My First Embarrassing Moment as a Mother in Public!!!

So, my time finally came to have my very first embarrassing moment in public with Mallory. I wish I could have seen the look on my face when this happened, cause I am sure it was priceless!!

So yesterday, Mallory and I had been out running errands and our next to last stop was the post office to check my mail. As I always do, I got her out the car seat, carried her to the sidewalk and then put her down to walk while holding my hand. To my surprise, Mallory started to walk slower and slower and slower, and at one time I stopped briefly to make sure nothing was wrong with her shoes. After checking her shoes, which were fine, we started walking again and then all of a sudden right in front of the post office entrance, she came to a complete stop. As I turn my head the unthinkable happens....... I look down towards her feet and out of nowhere, well not really nowhere ,but you know what I mean, comes a DIAPER falling out the side of her romper. Yes, and in case you think you didn't read that right, I did just say a DIAPER fell out of Mallory's outfit!! Now at that very moment, I am thinking to my self "This can't be what I think it is... how in the world would her diaper just fall out like that????" Well after the initial shock, I picked her up to check and yes, sadly, I determined it was in fact the DIAPER she HAD been wearing for the last 1 to 2 hours!!!

Now as you can imagine, I am still in shock as I am walking into the post office with Mallory in tow, holding her wet diaper, and praying she doesn't use the bathroom on me!!I am sure it look rather weird for a lady to be holding a wet used diaper in her hands while walking into the post office!! I also was hoping no one was watching us while all of this was happening.....but I knew their was a lady sitting in her car at the time it happened.

Now as I am hurrying to get her back to the car, so I can get Mallory a new diaper on (I mean who really wants to be tinkled on, right??) and of course the same lady is still sitting in her car. Right as we walk past her car, I see out the corner of my eye her window rolling down. So I think to my self, "Oh no... what is she going to say???? Should I just hurry and act like I don't hear her??" Well the next thing I hear is this lady laughing and then she says:, "Oh Honey, Baby Girl done lost her britches huh??" I was so embarrassed, all I remember saying is "Yes, Mam. I am not sure how this happened... it has never happened before." I continued to walk to my car not looking back at her and after she finally drove off I got Mallory a new diaper and we were on our merry way.... Hey at least I provided her a few minutes of laughter!! As for me, I am now laughing about it but most thankful it wasn't a poopy diaper that fell out!!

I am sure their will be many more funny embarrassing moments in the years to come!! I guess this is all part of being a mommy!! I wouldn't trade it for anything... and it will make for some good stories when Mallory gets older!

We will be Gulf Shores bound tonight when John gets off work!! Oh and Happy 18 months to Miss Mallory today and Happy 29th Birthday to the very best Sister a girl could ask for!!!!

Anyways, hope you enjoyed my first embarrassing moment with Mallory!!!

Turning 30 Along with a Surprise Visit to Alabama!

The last few weeks have been busy but lots of fun! On May 1st I turned the big "30". Yes, I am officially not in my 20's!! At least I don't feel any older yet! John surprised me with a yummy cake Mrs. Beth Robinson made and I got lots of fun gifts!!

This past weekend was Mother's day. Several months ago, John and I got this idea where we thought it would be fun to plan a surprise visit to His parents for Mother's day. In order to pull this off we had to involve his dad, sister and Nanny. Now, if you know my Mother-in-law, you know that she freaks out about having a super clean house and has told me many times not to just show up unannounced!! Now, knowing this made me a little nervous as to what her reaction might be. I was hoping she would just be happy to see us and not worry so much about the house!! To be honest, I never thought we would be able to pull this off, but to my surprise we succeeded!!

On Friday, after work we piled in the car and headed north to Cordova, Al. In Tuscaloosa, we stopped and picked up John's sister Krista. At about 9:30 we were pulling in the driveway and the whole house was dark. Since we are all such pro's at pulling off surprises we already had a game plan of what to do next...NOT!! Oddly enough we all sat their in silence wondering what to do next... I mean do we ring the door bell?? Call their cell phones since the house phone was still not working due to the recent tornado's?? Well, we finally decided to ring the doorbell and after standing their for what felt like 15 minutes, John's mom finally came to the door. She was in her house coat and had her hair full of rollers!! You could tell we had just woken her up, but she was still all smiles!! I wish I had thought to get the camera out, but lets just say the smile on her face was definitely priceless! We could all tell she was so happy we had come!!

The next morning, Nanny cooked the best breakfast I have had in a long time! Her homemade biscuits were finger licking good!! During our visit, we got to see Aunt Betty, Aunt Peggy and Uncle Steve, Cousin Kelly and Dusty and their sweet new baby Emma! While at Aunt Peggy's house, we got to see a 1 day old calf and lots of cows! I honestly have never seen a calf that close or been that close to a cow! Mallory thought the cows were so neat!! Sadly though She kept saying ruff ruff, which as you know is what a dog says... I guess we need to work on the distinction of the MOO MOO sound from a dog barking! Ha Ha.. I promise we have tried to get her to MOO MOO, but she much prefers the ruff ruff sound!!

We had such a great time and I am so glad we were able to pull of the wonderful surprise visit!! Seeing John's mom so happy and not so worried about food and a clean house was great!! I am blessed to have the best in laws and am so thankful for each one of John's family members!! After Church with the family at Nanny's church on Sunday and a 4 hour drive back to Hattiesburg on Monday, we are back to reality and our regular schedule.

Even though we are back to reality, I still can't get out of my mind all the tornado devastation we saw in John's hometown. We were able to drop off some items these people needed, but I wish I could have done so much more! There were so many people that lost everything and even family members! It really puts in perspective whats really important in this life! All of our material things can be replaced, but living for God's glory is much more important! I can't even begin to understand what it feels like to loose everything, but I do know that with the help of our fellow Christians and faith in God these people will get through this this tragic situation and be a stronger person because of it! I challenge every christian out there to have the attitude that we were put on this earth to Serve and not be Served! You never know when you could be in this situation yourself! Praying for all the many people that were affected by these terrible storms!

One of my favorite new songs is Blessings by Laura Story. Here are the lyrics. It is a very true and powerful song. Just think how powerful trials in our life could impact others around us if we looked at them the way this song describes!

"Blessings" by Laura Story

We pray for blessings
We pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

We pray for wisdom
Your voice to hear
And we cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough
All the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we'd have faith to believe

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
And what if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win
We know the pain reminds this heart
That this is not, this is not our home

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
And what if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy
And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are Your mercies in disguise

My mom had a huge impact on my life!

Today on Mothers Day , I can't help think about how special my mom is and what she has taught me!

Loving, Giving, Opinionated, a Leader, and the Energizer Bunny, are just a few words that come to my mind when I think about my Mom. I am thankful for each one of these and would not be the person I am today without these valuable lessons!!!

The true meaning of love and loving your family is such a valuable lesson my mother taught me. Her example of not only loving me during the wonderful times ,but also loving me when I was being a horrible and terrible teenager, had a huge impact on my life! I can tell you that She spent many many nights and hours in prayer for me during my teenage years and thank goodness I am not that horrible terrible teenager anymore!! God is good and those prayers were answered...although she would probably tell you it took a little longer than she had hoped for, but it was worth the wait! Ha! I can tell you that I would not be the person I am today without her loving example no matter how terrible I acted towards her!! Thank you for teaching me the importance of family and what it truly means to love your neighbor as thy self!

One lesson that I can totally give mom the credit for teaching me, is what it means to truly give. From giving God back His tithe, helping a neighbor/friend in need, paying someones bill, or even just cooking dinner for someone, she taught me that giving to others is very important. Now, I will also tell you that she is the person that would prefer to do things anonymously and never wants the credit. The biggest lesson learned here is that giving does not just involve money, but it can also include your time, service and prayer. So many times people just need a helping hand! Witnessing this on a weekly basis made such a huge impact in my life and I hope to teach Mallory how important giving really is. After all isn't everything we have God's anyway?? If everything we have is His, then why shouldn't we use it to glorify His kingdom instead of our wants.

Now, I know the word opinionated may not sound like the nicest description of my mom, but if you know my mom at all, you will agree 100% that this describes her to a T!! I can honestly say this part of my mother's personality has taught me so many valuable things! What I believe in and why, where to shop and why, it's ok to voice what I think out loud, and I better speak up or else fade away, are just a few of the lessons this has taught me! So mom thanks for being opinionated even though sometimes we still give you a hard time about it!!

When I think of a leader, I definitely think of my mom. I have seen her in action on church committees, planning wedding showers to dealing with hospital care for my grandparents. I will tell you that if you ever have to be in the hospital or if you need anything done such as a shower or maintenance at the church... she is the one to get the job done! I will never forget when she didn't like the care my grandfather was getting in the hospital and my mom got it handled quicker than the nurse could! Thanks mom for teaching me what true leadership is about and that seeing the job to the end is very important!! Important lesson here is don't be a quitter!

The Energizer Bunny keeps going and going and going and going... well this is my mother! I mean sometimes I think she has more energy that a teenager! She can work circles around me! I thought it was suppose to be the other way around, since I am 30 years younger, but God has given her so much energy, which she has used to bless my life time and time again! This energy has helped me move too 2 different states, get 2 houses ready to sell, and take on night time feedings the first several weeks of Mallory's life. Oh and that is just a few of the things! The first 5 years of my marriage John and I lived at least 6 to 8 hours away. She was always just a drive away if I ever needed her. I am blessed to have a mom who keeps on going and going and going! I hope I have even half of the energy she has when I am her age! It's so awesome to see her using that energy not just for her family, but to help others around

My mom is one special person and I could never thank her for all she has done and taught me. Mom thank you for blessing my life time and time again and most importantly still loving me even when I was a selfish child and teenager!! Mallory is blessed to have one awesome Nana!!