one year

Sweet T is turning one today. On October 21 last year,
We didn't know he had been born.

We didn't know that just a few short weeks later, he would need a home.
We certainly didn't know the ups and downs of the Family Court and DHR systems.
We didn't know our hearts could love so much.
We didn't know if we'd have him a week or a month.
We didn't know what taking care of three kids would be like.
We didn't know how hard it would be.
We didn't know how easy it would be.
We didn't know that God would give us the strength we needed.

Well, today, Timothy James (aka Sweet T), turns one.

We don't know where this next year will take us.

We don't know why there are delays and challenges in the courts.

We don't know how our journey will end, but

We DO know the One that does.

We know that He has plans for a hope and a future.

We know that God is causing everything to work together for our good.

We know that we can do all things through Christ who gives us strength.

We know that we are the light of the world.

We know that no weapon formed against us shall prosper.

We know that we are fearfully and wonderfully made.

We know that we have been adopted. We are children of God and joint-heirs with Christ!

*taken loosely from "Identity" by Immanuel Marsh



Sweet Princess Laura Grace aka LaLa Belle

four years old

beautiful

silly

sassy

helpful

sister

loving

serious

princess

giggly

dirt-lover

singer

full of imagination

full of energy

Daughter of the King

I love you more and more everyday and we are so thankful that you are our little girl. I pray you have the happiest birthday ever!



oops.

is it bad that i look at my blog and am relieved that it's only been a little over a month since i've posted? :) 

i'm sure that i'm not the only one who is busy right now. we've got soccer and work and birthdays and halloween and adoptions and half-marathons. but, those things are coming up. let's talk about the month that has passed :)

other than training for the half marathon that Rachel and i are running this weekend (omg- THIS WEEKEND!) our September was full of football, soccer, training, tres dias weekends and a quick get away trip to the beach.

we are loving fall. i'm also loving some of the things that have come and gone that i've bene able to check off of our list. josh and i were both very involved with tres dias this last set of weekends. the amount of work and preparation are killer, but always always worth it. obedience brings blessings, right? always! i also had several work trips lined up where i had to be away for a few days for conferences and the like. i am so thankful, not only for a great, flexible, fun job, but also a great family that is able to step up and help when i'm away.

i guess looking forward, rachel and i are running in the 7 Bridges Half Marathon in Chattanooga on Sunday. we've both battling sickness this week. i can hardly breathe, and she's also in some discomfort. please pray that we're able to show up and do our best, based on all the training that we've been doing!

next on tap is timothy's first birthday, laura grace's fourth birthday, a combined birthday party, and an upcoming court date. will you pray? we feel that God is leading us in a direction and we're praying the courts and judge find favor with us. our whole goal is stability for timothy. please pray!

as soon as everything is moving and (hopefully final), we'll share all the details!

What do you get...

when you add three days off of work, a lot of rain, and a few kiddos that want to "do something fun"? Well, at our house, we NEVER sit still for three days. ever, really. but Labor Day 2011 has given us the chance to do just that. we've eaten and visited friends and watched the rain fall. what do you do at your house when there's nothing left "fun" to do?

build a few tents, get some snacks, and watch Rio on the ipad with Daddy!

Really? (alternately titled, "Whitt's End")

ok. my last blog posts were about Caden's great school adventures. have you ever heard of the honeymoon period? on day 4 of kindergarten, i got a call from the school nurse. apparently, Caden had gotten so upset in class that he threw up everywhere. i asked if he had been upset (he has a sensitive gag reflex and can throw up "on demand" when appropriate). she said no, and i was surprised. but, i was also surprised that he would be upset because he had been such a big boy in the carpool line. i get up to the school and the nurse wants to send him home because he's vomited at school. i ask Caden why he was sick and he says that he wants to go home and play with LaLa and not go to school. after changing his clothes and convincing nurse lady that he didn't have a super-contagious stomach bug, he went back to class. after a little while, he calmed down and ended up having a great day at school. [note: where did my sweet precious loving five year old learn that if he threw up on day 4 of kindergarten, they would have to send him home?]

on friday (day 5), i decided that i would walk him to his class. i had heard that parents were allowed to walk them to class first week of school. i must have been given bad information because i was accosted/tackled by the front office saying i had to sign in and that i could not walk him to class. that upset him, and the principal and Mrs. Buxton were kindly there, ready to drag him kicking and screaming to class. [note: i surely deserve mom of the year award, and can i just say... teachers don't get paid enough?]

all weekend was spent praying and bribing and making sticker charts and the promises of money and toys and, well, you get the hint. all ready for a big day on Monday. [note: i'm in a doo-wop group and we had a concert on Friday and Saturday. Friday, a lady i recognized from somewhere was in attendance. after talking with her, it turns out she is the office lady at school. yeah- she knew me as "Caden's mom." can i remind you that it is the first week of school, she's never met me before and she knows me as "Caden's mom?" i was not very excited about that. we have that child. i'm married to a teacher. we know all about those children :)]

week two has been a little better. monday was good. he didn't cry in carpool, but he did cry a little in class. he dried it up like a big boy and was fine for the rest of the day. tuesday, he was pulled from the van crying in carpool line and drug to class. [i need to clear a shelf for all of the MOTY awards i'll be getting.] Wednesday, he got a break. we had a few appointments as a family that we could not miss, and he had a pre-excused absence, thus, no school.

that brings us to today. Thursday. day 9 of kindergarten. Caden wakes up crying. does not want to go to school. wants to stay home. doesn't like school. wishes he didn't have to go. we get distracted and he forgets to cry. makes it almost to the end of carpool line before he starts crying again. when it's our turn to open the door and jump out, he bails from his seat, hides under Timothy's rear facing carseat and hugs the back of the driver side seat. together, i can't push him, and the kind lady can't pull him to the open door. she suggests i park. i do, and she has brought reinforcements. i get out, open the driver sliding door and he bolts to the other side of the van. one of the three teachers "helping" runs to the other side of the van. he then jumps in the back seat. i open the hatch. at this point, there are 3 doors and one hatch open. all being manned by crazy mama/teacher ladies who all just want the games to stop and for Caden to go to kindergarten. forthelove. he now realizes that he is surrounded and busts out laughing. he has now started a game of catch the crazy five year old, and the four of us are all being outsmarted. i finally get my big girl voice on, and say, "Caden, you are going to school today. one of us will take you to the door. who do you want it to be?" he chooses me, i pull him from the storage area of the van (his last ditch effort at evading arrest) and hug him. he is, at this point, rolling in laughter that he thinks he 'won' the fight. well, baby, you're right. you won. you left the car with a big ol smile on your face, and didn't have tears (inside the school) at all today. i'm proud of you, little man. let's try for another good day tomorrow!

God, please give me the strength and compassion and energy to get through this trial. Lord, you know that i have several things on my plate right now. please help Caden to enjoy school and for us to find a routine that works for all of us. thank you for putting him in a great class with a patient teacher and for the friends that he is starting to make. thank you for the small victory we had today. please calm Caden's fears and help him to not have a spirit of fear, but one of love, strength and good decisions. help me to respond in a compassionate way. amen.

Caden's first day of K5

Here it is, folks! Caden's big day has come and gone uneventfully. He loves his teacher, made a new friend (Candice), and wanted to go back the next day. I heard anything from , "i got there to early and had to wait forever for class to start" to " why weren't you the first car in car rider line" to "there's a hole on the playground that has two dead kids in it" and so on and so forth. It was a great first day, and his second sounded like it went just as well. Thaank you Lord for a mostly laid back kid who keeps his mama in line and in laughter, all the time!

It's finally here... Kindergarten!

maybe one day in a few weeks, when i'm up to my eyeballs in homemade costumes and snacks for an entire class, i'll blog sentimentally about Caden's first day of Kindergarten-- but not today. He is so big and so friendly and so ready for school! We received a post card in the mail last week from his teacher, Mrs. Buxton. He was SO excited to get mail from her!

If you know Caden very well, you probably know that he can be enthusiastic. WHEN HE WANTS TO! Sometimes at bible study or at a new nursery or NEW anything, he can quickly change from my strong, brave, friendly little man, to a vulnerable, scared little boy. It doesn't happen often, and it doesn't take long for him to warm up and forget all about little old mama. we've talked about kindergarten all summer, and it was finally time to pack up our school supplies and head to school!

Josh was able to take off from practice (a big sacrifice for second week in pads) and we were good to go. After shipping Laura Grace and Timothy to Rachel's house (for the 23rd time this week), we stopped at Springville Elementary!

this year, Caden will be in Mrs. Buxton's class. It is a multi-age classroom called the Flex class in Springville. it is a class that has team-teachers with K-5 and 1st grade students. There are two teachers in there and the kids will learn some subjects separately and some as a big group. in Kindergarten, the students will get to be exposed to higher grade skills, buddy up with first graders, and will loop up to the a teacher that he is familiar with in first grade. We felt that Caden would benefit greatly from this setting, so we requested the class. We have heard that Mrs. Buxton is a great christian lady, and after meeting her and Mrs. P (the first grade teacher in Flex), we found several church and community friends that we will have in common. Here are a few pictures from today!

He was so excited to see his name everywhere. on the wall, on his chair, on a folder. He was really excited! I was so impressed with the amount of time that Mrs. Buxton spent with us and with Caden to help make him feel comfortable! I think I'm almost ready for this :)

I don't think it will take Mrs. Buxton very long to fall in love with our little man. He is truly truly a gift from God and i am humbled everyday that I get to be his mommy during this very important time of his life! Now, to bring the tear level down, I'll let you know that i can no longer concentrate on this post because Caden and Josh are yelling and laughing SO loudly right now as they watch WipeOut in the next room. That's my que... I'm missing out on all of the fun :)

yikes!

that last blog... yeah, i wrote it on June 22 and haven't published it. let me tell you what. it's been a crazy summer.

after we got back from disney, Josh was in Atlanta for a week and then, June 20, he had knee surgery to repair a torn ACL and Miniscus. he has been down almost all summer, and we have had a time. i am so thankful for friends and family who have been there to help me keep my sanity. it may have just been God's protection of my blog readers and my reputation that i have not had time to blog during most of his recovery. there have been times where God has revealed so many ugly sides of me during the last few weeks. i love my husband more than anything. it was just such a challenge to take care of him and three small kids. our marriage and appreciation for each other have definately increased over the summer.

on to other topics. i have started running. a new buddy best friend, Rachel, has gotten me hooked. i'm not sure i like it, but i don't like letting her down, so i go. and i like to get out of the house, so i go. and, i like reducing booty jiggle, so i go. we are training for a half marathon in October. me? a half marathon? yeah, right! that's my thoughts from a few weeks ago. but, as we've trained, and prayed and shared and done life together, i think we can do it! will keep you updated (don't gasp if it takes me two more months to update my blog).

i am so appreciative of God's love and forgiveness and grace. i need Him everyday!

the most magical place on earth

we have been so SWAMPED since we came home from Disney World. nonetheless, i still need to blog about it! :) for some time now, we've been planning a trip to Disney World with Lincoln and Leslie Clark, and their 5 year old twins, katie and cole. Linc's dad lives close to disney world and he works there on the weekends. Ed was able to get us a good deal on the trip of a lifetime. we left on a friday, drove to orlando, stayed with the clarks for a day, and then hit Disney on Sunday. we started at hollywood studios and the magic kingdom on day 1. the first thing we rode at hollywood studios was the tower of terror. in my most convincing voice, i told the kids, "it's gonna be dark, and fast, and FUN!" they jumped right on and had a blast! wanna know the best time to go to disney? when your kids are AT LEAST 40" tall, preferable 44". laura grace was right at 40" and able to ride thunder mountain, splash mountain, star wars, tower of terror, test track, and most of the things that she wanted to ride. at 44", caden was able to add space mountain and mt. everest to his list of rides that he was tall enough for.

most days, we slept in, took a while getting to the park and then stayed for a while, came back to the hotel and napped, and then stayed out until the park closed. there were literally days where we closed the parks down.

on tuesday, we had bought tickets to eat breakfast with cinderella in her castle. laura grace could not have been in more awe. we got to go IN  the castle, meet cinderella and then sit down to a fancy breakfast. one at a time, the other princesses would be announced and they would come out of a door, into the dining area where we were all sitting. they would then come one by one to our table and talk to the girls and have their picture made with them. this was probably the best part of the trip.

wednesday was spent at animal kingdom. i didn't have high hopes for this place. boy, was i wrong! we started the day with lunch at rain forest cafe. the kids loved it and it was a great atmosphere. our favorite things at animal kingdom were meeting the characters (ask caden how many times minnie mouse kissed him), watching the lion king performance, and riding the safari. we saw lions and elephants and zebras and hippos and all sorts of "wild" animals. we were in a huge jeep and it was almost like a real safari. the kids loved it!

thursday we spent the day at hollywood studios. we had finally gotten in the disney groove, and had figured out how to travel together, how to not kill each other while waiting and waiting and waiting in line, and how to pack the backpacks... too bad it was our last day! :) we rode the starwars ride, we went to the Narnia exhibit, watched our favorite show of the trip (little mermaid) and ended our last night of the trip with the toy story ride and meeting buzz and woody. it was by far, our best day!

here's a little slide show with some of our favorite shots. i have intentions of putting a book together so that we can remember this trip, so ask me in a month if i've done it yet...

can you guess what i found?

can any of you identify the picture below?

 wait for it

wait for it

wait for it

wait for it

wait for it

keep guessing

think hard

it's a rare find at my house

didn't know it existed

it's the bottom of my laundry baskets. really. it's true. they exist and i discovered them one day recently. are you jealous?

memorial day

i was SO going to blog about the recent finding of the bottom of my laundry basket... or the excitement building about disney world (we leave tomorrow)... but when i was cleaning my camera card off, i completely got sidetracked by the fantastic photography skills of my husband. he took most of these on memorial day at meme and granddaddy's. i wish i took them, but when he's around, i can barely get my hands on the camera (my camera, btw).

so there they are, folks.

the next pictures you see from us will probably most
likely should be from the most wonderful place on earth!

true love

these babies sure do love each other!

it's the little things

there is always so much going on in our little corner of the world. there's football season and church and kids and family and work and coupons and housework and, well, you get the idea. we are busy.

while we are busy, josh and i have also started to focus on the more important things and have let the less important things go on without us. we feel called to nurture relationships. to create intentional friendships that will help us grow in Christ and grow closer to each other. to find real people that are willing to be open and honest. At CBS a few weeks ago, one of the girls that has been in my class the whole year, shared how her husband's dad was suffering from stage 4 cancer. several days after the prayer request went out, i emailed her a short "praying for you, if you need anything" message. i didn't know her very well, but felt like i could understand the overwhelmed and can't hold it all together feeling she must have.

just a few weeks later, we have been able to spend time at the park together, share more about our families, and become closer friends. this past week, her and her husband visited our church. they came over for lunch after services, where we found our husbands are very much alike.

friends. we all need them, and if you're lucky, you have a lot of them. don't be too busy to reach out, to share, to be real with someone. josh and i rarely sit at home. we're busy. but you know what? we're usually busy sharing life with someone. living it together, struggling together, rejoicing together, crying, laughing, eating, loving... together. be mindful of others. be a friend.

catchup

oh, how i hate to be so new to my blog and to also be so behind already! i'll try to catchup in this post. the last real post was for Caden's 5th birthday. my little man is not so little anymore. we love everyday with him and are so thankful to be able to be his parents. Caden's birthday was on Good Friday. We spent the day after his birthday at an Easter Egg hunt. There were 50,000 candy-filled eggs on 3 soccer fields. the kids were able to fill up a good sized gift bag each in less than 10 minutes and we were done!

The next day, was a big day! Granny Amy had come to spend a few days with us, it was Easter, we had special music at church, an Egg hunt at church, a birthday party for Caden and Easter lunch at MeMe and Granddaddy's house with more than 50 of our favorite family and friends. Know what I love about Easter? Jesus loved us SO much that He died on the cross for us! "Love so amazing, so divine, demands my heart, my life, my All!"

after Easter, was the most horrible day in local history i can remember. the tornados of april 27, 2011. More than 250 people across the state lost their lives that day. by God's great mercy, our family and our houses were all spared.

i think the last thing we need to catch up about is my birthday. nothing to see here... just my 30th birthday. it really wasn't that bad! :) my dear friends Jenny and Bonnie started the day off bright and early by littering my yard with HUGE signs and more Easter eggs filled with my favorite candies.

the next day was a mess. Josh had torn his ACL playing basketball that night at a lock in with Scott. Then, I had a Mother's Day Tea at church and then he wanted to take me out for dinner. We were to go early, so that we could get home in time for Jamie and Nate to go out on their date. What i didn't know (or only had a slight idea about) was that my closest friends and family members were waiting to surprise me at my house for my 30th birthday. While I'm sorry that I wasn't super surprised, I was very thankful and excited to spend the night with my friends and family. Jamie, Libby & Josh worked tirelessly to try to keep it a surprise, but also to have great food, decorations, and a fantastic cake!

We then followed up the weekend with Mother's Day and a trip to Family Court. That's another story altogether. Maybe I'll post about that later. If you've made it to the end of this post, congrats! email me for your prize :)

stormy weather

God be near. praise the Lord that josh and i, and our families are all safe. God literally lifted the tornado over us and protected us through the terrible storms yesterday. i am heartbroken over the devistation and loss of life that we are witnessing from the news. while my family sat in the safety of our basement, we were watching the news... i'll never forget what we saw as (one of dozens) of storms hit our state.

we watched this live on tv... whoop-dee-do... people's lives were lost and their homes destroyed. all while i was safe in my little basement. why? why them and not us? God, please be near. people are hurting. lives have been changed forever.

please help us to do your work in the next few days. help us to help others and Lord, please put people in our path that need you.

thank you for your protection.

five years

five years

where has it gone?

he changed my life

he made me a mom

he taught me about love i didn't know

strong

smart

funny

compassionate

encourager

warrior

son

brother

cousin

grandson

friend

birthday

 first birthday

 second birthday

 third birthday

 fourth birthday

 fifth birthday

may you always love God
always love your mama.
think like Jesus,
act like Jesus,
make good decisions.

 

i love you and am SO proud

of the little guy you are

and the awesome Godly

man i pray you will be