I almost...

burned down my house today. I was steaming sweet potatoes (this was the first... I didn't want to make my house hot by turning on the oven). Anyways, the book I read ("Deceptively Delicious") said it takes 40 to 45 minutes to steam. So I left them while I went to fold the laundry in my room. About 20 minutes later, I walk out of my room and smell something burning. I run to the kitchen and see that the pot is smoking very badly. I run some water into the pot and see that my sweet potatoes are done, but not burnt (Yeah!). However, my Farberware pot is ruined. So if you ever want to steam sweet potatoes make sure you keep a close eye on them. I'm almost positive I put water in the bottom to begin with?? So now my freshly cleaned house smells like fire. Lovely! Oh well, I'm just glad I did not burn down the house. Funny how a hurricane can blow through our area and our house is untouched, but I can leave a pot on the stove for too long and nearly kill us all.
JESUS YOU ARE MIGHTY TO SAVE!!!

Birthday Weekend

Our family at the Goose's Acre Grammy and Pawpaw at the fountains
Zachary playing in the water and barely staying dry.
She's such a daddy's girl

Greg turned 35 on Saturday. We spent most of the weekend clebrating. He took Friday off to play some golf with his dad. They had a great time together. That evening we all went to The Goose's Acre for dinner and enjoyed LOTS of yummy food. Zachary kept our evening interesting by constantly get in and out of his highchair. Carlee on the other hand stay seated the whole meal. She is really growing up. After dinner, we walked around the waterway and went to the fountains to see the show. Carlee and Zachary loved watching the water bouncing up and down to the music. Carlee could have stayed there all night. She was very distrot that we had to leave. Zachary went and played in the water a little, but barely got wet. Greg and I laughed so hard b/c he was missing the water by half seconds. He had a blast! Then we went back home and opened presents and had delicious birthday cake and ice cream. Greg got to open his card from me and found out that we are going to the Third Day, Switchfoot, Jars of Clay concert next weekend. He's very excited!
Saturday, we spent the day running, going to the pool (for the last time), going to homegroup and then to Main Event. The church had free childcare that night so we took advantage of it. I even won 400 tickets on Deal or No Deal at Main Event (this is the most tickets one can win, so it's like I won One Million Dollars.... hahaha, I wish).
I want to take a minute to brag on my bebe. He is the best!! God created him to be patient and kind. He is an amazing dad and a sacrificial husband, as well as, a caring son and fun to be around friend. He puts others first and chooses to walk in integrity everyday of his life. He is loyal and loving. He is generous and thoughtful. Greg is good at every sport, but also extremely humble about it. I've had men come and tell me what an all rounded basketball player he is and most of them are so blow away by his ability to play with such consistency and humility. Greg comes alive on the court, as well as, on the golf course. It is his passion and ha plays each one well. I know I am blessed to have such a wonderful husband. I am always being sharpened by this man. I know he is not perfect, but he is close. He just exudes Christ's behavior and it challenges me everyday. May God bless him this year as he continues to walk in His ways. I love you bebe!

The Clean Up From Ike

We put all our tree debris on our cul-de-sac circle along with all our neighbors. Three trees down on our street. Here are the piles. We had our own pile of branches and pine needles and leaves as well.

P-P-O-P-O-W-E-R, WE GOT POWER...

WOOO, ELECTRICITY!!! Yeah, we are back home and very thankful to have power. Carlee keeps on saying, "I just can't believe that we have power!" It is cracking me up! I am thankful to have my AC, my lights, my computer, and the list goes on. I am even thankful to clean with our lights on and vacuum our carpet. The things we take for granted.... Thank you Lord for restoring our power!

If anyone of you need help with keeping your feezer items cold or if you need to do some laundry come on over. We would be glad to help. We're praying for you and for power restoration to come quickly. God Bless!

Hurricane Ike

Hurricane Ike (Category 2 almost 3) hit last Friday night, Sept. 12th. I spent all day Thursday preparing (doing laundry, cooking, cleaning, bringing things in from outside, going grocery shopping, filling jugs with water to freeze, taking my last shower with lights and a blowdryer, etc.). We wore the kids out that night taking them to the park and letting them run around. We knew they needed to sleep good since Ike was going to hit during the night. They slept great in their own beds and did not make a sound. The winds and the rain came with force around 3 am and knotted down trees, power lines, damaged houses and cars and flooded the streets. We were fortunate to only lose our power, but not our water. Greg and I lost sleep that night because of all the sounds of trees popping and winds howling. Greg and I prayed for God's protection and peace as our souls became worried. God was faithful and I believe He answered our prayers by keeping our house in tact and without damage. We could not be more blessed. Our neighbors had two trees land on their house, but it did not hurt it. Some other neighbors had a tree land right behind their car barely missing it. I know God sent out His angels to strategically place those trees carefully where they landed. There have been signs of tornado damage as well seeing the trees twisted around our area. God is so good to protect us! I know some have not been as fortunate and to those our hearts go out to you.
Our family went outside after the storm for a little craziness, but came back in after feeling the wind gusts. Here are some pictures of our fallen wreckage (just a few branches down).

Greg got out soon after the storm to clean up our driveway as well as all our neighbors. I have never seen so many people helping people. It's truly been a blessing in disguise. We have developed life long friendships with our neighbors because of this storm. We've eaten together, shared stories with each other, helped clean up each others yards, borrowed equipment from one another, charged cell phones with generators, and made memories that will last. I am a little sad to see it end. This is the way to do life- together.

On a side note- Our gas grill came in handy for this storm. We used it for every meal. It has a burner on it which we had never used before. It was great for boiling water for Zachary's bottles (yes, he still drinks bottles with warm milk). We made chicken nuggets and waffles on the grill, fried bacon and eggs and steamed veggies on the burner. It was great! I think I might cook outside more often.

As you can see our damage is minimal. We drove around later that evening to see the aftermath and could not believe all the fallen trees. There was at least one on every street. It was a disaster. This will take some time to clean up.

We stayed at our house Saturday, Sunday and Monday and then decided that it would be best for our family to relocate to Greg's parents house because they had POWER. They live right by a water tower, which is perfect spot for them because they are one of the first to get power. As much as I wanted to stay and endure this time with our neighbors I had to do what was best for our family. It was getting a little difficult taking care of our kids without AC, lights, a washing machine, a fridge and TV. God only knew that we needed some much needed time with our family as well. We took all our food from our freezer and refrigerator to their house so we could salvage it. Greg helped his dad clean off their roof and lawn. They even came back to our house to do some more work as well. Randle (my mother-in-love) and I went shopping to Cosco and Wal-mart and enjoyed every minute of our time out. We felt a little guilty buying milk and ice cream while others were loading generators onto their carts as well as ice and water. We spent Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday with them and cooked all their food that was about to go bad. We made chocolate chip cookies and sweet potato pancakes (this was a new recipe from the cookbook Randle got for me). Zachary and Carlee got some new toys and enjoyed being around their grandparents. It was a special time.

We are glad everyone is safe and well. God has been good through this storm and we have seen Him at work amongst us. I realized some things about life through this storm. It's all about the simple things: family, friends, food and fellowship. Life is about giving a helping hand, serving those in need, caring, smiling, loving. I know these things, but I now understand them so much better. Lord help me to live fully, love deeply and give generously everyday.

Weekend Fun

It doesn't get much cuter than this. She looks like a little fairy from a cartoon. Carlee got a kick out of daddy chasing her with the camera trying to get a shot that wasn't blurry.
The cuteness continues as Carlee finds the neighbors cat to pet.
Zachary actually smiled the first time for the camera when we told him to say, "cheese." It was adorable!
He loves trying to ride the tricycle while daddy pushes him. It is a back breaker.... so worth it.
Carlee pushed Zachary while counting to ten just like we do with her, but we always go to 100.
The weather has been incredible this weekend. We took advantage of it spending most of our time outside playing. I love these times when all is well and you just breathe in and breathe out and enjoy God's wonderful creation. He is so good! We are so blessed!

Ballet

Carlee tried out her first ballet class today. It was so much fun, but I have to say I am in a whole new world that is completely foreign to me. The first picture is of her at home with her target leotard and the second picture is her in her "Jazz Rags" leotard, tights and shoes in her class. The school is very particular about them wearing a black leotard with pink tights and hair pulled back in a bun. It was my first bun and with some hair spray and three bobby pens I made it work. YEA!! The ballet shop was a new experience for me. I had lots of questions and thankfully got all of them answered. Carlee danced around the shop singing, "I'm so happy so very happy I have the love of Jesus in my heart." It was so sweet! I know she was just excited to start ballet and dress up in a new clothes. We had a lot of fun trying on different leotards and finding the right one that fit the best. It took awhile, but we found one and those things are not cheap. Putting on the tights was hilarious... they don't call them tights just for any reason.

When we got to the dance studio (she is going to Excelsior Christian Dance School) we went and looked at an upper level class to show Carlee what one day she might become. She stared through the window and watched intently and in awe of those ballerinas. I was quiet impressed.

Carlee met her teacher, Ms. Rebecca (No, not me...haha) and danced around with all the other ballerina's and had fun being butterflies (Carlee says that was her favorite part). She was participating most of the time, but then really seemed to lose interest the last 10 minutes. An hour is a long time to stay focused. The moms and dads watched from the window all hoovering together to see the cuteness of it all. However, they had to close the curtain because we were a bit distracting. I am thinking we will probably stick this thing out and hope that if anything it gets her ready for school. Carlee did so well and I am so proud of her for trying her hardest to stay focused. The big mirror makes it twice as hard, I think. Her first response after class was that she didn't like it because she fell down, but I think she was tired. It had been a long day. Those of you that know Carlee know this is normally the first thing she says when doing something new. We're going to try again tomorrow.

Happy Birthday Randle!

Happy Birthday to a lady who shows love to whoever she meets. Randle you are a true blessing from above and the world can't help but be a better place because of your beauty within it. You are a shining example of Christ and servanthood. Thank you for being you, always so honest and genuine. You are a joy!

We had such a good time celebrating my Mother-in-Love's birthday at the Melting Pot. The food was delicious and we stuffed ourselves good.

Twins

I found this shirt for Zachary at Old Navy and remembered Greg having one just like it, so I had to get it so they could be twins. However, Greg's is a little faded. They still look pretty cute!

The Crown Fits?

I couldn't help but post this picture of Zachary. I know one day he will despise that I did this, but his face is priceless and totally says, "I hate it when my sister puts this crown on my head."
This is just what comes with having an older sister. Sorry buddy!
Carlee on the other hand wears this crown with a smile and loves to be a princess.