Way Behind

Okay...I am going to simply admit it - I am not good at keeping up with this blog thing.  I do good for a while and then life happens and often times it is one of the first things to get dropped.  I don't know why...it could be that it is not my favorite thing to do OR it could be that I am not clear on what the purpose of writing is - is it for me? is it for my kids? is it for far flung family and friends? OR it could be I don't have much to say that is worth saying OR maybe I have too much to say and get overwhelmed.  I am sure that you get the picture!

With that all of that said I have been reading a book called "Organized Simplicity".  I think that it leaves some gaps but truth be told it has given me a lot to think about.  One of the things that I have taken from the book is that it encourages you to know the value or the purpose of all things in your life - from material possessions to activities on the calendar - and to get rid of the clutter.  This goes along perfectly with my word/goal of 2012 - intentionality.

In the process of prayerfully evaluating all things in life (which I am sure will be a consistent process that is never completely completed) I come to the blog.  I have come to the conclusion that it is something of value and worth however I want to be more purposeful and clear on the reason that I write.  I am going to finish up 2011 and have it printed for our family bookshelf.  Moving on to 2012 things might look a little different but you are invited to join us on the journey ----

So now to once again...try to catch up and finish up 2011!

Playing Catch Up!

It seems that I am always having to back track or catch up! I am at it once again...headed back to OCTOBER!  There is so much that has happened :)

Happy First Birthday Elisha!

Our Trip To Atlanta - Part One

We took a trip home to Atlanta to see family - a Thanksgiving/Christmas trip.  It was a wonderful time and we are all so thankful for every minute!  The boys and I headed down first and Nathan followed about a week later.
This was a big trip for a lot of reasons but one of the trickiest parts was getting to Atlanta - the boys and I went by car.  I was a little nervous but was fairly confident that if we planned it right but more importantly prayed really hard that everything would work out just fine.  It did! The boys were amazing and super patient...Judah kept me company the whole time talking about everything he saw out the window and anything that popped into his little head.  Elisha was patient and played with toys and did a good deal of talking too.
We broke the trip up into two days - not too overwhelming and we got to stop and spend the night with one of our favorite families...the Lyons! The boys enjoyed all of the attention the Lyon girls gave them and of course loved playing outside at their house even though it was freezing.  My heart was full when we pulled out of their driveway the next morning...such a special friend that my heart loves dearly.

Lunch, potty break and a little leg stretching on the way to Wake Forest - a beautiful afternoon!

(Funny note...Judah calls Rest Stops - PeePee Houses...everytime he would need to stop he would tell me it was time to find a PeePee House...oh his little brain!)

 Just minutes after we got to Stephanie's Elisha was running around and took a tumble on the concrete...his first big fall and he handled it just like a big boy.

 Ice Cream after dinner! 

Wordless Wednesday - Not Really a Big Fan

Trick-Or-Treating on Embassy Row

I am sure that I have mentioned it once or twice...we live in a really cool city!  Embassy Row opens up their doors for trick-or-treating. We were not sure what to expect but we knew it was something that we could not pass up.  When the kiddos woke up from their naps we put on our costumes and headed down to Embassy Row to check things out and of course get a few pieces of candy along the way. (Our friend Alicia was curious too so she joined us for the adventure.)
It was a neat experience to trick-or-treat "on foreign soil" and to get a little glimpse into some of the embassies.  Judah thought it was amazing to get candy at each place we went and even more amazing that we let him eat all the candy that he wanted.  He also thought it was cool that he got to invite people to church - when we were given candy he gave the person an invite card to church - he called them "church tickets".  How I pray that Judah and Elisha will have hearts that long to bring the Gospel to the nations!  Judah even got to invite someone from Pakistan to church... talk about the nations at our doorstep.

 

 

Elisha was just a long for the ride this year but he was very happy that his big brother was willing

to share some of his candy...yep dumdum #2!

Halloween Festival at Turtle Park

Turtle Park is one of our favorite parks.  We love to play there but we also are thankful because our church has a great relationship with the people who take care of it and run the community events. This is our second year that Restoration Church has participated in the Halloween Festival - we have a photo booth, give out candy, Joey is the "head master" of the costume parade and this year we added free popcorn.  As our church continues to grow we have more and more volunteers and so this year we were able to just attend the event as a family (no responsibilities!).  The boys had a great time playing, watching all of the costumes, walking in the parade, watching the Charlie Brown movie on the big screen and Elisha had his first piece of candy - a dumdum - which he thoroughly enjoyed.

Judah picked out the Halloween costumes this year - without any prompting he decided that he wanted to be a fireman again this year (with the same costume!) and that Elisha should be a dog - a fire dog. It worked for me!  I am pretty sure that we are not going to get off so easy next year.