the Face of Change

Tuesday was a first in our house...William lost a tooth! He had told me several weeks ago that his teeth were wiggly. At first, it startled me. I thought 'oh no what is wrong.' Then it hit me, they are suppose to be lose! I came home from my moms group Monday night to find the tooth barely hanging on. As the day progressed Tuesday, he wanted it out!...and he wanted his daddy to pull it! Tim came by the house and tried several ways to pull it. His fingers were too big and he couldn't get a grip on it. So...it was my turn. We were in the bathroom...I asked William 'are you ready?...(the whole time I am thinking to myself, No I'm not ready! I am scared! This isn't happening! He was just crawling yesterday! But that's another post! ) with one good tug, it was out! I could not believe it! William could not believe it! He didn't cry... he just kept saying "it's out Mommy!" This was a very exciting and emotional thing to experience. He was ready for bed sooner than normal (knowing that the tooth fairy was coming) and the next morning woke us up saying "she brought me cash; I have cash to spend!" What a great day and look at that beautiful face!

the First of Many

Last Saturday William had his first soccer game. He was so excited. We had a 10:00am game and he hardly could stand it. He ate a good breakfast ( so I will have lots of energy mommy!) and had his uniform on before I could brush my teeth, let alone get dressed. As the game started, you could tell the kids were getting the hang of it. Which kids were on their team. What goal was theirs and where the 'hot' zone was. When the whistle blows, we freeze. It was the first time most of them had played ,so for obvious reasons, they will only get better with time. As I (and William's Grumpy and Granny Lou) cheered him on from our side and his dad did the same, with a little bit of coaching too, from the other side, I started to observe something in my boy. To look at him, to know him, he is an outgoing, never meet a stranger, type of guy. Yet...as the game progressed, I saw a somewhat timid, non-aggressive, concerned boy on the field. As I thought more about his actions, it made me aware of what a special boy I have. He liked the game and wanted to go after the ball, but when another player was hurt (on the opposite team) he stopped to make sure he was alright. I know this is only the beginning of probably many sporting events for William. I was glad to observe this all-boy, new athlete in action and realize that some of this is not taught, it is just seen and learned.

Ahoy Mateys...William is 5!

Last week my baby, my little boy turned 5 yrs.old. On August 28th, 2003 at 3 something in the afternoon, our precious miracle entered the world. When I think back about that day, his personality shown through immediately. He had a vigor, a determination, and also a raw sweetness that encaptured you. Fast forward five years, and that same vigor, determination, and sweetness abounds in him. All he could talk about was a pirate party when he turned 5. Well...fellow mateys...we had a great pirate party. He and his friends (all 14 of them!) walked the plank like pirates from long ago. They hunted for treasure...and found some in our own back yard! All the pirates had a pirate snack and drink and then it was time to look at all the loot. What fun it was to see his face. We all had a great time!

William, I can not believe you are 5. I am so proud of the boy you are becoming. You are strong, determined, and you truly care about others. I pray that God will daily bless your life. You will always be my baby, my special boy. Love your first-mate, mommy

Women of Faith and Grace

A couple of weekends ago, I had the opportunity to experience God's amazing love and grace through the Women of Faith conference. I had always heard about it but it was my very first time to attend. There are so many things that encouraged me and warmed my heart. It is so hard to pick just one thing that stood out. Patsy Clairmont completely blew me away with her firecracker personality, her wonderful humor, and great insight to God's word and to what is relevant to women today. She spoke of the woman in the Bible that had been stooped over, crippled for many years. ( see Luke 13: 10-17) She related to us as women we sometimes live our life like that. We live stooped over lives; carrying our burdens as wives, mothers, sisters, and friends. We finally come to the point where we meet Jesus and He heals us of being 'crippled' and we have the opportunity to stand up and shout and thank Him for what He has done and what do we do? We continue to live stooped over and unthankful. What words of wisdom and relativety to my own life.

Another aspect of the weekend was the wonderful music. I would go back just for that. I am a singer just waiting to come out any chance I can get so it was such a blessing to hear these women praise God with their voices. Natalie Grant, Sandi Patty, and Nicole C. Mullen each spoke of the grace of God in their own lives. What inspiring words. As I attended the conference, I had been carrying in the back of my mind some words from our worship leader that really struck a chord with me. He had said that the more you and I are around the Word, the more 'churched' we are, the less aware we become of how God's grace touched our lives. We lose that excitement and wonder at God's grace that was once there when we first came to know Him. As I thought of his words and experienced God's grace, I was very humbled. I do not ever want to take that for granted. I want to always remember what God's grace looks like in my life. Nicole spoke of the woman in the Bible who was bleeding and she wanted to just touch Jesus. To be made whole. I want to daily remember when I was first touched by Jesus and my life was made whole.

This weekend encouraged me in ways that I never thought possible. To God be the glory!

the concert

Those who know me know that I am a huge Keith Urban fan to the very core. Tim's cousins wives (my cousin-in-laws, I guess that is what you call them!) and I went to a Kenny Chesney and Keith Urban concert. What a fun time! We got to know a little more about each other and enjoy some great music...not to mention great seats! I would not trade it for the world. I had a blast and realized these women are not just family, they are my friends.

p.s. more pics of Kenny to follow :)

A Lesson

Have you ever had one of those weeks that you feel completely overwhelmed and such a mess? Well...it happened to me a couple weeks ago. It started off great. A wonderful and beautiful time spent with my sister and her family. A time of connecting and sharing. Another beautiful moment happened that monday night at a restaurant in Ft.Worth. Moments shared. Experiences heard. Wisdom given. Then...all of sudden it happened. The moment where I could not breathe and everything started staring me in the face. As I took a breath and started to make sense of it all, the tears started to come . In that moment of despair I realized that the peace, the peace that I have spoken about before, was becoming more real to me. This had been a hard week for me yet I finally caught a glimpse of the here and now and knew that God was growing me to be more like Him. Each day I am learning this...one breath at a time.

the beach

We had a lot of fun at the beach this year. William had an amazing time- boogie boarding, body surfing, and jumping off a 15ft. diving platform into a spring that is 68 degrees year round. There were lots of firsts for this trip to Florida and we look forward to many more!