Little boy!

Messes, grins, mischief.... I sure do love this boy!

Parkerisms.

Parker: "when did you met daddy?"
Me: "when I was in college"
Parker: "cause you were looking for a boy?"
Me: yep! I guess I was.
Parker: "and you saw daddy and said 'that one looks perfect!'"

What is love?

This is on Parker's classroom door at school. Bottom frame is zoomed in on Parker's answer to the question "What is love?" Pretty deep response for a 4 year old!

A dose of cuteness

So my last few posts have been pretty full of WORDS but nothing cute! For the 3 people who actually read this, I decided I needed to throw in a little dose of adorable!!!

Obedience.

Sometimes obedience means doing things we don't want to do.
Sometimes obedience means NOT doing things we want to do.
Sometimes it is trusting that God has all of the little details taken care of.
Sometimes it is trusting that God has all of the BIG details taken care of too.
Sometimes it is easy.
Sometimes it is so, so hard.
Always it is worth it.

Obedience for our little family looks like stepping out in faith and leaving the church we have been a part of for almost 7 years, not knowing where we will go now. It hasn't been easy. But I trust that it will be so, so good.

2 Chronicles 20:12- We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.

11 Questions

The precious Ashlee at Blessed Chick tagged me in this post and requested that I answer these same questions! So, here goes!

1. What are your biggest pet peeves, not including traffic issues?

This is hard, because most of my pet peeves are traffic related!! I guess I'd have to go with people who "play dumb" to get out of things and people who act over-entitled.

2. If you could go on an all-expense paid vacation & take one person, who would you take & where would you go?

I would love to either take a cruise or go to an all-inclusive resort with the hubs! We've never been on a vacation alone other than our honeymoon, and neither of us have been on either of those types of vacation!

3. If you could do anything you wanted for your next birthday, what would you do? (Money is no object & everything is okay to eat!)
Sleep late, Split Decision breakfast from IHOP, shopping, lunch at La Madeleine's, nap, movie, dinner at Ruth's Chris or Sullivan's...

4. What is your favorite play or musical? If you do not have one, how are we friends? (Totally kidding. I don't watch football, it all evens out!)
Children of Eden holds a special place in my heart!!!! I also love Bye, Bye Birdie and Les Miserables.

4. What are some of your favorite girl names? Favorite boy names?
Other than my own kids' names...
Girl- Bradlee Jane, Kyle Olivia
Boy- Beau, Easton, Kellan

5. What is the biggest lesson you have learned in life? God's plans are so much better than mine!

6. What is your favorite recipe? (Link please!)
I don't have a link, but "crack dip"... One 16 oz container sour cream (you cannot use light, it won't mix properly), 1 packet hidden valley ranch dressing mix, shredded cheddar cheese, bacon bits to your heart's desire. So amazing! Serve with corn chips or potato chips, yum!

7. What is the last book you read? Did you enjoy it?
The newest Karen Kingsbury book, Longing. SO good! All of her books are amazing!!

8. Who is your favorite author or speaker?
Author- Karen Kingsbury (Christian fiction)
Speaker(s)- Beth Moore (ah-mazing!!), Christine Caine (seriously y'all. Heard her speak on the Passion live stream... Talk about powerful), Louie Giglio

9. Which bloggie friends do you hope to meet in real life?
I don't know if I can call them "friends" since they have no idea I exist... But... Kelly from Kelly's Korner... I adore her! And Ashley from Lil Blue Boo.. Want to talk about someone who puts "Choose Joy" in a new perspective?? Also Kristin from Lu Bird Baby... I'm pretty sure if we lived in the same town, we would be friends!!

10. What is your nervous habit?
I tend to scratch/rub my neck/throat area. There will be days when I have a long day at work and my students ask "Why are you all red?" it's that bad.

11. What do you hope will happen (that could happen!) in 2012? Vacation with the hubs, get plugged in to new ministry

I'm supposed to tag 11 more people...but I don't think I really know 11 other blog buddies. I'll just leave it as an open invitation to whoever may want to do this! :)

Tough stuff< Jesus

This week has been emotionally exhausting for a variety of reasons. Most of them revolve around watching several coworkers walk through some extremely difficult circumstances. But in the midst of that, it has been extremely, extremely awesome to see our faculty come together for one another, even in prayer! (one of my coolest experiences in my 7 years of teaching-- after receiving bad news at a faculty meeting, about 35 of us stayed after the meeting, joined hands, and cried out to the Lord on behalf of another. So awesome!)

All that to say: Jesus is so much bigger. "Our God is greater. Our God is stronger. God, you are higher than any other! Our God is healer; awesome in power! Our God!" No matter what junk we are walking through (either personally or walking along side someone else), He is enough. Always. And in Him is so much freedom. I'm so glad for the work He's currently doing in my heart.