New Beginning...

I can't believe it's been over 2 years since my last post...I have missed writing so much--SO much has changed in the last 2 years....We are now a family of 5! Can you believe it? Our journey to starting a family was so hard and dark, but the Lord had a perfect plan laid out for us that we just couldn't see at the time. The newest member of our family since my last post is our sweet little boy, Finn(18 months). He is the sweetest little thing ever! I'm in love with his red hair and secretly pray it stays red. He smiles all the time, makes monster sounds constantly, has a mouth full of teeth, and loves his "blanket". 

Life is busy-Some days feel like they will never end, but yet when I blink, we are in a different week, month, year-Time flies. The girls are growing up SO fast. Annie Rice is 7! She is Miss Personality, doesn't meet a stranger, and has such a sweet spirit. She is so much like me-She cleans just like me and loves to make up beds. Actually, she doesn't even sleep under her sheets because she doesn't want to mess them up! I call her my commercial queen. Earlier today, I was scratching my arm and she said, "Mommy, you need some gold bond relief. It's supposed to be the best for itches."  She literally memories commercials and when we are grocery shopping will fight me on the brands I choose to get:) 

Maggie will be 5 in 2 months! She is my mischievous, curious one! She can be very shy around people, but when she finally talks, she TALKS! She keeps me on my toes constantly but is also my snuggler. She loves to hug or be next to you. Sometimes she will say, "Mommy, I just want you." It doesn't get better than that:)

I feel so blessed to be a mom to these 3 sweet kiddos. Some days are hard, some days are easy, some days I cry, some days I can't stop laughing...each day is different and we are constantly going through different seasons as they(and I) grow and change. The path the Lord has laid out for me with homeschooling/parenting isn't easy and some days I want to throw in the towel, but I'm thankful that His grace gets me through each day. Writing has always been a huge part of me and it's made me look at things in a different light than when I just keep it inside. I'm not sure where this blog will go, the topics, how often I'll post, etc but I'm thankful for this outlet. I'm thankful for each of you sweet readers, who even when I stopped writing, still reached out to me, followed me on Instagram or Facebook. I'm looking forward to this 'New Beginning'. 

PS-Kaz proof read this and said I was rusty and that I still had a "country grammar" 

Ha! I'll get better;)

back after a long time...

It's been a LONG time since I've blogged...I actually sat down several months ago and wrote a "good-bye" post thinking it was my last time writing...but thankfully Kaz encouraged me not to post it. Over the last few weeks, the Lord has been giving me little "signs" of encouragement to start writing again. I've missed it. He confirmed it last Monday. I went down to Charleston for a few days for some bridal sessions. My 1st session wasn't until Monday afternoon, so I had several things I wanted to do that morning, one being running the Ravenel Bridge. This bridge is very special to me...After our first failed adoption, I started running the bridge every single day. It took me 35-40 minutes to get there, and 35-40 minutes to drive back home, but that didn't matter. It was my "special and favorite" place to talk to God. I prayed for our child more times than I can count on that bridge. The bridge always reminds me of a hard time in my life, but it also reminds me of God's faithfulness to me and our family. 

So last Monday, I was so excited to run the bridge again. I constantly kept checking the weather, hoping it would be sunny. I drove to Mt. Pleasant, parked, got out my car, stretched, and in my mind, I was going to conquer the bridge...but the Lord had other plans. I started running the "up hill" part of the bridge and felt great maybe the first .3 miles, then the wind came. It was so strong it pushed me back and literally made me stumble several times. I kept going and then the rain started...it poured. I kept going and could barely keep my eyes open. It was miserable, so I turned around halfway up and ran back down. The whole time I kept thinking of how I quit. So at the bottom, I turned back around and ran up for the 2nd time. It was no different. MISERABLE. Pouring rain, strong winds, and a lot of strange looks from other people coming back down the bridge. I'm sure they were thinking, "Why in the world is this crazy going the opposite direction of this monsoon." BUT I kept going. I couldn't run uphill the whole time...the wind was too strong. I walked at times, barely moving, but after awhile I reached the top. When I finally got to the top, I turned around and started down hill. It wasn't easy, but got easier the farther down I got. By the end, I was in a full sprint. I had different plans for that run...I thought it would be fun and relaxing, but the Lord used it to remind me of the storms in life. It's not always easy. We aren't promised an easy life...but when the wind and rain come and almost knocks us down, He IS faithful. When it's hard to keep our eyes open or focused on Him, what He wants and requires is that we keep moving towards Him one step at a time. And when the storm passes, our view looking back is a beautiful reflection of His FAITHFULNESS. 

The Lord encouaged me so much on that run, and it is definitely the most memoriable I've ever had. He not only used it to show me truth, He used it to encourage me to write again...

I'm thankful for each of you who have followed our journey over the years, and who have encouraged us so much! The girls are growing up so fast...faster than I would like. AND we started the adoption process again last year, and have been on the waiting list since October 2014. So we are excited to see what the Lord has in store for our family:)

october...

A lot has happened in the last few weeks...

Maggie turned 1! I honestly can’t even believe how fast this first year has gone by. She is such a sweet baby! She LOVES to eat, play with her baby doll, call for papa, and EAT, EAT, EAT. She’s so curious, which has been a completely different change from Annie Rice who wasn’t curious at all. She loves playing with Annie Rice, and when I hear their giggles together it makes me so happy. 

Kaz and I ran another half marathon! It went so well! I trained the best for it, that I have out of any half marathons I’ve done. It was a lot of fun. 

My sweet friend and good buddy Mr. Billy passed away. He’s been apart of my life since high school, and the girls loved going to see him so much. After his passing, we went to see his roommate, and our other good buddy, Mr. AP. Annie Rice told Mr. AP that Mr. Billy was with Jesus. 

A few pictures from our October:)

reading...

Annie Rice LOVES books. She always has. She carries books around with her everywhere. She sleeps with books at night. I've actually caught onto her trick that she hides books in the sides of her bed, so if I ever take books away from her at night, she still has some "hidden" from me that she can get! The other night I went in her room and found her sleeping on 8 open books, and I counted 23 books in her bed! 

Awhile back, a friend told me about the Disney Princess Me Reader. I knew Annie Rice would like it so I got it for her birthday. She carries the Me Reader around everywhere with her! She loved it so much, I got her another one a few weeks ago with different books. Over labor day, we were tucking her into bed and she asked if she could read us a story. We said yes, and she picked Tangled. We were in shock as she proceeded to read us every page word for word. Actually, she had memorized every single page! She has memorized 10 books because of the Me Reader. Last night when we got home from church, I got her out of the van and she started reciting Cinderella to me. So we decided to try to get it on video. She's very shy about it, so I had to read parts of the pages to get her going, but this video makes my heart so happy. Especially the beginning and the end. She made sure to say, "Disney's Pixar Cinderella, and they lived happily ever after." 

The Me Reader is an awesome toy for your kids if they love books! I've already gotten her another one for Christmas with 8 new books. 

girls trip....

This past weekend, I went on a girls trip to NYC with my sweet friends Dawn, Anne, and Ashley. I've been so excited about this trip because, well it's no secret NYC is my favorite city! I have to say, this trip was different because it was the first trip to NYC that I've ever been sick! I don't know if it was sinuses or a cold, but I looked like rudolf the whole trip and sneezed and blew my nose more times than I could count. Regardless of being sick, we had a blast! 

Friday, we started our trip with lunch at John's Pizza[my favorite pizza in NYC]. We did a little shopping on 5th ave and had our make up done at Henri Bendel's. We went back and got ready for dinner and ate dinner at Fig and Olive at 9pm and ended the night at the rooftop of the Empire Hotel. It was such a gorgeous view. We stayed out late Friday night, so we slept in saturday morning which was SO NICE!

Saturday, we shopped and ate! We had brunch at Bubby's, shopped in Soho and the east village. We went on a cupcake tour that was a total bust, so we skipped out after the 3rd bakery and instead bought gelato and crepes:) If we weren't full enough from all the food we'd had that day, we finished the night off with dinner at Dos Caminos! 

Sunday, we walked the high line, walked through Chelsea Market, shopped a little in Time Square and ended our trip where we started, with lunch at John's Pizza:)

It was a great trip! We shopped and ATE the whole time:)

 we got photo-bombed by minnie mouse;/

 This was the size of our cupcakes...

refreshing...

This weekend we had a mountain getaway with our good friends, the Rogan's and the Vedder's. I honestly wish I could have stayed for several weeks! I LOVE the mountains and the weather was absolutely perfect: cool, crisp, and fall like. We stayed in the same house that we did at Thanksgiving, and it's in the perfect location. My favorite part is how many deer are around. There's something so breath taking and peaceful about seeing wildlife[the non-dangerous ones] in the wild. Seeing deer, unclose in the woods is such a peaceful thing to me and immediately makes me thank the Lord for sharing His creation with me. 

It was so nice walking out in the cool morning, on the front porch with a big cup of hot chocolate with marsh-mellows in a sweatshirt and pajama pants.

Can you tell I had a great weekend? 

We really had so much fun. I have missed these girls so much since moving to Hartsville. We had a relaxing time and a much needed "catching up" time. The kids loved being together again. 

I didn't take many pictures, but here's a few! 

Kaz actually saw 4 bears! I really wish I would have, but it was a neat experience for him. 

annual labor day trip...

Over Labor Day, we went on our 7th annual Labor Day trip with our good friends from college, the Burns and the Newmans. We go some where different every year. This year we went to the beach, and we couldn’t have made a better choice! The kids absolutely loved it and had the best time together! It was so nice to see them all play together. When they went to bed, we played our annual card games until we couldn’t stay awake any longer and ate lots and lots of cookies:) The last night we ate 29 chocolate chip cookies;/ Annie Rice and Ashlynn became best buddies. They look very similar and had the same bathing suits, so we had to do a double take sometimes to see who was who. We also got a good glimpse into what having 2 girls is going to be like:) One minute they were best friends and couldn’t get enough of each other, the next minute they were fighting and upset. Regardless, they had a great time playing together and Annie Rice has prayed for all of her “friends from the trip” every night since we’ve been back!

We had such a good time and we are so thankful for our friends! We’ve already started planning next years trip;)

 Annie Rice and Ashlynn

 the whole crew[I was on the phone when this picture was taken;/]