independent Fashion Retailer!  If you love LuLaRoe or have never heard of it, check out my Facebook Group to see all of the great inventory I have available!

LuLaRoe is a clothing company that sells mainly women's clothing.  There are a few men's products and some children's styles too.  But, it's mainly for women who want to dress modestly, comfortably, and look super cute!  I first fell in love with LuLaRoe Leggings and have branched out to many different styles from there.  Molly also loves the kid leggings and Gracie shirts!  Please, don't hesitate to contact me for more information, to book a pop up (in home or on facebook), ask about joining my team, or anything else!  I've found it to be a very fun part time job!!















Thursday, December 31, 2015

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

Our wonderful neighbors, Nancy and Lance, came over and gave Molly her Christmas present a couple days early this year so she could use it while she was out of school.  Molly has really been into drawing and painting this year, and their gift was perfect!

 a whole art set, paints, canvases, and an easel!  so fun!

 On the 22nd, Molly and I went to the Ryman for the Amy and Vince Christmas concert.  I've been going to these for over 20 years with friends and family and this year was Molly's first time.  Amy Grant is one of my all time favorite performers & Nashvillians!


 On Christmas Eve we made cookies for Santa using the new {huge} reindeer cookie cutter we purchased at Williams Sonoma.  It was a little difficult to keep the cookies all together, but they were still delicious!






 On Christmas Eve we went to church with my brother and his family.  Christmas Eve service is one of my favorite moments of the year, but my church hasn't had a service for a couple years which makes me so sad:(  But, it's always nice to be with the cousins.
 This whole week Molly has been bursting with excitement and joy for the season!  She was especially excited on Christmas Eve!
 The candlelight service is so pretty...and the kids favorite part!











 After church we went to Panda Express, Molly's favorite restaurant!  It was fun to have Chinese for Christmas Eve dinner...even better that I didn't have to cook anything!

 We got home in time to make up the reindeer food (oatmeal and glitter) and spread it on the front yard.  




 Preparing for Santa Claus!  Molly put out cookies and carrots and checked the chimney for any obstructions that might interfere with Santa getting through.  


 She made a beautiful Nativity picture for Santa or "Mr. C"
 and what do you know...Santa came!




 And this is how it happened...

Remember how excited I told you Molly was??? 
She went to sleep {finally} about 10:30 on Christmas Eve and that gave Santa time to arrive and put out everything.  Then at around 12:30 I was putting some final touches on Santa's masterpiece (adding a bow to a stuffed animal dog) and I turned around and Molly was up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Her eyes were wide and she said, "What are you doing?"  And, I quickly put down the dog and announced, "Santa came!!!!!!!!!!!"  
I was almost caught red handed, it was perfect timing...any earlier and there would have been lots of explaining to do!  

Since it was technically Christmas...we went ahead and woke up Mama Maze and had Christmas at 12:30 a.m..................................................





 It actually worked out good, we went to bed at 2:00 a.m. and then I woke up at 6:00 to start cooking Christmas brunch for the family.  Eddie's family and Granny Maze arrived at 11:00 and I had cooked so much food!  


 The kids were too excited to eat, but the adults had fun!

 Later that night, I cooked more food and we had more snacks.  By the time Christmas was over I was broke and exhausted!  ha!
 This was a frozen pistachio cheesecake that was so delicious!  I almost forgot it was in the freezer!

All in all it was a great Christmas!  Molly is 7 years old and totally caught up in the magic of Santa and Christmas time.  She's also old enough to appreciate the story of Jesus' birth and all the amazing things that happened so long ago!  We talked a lot about the real reason for the season and I really try to stress that it's not about the decorations, food, presents, Santa, etc. but only about Jesus!  

It does get harder every year b/c much of the time before focus is so harried and crazy that I feel the true meaning of Christmas is being lost in other traditions.  That is something that I worry about b/c I don't want her to feel like I'm more excited to go see Santa at the mall than I am to go to church and worship every Sunday morning.  I don't want her to be more concerned that "Santa" or an elf is watching her behavior the month before Christmas instead of the fact that Jesus is watching us all the time.  This is a tender age and she is close to making a personal decision to be a Christian and so I want to equip her with the right feelings and attitudes about the holidays.  I think it's a struggle for most Christian families.  
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