A House Full of Memories

It's been a while!  I've been putting the house together, chasing after my crazy children & just getting to know the area.  I had a LOT of fun unpacking this time around.  It gave me a chance to sit back and reminisce my things.  As I was unpacking, I realized that most of my things were given to me by someone special.

When we first got married, I was in a MAD rush to fill up our house...only to realize that STUFF isn't what makes a house a home.  It's really the people that fill it and the memories you make with them.  I took a picture of a few of my favorite things so that you can get an idea of what I'm talking about.  (And I'm using the word FEW lightly:))

Each cross was given to me or bought somewhere special.  Here goes:  the Baylor cross was from my Gammy, the small yellow cross from Gloria, cross at the very top Ashley, Blue cross at the top right I bought in Cancun with the Honeycutts, small silver cross bottom right was from Mrs. Horky, far right cross was from my mom and the metal cross at the bottom was from my Aunt Darcy.  It's funny because each one of the glass ones has broken at least once in the moves, but gorilla glue has been our friend :)

This cross was made by Reverend Birkelback (spelling?) who baptized me as an infant.

Kinda silly, but this was the first thing James purchased for our new home in Wichita Falls. 

All given by my mom at some point.  I actually stole the coca-cola crate.  Thanks mom!

A gift from Megan I think 3 years ago!

A gift from Diana Kirklin.  Isn't it beautiful? 

Our housewarming gift from Gloria after we bought our first house on Basswood.

A random letter that Aunt Lisa gave me!  I think this might be from our wedding.

A wedding gift from Megan.

A special gift from Brooke.  This has hung everywhere...from a babies nursery to the bathroom and now in our master bedroom. 

A gift from my big sister Ashley.  I remember when she gave this to me...she was embarrassed that it was all she could give for my birthday.  Little did she know that it would turn out to be the most precious thing she has ever given me.  It sits on my bathroom counter & holds rings, necklaced, etc overnight.  It makes me think about her every morning when I wake up and every night before I go to sleep. 

More gifts from Megan (also in my bathroom).  The candle is my graduation gift from Baylor and the bowl is from her trip to Greece a few years back. 

Connor's first gift from Megan!

Jacob's first gift from Megan! 

These pictures were from my mom.  I remember when Connor was just a few days old, we sat out on the back porch soaking up sunlight while she finished.  I will always cherish those precious moments with my mom...when she was teaching me how to be a mom myself.

This is really the candle holders.  These were from my Gammy.  She didn't like them in her beach condo and gave them to me. 

This was a Christmas gift from my friend Amanda.  I have another one from her that is on the shelf right next to it :)

Butterflies that my sister caught and mounted.  She knows how much I love them!!

Most of these were given to me by my Aunt Darcy for each stage in James and my marriage.  The plate at the right was a gift from one of my hosts when I visited Kenya in 2005.

Hope you enjoyed the tour of just a few of my favorite things.  I hope to continue to collect things over the years that remind me of my amazing friends and family!

Giving Thanks

For what seems like weeks, Connor has been begging me to put up our Christmas tree.  When I asked him why he wanted to he said "presents."  I nudged him more and asked him what Christmas was all about and he said "It's Jesus' birthday.  He needs a party!" 

Score!  I won there...but...what about Thanksgiving?  Never did I ever think to sit down and explain Thanksgiving to Connor!  In my firm stance to not decorate or even think about Christmas, I totally forgot to celebrate Thanksgiving with him.  But what was my stance really about?  Is it about tradition?  I mean...is it because I'm truly thankful or because it's always been this way?  

So, what about Thanksgiving?  I've seen plenty of posts on facebook talking about thankfulness, etc and all I could really think to be thankful for is a wonderful Savior, who came to earth to love me and all my faults.  A wonderful Savior who saw me fit (broken, sinful me) to be James' wife.  A Savior who loved me enough to give me two beautiful, healthy, awesome little boys.  

As I go into this holiday season, I am not going to be blindsided by tradition. This year is a "model" year as I'm going to call it, because it will be the first time we will be celebrating Christmas and Thanksgiving with just our family (not traveling home).  I have also thought a lot about how I want to make Christmas less about traditions with our boys.  I want it to be less about what they are going to get under the tree and more about what we already have.  I want them to be joyful and thankful...always, in everything. 

So, James and I have decided to only give the boys three presents a piece.  Symbolizing the gifts that Jesus received at his birth from the three Wise Men.  Other than that...there are no traditions to uphold.  Because like Connor said it's Jesus' birthday and he needs a party!!

Jacob is ONE!

How is it possible that he could go from this....

To this...in just one year? 

His first year of life was a rocky one, but blessed none the less.  After the most incredible birth, he started showing signs of colic around 6 weeks.  From there it continued until he was finally diagnosed with silent reflux around 8 months.  Then entered Prevacid & saved us all!

After getting the Prevacid, he blossomed.  He started schooching, babbling & SLEEPING!   He currently will say sounds of things (like...vroom vroom for car, mow mow for cat, nahhh for horse).  He even started crawling & is getting very brave with walking while holding onto things.  He hasn't let go or stood on his own yet, but he'll get there.  He only has 2 teeth, but the boy loves to eat!  He's adventurous & I finally have someone else in the house that likes sweet potatoes.  He's been feeding himself for about 4 months now, so dinner time is always very messy :) He's lived in three different houses and states in his first year.  Military brat at it's finest!

This year just flew by to me...but stood still at some moments.  There were countless nights I just had to resolve to get no sleep, rock & hug him.  It was those nights I prayed for him, for our family & begged for mercy.  Jacob taught me that I'm a lot tougher than I thought.  He's taught me that my wants & needs aren't always met, but that it's the kid's that the most important. 

I will never forget the incredible joy when the Dr said "It's a BOY!"  I couldn't imagine my life without this precious little boy and I am so incredibly thankful and honored that God chose me to be his mom.  Happy Birthday little Jacob!!

Which Direction to Take?

I've been pondering LOTS of ideas recently and I have NO CLUE which direction to take.  I told James the other night that I have so many DIFFERENT interests and have no idea how to put them all together. 

1)  My first interest is obvious:  I am passionate about fitness & healthy living.  I'm always on a journey to "fit" and love bringing people along on that ride.  Zumba has opened doors and my mind to group exercise and now I want to teach other formats.  (Body Pump, Spin & PiYo are next on the list). 

2) My second interest is natural childbirth.  After my epidural experience with Connor and amazing natural birth with Jacob, my mind has been forever changed.  I want to tell the world how to do it, that they can do it & advocate for it.  But, I don't know where to even start.  I think my mind is ahead of my feet on that one.  Does that make sense?  It deeply saddens me that doctors have made something natural, beautiful & God given into an emotionless pruduction.  Like Dr. Jones told me after Jacob's birth "I'm trained to keep you out of pain, so I don't understand women who want to be in pain."  Well, my friends, there is a difference between pain and suffering.  There is always going to be pain associated with any kind of physical exertion, but what doctors don't know, is that a woman can keep from suffering given the right techniques.  Having Jacob naturally is probably the most beautiful thing I will ever do. 

The question is:  how do I combine these two things?  If I keep them seperate, I fear I will never fully pursue childbirth education certification.  Fitness is always at the forefront of my mind  and will always beat out childbirth education.  I'm not sure why, maybe it' because I know it, therefore, it's easier to come up with a plan and do it. 

So, friends, please help me pray over this as I explore how to do both (or if I should do both). 

Painting With a Twist

I decided to do an art project with Connor today.  He's been eyeballing my paintings that I've brought back with me from Painting With a Twist & begging to go with me.  So, we set out to do some artwork for his bedroom.  I had a simple idea to do basic colors with handprints.  How hard could that be?  

Our supplies.  It took a while to decide which kind of paint to use, but I ended up with acrylics.  They are easy to wash off so that sold me right there!

For the life of me I could not find the painters smock that Brooke gave us for his 1st birthday.  I knew exactly where it was in the Basswood house...but that's two houses ago.  So, we improvised.  I just cut holes out of an old pillow case.  I'm sure that is not original, but I felt pretty brilliant!

The control freak in me had to let go.  After the first canvas was covered, I decided to let Connor have at it.  What could he mess up, right?  Well...nothing!  He did great!  Way better than I could've.  He kept repeating something I said, which was funny.  He said "We need to make it darker.  Cover the white!"  The things he picks up on :) 

He even got the edges!

Our covered canvases, ready for handprints. 

Handprints are easy, right?  HA!  Connor decided he would do more than one!  He loved it, so I let him have at it.  And of course, we had to do at least two Baylor Green & Gold prints :)  Sic 'em!

We did let Jacob in on the action as well, but there are no pics of that because I was too busy trying to keep him from eating the paint :)  So, here's the finished product...top row are Connor's and the bottom is Jacob's. 

 

I think I am going to keep them like this.  I might try to find some ribbon to hang them, but I will wait until we move.  I don't want to keep planning decorations in a house we're not going to live in much longer!

And here's evidence that Jacob helped.  Notice paint on hands, feet, legs, belly, face....:)

Making the Old New!

When James & I first got married, we decorated our house the best way we knew how. Target style! James actually started with the Mission set from Target when he moved out on his own, so I just slowly added to it when we bought our first house. Needless to say, the cheap veneer was slowly peeling off & was looking pretty used up 6 years later. Pre-move I gladly gave away the coffee table to the local Mission. Hmm...never thought about that before, but it's kinda ironic.

On my mission to re-decorate my house for as cheap as possible, I wanted to find a way to keep these end tables, but re-do them & make them a fun, funky addition to the living room. I also wanted to match my favorite Pier 1 pillows & picked a muted green. So, armed with my BFF by my side & 4 cans of spray paint, we were off to re-style my living room!

Pre-paint

Me & Megan spraying away!

Pre sanded edges. 

The pillow below is what I was trying to match.  I think it came pretty close, don't you think?

I'm obsessed with distressed edges.  LOVE it!

Beautiful Things by Gungor

God makes beautiful things out of dust if we let Him.  How beautiful is that?  Messed up, broken, sinful, selfish, unloyal us.  He can do ANYTHING!  We sang this song in church last week and it's been on my mind since.  I've been singing the lyrics over, and over, and over, and over...as if to fully engrain the message in my mind.  Take a listen: