Over the Top

My sweet sister in love, Lauren, did this on her blog and sent it on to me to do as well. I'm not pushed for time these days, so this was pretty easy to do:) A few questions to be answered with just one word... not too hard, right? - I was not too good at that part

Where is your cell phone? hospital tray (where I keep everything)

Your hair? bed head

Your mother? full time

Your father? POPS

Your dream last night? didn't

Your favorite drink? water

Your dream/goal? mother

What room are you in? 209

What is your hobby? planning/dreaming

Your fear? spiders in my bed

Where do you want to be in six years? ministry

Where were you last night? this same bed :)

Something you aren't? moving around

Muffins? special occasions

Wish list item? full term baby

Last thing you did? lunch

Where did you grow up? texas

What are you wearing? pajamas

Your TV? HGTV

Your pets? Lilly

Friends? abundant

Your life? GOOD

Your mood? waiting patiently on the Lord

Missing someone? everyone

Vehicle? yukon

SOmething your not wearing? make-up

Your favorite store? Target

Your favorite color? pink

When was the last time you laughed? today

Last time you cried? saturday

Your best friend? Phillip

One place you could go over and over? ice creams drives with Phillip and kids

One person who emails you regularly? Angie

Favorite place to eat? mexican

I pass this on to...
Angie- because you are good at things like this
Betsy- because you usually don't do things like this :)

Away in a Manger

A new yearly tradition at my parents house is to reenact the nativity scene. The girls are so into Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus, and it seems that every year we have a new baby to play Jesus. My mom had outfits all ready, and each girl got to pick who she wanted to be. Atley quickly claimed Mary and she absolutely LOVED her head scarf and sitting by baby Jesus (Brooklyn). Avery was content to be a Shepherd and Brenley was a sweet little Angel who even had angel wings. Canon was not so happy at first about being Joseph and I totally understand why. What little boy wants to be dressed in a headband and dress? But going with the attire of old, he complied quite nicely and was happy once he could rock baby Jesus (Brooklyn) back and forth in her cradle. We even had 4 sheep who were standing by, watching all the singing, crying, and adults taking pictures. It was a great first attempt at the nativity scene and it will be something they all look forward to recreating each year.








I just loved watching her love this. She was so serious, and had her lamb all bundled up in her shawl.

Hunter Christmas

Papa reading to the girls before we opened presents

Mimi and Papa with the grandkids

Gigi and the girls

Gigi and Atley

Canon even got some love :)

Opening presents. It is going to feel like Christmas again when we move back because we left all our new presents in Mimi's basement. I didn't anticipate being gone as long as we will be, so new presents plus old ones that are packed away are going to equal a lot of new and exciting toys for the kids when we move in :)

Canon liked climbing on top of his presents and jumping to daddy :)

Josh, Julie, Matt and Lauren were there too...but sadly I don't have any pictures of them. We had a great time and were so blessed by everyone!

Christmas day

This year we had the joy of spending a few nights at Phillip's parents house and were there for all the Christmas Eve festivities and family. We stayed up late opening presents and watching a movie, and got up early to hit the road. We knew there was a bad storm in Oklahoma, but thought they would have cleared the roads by the time we got there. As SOON as we hit the Oklahoma border, the roads immediately changed. It was the strangest thing! It was like we were all the sudden driving on a back road, you couldn't even see the black of the road....just frozen snow and ice. As we kept poking along, it never got better! We kept expecting it to change at any moment, but really it only got worse. We had to go so slow, and cars were sliding into the ditch all around us. Because it was Christmas day, nothing was open. We kept laughing because McDonalds was actually sounding really good to us and we kept hoping to find one open, but to no avail. We stopped at two different hotels just so the kids could run around, and QT was the hopping place of the day. By the time we got to Oklahoma City, we ended up staying the night because it was dark, icy and we'd heard the roads would not get any better. The girls swam in their underwear, Canon in his diaper, and we ordered Pizza in our hotel room. With no milk and one diaper left, we hit the road early the next day and couldn't believe that the roads were still so bad. They never got better until about 30 minutes before the Texas border. Then they were fine! It was so strange. All in all, we counted 220 cars in the ditch and at least 15 major wrecks. We even saw one truck slide up a hill and flip over. We are so blessed by our 4 wheel drive! We were really excited to finally get to Dallas that morning. The kids were great in the car, but we were all ready to get out:) We'll never forget that Christmas, where we drove ALL day on those roads and spent the night in a hotel, swimming in their underwear, eating pizza because we were starving, and snuggling together in the bed:)
More posts and pictures of our Christmas to come...

ramblings from room 209

When I was pregnant with the girls I did a good job of taking weekly pregnant belly pics up until I was put in the hospital. So with Canon I did a great job of weekly shots from 18 weeks until he was born. People always say that each baby gets less and less "special" things or attention. And I am finding that to be true. There has been so much life to live that I haven't even thought about taking a picture of my belly this time. I finally did on New Years at the very exciting wedding we went to (more on that later). So here I am at 23 weeks. I'll be 25 on Friday and honestly I don't think I've gotten any bigger! You would think that lying in a hospital bed, eating hospital food, that I would blow up. But really, the food isn't very good, and if I"m all by myself sometimes eating just isn't that fun. They do weekly weight checks here and they weigh you in your bed! Phillip joked that I was like produce, and I said just call me a banana:) I will try to take more pics while I am pregnant, I don't want Champ to feel left out.
Sweet little baby is hanging in there, doing great. My cervix is the same, which is good that it's not getting worse. I"m just praying it gets better!
Phillip was here for 5 days, helping take care of the kids, and spending the nights with me at the hospital. He is such a good daddy, trying to fill in the gaps while I"m gone. The kids loved having him here and we are all ready for him to come back in a week and a half. My parents are doing good with the kids and settling into a routine. They come up every day to see me. They are so sweet when they come, but a hospital room is no place for 3 kids, 3 and under. It gets a little crazy :) Today my sister Angie was here with her two girls and my kids were here as well. They had a paper towel party and it looked like it was snowing in my room. I'm sure my neighbors were loving me at that point :) Atley says to me everyday, "mommy, you be sad when we leave?" The first day I cried and cried when they were leaving and obviously she hasn't forgotten that...
I've been reading, watching HGTV, browsing the internet for stuff for our new house, and talking with all my visitors. I've even had 3 different people from Gateway come and pray for healing for me. The Lord has been good to me, providing for all my needs, and continuing to hold me in His peace.

my little walker!

Right before Phillip and I left for Kansas City (details about that in my next post), we knew Canon was about to take his first steps. We were hoping we would get to see it before we left, and thank goodness we did! He basically taught himself. He would take a toy and throw it on the ground, and then walk to it. His first steps turned into 3, then the next day was 10! After I got back from our week of travels, he was walking everywhere! I'm so glad I got to be at my parents house for one day to see him walking around everywhere, before I came to the hospital. It is hard to walk around my little room here. We are so proud of him and can't believe he is really growing up so fast! I knew this would happen as I got closer to delivering Champ. Canon can't be my baby forever! The day before he took his first steps, he also said his first real word..."mama"! Melt my heart, that boy is so sweet!

my God is BIG my God is Great

When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade right? Well that sounds really good until those lemons appear and you have nothing to stand on except some great thought. That is why the power of our great Lord and King Jesus Christ is SO REAL! When the storms hit, you don't fall away, lost hope, despair and live miserably. You trust in Him because you know He is in ultimate control. There is really nothing we can do in trials, but pray and believe in His promises...which are so evident in the Word of God - the Bible.
You might be asking yourself right now, why in the world I am talking about this, but in the blink of an eye, your life can change. And that is what happened to us on Wednesday morning.
Phillip and I had just traveled to KC and Atlanta for two amazing, once in a lifetime events. Our kids were staying with my parents for an entire week in Dallas and I was anxious to get home to them. I had a quick dr. appointment before my flight took off that morning and it was not news we wanted to hear. My cervix had not only shortened since my last appointment, it had shortened a lot. My dr. wanted to admit me to the hospital and send me to a Maternal Fetal Specialist there in STL, but also knew I really wanted to get to Dallas to be with my kids. Thankfully they let me leave and I few straight to Dallas and stayed on the couch the rest of the day. It was wonderful to see my kids and get to spend a day with them. I went in the next morning to see my sister's dr. here in Grapevine and my cervix had shortened AGAIN! I was getting worried at this point, only 23 wks. pregnant, and not wanting little Champ to come so soon. I was admitted to Baylor Grapevine here in Grapevine, TX. My kids are home with my parents, and Phillip flew up that night to be here for a few days. He is being super dad with the kids during the day, and coming to hang out with me at night. My family has been great, taking care of me and the kids. All our family and friends have been such encouragers to us during this time, praying and offering their help. We are SO blessed! I was seen again yesterday by the High Risk Dr here and he said I"m not going home with a cervix like this. We are hoping that by 28 weeks (Feb. 5th) I will be stable enough to go to my parents house on bedrest until 32 weeks or more. Just getting to be with my kids would be wonderful! When they visited me yesterday it about ripped my heart out when they were leaving. I had to pull it together and get my eyes back on Jesus. He is my strong Refuge, my Mighty Tower, and my Provision. During all seasons of my life. What hope I have in Him, even during the storms. My life will not be ruined or wrecked when things don't go according to my plans. The Lord is constantly changing my plans! We just got the call on Monday that we are scheduled to move into our new house on February 11th! We were so excited, but now it looks like Phillip will be moving in without us. He'll have time to get things ready before our return, but of course this isn't how we "planned" to move. The Lord doesn't promise that bad news, trials and difficulties won't come, but He does promise that He is our ever present help in times of trouble, to trust in Him and not to Fear.
My life is real, my life is hard, my life is GOOD, my goal is glorify Christ - even when the tears won't stop falling.