Gobble Gobble

Happy Thanksgiving! Miss Indian Reese in her little headband that she made and wore for her Thanksgiving Feast at school.
Sweet turkey Laney Hope...again in homemade turkey headband.

Ashlyn and her fall fashion items. This picture is really for my dad. After Ashlyn described everything he asked her to take a picture so he could see it from hundreds of miles away. Ashlyn is incredibly creative and the other day decided to make herself a purse. It's made out of paper but she did it completely on her own, and made sure it had a pocket so she could put essentials inside, including a homemade cell phone, camera, nail polish, lipsick, driver's license, etc..

My favorite tradition our little family does each year: we make a thankfulness tree. I take the girls for a walk and we find the perfect sticks to hang our leaves from. The girls love it. And Lindsey...thanks to your suggestion last year... I plan on buying a scrapbook in which to place our leaves of

thanksgiving in year after year.

One of Reese and my leaves. (Reesie- cousin Drew, Aunt Kelly and Uncle Andy;

me- my 3 precious girls!!)
One of Jason's (All of my girls, Mommy too!)

Laney's in her own handwriting (Ashlyn);

one of Ashlyn's (my grandparents).

We are undoubtedly blessed.

And we know that "Every good and gracious gift is from above." (Jms. 1:17)

Lord Jesus, we couldn't have a thankfulness tree big enough to hold all the things You have given us to be thankful for. Thank You. Thank You.

Thank You!

Updates!

Well, I promised some of my favorite family pictures and here they are for your royal

viewing pleasure.
Let me update you with some exciting new regarding my gift baskets. THANK YOU by the way for all of the great ideas and encouragement you posted or e-mailed me. So very helpful! And a humongous thank you to my friend, Jeni! My wonderful CPA friend is donating her time to set up this little project as a 501(c)3 which means all dontions will be tax deductible! Plus, she is going to help with the accounting end of things. Yay, Jesus! I talked with a local hospital's oncology department today and they are very excited. My heart has been filled with joy today. I'll keep you posted!

Let's see...we'll go in the order they are lined up here. Laney Hope is 4 1/2 now and I love this age. Today I went outside and helped her with her "conection" (a.k.a. collection) of brightly colored leaves and purple flowers. One of the most precious things lately is I'll be playing my Steve Fee CD (yes, once in a blue moon I change out the Toddler Tunes CD) and the song "Lift up your hands" comes on. I'll see her lift up her hands and sing along. I don't think she has seen anyone else do this and it makes my heart swell to see her sweet little heart worship Jesus this way. She continues to have the cutest little crush on a boy named Matthew that goes to our church and her school. Seriously, C-U-T-E!

Reese Ellery is one fun girl. She enjoys singing "Oh Happy Day...You wash my sin away!" She also must do a song at school that has the word hallelujah because she'll do the sweetest little melody of "haleloolah!" She also lies on her back, places her arms crossed behind her head and tells you "I'm just relaxin'!" And she likes to grin real big and tell you "I'm just teasin!" Where does she get this? She has a sensitive heart and if she thinks you're upset with her will burst into tears.

Ashlyn Jean is growing up before my very eyes. She has joined Girl Scouts and after only attending one meeting I am convinced will love it! It's right up her ally with girl friends and craft projects. The other day Jason said there was a lipstick commercial on with a girl wearing bright red lipstick. Ashlyn did a double-take and then told him "Now that's the color lipstick I want to wear!" (oh goodness!) A couple of weeks back I also found a fun message written in lipstick on my bathroom mirror which read, "A dog loves M dog." You know...Ashlyn loves Mommy!


And my man. Well, I love him too. A whole lot. He is training for another marathon in about a month. He ran 17 miles Sunday. In fact, to honor his amazing wife (I know her and she is quite amazing...tee hee), he got up and ran those 2 1/2 HOURS (I know...crazy) by 7:30 am so that he could help me get the girls ready for church. Love him! Love him! Now if he'd only burn some calories for me :0)

A Birthday Getaway

Our precious Reese Ellery turned two on Saturday! Our kind and generous church friends, the Haywoods, once again blessed us by allowing us to head out to their lake house. You know the one...where we a few months ago had our best family vacation ever! Well, this year she completely got that the birthday thing was all about her! If you'd ask whose birthday was coming up she'd proudly and loudly proclaim "Mine!" Grandparents had sent their gifts early in the week and so for several days she would hand me a present and ask if she could open it. We let her open one big one the day before we left. She is quite pleased with her fancy pink car! And she especially loves it when someone will push her really fast! She just laughs and laughs.


Here is the birthday cake...made with love from Mommy, Ashlyn and Laney.
She usually rushes into her class at school and immediately goes for a baby doll or the vacume cleaner so she got her very own for her birthday. She also got a baby doll that she has been pretty inseparable with.

All three cuties in another gift...
We took the big girls out mudding on the four-wheelers this time and they are absolutely hooked! You could just hear them giggling as we drove through the mud.

Laney Hope

Who doesn't love to get dirty?

Ashlyn and Daddy

Feeding the horses carrots each day was still a highlight.An extra special treat was having my brother, sister-in-law, and cute nephew join us in the fun. We kept prodding them all weekend to be the ones to buy their own lakehouse and horses for the family to use at their disposal. Come on? What do you say?

Cousins and best of friends...
We got some fun family pics out there. I'll probably post more in the near future.

They make my heart sing!!!

And one picture of Reesie and Laney before school on Monday. Andy, Kelly and Drew bought her this outfit for her b-day and I just think she looks adorable in it!

Our sweet Reesie, We couldn't have picked a more perfect fit for our family. You are so much fun and full of so much joy! It is such a reflection of the Father's heart and we feel a little bit closer to Him because of you. We love you sweet girl!

Dreams

"It is pleasant to see dreams come true"

or another version:

"A longing fulfilled is sweet to the soul." Prov. 13:19

I have silly dreams:

~ having my entire house be completely clean and for longer than 10 minutes (hey, while we are dreaming, I'll add to my dream that it is cleaned by someone other than myself who looks like Matthew McConnaughey)

~ weighing 10 lbs less and having super cute hair

~ sleeping in until 10am

~not picking up 12 pairs of OTHER peoples shoes a day (albeit, they are cute OTHER people)

I have dreams I pray constantly:

~ that all 3 of my precious girls love and walk with Jesus

~ that those same 3 sweet girls grow up being best friends as children and as adults

~ that I love the Lord in a way that makes others want to love Him too

~ that my kind husband would hunger and thirst after God's Word

~ that the Lord would graciously protect and provide for our family

And my new dream from just the past 3 months or so (drum roll please):

In honor and in memory of my incredible mom, my dearest friend in the world,

I would like to put together gift baskets full of snacks, water, magazines, books, etc. to take to families who are having a child go through open heart surgery (like our sweet Reesie a year ago) or who are battling cancer like Mom.

I remember the number of people who visited my mom in the hospital and what an encouragement it was to her. I remember what a huge blessing it was at the hospital last year with Reese when her school sent a gift basket full of snacks and water up for our friends and family in the waiting room.

I'd like to place something in the baskets that can be an introduction to Christ, nothing to over the top, but something that might give them a taste of His loving kindness even in the midst of a raging storm in life. I'd like the baskets to be cute. My mom loved decorating and loved making people feel special and I want these to do the same. I'd like to name my little project something having to do with God's Graciousness. First, because of the graciousness He gave me through the life of my mom. Secondly, because of the graciousness He bestowed on us by allowing Reese's heart to be healed medically. Thirdly, because my Mom's name Jean means God's graciousness.

I'd love y'alls feedback. What do you think? Do you have ideas about what to put in the baskets? What would be the best "taste" of Jesus in material form? How is the best way to get things at a reduced price or donated? Would you be willing to donate and help give some of God's graciousness to other families? Just as I am doing it in honor of my mom and our Reese, if I posted on my blog your name and a loved one you are choosing to honor would you want to be a part of this? If God were to have this dream take off in big ways, does anyone know anything about creating a non-profit? Anyone have a creative name for this dream?

Come on...I don't ask often, but will you leave me a note. Even if you are a friend of a friend who checks in every now and then who I've never met... (you know we all do it), I want to hear from you.

"The Lord always keeps His promises; He is gracious in all He does." Ps. 145:13

Fall Festivities

Fall is my favorite time of year. I love the cooler weather, but am so glad it's not cold. I love the sound of leaves crunching under my feet when we go on walks around the neighborhood. I absolutely love fall decorations more than any other type. I think it's the best to leave the screen door open. And I truly love having a season of thankfulness. It does my heart and soul good. A couple of weeks ago we headed out to a pumpkin patch. The girls always enjoy it, and we ran into unexpected friends from ACU and Laney's class at school. We even saw Cowboys player Jason Whitten and his family.
I'm thinking it would have been nice if the kind woman who offered to take our picture would have told us about the horrible shadows...whatcha gonna do?
Every year at Laney and Reese's MDO they have a hayride and little pumpkin patch where they get to dress up and pick out their own little pumkins. Here are my cutie-patooties.

Laney was a little German schoolgirl. It's an outfit my aunt and uncle came back for me with many moons ago. Sweet Reesie is wearing a clown costume my mom made for my brother when he was little. (Okay, I added the little flower buttons...even back then Andy was all boy). I love that in little ways my precious mom still gets to be a part of things even though she isn't with us any more.

Jason and the girls had their fun converting our pumpkin into a jack-o-latern. Reesie loved squishing her hands in the middle. Ashlyn drew a picture of what she wanted the pumpking to look like, and Laney helped wherever she could.

And here is our girly jack-o-latern, complete with eyelashes, a heart nose, and some

botox-filled lips :0)!

The artists...
On Thursday the girls wear their cute Halloween outfits that MiMi and Papa D sent them. I love the picture because it expresses the love they really do have for one another.

And here is my only decent picture of trick-or-treating. It's become a tradition for us to join our friends the Whittles and trick-or-treat around their neighborhood. This was our third year. I'm so sad that my camera was almost completely out of battery. Maybe I'll be able to snag some from Drew. Ashlyn was a go-go dancer. Laney the German schoolgirls. And in honor of her Uncle Andy's beloved horned frogs...Reese was a TCU cheerleader. She would even say "Go frogs!" It was so sweet to watch her this year. She looooved it! She would walk confidently up to the front door, open her bag, and say "trick o eeet." Then she'd smile and say "thank you"!

I hope to be back soon. I want to share a dream I hope to see come to fruition in the near future...