Sisterly love

While I was home over the weekend, I got to spend some WoNdErFuL time with my babies.......we watched TV, we snuggled, we cooked, we played, we talked, we did it all!!!!!  This is such a pivotal part of Addie's life as she is learning to talk and Calleigh is teaching her so many words.  So far she is saying mama(my favorite), dada, tally(for Calleigh) Roo, puppy, thank you, awe, baby, bye bye, hi, hot, light, ball, ouch.  Calleigh was so proud on Thursday morning when I called that she had taught Addie how to say hi.  It is so cute to watch Calleigh teach her things.  The love each other so much and that just makes my heart melt!  I love their love for each other.  Sometimes they are at each other, but for the most part they love each other so much and play wonderfully together!  And I get to go home tomorrow!!!!!!

Just to see you smile........

After all my training was over on Friday and hopped in my car and drove home.  When it is Friday at 4:30 pm in Indy I am in such a hurry to get home.  And the traffic is always fighting me.  I love walking in the door and Addie running to me, arms in the air, just waiting for me to pick her up.  I love hearing Calleigh yell "Momma" as I walk to give her a hug.  But what I hate is the day when I have to leave to come back to training.  The good news is today is the last day I have to leave them.  The next time I come back to training to "graduate" they are coming with me!!!  But I can't wait to get home on Tuesday night(yeah, this is a short week!!!)  and have those arms lifted in the air ready for me to pick her up and hear those sweet words "Momma" as I walk in the door.  This has been a trying time for us but I am thankful that I can see first hand just how much they love me.  When you are around someone all the time you sometimes take that for granted and after this separation,  I will never take any of it for granted again.  I work in a hard field and more and more I am seeing just how lucky my family has it, me especially.  I have the unconditional love of two parents, a wonderful husband, and two sweet girls who are the lights of my life!  Tuesday evening can not get here fast enough!!!

Thankful

I read something last night and it reminded me just how much we take things for granted. Since it is so close to Thanksgiving, I have been thinking about the things I am thankful for:

-I am thankful for a God who loves me, who died for my sins, and who covers me in forgiveness

-I am thankful for the air I breathe each and every day and for the freedom I have

-I am thankful for parents who showed me so much and provided me with the wonderful life I have. I know what it is like to be loved unconditionally because of them

-I am thankful for the love of a man who is pure goodness. He is handsome, sweet, loving, silly, and treats me like a queen. He is also the best father for our sweet girls. He loves God. What more can I ask for? And I get to spend the rest of my life with him! I love you Andrew! I one less than three you four-ever :-)

-I am thankful for my first born, my sweet Calleigh Elizabeth. You truly are the miracle I never thought would come true. I prayed and prayed for you and God gave me you right when I needed you. Your smile makes a room brighter and you have such a sweet and loving soul. I love to hear you sing and watch you dance your way through life! You love so much, you are so trusting, you are so smart, and beautiful. You always seem to have the right words when I need to hear them. How did I get to be your mommy? I will never stop thanking the Lord for you.

-I am thankful for my second born, my silly Addison Grace. You are also a miracle, right after I accepted I might not be able to have any more children I found out you were already on your way! Funny how God does that! And then like a flash of light I thought I was losing you before I ever got to meet you......that night in the hospital I prayed for God to let you stay and not take you away so soon and he answered my prayers. Your smile and laugh makes me laugh. I love when you get caught getting in trouble how you laugh, bring your shoulders up and giggle and I can't be mad at you! I love that your first word was mama! I love when you see me your face lights up and you run into my arms! You are beautiful, just like your big sister! I will also never stop thanking the Lord for you.

-I am thankful that Calleigh and Addie have each other.

-I am thankful for the house that we have. It may not be much to some of you, but it is where the love is!

-I am thankful for my In-laws. All 4 of them have taken me in as their own and I love them so much!

-I am thankful for my sibling-in-laws. Katie, Jon, Kevin and Nancy! We have some good times and it is nice having you all...the siblings I never had!

-I am thankful for all of the Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins I personally have and all I have gained by getting married to Andrew!

-I am thankful for my best friend in the whole world.....Andrea, where would I be without you? Life brought us together so long ago and I am glad that we finally gave in and became friends. God knew what he was doing all along.

-I am thankful for my job. Did I ever think this is what I wanted to be doing.....not really. But I love that fact that in my life I get to help people and keep kids safe.

-I am thankful to have a nice car to drive each and every day.

-I am thankful for my health and the health of my husband, kids, and parents.

-I am thankful for all the things I have been given in the life.

As Thanksgiving is coming, I realize this list could go on and on and on. And I have a blessed life. One that I am thankful to be living.


What are you thankful for?

Family Pictures

We had family pictures taken recently.  I think they turned out great!  You can really see how the girls are growing like weeds!  Here is a sneak peek! 

Love those two so much!  I am so blessed to be thier momma! 

Sure has been a while.....

It has been such a long time since I have blogged and so much has happened.  I wrote my last post in the spring.  I was waiting to get some new pictures up and my job was really busy......and then the unthinkable happened.  In June, my boss called me in after a meeting to let me know that they were downsizing and I was losing my job.....that day!  After the total shock set in, I went back to my office and cried while I packed everything from a job that I loved.  I left a job of 5 years to take this job.  After I was all packed up, I drove home.  Andrew was at the store buying groceries and when he came home I told him the news.  To my surprise, he was calm.  He told me that God had a plan for us and that we were going to be OK.  The very next day I started my job search.  The benefit to this was that I got to spend the whole summer with my wonderful family playing outside, learning to budget a little more and how wonderful coupons REALLY are!  I learned how to find all of the free activities we could do in our little community.  I also learned the love of our church.  Even though money was tight, we were managing.  When the church heard what happened they graciously (and without our knowing) took a love offering for us to help with a bill.  Our families stepped in and helped out here and there and we made it. 

Fast forward to August, and I found and applied for a job.  A good job.  A job with wonderful benefits, good pay, and a way to reach out a help people.  I am now working for the state of Indiana as a Family Case Manager for the Department of Child Services.  It's a hard job, but so rewarding.  And I really do think God had this planned for me all along.  I was hired in September and I am currently still in training, which will last until December 7 when I officially graduate.  It has been trying for our family as I am out of town about 3.5 hours away often to attend this training.  Many of my days and night are spent in a hotel room when I am not training.  It is lonely, but this Tuesday is that last day that I have to be away from them!  I am thankful for that!  I do talk to them everyday, usually more than once, and life is a little out of the ordinary right now.  I can not wait to get back on a normal schedule!  But I believe God knew that since I was going to be away he let me have that extra time in the summer to just be with them.  Just playing and having a good time.  This job is giving us things we never thought about before.  I have a retirement account now!  We are saving money for a new house in the future!  And most importantly we are paying off debt!  Praise the Lord.  But the biggest blessing is that I am helping families reunify with their children and get the help they might not get without me being in the picture.  I am doing my best to reach out to them and let them know there is hope!  And when I can, I squeeze a little God in....if we are comfortable enough!  It is awesome to get to glorify the one who made this all happen!!!!

During the summer, a lot happened:
-Calleigh turned 4
-Calleigh cut her hair-oh  yes, all by herself
-Addie turned one
-Addie began to walk
-Calleigh learned to swim
-Calleigh started her second year of preschool
-Addie started to talk
-I had Pochontas and a Scarecrow for Halloween
-and life just got better! 

Here we are in November and we have big plans!  First, we are of course excited for me to be done with this training and get home!  I do have most of my Christmas shopping done, but just a little more to purchase.  For Christmas, we are getting new floors in our house and new counter tops in the kitchen!  Can you tell how much this excited me????  Next summer we are planning a trip to Disney for the girls(and maybe mommy too!) and they are so looking forward to this!  In January, the girls are moving in together and getting new bunk beds! 

Life has been a lot different than I could have predicted a year ago, and yet, I know it was all part of God's plan.  Since I now have Internet access, will try to blog more frequently.  More for myself than others, but maybe a few of you out there do read about my little simple life. 

Addie Grace is crawling and "Not on your love"

For the longest time we did not think that Addie was going to crawl. She really had no desire and if she really wanted something she would roll to it or her big sister would get it for her. I finally told Calleigh that she needed to let Addie crawl to it and get it herself. This really killed her because she LOVES to help Addie and be such a good big sister. But after a few days, little Miss Addie decided to crawl. She started crawling on Tuesday, March 13, and ever since then she is getting better and better at it!

The other day on the way home, I was thinking about past relationship and just how lucky I am to be married to such a good man. She truly is everything that I ever hoped and dreamed of. I had 3 serious relationships before meeting Andrew. The first was for 3 years in high school. I was young and so was he and now that I look back on it I realize that the reason it lasted so long was because it was conformable. He was my first kiss and first relationship, and really it was just more of a friendship. After we broke up, he was in college, I was in high school, he met someone, got married, and we lost touch. I hope he is truly happy.

The second guy was what I thought was love. I cared for him deeply, but he was not good to me. He called me names, he hit me, and ran me down emotionally. My view of myself was awful and I had no self esteem. We would break-up, get back together, and do it all over again for a 1 1/2 years. Then I got smart, went to college, and was done with him. Even though it was a learning experience for me and I trusted no one, I also hope in some way he has grown up, learned from these mistakes, and is happy.

The third guy was all that I wanted. He was cute, sweet, and driven.......or so I though. What he really was not what I thought. He was a cheater, not driven, and just followed the crowd. At a time we had a plan to go to the same college and be together........maybe for the rest of our lives. Little did I know that God had other plans and I learned that I was ok with that.

I was single for about a year, give or take, and just had fun at college. I went to concerts with the girls, I was a cheerleader, and I was in class. I hung out with friends and had a good time. But I prayed for God to put a good man in my life. I was sick of being single, but still willing to wait for the right guy. On a nightly drive and talk with my best friend Andrea I told her all that I wanted in a guy.......a guy who was sweet, funny, dresses nice and took care of me but also knew how to get dirty and have fun. I wanted a guy who loved the Lord like I did and wanted the same things in life that I did. Just one week later she told me that she knew the perfect guy, I was nervous because she had tried to set me up before and those did not turn out so well, but I let her try. That weekend, I went on a group date with other girls and guys and "he" went to. We talked during dinner(at Hooters, on Valentine's Day, mind you) and bowling, and hit it off. We talked at school all week and the next weekend we went out on a date by ourselves. It was great! We have been together each day since February 22, 2003. He is the greatest man I have ever met and I am so lucky to be married to him. We have been blessed with a good life, but in the beginning with all of the things I had been through I was not a very trusting person, and rightfully so. I had been cheated on, hit, and knocked down in every sense of the way. But Andrew taught me how to trust again, told me that he would never leave me, and would never hurt me. And I can say in 9 years he has held up every end of that word. How did I get so lucky I will never know. But I am thankful that I did.

So as I was driving home the other day, I heard this song. It pretty much defines us. It is from the 90's, but here you go:

Not on your love by Jeff Carson

WE BOTH SAID SOME THINGS WE DON'T REALLY MEAN
SOMETIMES LOVE CAN BE LIKE THAT
AND RIGHT NOW THEY HURT, BUT THEY'RE ONLY WORDS
THERE NOTHIN' WE CAN'T TAKE BACK
BUT EVERY TIME WE DON'T SEE EYE TO EYE
YOU WORRY I MIGHT SAY GOODBYE

NOT ON YOUR LOVE, NOT IN THIS LIFE
COULD I EVER LEAVE, I WOULDN'T THINK TWICE
OF LETTING YOU GO, BY NOW YOU SHOULD KNOW I NEED YOU TOO MUCH
NOT ON YOUR LOVE, NO WAY IN THIS WORLD
COULD I EVER LIVE WITHOUT YOU GIRL
WHEN TIMES GET TOUGH, I'M NOT GIVING UP
NOT ON YOUR LOVE

WHEN WE STARTED OUT WE MADE A VOW
NOT TO SLEEP 'TILL WE SETTLED THE FIGHT
AND THERE HAVE BEEN TIMES WE'VE SEEN THE SUN RISE
BUT, IT ALWAYS WORKED OUT ALRIGHT
EVEN IN THE DARKEST HOUR BEFORE DAWN
I NEVER THOUGHT OF MOVING ON

NOT ON YOUR LOVE, NOT IN THIS LIFE
COULD I EVER LEAVE, I WOULDN'T THINK TWICE
OF LETTING YOU GO, BY NOW YOU SHOULD KNOW I NEED YOU TOO MUCH
NOT ON YOUR LOVE, NO WAY IN THIS WORLD
COULD I EVER LIVE WITHOUT YOU GIRL
WHEN TIMES GET TOUGH, I'M NOT GIVING UP
NOT ON YOUR LOVE

WHEN TIMES GET TOUGH, I'M NOT GIVING UP
NOT ON YOUR LOVE

I love you Andrew, thanks for making me happy, teaching me what true happiness is, and for teaching me to trust again. You truly are the greatest man I have even met(besides my dad) and I love you with all of my heart!

"We Owned the Night"

Last night I went to an AWESOME concert......

Lady Antebellum

Darius Rucker

and David Nail

......and it was so good! I have seen Lady A before and they are just getting better and better. I have never seen Darius, or "Hootie" as some of you may know him, or David Nail but I really like both of them and they really rocked it! It was so nice for myself and 3 other close friend and moms to get out of the house and have a little fun! It was great and I am looking forward to our next concert!

I am so thankful for a husband who stay home with the kids while his "wild" wife goes out to a concert! Trust me, I am the least "wild" wife out there! Haha!