I am a Promise

Haley was promoted from Preschool to Kindergarten last night and the program was precious...but nothing was more adorable than her singing "I am a Promise". PRECIOUS! Looks like those dance lessons are paying off in performance confidence:) It was faster to upload it in 3 sections. If you can only watch one...watch the 3rd one it is so cute!

Waiting

I have been trying to convince the kids that waiting is good and doesn't have to be a bad thing. As we were finishing dinner, Haley asked to be excused from the table. I asked her to wait until Evan was finished to get down. I went on to explain that it is important to learn how to wait because we don't always get things right when we want them.

Haley replies, "Why, will there be waiting in Heaven, too?" I honestly couldn't answer that question but was sure hoping not. That wouldn't seem like Heaven to me....I was kinda hoping all our waiting will be done by the time we reach Heaven. After all, who is really great at waiting? I am resting in the hope that in God's presence nothing much will matter and even if I am waiting I just won't care:)

So for now...back to waiting!

Haley sings some more

Mother's Day Model

Who could have ever imagined what it would be like to be a mother until it happens to you? You hear so many people tell you that life will never be the same and you nod and smile. You don't understand. I thought I did. I always spent time babysitting and helping friends with their kids and loved it. I always knew I wanted to be a mother and I wanted to be just like mine.

Something Clint reminded me in his sermon at Restoration on Sunday was that regardless of whether we have our own kids or not, everyone has a mother or mother figure in our lives. We were all born, all raised and Mother's Day is just one day out of the year where we can continue to honor our mothers. Growing up, I knew the Bible told me to honor them but I mostly did it because I didn't want to get in trouble or disappoint my mom. I wanted her to be proud of me and I wanted to be my mom's friend.

What a wonderful gift to have a mother that taught me self discipline even when it wasn't fun, how to clean up after myself (mainly because I didn't want her to take my things during an infamous "sack check"), how to love others around me whether they loved me back or not, how to know God and live out my faith, and how to give back to the world around because life wasn't all about me. Thank you mom for loving me when I wasn't very lovable and being my best friend throughout this journey in life.

You didn't do all these things because that was the example you had in life but because God empowered you and gifted you with the determination to love me and my sister in a way that would bless and shape our lives. I am forever thankful for you and hope to model your mothering in the years to come. May all of us raising kids today have a mother to model, whether it is our own or someone we know to encourage and inspire us.

Happy Mother's Day Mom and always know you are appreciated and loved today and every day!

Fire Truck Room

Evan has been obsessed with firefighters and trucks for a long time now. Maybe it is because we live across the street from a Frisco fire house. Since before he could talk, he would point out fire extinguishers in stores and fire hydrants on street corners.

Well, I finally finished Evan's big boy fire truck room this weekend. Jed went with his parents and the kids back to Houston for 24 hours and I worked like crazy to finish painting Evans bed and getting the room put together.

When Evan came home, I had a big surprise for him. It was priceless. He saw the lamp and said, "cool lamp mom". It was so fun and more work than I realized to pull something like that together. It makes me think all those HGTV shows are WAY more work than they show us. With stealth help from Michael and Julie & an AWESOME original art piece by Gigi, we finished the room and are enjoying it every day.

Oh, and so far Evan is staying in his bed all night. I am sure that it helps that we conveniently have not finished the ladder:)

Snap

Haley snaps.

In case you were wondering what Evan was up to these days:)

Haley loves to snap. She is snapping her fingers everywhere she goes. Walking through the kitchen...snap. Reading books...snap. Dancing...snap, snap. I am not sure if she has a rhythm in her head or if she is just practicing a skill she's good at. But, she just doesn't stop snapping. Today I took a couple of pictures and I even caught a snap in the photo:)

Maybe it is Jordan's drumming influence (the super fun & awesome drummer at church) but my kids are snapping and making music often these days. We love it around here to hear the music inside coming out.

P.S. Oh, and I will attribute the sassy hat to Josh & Matt as well....I think the band is influencing my family::)