My Stud is 1!

There's been a lot going on in the past month, hence the lack of blogs!  But mainly, a very handsome, sweet, cuddly little boy had his first birthday!

I found this idea on Pinterest and LOVED it!  I hope to make one for every birthday my kids have!  What a fun way to remember what they liked! 

Happy Birthday sweet baby boy!  You have been a constant reminder that the Lord is indeed full of grace!!

Let the Planning Begin!

This past weekend Clint's sister Lauren got engaged!!  I have been told since I planned our wedding 5 years ago, that I would be resident wedding planner when Lauren got married.  And thus it begins!  We are so so so excited for her and her hubby-to-be Jesse (I am also excited that this means my kids will have an uncle Jesse! HA!).  I have until June to plan a frugal, beautiful, natural, simple, elegant wedding.  And I am SO excited!  So be expecting posts in the next few months on how where to save, spend, DIY and forget in the whole wedding planning process!  Congrats Lauren and Jesse!  May this wedding be a picture of the two becoming one!!!

Musical Monday

This is a song we listen to literally every day!  Sometimes multiple times a day!  Our prayer is that our little ones, as they dance and sing "and if our God is for us, then what can stand against?"  develop a theology of the Lord being on our side! 

Musical Monday

I hope that Musical Monday would be more consistent than it has.  But when life happens, often blogging doesn't.  Here are two guys we LOVE.  Shane and Shane have led us into worship via their cd's and concerts for years.  Theirs is the first Christian CD Clint ever gave me.  They sing the scriptures and that is why we love them.  Here is a song from their new album The One You Need.  GO GET IT.  And if you have a daughter, you might want to grab some tissues as well...

a Little R&R

This past weekend hubby and I took a little retreat.  Upon the request and funded by some great (generous) friends of ours, we were ordered to go to a Bed and Breakfast to sleep and recover from our insane interesting summer.  I did quite a bit of research and decided this was exactly what we needed.  So, we dropped the babies off with some very happy grandparents and went on our way the farm!  We spent the weekend eating VERY well thanks to Terry the chef, resting in the beautiful rooms, studying God's word, reading and watching college football.  It was exactly what we needed.  We feel rested.  We feel renewed.  We feel ready to jump into a crazy semester of ministry, school, parenting and life.  Here are few pictures to show you just how restful this place was!

Miniature cows...

not so miniature bunny

Donkey... I. Love. Donkeys.

MomLife

We have been car searching since the sweet Passat got totaled.  We loved that car and what it stood for, overwhelming generosity from friends and from the Lord.  But, alas, there is a new season unfolding.

We have been working with an amazing man from our church to get a car from his lot.  Clint was very vague about what we wanted.  Good gas mileage, good car, great deal.  The next day he called Clint to tell him he had an amazing deal on this...

Oh yeah...that's right.  As of this weekend we will be chillin in this sweet ride.  We are officially minivan parents.  Oh how I never thought this day would come....

Healing

We are healing well from the accident, emotionally as well as physically.  My black eye is quickly fading, which makes Clint really happy (hes been getting lots of hateful looks when we are together...).  I've had to explain a few times "He didn't hit me...we were in a car accident".  Prayers have been felt, and we are in the process of getting a new car...more on that another day ;)

A few days after the accident, we were in Walmart buying new car seats.  Clint looked up and froze.  "I think that's the guy that hit us."  There are over 250,000 people in Greensboro, and lo and behold...it was him.  We walked up to him.  He hugged me and told me he was sorry.  It was surreal.  Clint had lunch with him yesterday.  Surreal.

The Lord has been so gracious through all of this.  We have felt loved on and cared for like family from our homegroup at church.  Meals came every other day.  They took care of our kids the day of the accident.  They came to the hospital to pick us up.  The Church has rallied around us.  They have been such a picture of the Lord's provision and compassion.  Our families have (as always) been amazing.  We've received cards, calls, texts and tweets.  Friends came to visit that night. 

The Lord works in very powerful ways through His people, and especially through a body of believers.  I have never been more convinced of the power and influence of the Church.  We really are intended to work together as parts of the body.  Some fingers, some toes, some eyes, some a tongue.  And when you get to see it working together it is as marvelous as the human body.  Breathtaking if you will allow yourself to see it for what it is.