Conversations with Faith

"Being a mom is hard work, you have to do a lot of things for your kids." - Faith

She said those sweet words to me while I was doing laundry.  I am thankful to have an appreciative four year old who recognizes that being mommy is a full-time job.

Faith is also extremely affectionate, she often will say to me, "You're my sweet, sweet, sweet mommy. I love you."

While we were driving to church to go to MOPS, Faith asked me, "Mommy, how do I go to Heaven to be with Jesus? Does someone have to die me?"  I quickly explained to her that no one has to "die (kill) you" but more often as we get older or when we become very sick our bodies don't work as well, and then someday in God's perfect timing they stop working altogether.  But the good news is when we go to Heaven we are going to have new bodies and those bodies will always work perfectly and we can live FOREVER with Jesus.

While we are driving in the van, Faith often composes her own songs, a recent song I heard her singing (and I quickly wrote down on a Bruster's napkin I had in the van) was "I love you tree even when you don't look pretty and you don't make flowers with color on them."  She continued singing songs to other things that she saw and admired on our drive. I love her creativity. 

Faith continues to be my morning person. She wakes up so happy every morning. She told me in her own words, "It helps make it a more fun day when you wake up happy"!  She is a clever girl to have figured that out at the age of four! :-)

People often comment to me that Faith looks like "a miniature of her mommy"! :-)

A couple of months ago, I took this photo of Faith wearing one of the sweaters that I wore when I was a little girl. My maternal grandmother was the one who gave it to me "eons ago" (when I was a child) and has saved it all this time for me to give to my girls to wear.

I am blessed by all my conversations with Faith and look forward to many more! 

See Y'all Next Time!

Backing up a little....on our first day in Colleyville, we shared lunch with our dear friends Gary and Mary Ann at Costa Vida.  They are "old friends" and have been in my life for for the last quarter of a century (that's fun to say!). I always appreciate my time with them because they LOVE the LORD with all of their heart and have incredible wisdom and insight. Both Brad and I went away from our time with them encouraged and blessed. 

Back at home, Brad pulled out his iPad to help Grandad look up the census record for his family in Throckmorton, TX in 1940.  Brad and Grandad were able to find Grandad's name, his family, and extended family.

Both Brad and I loved hearing all of my Grandad's old stories of growing up on a farm. He talked about Sundays when his family would host their preacher for lunch.  His family would always serve fresh vegetables from their garden and for their main dish his mom would always instruct one of the kids to go get a "fryer" (a live chicken) from the yard. Grandad said they were poor but they didn't even know it.  They lived miles from the nearest store and it was a big deal whenever they would go to town. Sometimes as a special treat, his mom would give him a dime and with that money, he would see a double-feature movie, buy some candy and still have leftover money!

It was a cherished time hearing some of my Grandad's stories from when he was growing up.

Great Mimi brought the girls chocolates and little stuffed animals as an Easter gift. 

The girls were very appreciative of their gifts and gave Great Mimi big hugs. 

My Mimi gives the best hugs! To this day, I love being snuggled up close to her in one of her incredible, grandmotherly hugs!  I am so happy my girls have gotten to experience Mimi's hugs for themselves! :-)

Great Mimi with two of her great-granddaughters. 

A photo of Great Mimi, Faith, me, Anna, Great Grandad, Uncle Daniel, and Jillian

Little Anna enjoyed playing with Great Mimi's jewelry.

"What time is it, again?"

I love how each of my girls has bonded with their sweet great-grandmother.

Uncle Daniel and Great Mimi helped the girls put a puzzle together. 

Aunt Leigha and Faith enjoyed lunch together at the dining table. 

Brad thanked Mimi for being his grandmother these last 7 1/2 years! So sweet!

Then on our last day, my dad asked the girls to help him make his famous Snickerdoodles. 

The girls didn't like how sticky the dough was but they did enjoy licking their fingers covered with cinnamon and sugar. 

I took this photo of from the upstairs guest room balcony before we left to come home. The trees were gorgeous in their full bloom.

I especially loved the butterflies! 

We finished off our visit with hamburgers, fries, and ice-cream at Freddie's restaurant.  Thanks Grammie and Grandad for introducing us to a great restaurant.

Uncle Daniel joined us after class to say good-bye and gave each of the girls a parting gift. (He won the stuffed animals from a claw game!) :-)

After lunch, Grandad was a big help and took the girls and me to the airport while Brad dropped off the car at the rental place. In no time at all, we were settled on the plane and ready to return home to Maryland.

It was a super visit and we look forward to seeing all of "y'all" next time!  

A Cousins' Easter

After our at time with Mimi E and family, we went over to Beth and Nate's home.  We immediately laid down little Anna for a nap. The "older" cousins took advantage of their time together and played away.  It was a very relaxing, enjoyable time.  Then we all shared an Easter dinner together as a family and had an egg hunt! 

Brad's parents made their traditional Easter bunny cake! Isn't that just the cutest cake? 

Ruth Ann was very happy to welcome us to her home. :-)

The table was beautifully decorated for our Easter dinner.

For dinner, we had ham, fruit salad, asparagus, loaded potato casserole, and rolls. It all was delicious! 

After dinner, it was time for the egg hunt. The baskets Jillian, Faith, and Anna are holding for the hunt were originally Brad's and Beth's when they were little. Brad's maternal grandmother even made the linings for the baskets.  I really appreciate Mimi letting the girls use them for Easter; it was very special.

Aunt Beth planned a wonderful egg hunt for the kids.  She assigned each of the kids a color of eggs to find: Faith-yellow; Jillian-pink; Luke-blue; Ruth Ann-green; Anna-purple.  All of the eggs were filled with organic Aunt Annie's fruit snacks and cheddar bunnies.  I really appreciated the change of pace, especially after all the candy we got at Mimi E's. 

This photo is a little deceiving, because it looks like I am helping Anna retrieve a plastic egg that she found on the chair.  But really I am "helping" her put it back. Yellow wasn't Anna's color! :-)  It was an amusing adventure for the parents & grandparents to try to direct the kids in the right direction to find their own color eggs.  

Little Ruth Ann had a mixture of green and blue eggs in her basket, but in this photo, she had just found one of Jillian's pink eggs.  We made the pink eggs the most difficult to find, so I was extra impressed by Ruth Ann's egg-hunting skills. 

After the hunt was done, Daddy and Mimi helped Anna count all of her purple eggs. 

My ABSOLUTE FAVORITE NIECE, Ruth Ann!  She is so soft and cuddly and even though she is 6 months older than her younger cousin, I feel as though she weighs half as much our Anna. She is light as a feather. 

Luke has the most inquisitive mind and loves reading books.  His enthusiasm for understanding more  and asking lots of questions is contagious, my girls learned so much just by being around their cousin Luke!  One of Luke's favorite books is the Magic School Bus book in which we learned about how the body works.  

Luke and Ruth are the most photogenic kids and were so cheerful to take photos of us! I love this photo that Brad and I have with our nephew and niece; it is one Brad and I will cherish for many years to come. 

Unfortunately, it didn't work out so well with our kids and their aunt and uncle. Our little one was still  very worn out.   Even though Anna took a long nap when she got to Aunt Beth's and Uncle Nate's, she was still a little overwhelmed from all the events of the day.  The good news is that the Davis Family is coming to visit us next month, and we will have another opportunity to get a photo of Uncle Nate and Aunt Beth with their three nieces!!! Hooray! 

But we did get this super sweet photo of Aunt Beth with Jillian! 

And then a beautiful photo of the whole Davis family as we said good-bye.  It was a wonderful Easter.

Easter at Mimi E's

For the last twenty something years, Marilyn and Kristin have spent every Easter with their Texas adopted family, "Mimi and Normie".  I am nowhere close to that number but whenever I have been "home" for Easter (since 2000), I have enjoyed sharing in the fun too! 

Mimi and Normie are two of the most hospitable and generous people and there always is a lot of fun to be had in their home.  I especially like that they let the "big kids" (Brad and I are in that category) hunt for eggs too! :-) Sadly, this was the first Easter without Normie who went home to the Lord in 2011, but I was thankful to be in the company of Mimi E and all of her family and friends again.
My favorite part of Mimi's Easter is the dessert bar! There are so many goodies it is hard to choose. 

Brad, Anna, and I sat in the "TEXAS" memorabilia room with Mimi and Grandad and some other sweet grandparents who love to brag about their grandkids. The "other" grandparents pictured (not mine) actually have a grandson who is a kicker for the Cowboys football team! Pretty cool, huh?

Faith and Jillian sat in the sunroom with Aunt Leigha, Derek, and Auntie Kristin.  

Grammie, Grandad, Debbie, Rebekah, and Daniel sat in the kitchen while they enjoyed their lunch.  

Brad chose banana pudding from the dessert bar! Anna was fully enraptured by the dessert; she had no desire to pause from her dessert-eating to take a photo! :-)

After lunch, it was time for the little ones to have their Easter egg hunt. 

Aunt Leigha helped Faith look high for some hidden eggs.

Jillian had some help from Aunt Rebekah and Uncle Daniel who helped point out some hidden eggs. Jillian found about 50 EGGS! Whoa! She won for having the most eggs in the "kids division" egg hunt and won a special prize. She chose a little chick that dances and sings the "Chicken Dance".  

After the hunt, the girls showed off their baskets filled with eggs. 

Little Anna was a little tuckered out from all the fun and took some cuddle time with Grandad to feel better.

Resurrection Sunday

This was our very first Easter for our kids to spend with family and it was a very special one.

On Easter morning we woke up to discover that the Easter Bunny had visited Grammie and Grandad's house and left all of us special treats. ;-)

In addition to the "Easter Bunny" visiting, Grammie purchased all the girls matching Easter dresses. They looked so precious in them.

On Resurrection Sunday, we all attended Grandad's Sunday School class together.  After Sunday School, the girls went to the nursery, while the adults attended the service.  It was a fantastic message that spoke on having no fear in death, because we can be secure in Christ and know that our eternal home is in Heaven with Him.

Aunt Beth and Uncle Nate attend the same church as my dad and Marilyn and they sat on the same row with us during the service.  It was so special for Brad and I to have so many members of our family in one room! After the service, we all went to the nursery. The moms went in one direction to get the littlest ones while the dads went in the other direction to get the "big kids".   Then, we captured this sweet photo of all of us together on Easter Sunday at church.