Easter

So much was lost that day, and yet everything was won!

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life!" (John 3:16) I saw this Eater craft in one of my magazines and so the girls and I decided to try it ourselves. Not too shabby for a 2, 4, and 7 year old.

On to Easter egg decorating...

A little Easter egg hunting action...

Our only family photo of the weekend since I received a good dose of either food poisoning or a stomach bug just in time for Easter morning.

Cousins pic:

Home Does My Heart Good

This first comment has absolutely nothing to do with my post, but it is on my heart and so I'd like to share. I want to make a difference in the Kingdom. I want my life to be more about the eternal than the temporal things that are all around me and often fight for my allegiance to Christ. I want to leave the world having left Christ's thumbprint rather than my own. I want my life to leave a legacy of His love...for the hurting, the broken, the everyday Joe's and even those who are so successful they don't realize yet that they too need Him. I still don't know what this looks like in my life over the next couple of years or even the remainder of my days, but I really want to love Jesus in a way that makes others want to love Him too. How about you? I've been gone three out of the last 4 weekends. Two were for youth retreats and one was for my favorite nephew, the Drewster's, 2nd birthday. More pics on that later. I have always been a home-body but as I was sharing with a friend over a chai tea latte tonight...I almost feel panicked when I am away from home for very long. We did the normal family things...beautiful Laney Hope went to an amazing princess birthday party of one of her friends. They had a face-painter come...crazy talented was the woman...don't you think?

The weather has been gorgeous lately which has lifted my spirits greatly. We have been spending a lot of time outside. Daddy and the girls worked on the front flower beds together and did a fabulous job!

We had friends over Saturday evening too which is always a favorite among my little hostesses. A precious friend from college, Chelsea, and I have reconnected after years. She is an amazing woman of God. Months ago I had you pray for their family as they lost their precious baby boy in utero at 36 weeks. It has been humbling and so uplifting to see how Chelsea, Mark and their 3 sweet girls have handled their loss. You must check out HisChase.org!!

Anyways, here are all 6 of our girls who are all months a part from one another. They have formed a quick friendship that we look forward to the Lord growing over the years.
So that's it. Home is where the heart is, so they say. And mine is definitely with the precious girls and handsome man God has blessed me with. It was good to be home.

Celebrity Mom

We had a fun and very random adventure last week. Over spring break one of the fun activities the girls wanted to do with MiMi was go get their nails painted at a salon. While the three of them were lined up getting their nails done a woman approached and asked if these three cutie-patooties were mine. She then went on to explain she is part of a production company that puts out commercials and they were filming a cookie commercial the following week. She asked us to come down the next day to just have the girls do a quick "try-out."

I went home and checked everything out on-line to make sure they were legit...they were. Then, basically out of curiousity, took them down the next day. We had a lot to do and I knew if it were going to take real long we would just head out. It actually only took 15 minutes. Well, guess what? She called us Monday and asked for all 3 to come be a part of the commercial on Friday.

Here are the budding actresses before we left home: Laney and Reese were filmed playing tea party at a kitchen counter. Bud's Best Cookies out of Birmingham really does have some yummy cookies! All are bite-sized so there were no issues in getting the girls to chow down. In fact, our little sweet-tooth, Reese, kept eating and eating and eating...

Ashlyn had to actually act some. Here she is getting her hair done. She even got some make-up put on that cute face.

Below is her practicing with her actress mom. She had to get really excited and grab the cookies out of the grocery bag that just got brought in and start eating.

It really was a cute and fun experience since it was something we would never seek out ourselves. They did great and were adorable. Bud and his son actually flew in for the commercial shoot and kept commenting on how cute & sweet the girls were. They were extremely nice and the cookies are quite delicious. We got to come home with our own little stash. Hopefully, we'll get a copy once it's done that we can share.

When Ashlyn returned to school her teacher asked where she had been. She said Mrs. Wilkins called her movie star the remainder of the day and all of the kids in her class gathered around real close to her asking questions. She said it truly made her feel like she was a movie star!

Busy is an Understatement

To say I am busy is an understatement these days. I literally go running from one thing to the next...no really, literally running.

I am wife to this handsome man,
room mom for this precious girl who stole my heart 7 1/2 years ago!

breakfast, lunch & dinner maker, as well as chafeur and maid to

these precious two,

Champion, founder and gopher for this amazing non-profit,

and friends with this precious woman, my best friend from high school, Rach. Okay, I really don't have to do anything for her but I did want to stick in a picture from our quick "Celebration of Friendship" Friday night and Saturday morning.

Last weekend was a youth retreat and this upcoming one is Senior Sneak. I work part-time which includes writing curriculum each week and teaching a class on Wednesday nights. Jason and I have started mentoring a really neat engaged couple from church, and this week we taught at our LifeGroup.

Both Ashlyn and Laney are in gymnastics, and sweet Reesie-boo is potty-training (and doing quite well I might add)! I took a load of bags down to Medical City Dallas Children's Hospital Friday and had a wonderful LifeGroup from church help put together more bags Saturday night, as well as other projects for Gracious Legacy. T hey rocked! I have had to miss 2 baby showers and we were able to squeeze in a birthday party yesterday. Whew!

I am pretty sure I could sleep for a couple days straight, but I am truly enjoying life right now...even if it is full to overflowing.

Good night, my friends! If you think to say a prayer for me, I'll take it. If I accidentally knock you over from my sprint from one task to the next...I am so sorry. If you are bored and would like to come dust my house, feel free!

He loves me

Let me just say up front that we will not be having a cute Valentine's day post.

No doubt, we have the cutest Valentine's around who we are MADLY IN LOVE with. However, I didn't snap a single picture the entire day which i am sad about. However, if you saw our schedule from Sunday you would understand.

Two weeks ago Jase and I celebrated our 11th anniversary. My amazing friend Jen watched the girls the entire weekend for us. The first night we just swapped houses and Jase and I stayed at Case de Jen. It was quite marvelous.
Here is a picture right before we left. This Jason Mills family began February 6, 1999.
Saturday, after sleeping in late, watching my beloved HGTV that we don't get at home, and eating a laid-back lunch we headed over to Ft. Worth.

I know that raising 3 children is tiring and often tease that I was born tired. However, I don't ever realize how tired I am until I have a break away. My body completely deflates. All we wanted to do was veg out...and since it was up to us, that is exactly what we did. We ate well. Slept well. Got to see a movie. It was greatness.

We went back to our favorite B&B, the Texas White House. This year my Dad & Diane gave us a gift certificate there for Christmas. It was perfect.

I am sure I don't say it enough, but I love the man God has given me. He is patient, hard-working, a partner in every way in our home, an incredible dad, handsome, my very best friend, and the love of my life. I truly can't imagine someone more perfect for me, and I wouldn't want to do life without him. I am so glad he picked me.

Snow Days!

Well, it has been a fun winter in Texas. Yesteday, the DFW got more snow

in one day than they have in over 110 years. Reesie was the first one to beckon us outside and she loved it.
Cutie-patootie snowbirds!

Our fun snowgirl. I am sure she would have been much better if Daddy had
gotten to stay home and play too, but I don't think she is too bad for having

been made by Mommy and the girls!

Even Buckner enjoyed playing in the snow!

Some snow angels that melt more than just the snow...my heart as well.

We also ate lunch off of heart plates and made cookies.

Of course, the bounce house was blown up inside the living room for hours of

bouncing pleasure...static hair free of charge!

And the views from our warm home this morning...

"Wash me and I will be whiter than snow." Ps. 51:7

Oh, praise the One who paid my debt and raised this life up from the dead!

Gracious Legacy Launch

My heart is very full. Last week brought many late nights of excited preparation leading up to Gracious Legacy's Launch party on Sunday. The Hawley's opened up their beautiful home for the occassion. Thanks Melissa and Jamie! Above are some of the Gracious Legacy info cards. Thank you Audrey and Jennifer for helping me finish the final ones up late Saturday night.
It was a blessing to be able to share my heart and vision for the ministry. I was surprised at how high my emotions were running as I once again let tears fall. I used to tease my mom for crying at the drop of a hat and now I seem to fill her shoes. They are sweet shoes to fill so I guess it's okay.

It was also fun for my different circles of friendship to collide. There were close to 35 people...some from church, as well as moms of my girls' friends, a friend from college, and even a couple of friends of friends. We had a precious time of prayer and then got down to work!

The smaller, decorative gift bags will be taken to Plano Presby Hospital to precious people who are undergoing treatment for cancer.

Sweet Natale and Grace were wrapping up the rolls of quarters for each bag.

People were so generous in bringing items for the bags...snacks, books, notepads, drinks, notecards, etc.

Here are a few of the bags finished and ready to be given to

some sweet individuals and families.

Today I was so excited and blessed to be able to take the first round of bags down to Dr. Mendeloff's patients undergoing open heart surgery at

Medical City Dallas Children's Hospital. As I was leaving, the

Child Life Specialist told me she was immediately taking a bag down to a family. Once again, I got quite emotional driving away.

I truly feel so honored that God is allowing me to be a part of this.

It just makes my heart incredibly full, and I can't wait to

see how He uses this to show His love to people who simply need it in

the difficult and scary times they find themselves in.

So feel free to check us out at www.graciouslegacy.org. There will still be some graphical changes made, pictures added and even a paypal peice added but it is up and running. I love it. Thanks to Jason Bessonette who is the man making that happen.

"God makes all things work together for good for those who love Him" (Rom. 8:28)...even those things that we thought could only break our hearts.