September 14, 2010

• {winners *** and a birthday}
  
  Thanks to all who entered the giveaway~
  I really enjoyed reading through your answers.
  Sounds like lots of super sweet memories were made this summer..
  as well as some great marriages going on… and good words of wisdom and advice from so many of you.
  Nice to know too that if I ever happen to steal one of your ipods ;p I wouldn’t have to change much with it -
  I think the majority of the songs you listed are all favorites of mine as well!!

  I admit the only part I don’t like about giveaways is announcing the winners…
  I always wish everyone could win. 
  Shayne knows this about me and I think he was a bit nervous when he saw the number that entered..
  “uh, babe.. you’re not going to try to figure out how you can give all these ladies something are you?”

  Well, I just might yet.
  But. in the meantime…
  the three randomly drawn names by my professional name drawers {a.k.a. 3 kiddos} are::

  *** third place:: schrockgirl
  
  she said::Love love your giveaways!!! My highlight this summer was finding out #2 baby is on it’s way!! I have been so incredibly BLESSED with my incredibly awesome hubby, who continues to amaze me everyday, even after 5 1/2 years of marriage. We have the sweetest little tiny 22LB, 2 1/2 year old little boy, and we cannot WAIT to meet this new little “movement” who already is making his/her presense known. =)
  
  *** second place:: Jifners
  
  she said::When is your baby due? Mine is coming next Thursday! You don’t look nearly big enough to be at the end of pregnancy though! Okay, found this link on one of my friend’s facebook sites, so I thought I’d give a try for those prizes.
  
  ONE THING THAT SURPRISED ME ABOUT MARRIAGE: How much work it is. Everyone tells you how wonderful it is, and it is, indeed wonderful. I have been married eight years. But it does take work. And lots of it. You have to work on communicating, you have to work on common ground (especially after you have kids), you have to work on discipline w/ your kids and how you both want to do it. You have to work on intentional time w/ each other. It’s hard work, but well worth the effort. Too many people just give up when it gets hard and just want to “get out.” It’s sad. How much more precious is something that you had to work hard to get..
  
  I’ll link to this on my xanga as well. You have a beautiful family! And how sweet that you’re giving such wonderful prizes away. It shows your heart.
  
  -Jennifer
  
  
  *** first place:: CBrown6207
  

  she said:: Exciting giveaway!  Thanks so much for hosting this!  )
  

  1. Before Dan and I got married, we had so many people tell us that the first year of marriage is so rough and that once you get past that it’s much easier.  For us, we were both very suprised at how wonderful it was right from the start.  We were just so happy to finally be married and have loved every minute of it right from the start.  I was also surprised at how very real it felt for me to be “leaving and cleaving”.  From the moment we were at the altar I had this overwhelming sense of being “free” from my parent’s and joyfully with Dan from then on.  I guess simply said: just glorying in the “one-ness” that comes with being married. 
  

  2. Favorite memory from this summer would have to be the days leading up to Dan’s deployment.  Though it was really hard to know he would be going soon, we enjoyed every single day of being together and savored the sweetness.
  

  3. Fave song right now is Gary Allan’s “I Can Love You”.  Dan and I aren’t together right now.  He can’t be here for the ups and downs of life.  There is so much that this physical distance puts severe and strong limits on.  The song always makes me cry because it reminds me of how much Dan loves me and that all these things right now don’t change that one bit!!  And it makes me so thankful to the Lord for keeping us close and holding us together with His love.

   
  congratulations girls! & enjoy.
  

   
  Please message me your addresses so I can get those gifts in the mail to ya!!
  

  ~***~***~***
  
  We celebrated Emma’s 5th birthday on Sunday!
  
  For weeks she’s been talking about only one thing…
  “…i wanna pink sooter wif a basset on it. and wittle bunny wike dis big {showing us with her hands} and i will tall her cware and she tan wide in my basset on my sooter…”
  
  Well. yes.
  After mommy did some convincing of daddy…
  a bunny named, Claire, joined the family early Sunday morning before church.

  

  And later, at her birthday party she got the “pink sooter” from mamaw and papaw…
  and Claire promptly went for her first ride!

  
  
  

  I’m wondering if any of you are bunny experts?
  Claire hasn’t eaten since we brought her home late Sat. night.
  I called the pet store yesterday and the guy said it was because she was in shock!
  {ya think? being taken from your 12 other brothers and sisters and thrust into a noisy lively household that involves sudden sporadic rides in a basket on a pink scooter shouldn’t be the least bit shocking}  
  He said it would take her awhile to adjust to her new surroundings.
  Just wondering if this was true –
  and not some patent answer the napoleon dynamite guy from Jack’s Aquarium is supposed to give me!
  
  
  
  
  {having fun with the uncles}

  ***
  
  
  
  
  {making a wish.. probably for more bunnies!}

  ***
  
  
  {her best little girlfriend, Gracie}
  
  ***
  
  
  
  
  
  {so loved}

  ***
  
  I can’t believe my baby is five.
  And soon not to be the baby any longer!
  What do they say about blinking..
  Opening your eyes after just a brief moment,
  and seeming to find the years have passed impossibly by in that instant.
  
  But what a precious.. absolutely precious instant it’s been so far.
  As if God wrapped a piece of Himself up as a gift to us and delivered it in the form of this little person!
  
  

  

  

  
  
  
  
    
  “I often challenge myself to recognize the many facets of my identity and to understand that motherhood does not completely define me. I want to set an example for my girls of fulfilling my one wild and precious life with a great many things and giving them the freedom to explore the wonders of the world in their own way. I tell myself that I will gradually have to let go and that life will not always be filled with the happiness of dress up and tea parties and spontaneously aproning up to make cupcakes with extra sprinkles.

  …but right now, I drink it up, knowing that the magnitude of our inspiration shifts over time. And while I am aware that mothering cherub-cheeked littles will not always be the source of full-flowing inspiration, I know that loving them will.” -Kelle Hampton

  Happy Birthday to our Emma Calen ~***

  
   
  

  • 10:30 am
  • 54 Comments