Christmas 2013

Since moving to Tennessee we celebrate Christmas at our home and my parents come up and are here to celebrate with us. It has been a great time for us.

This Christmas God had different plans for us. Bryan and I thought it would be good for the kids to be in Alabama with family since all we had been through. This also gave us a chance to be with Bryan's extended family, some that we rarely get to see. 

We spent two weeks in Alabama. The grandparents could help with the kids while Bryan and I worked on listing content for the insurance company. That was a huge blessing and allowed us to get a few things done. We loved spending time with family and being together. God is so faithful!

Below are two pictures of a few things Bryan pulled from the rubbage of the house. 

This was a Christmas present that Bryan and the kids had gotten me for 

Christmas. It was in the attic.

This picture is of the mixing bowl to our kitchen aid stand mixer (left) and another 

Christmas present that Bryan and the kids had gotten me (it too was in the attic).

We serve a God who loves us and provides for us. We know that Christmas 2014 will be different and we look forward to all that God is going to do. 

Grandmother

I haven't posted in a month because life happens. One thing that has happened this month is I lost my grandmother on March 9th. We spent the last part of the following week in Alabama with family. Which is where I wanted and needed to be. It was good to see some family that we haven't seen in a long time. Bryan and I realized that she was the last of my grandparents. Grandparents are so special!

I have many memories of my grandmother. One is of the foods she cooked. She always had the best green beans. I remember eating cube steak and green beans at her house. Grandmother also made the most delicious scrambled eggs. Not sure what her secret was but they were the best!

When I was a little girl me, her, and my mom went to the Baby Land General hospital to pick out a cabbage patch kid. We also made other trips together. At Christmas her and my grandfather would always give me a box of chocolate covered cherries. I have lots of memories from being at her house when I was growing up. 

She will be missed and always remembered. 

Time with Friends!!

The Saturday following the fire we met some dear friends in Columbia. These friends we met while we were at Shelbyville Mills and still keep in touch. All our friends at SMBC will always hold a special place in our hearts. One of the friends we met that day is Timothy's best friend, Lane. Timothy talks about Lane a lot so it was supper good that they got to see each other!!! We even thought that they look a little alike. People would get these two mixed up often. :)

Lane and Timothy are one month apart and Lane has a younger sister that is Joanna's age. Here is Joanna and Rosie. We had so much fun together and enjoyed seeing our friends. Lane and Rosie's mom is my friend who gave me the tortilla maker when we left SMBC. I really liked my tortilla maker and miss it. :( 

It was good for us to see friends that day...we needed that. We always enjoy seeing friends and visits with friends. :)

A Girl and Her Daddy!

This morning before Bryan got up to preach I looked down and noticed that our Sarah was holding her daddy's hand. She had reached over and placed her hand on top of his and was holding his hand. I melted and I am sure he did too.

She is so crazy about her daddy!! Without fail you will find her on the front pew every Sunday morning and night sitting right by her daddy's side. While he is preaching you can look at her and know that she is hanging on every word he says.

Last night as we were picking out clothes for church I chose two dresses and told her to try them on and ask her daddy what he thought. I want her to know that her daddy is the very man God has placed in her life to protect her and care for her until she is married...and then it should be her husband.

I love that she is so crazy about her daddy...I am crazy about her daddy too! :)

Joanna's Birthday Party!

 Since we are living with another family and I don't have our normal kitchen supplies or room, I didn't think it would be possible for me to bake Joanna's cake this year. :( I went to the store to price cakes and saw this simple Mickey Mouse Clubhouse decorations. The lady said I could buy just the kit if I wanted to. :) After some thought I realized that I might could pull off cupcakes. So here is the final result! Joanna was tickled!!

 She is so beautiful! This girl loves Mickey and Minnie Mouse and that is the "Birthday" she wanted.

 Since we don't get to see grandparents often we have been making birthday parties just a family thing. Both sets of grandparents came up and watched the kids play basketball that morning.

 Here she is blowing out her candles! At lunch we went to the church for pizza and cake...

 And presents!! It was real nice to be able to go to the church and have some family time. Then after lunch we rode out to visit some Amish and then back to the school for a final basketball game.

 Joanna got some really fun presents and pretty outfits! After the last basketball game we headed to eat supper with the grandparents. It was a wonderful day and full of memories!!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Joanna!!!

Thankful Thursday!!

The last time I posted a "Thankful Thursday" was the Thursday before the fire. It's been about two months but I still have sooo much to be thankful for!!

I am thankful for:
211) snow for the kids to play in!
212) A roof over our heads!
213) Our family blog!
214) Those who have been very faithful to pray for our family!
215) 100 days of school!
216) God who is my ROCK!
217) the family who has opened up their home to us!

Counting Our Blessings!

This is the sight we saw as we drove down the driveway on Tuesday, December 10. This was the first time the kids and I had seen the sight. The closer we got that morning on the drive over the more my stomach was tumbling. I was wondering how the kids and I would react when we saw whatever we were about to see. The amazing thing was that when we pulled up there was a peace that came over me and God was in complete control.

The kids and I had in our minds that when we got there we would be able to find something that had survived. The blue cooler you see in the picture was sitting outside, beside Bryan's car and half of it was melted. There was a board still in flames and the rubble was HOT! Needless to say NOTHING survived that fire.

In the days that followed we heard a couple of stories of families that had fires and there was a lost loved one. We realized that we had so much to be thankful for and that things could be so much worse. God is great....not one of us were injured in any way, not one of us was having to be in the hospital, and we were not having to plan a funeral during all of this. If all we lost was our home and "things" then we really hadn't lost much at all. I fought the thoughts "We've lost everything!" because we had NOT lost everything!! Praise GOD!!