Faithfulness During the Midnight Hour

Two weeks ago, we had a special guest preacher come speak at church. He and his family were here to preach and meet our church family in view of a call to become our full time pastor. The message he preached really spoke to me and I wanted to share it in hopes that it might encourage you during the Trials of our lives.

In Acts 16:16-34: Paul and Silas, who had been preaching God's Word got put in Jail, clothes torn off and beaten. Now if you put yourself in their shoes, I definitely don't think my first reaction would have been to Pray and Sing Hymns to God to at the midnight hour, but that is exactly what Paul and Silas did!! I mean what a testimony to how we should react during the many trails we go through!!

I think back to the day I got a phone call that John had been laid off and they were closing down the Weyerhauser plant in Valdosta, Ga. At first I was in shock and had lots of emotions running through my head. I kept thinking what are we going to do???? Is John ok?? After all my initial fears and shock, I was able to find peace in the uncertainty we faced, but oh how God would have rather me Praised Him immediately instead of several days later. I mean if Silas and Paul did that under those terrible circumstances and the Jailer not only didn't commit suicide, but his family and him accepted Christ, just think how God can use us today during our trials to impact people around us!!

Praying that whatever Trials I will face in the future, I will praise Him in the midnight hour and use it as a testimony for His Glory!! After all, Isn't our mission to Glorify Him??

Tractor Party and Almost 22 Months!!!

Last Sunday, Ethan had his two year old birthday party!! Hard to believe My sister has a two year old!! It seems like yesterday we were both in high school fighting over what time to leave for school. Ha! Well my little nephew is obsessed with anything Tractor related!!! So a tractor themed party was very fitting!!

We enjoyed grilled hamburgers, baked beans, potato salad, cake, and ice cream!! The kids also had a blast playing on the splash pad out at Paul B Johnson State Park. The weather was wonderful and thankfully not to hot!!

I can't believe tomorrow, my sweet little baby, well really a toddler, will be 22 months old!!! She is growing up so fast!! She's talking more and saying small sentences. Some examples are: I want out(referring to her crib, high chair or car seat). I want grapes. I want juice. Mama's car red. Mallory also loves to color now, and still loves to read books!! She also loves to help me and Nana do things, although sometimes is ends up taking double the time! When she gets really excited she starts breathing really loud and bats her hands, which is super cute to see!! Recently, She went to the potty for me. My mom suggested I give her an M&M as a prize for going, well she was really excited to get the M&M but I couldn't convince her to eat it at all. She just held it in her hand for a long time until I had to take it away due to the fact the coating was turning her hand green!! She was not to happy after she saw me eat it! HA! I guess I am going to have to come up with another idea, for potty excitement!!

This past Wednesday at play school, Mallory was playing in one of the play houses and apparently there was a huge fire ant bed under it and the teachers were not aware of it. All of a sudden they told me Mallory just started screaming and screaming.... well ants were crawling all over her shoulder and right arm. So sadly she came home with at least 10 yucky looking red ant bites, but at least they haven't bothered her to much.

In less than 3 weeks we are headed to the Happiest Place on Earth!! Disney World here we come!!!! We are meeting some of our friends we made during the two and a half years we lived in Valdosta, Ga. I am super excited to get see them and their little girl Anna, who is 3 I think. It has been over a year since we have seen them, so it will be fun to hang out again for a few days!!

I am looking forward to see what 22 Months old brings!! I feel so blessed to be a mommy to Miss Mallory!! Enjoy the pictures!

Cubbies , Cubbies and More Cubbies!!!

Well our church has decided to official start Awana and it starts this Wed!! I am super excited to be the Director of the Cubbies group. This is pre-kindergarden age which is 3's and 4's. I love this age to much and look forward to spending the next 9months with them!

It's so excited to be apart of such a great program that not only allows kids to have fun at church during game time, but also pushes memory verse learning each week!! I have all sorts of ideas from fun games, to crafts and bible stories we are going to implement and can't wait to see these little children grow to learn all about how great our wonderful merciful Savior is!! I even found a bear puppet at Dollar Tree that I am going to use as Cubbie Bear and my wonderful husband, John will be his voice!! I am super excited and know the kids will love it!!

I know how much Christ has done in my life and can't wait to see how he will impact these children and their families!! Our Cubbies Motto is "Jesus Love Me" and oh how true this is!! I pray that I am able to help these kids understand how much Jesus loves us that He died on the cross so we could have eternal life!! I mean how awesome is that??? To have someone who loves us that much and loves us unconditionally is such a blessing that we do not even deserve, but are given!!

I am looking forward to teaching these sweet children all about Jesus and how much he loves us! Praying for God to get all the glory in this wonderful program and for Him to do a work in the Leaders and Children!!

School, Potty Training and Lots of Sewing have kept things really busy!!

Well a lot has been going on around here lately. Mallory started back to play school on the 29th at Trinity, which was much needed for both of us!! It's only 3 mornings a week from 9 to 1. She loves it and it really helps with the clinginess!! We have even made it the last two days without her blanket!! I am still having problems coming up with things to send her for lunch. Mallory is one picky eater and I feel bad sending the same thing over and over again!! Right now her lunch has consisted of, yogurt or applesauce, cut up cheese, and grapes. She will hardly eat meat and doesn't like peanut butter and jelly yet... so I am struggling with a better variety!! All the other things she eats are items that have to be warmed up in a microwave, so they are out... I am praying one day she will learn to eat a little more variety!! I know that some of this is due to her limited diet from digestion and reflux issues until she was about 14 or 15 months old, but now she should be able to eat anything she just doesn't want to try it!! I am sure with time this will get better, cause I was a really picky eater as well, but I at least ate chicken and peanut butter and jelly!! Ha!

This past Tuesday, my mom and dad packed up the truck and headed to New Orleans to catch a flight to Las Vegas for the night before boarding a small plane to where they would embark on what my dad would call "a vacation of a life time". However, my mom would beg to differ, but is being a great supportive spouse and has agreed to go so my dad can check one more thing off his Bucket List!!

Now, to give you a little idea about what this "vacation of a life time" entails, imagine yourself riding on a raft in the Colorado river floating through the bottom of the Grand Canyon not just for one day but how about 7!! Now, if you know my mom very well you can tell right off that this is definitely not her type of vacation, but fits my dad to a T!! I am still trying to figure out how my dad talked her into going!! I guess she really has mellowed in her old age!! HA! She is getting to experience no running water, sleeping under the stars, no diet cokes, no power, no a/c, and probably the hardest one no INTERNET!! It will be good for her I think!! Ha Ha!! As far back as I can remember tent camping was not even in her vocabulary, it had to at least be a cabin and that was only on our Yellowstone vacation!! So I am anxious to here all about their "vacation of a life time"!! They will be back at the hotel in Las Vegas Tuesday and back in Hattiesburg on Wed. I really hope they are having fun admiring all the beauty our wonderful Saviour created!! I can only imagine that is indescribable!

On another note, I have been sewing like crazy..... I have made Ethan and Caroline matching MSU outfits. I made Ethan a Tractor Shirt for his B'day coming up. I have also made Mallory an USM outfit, MSU shirt and pants, Minnie Mouse Appliqued shirt and some other stuff. I am still not done with my list... maybe one day I will catch up... ha..

I can't believe that my nephew Ethan is almost 2!! That means Mallory is creeping closer to being 2 also... Oh My!!! Where has the time gone!!! She is really starting to talk a lot now... everything is a persons... such as Mama's juice or Mama's Car Car. Every time she See's a red truck she points and says Pop's truck... it super cute!! She is also in the stage where she doesn't want to sit for very long in the shopping cart.... so this has caused one fit in public and I am sure will cause many more!! She has also pooped on the potty 3 times and tinkled 2 times!! I was so proud and it was totally her idea!! I don't know that she is totally ready for full force potty training... but it is getting a lot closer and we are definitely introducing the idea!! This is actually quite scary to me considering how terrible my mom said I was to potty train.. she said it was a nightmare!!! I am hoping Mallory will not be as difficult, but if she is we will just push through it!!

Mallory now knows what apple juice is thanks to Daddy!! I wasn't to happy since she was completely fine with ice water for so long and didn't care if there was juice in it or not. However, now she will ask for it and point to it in the fridge if she sees it!! I still water it down, but I guess it was time for her to know the difference and what kid doesn't want sugar over water right?? I guess this is completely normal!! Mallory is also terribly afraid of Lizards and bugs.... it's pretty bad when she freaks out worse than me!!! I know you are thinking I am the one who taught her this... but I promise I didn't .... She also doesn't like bandaids at all nor thunder. Not to sure where these come from, but they are definitely fears at the moment. She is starting to say short sentences now such as "Daisy's food gone gone." Some of these sentences we understand and some we have no clue! Thanks to Pops Mallory now knows what the ice cream tub is... and gets really excited when she sees someone get it out of the freezer. She loves ice cream and always wants her own bowl of it!

Well that's about all that has been going on with us over the last few weeks.... looking forward to our upcoming trip to Disney with our friends from Georgia!