Joy

This weekend, I was blessed to attend a dinner party put on by our Women's Ministry at church.  It is called the Festival of Tables.  Mkay...I really hope I don't offend anyone, but I'm gonna be honest here and say that I wasn't really sure about this whole thing. The name alone sounded a little "old lady-ish".  In my head, I pictured some older women decorating tables with some gaudy Christmas stuff.  I was totally wrong -- and I'm so glad I was!  First of all, we got these cute little mint tins to take home.  Adorable!    

Each table represented has a hostess.  My friend, Ashly, hosted the table where I sat.  The hostess gets to choose how she wants to decorate.  Ashly has some friends who are missionaries to China and she plans to go on a mission trip next year, so her theme was China.  I loved her table decor.

I did a horrible job taking pictures - horrible!  But, here is a shot of the whole room.

You may be able to see some of the men dressed in white shirts and ties.  Those are the men from the church.  Husbands, spouses, sons, grandpas...they all came out to serve the women for an entire night.  It was awesome!  They did a fabulous job.

I tell you what, God knew I needed to be there on Saturday.  Our speaker for the evening did a great job and spoke on exactly what I needed to hear about.  Joy.  She was funny and had a really quirky sense of humor.  She spoke about having to get up every day and choose JOY.  Joy is not happiness.  It is being content in whatever the situation because you know Jesus.  She spoke about how on some days, choosing Joy was just hard.  She lost her 12 year old daughter to cancer and choosing Joy was not something she wanted to do.  But, because of JESUS' LOVE FOR US...because HE CHOSE TO LOVE US...she would choose Joy.  That is such a foreign concept in our society.  We want what we want, when we want it and we don't want to love God when things are hard.  We don't want to put God first in EVERY SINGLE SITUATION.  But, HE.DESERVES.OUR.BEST.  No matter what.  He loved so that we may know how to love.  And so that we may choose Joy.

So, in response, that is my goal.  To find my JOY in JESUS.  Every day.  Even when it is hard.  Even when life is not what I want it to be - I will seek JOY.

Lord, help this baby!

Remember Chuckie, Maggie's beloved baby doll {that my sister lovingly scalped and marked all over as a child}?

She got a little make over.  My mom bought Maggie and Chuckie some cute matching pajamas.  They don't really hide her marked up face and buzz cut, but at least Maggie is cute holding her. ;-)

gifts from the grandparents

When my mom decided in August to officially retire, she and my dad planned their first ever "off season" trip!  This was pretty doggone exciting for my mom considering that for the last hundred years, she could only vacay in the summer months.  Okay, so not 100 years, but for a looong time!  They planned an uber cool trip to drive to Gettysburg and New York City and then end up in Washington D.C. for another week.  This was all planned before we knew about Sandy.  I'm so thankful for their time in NYC!!  They got to see some amazing sites and have just a really great experience together. 

 This is a trip I would LOVE to make.

 As they began the final leg of their trip, Sandy was in full swing to hit the coast.  They decided to do all of the outdoor sightseeing first with hopes that they could do the museums after the storm hit.  Little did we know just how big the storm would become!  I'm so thankful to say that, while they had to hunker down and hide out for two days {which made me a nervous wreck!}, they never lost power and they were totally protected.  They did decide to extend their trip a few days and I'm glad they were able to do that. :-)

One thing about my parents -- when they travel, they come back bearing gifts!  Woo hoo!  Eric and I made out with some really cool sweatshirts from the Smithsonian...

 But, the kids made out like bandits!  Levi got a coon hat and a canteen that are replicas like the soldiers used during the Civil War. ;)

Maggie got a Hello Kitty shirt and Levi got some dog tags with his name and birthday on them and some camo chapstick.

Maggie got a butterfly thingie - it has a butterfly on a wire and when you push the button, it flutters around.  I love it, but she is scared of it. Ha! 

And, she also got a book about all the sites in D.C.  It's really cute!

I think their favorite gifts were these little Statue of Liberty figurines.

And, the random gift award goes to this:

A santa spatula!  Ha!  Mom got these for us girls for when we make our Christmas candy.  Fun!!  Just want to say that I'm happy to have them back home...and not just because I missed my baby sitters. ;)

Likable Levi

My sister-in-law, Jenny, sent me these adorable pictures of Griffin's homework yesterday. I couldn't help but to post them!

"Draw a picture of a friend. Give your friend a name and write it at the top of the page."

Likable Levi

 "What is a good friend?"

Levi Reed. He is my cousin. We love to play with each other. Even though we don't go to school together.

This just made me smile.  I love Griffin's heart.  And, I love the friendship that Levi and Griffin have.  Not only are they cousins, but they are true buddies.  I feel so blessed to live close to my siblings and I hope that Levi and Maggie will always love and appreciate the time they get to spend with their cousins.  Even when all the cousins are loud, wild, and crazy, it still makes me smile to watch them play together. :-)

Flashback Friday

I know that more and more people check their new blog reads from their phones nowadays.  I do that a lot when I see an update via Twitter, so it is easy for me to forget to go back to the big ol' computer and comment or check and see who has updated!  I try to do it regularly, but I am getting old and tend to forget.  So, if you are checking me out from the computer, you will notice a new look to my blog!  Yay!  I've been tossing around the idea of doing a new look for, um, it seems like forever.  I finally got it done and I'm in love with it!  Hope you enjoy!

So, I've decided to give into the heavy peer pressure and jump on the FLASHBACK FRIDAY bandwagon!  {Really, there is no peer pressure at all!  I just like the idea. ;)}

I was organizing some pictures on my computer and came across a few of the day that Maggie May was born.}

Oh My Stars.  Even though she wasn't as big as Levi when she was born {she was almost 9 lbs and he was 9 lbs, 4 oz}, she seemed so little!  I remember thinking that it made Levi look so old. Ugh!

 This will forever be my favorite picture of them.  Levi was in love.

 

It is crazy stupid that time has gone by so fast with my babies.  Even though I miss them being little, I love each new stage they get to.  It is amazing to watch them grow into these amazing little creatures. ;-)

Round 2

Maggie usually doesn't have a clue what is going on.  She just follows Levi's lead.  And, Trick or Treating is no exception.  Here's the thing...Levi doesn't really care to walk around and get candy, which is totally fine with me!  He would rather dress up and pass out the candy.  Especially when you get to boogie down all night.

 This year, we sat in our cul de sac with the Spin DJ's again, played music, and passed out candy. 

 All these cute little munchkins made sure that the buckets, bags, and yes, pillowcases that arrived were filled with some candy.

 And, because she is so cute. :-)  They weren't out there in their costumes too long before we bundled them up with hats, coats and gloves.

 I was REALLY glad that my baby daddy was there with us last night!  He didn't have class, so it was a blessing to us to have him hanging out with us at home. 

After this point, my fingers were frozen, so I didn't get any more pictures. :(  But the kids had a blast!  They love Halloween!!

Trick or Treat, round 1

Because Halloween night is pretty busy for us around these parts, we usually dress the kids up and go visit my grandparents the night before.  I love, love, love their outfits this year!! 

My adorable little Colts fans.  {Brittany saw this pic and said they looked like UK fans.  Gag.  Bite your tongue, Britt! ;)}

 We loaded up and barged in went to visit with the great-grandparents!  All of us.  And, when we are all together, it can get pretty chaotic.  But, I love it! :)

We had a Colts cheerleader, a poodle skirt girl {is it Bobby socks girl?}, a cheetah, Reggie Wayne, a vampire, and The Turtle Man.  After I saw this picture, I started thinking back to when it was just the three older ones and we could dress them up as cute little monkeys or lady bugs.  Yeah, those days are long gone. ;(

 And, I had to throw in this pic!  Travis tries his hardest to make Maggie like him.  He grabbed her from behind for a quick pic and she whined the entire time. Ha!

 Next up?  We headed to Trick or Treat with Jami and the kids!  She invited us to the pad where Steve works.  It was awesome!  We hadn't done this before, but we will go back {invited or not!}.

 They had all of the residents in the hall passing out candy.  My kids loved it!  {And I just realized that Steve looks like a resident.  Ha!  He's not.}

 The crew...munching on candy. :)

 Thanks, James, for the invite!  Love you!