Yes I know, it’s supposed to be “Thankful Thursday,” but I missed the opportunity to blog yesterday and I wanted to share these two pictures of my girls!
Finley (almost 10 months)
Cori Belle (28 months)
I am SO thankful for my girls and they bless me more than I can ever express in words. We took a trip to Steak N Shake yesterday and they had a ball wearing these hats at lunch! So cute!!
Cori Belle & Finley Grace - mommy LOVES you!!!
I was catching up on a few blogs today and it seems that my post will fit in very well with the rest! I have seen lots of posts about trips to the beach, which means that beach season has officially begun! Our little family packed up and headed out to the beach last week and had such a great time together!! It was just what we needed. Dave has been on some rough rotations in the hospital and I’ve been doing a lot of jewelry shows. Which means, our family has been going and going and going these days. It was time for a little R&R, and the beach was just the ticket!
We lounged in our chairs. CB even got a new Dora chair this year. She really wishes it was a princess chair. But Dora will just have to do! 
We played in the sand. Cori was all about building some sand castles and Finley loved just crawling around!
We dug holes and Cori sat in them.
Cori practiced her hand-stand walk. There were some college kids sitting next to us having hand stand contests. Cori wanted to join in on the fun. Daddy helped!
Finley tested out the wet sand. She wanted to make sure she was prepared for Beach Week in June.
We took pictures with our girls.
We took pictures of our girls.
We had such a great day together. It makes me look forward to our annual Beach vacation even more! We really do need to take full advantage of the beach before our big move to Birmingham at the end of June. We certainly haven’t taken enough advantage of the fact that we have lived 1.5 hours from the beach for the last 10 years. It’s going to be a much father drive very soon!!
Until next time…
I was reading in my bible this morning in Ecclesiastes 4. Solomon spent that chapter comparing laziness vs. workaholism vs. moderation, companionship vs. isolation, seeking the approval of others vs. seeking the approval of God alone. As I read the words on the page, I was flooded with a song by Sidewalk Prophets, titled “I Want to Live Like That.” It’s such a powerful song about how Christ calls us to live. Being a believer in Christ is so much more than just believing. Even Satan believes in God. The question is, “what are you doing with that belief?” As believers we are called to live a life that is set apart from this world. Living truly for Christ, following him, and being a light that leads others to him. I certainly want to live like that…
Sometimes I think
What will people say of me
When I'm only just a memory
When I'm home where my soul belongs
Was I love
When no one else would show up
Was I Jesus to the least of those
Was my worship more than just a song
I want to live like that
And give it all I have
So that everything I say and do
Points to You
If love is who I am
Then this is where I'll stand
Recklessly abandoned
Never holding back
I want to live like that
I want to live like that
Am I proof
That You are who you say You are
That grace can really change a heart
Do I live like Your love is true
People pass
And even if they don't know my name
Is there evidence that I've been changed
When they see me, do they see You
I want to live like that
And give it all I have
So that everything I say and do
Points to You
If love is who I am
Then this is where I'll stand
Recklessly abandoned
Never holding back
I want to live like that
I want to live like that
I want to show the world the love You gave for me
I'm longing for the world to know the glory of the King
I want to live like that
And give it all I have
So that everything I say and do
Points to You
If love is who I am
Then this is where I'll stand
Recklessly abandoned
Never holding back
I want to live like that
I want to live like that
I love those bolded words .. “Is there evidence that I’ve been changed. When they see me, do they see you?” How powerful. Praying that every person who reads these words is either encouraged in their faith or completely changed to truly Live Like That.
About a month ago Dave and I got to attend a wedding reception for one of our dear college friends. Laura and Dave were on the same dorm room floor his sophomore year of college. We all became such good friends and she ended up being one of my roommates our last year in college. She was also in our wedding 6 years ago and we have done our best to stay in contact with one another. She now lives in Utah and it was so great to see her and hew new hubby, Pat, last month!
The wedding was in South Florida so we drove down to Tampa to drop off our girls at their grandparents house, picked up Ryan and Missy, and headed down to Cooper City (also knows as Ft. Lauderdale!). The four of us has the BEST time together. Since having kids we never really get to spend an adult weekend with anyone for that matter! But, we really hadn’t gotten to spend much one on one time with Ryan and Missy in a while. It was so nice to re-connect and share a special weekend with them!
To get off an a little bit of a tangent, Missy is one of my newest Premier daughters. I LOVE doing Premier with her. She has such a beautiful personality and I am excited to see how God is going to use her in this business to touch the lives of others. Premier is so much more than a Jewelry business. It’s truly a business to grow women closer to Christ and encourage them in ways they have never been encouraged before. This is such a life changing business. I know it has changed my life and I am so thankful for that! Missy, if you didn’t know already, I am so proud of you for taking a leap of faith and seeing what God has in store for you! I know it’s going to be GOOD!
Missy and I sporting our Premier Jewelry!
Brothers
My sweet hubby and I
Missy and Ryan
The four of us
We had such a great time together driving, chatting, eating, dancing, and just hanging out. Ryan and Missy – you are such a sweet couple!
The wedding reception was beautiful and Laura & Pat are a perfect match for one another! Praying blessings over your marriage! Here we are with the new married couple!
Pat, Laura, me, and Dave
Until next time…
We did a lot of Spring and Easter activities this past week. I think I must have told the Easter Story to Cori at least 100 times over the course of the week. We did our Resurrection Eggs, colored pictures, painted pictures, baked cookies, hunted eggs, read stories, waved palm branches (which Cori calls leaves), and talked A LOT about Jesus. It was a good week.
Earlier this week we went to a friends house for a fun Easter party. The kids had a great time and my friend, Annie did a great job planning it! As always!! I will need some party planning help as I move to the “south” in a few short months! 
The decorations were beautiful and everything was so well thought out! (You may see some of these decorations again at Finley’s first birthday party. I was taking notes! HA!)
The kids played on the swing set (my girl was on the swing FOREVER! That girl loves to swing!) and played at the corn table. We did an egg hunt too!
All the kids getting read for the hunt! Doesn’t Finley look like such a big girl sitting there?!
Most importantly, we prayed all together with the kids before we ate, giving thanks for what Easter is truly about. I loved that.
I think my favorite part of Easter this year was watching the expressions on Cori’s face as I would tell the Easter story. She loved hearing about Jesus riding in to Jerusalem on a donkey. She would wave her hands up and down as I talked about the people waving palm branches at him. She would chime in at this point in the story that the people were “sooo happy” at the arrival of Jesus. I would tell her how Jesus had dinner with his friends and after dinner he went out in the garden to “pray,” (she chimed in there too). Then you would see her facial expression change as I started to tell her how the bad men heard of Jesus arrival and then went to the garden to get him. I told her of how they didn’t like Jesus and they hurt him very badly and wanted him dead. I told her how they made him carry his cross a long way. I told her how they hung him on it and how he died. She would chime in at this point with her head hung low and say, “Friends were sad. So sad.” I told her how they took him off the cross, wrapped his body, put him inside a tomb, and rolled a giant rock in front so no one could get in or out. I told her about a few of Jesus’ friends going to the tomb on the third day, Easter, only to find that, “Jesus gone,” as Cori would say. “Jesus go bye-bye. Jesus in Heaven.” I just love hearing children speak about Jesus with such excitement in their voice. We talked about how Jesus was alive again and how he showed himself to his friends and spent time with them before returning to be with the Father in Heaven, where he is now and watches over us. At this point in the story, Cori always would say, “Rainbow up in the sky! Big rainbow!” We saw a rainbow a few weeks ago and I love that she correlates rainbows with Jesus. After all, they are there to show us how Christ loves us and that he is watching over us and protecting us. … As soon as the Easter story was finished, she would ask for me to tell it all over again. Sweet girl.
Dave had to work on Easter, but the girls and I enjoyed a relaxing morning watching Tangled (Cori got that in her Easter Basket). We had a great worship service at church, which could be it’s own blog post. Four people at the 11 o’clock service gave their life to Christ, one being a little girl whose mama came up on stage with her. I cried. We enjoyed a nice Easter dinner with my aunt and uncle who live in town who we don’t see nearly enough. And we finally got to take a few family pictures when David got home from work.
Me and Kristy. You know you’re best friends when you show up to church wearing the same earrings and necklace!! Haha! Oh, how I love this girl!
Me and my girls
Sweet Sisters
Family
It was a great Easter. Not just because of fun egg hunts and activities, but because my family grew a little closer to Jesus. He is the only reason we celebrate Easter. He wasn’t just a good man who walked the Earth many years ago. He is God who walked the Earth, who taught us how to live, and died for us because he loved us. He was dead and now he is alive, living in Heaven with the Father, preparing a way for us to be there with him one day. Wow. I am so thankful that we are loved that much. You are loved that much. I hope you know that too.
Happy Easter!
How is it already April and my baby is 9 months old?! She turned 9 months on Sunday. To say that I’m completely in LOVE with my sweet baby is an understatement! Finley continues to capture my heart more and more each day. I’m loving getting to know her personality more and watch her grow! She is sweet and laid back. Oh, how I LOVE her!!
I LOVE…
We went in for Finley’s 9 month well check yesterday. She is growing so much!! She is 14 lbs 13 oz, and 26.7 inches long – the EXACT same measurements as Cori at 9 months! It’s funny how similar they are in size, but how different they are in personality. I’m crazy about them both! For fun, let’s check out a picture of each of my girls at 9 months old. Cori is on the left and Finley is on the right.
I love you, Finley Grace! Happy 9 months, sweet one!
