Tuesday, December 30, 2014

I Expect Great Things

Here we are!! 

2015 is knocking on our door. 

It's just 2 sleeps away...and really, just 1, because we all know that I am not going to go to sleep until after midnight tomorrow night! That's crazy!!!!!!

I am super excited about 2015. 

I really am! 

I believe that the best is yet to come. 

Yes, we had hard times in 2014, but we are moving beyond that, and it just gets me fired up. 



I'm excited to see what God is going to do in and through Connection Church. 

I'm excited to see what God is going to do in and through AdvoCare.

I'm excited to see what God is going to do in and through Lee at Apple.

And I'm excited to see what God is going to do in and through me and my family. 

There is a new expectancy in our home and in our personal lives that I don't think we've had in a very long time! 

It is a fresh season in our lives. 

What are you excited about for 2015? 

Saturday, December 20, 2014

Stop Growing!!! A Reflection of My Growing Babies in 2014!!

My kids are growing so quickly!!! 




Bella is learning to read, and she's doing a fabulous job! It is getting to the point where Lee and I can't spell things out to each other anymore because she will know what we are talking about. 

She's a pro at riding her bike. She makes friends super easily, and she loves playing with the kids on our street. She still loves to sing and dance, and life is definitely better for her when she has an audience! 

She is an adventurer! She loves being outside and playing in the snow!! When we are ready to take the task of taking 3 kids up to the mountains, we are going to get her snowboarding lessons! 





Brennan is all boy! His curiosity is piqued from Bella learning to read, so he's interested in learning his letters and sounds for now. 

He loves all things ninja turtles, and he can often be found with swords in the back of his shirt. It's quite entertaining! He looks forward to his dad getting home from work so that he can begin fighting and wrestling with someone who will fight back and he won't get in trouble for it! 

He is a mischievous little boy, and I absolutely love it!

He is so different from Bella in so many ways, and learning what works with him keeps me on my toes. 







Breelee is a hot mess. She LOVES to make people laugh. She's super silly and sweet. She loves Minnie Mouse and wants anything that her older siblings are playing with. She has an amazing vocabulary, and she seems to talk non-stop! 

She is pretty much out of the breath-holding spells. It's been a very long time since she's had one...and the threat of them happening are pretty rare...usually just when she gets hurt...which is rare! She's a tough cookie!








We are so blessed to have happy, healthy babies!
They get along well (most of the time) and love each other very much.



Bring on 2015!!! 

Thursday, December 18, 2014

Beginning to Reflect on 2014

I've decided that I'm going to get back into blogging! 

All it takes is a decision and action! :) 

As we get to the end of 2014, it is a huge time of reflection for me! I've done this since I was a teenager. It's great to look back and see where I've been and plan and dream about where I am going. 

2014 has been a...year. I'm struggling with finding the right adjective to describe it. 

There were some really good, amazing, incredible things that happened...beautiful moments...but then there were some hard, dark, harsh moments too. 

Most people may not be aware of the dark moments that our family faced. And that is ok. Even though we live in an age of social media, where everyone is connected, but these moments were hard to describe. Every once in a while we might have asked for prayer or said we were having a hard time, but it wasn't a picture of the daily struggles we were facing. 

Lee was in a serious season of deep depression. Each day...each moment...was a struggle. I felt as if we had been robbed of our joy, and no matter what we did or what we prayed, we couldn't get it back. 

I knew it was bad...but often, I don't think I realized it was as bad as it was. 

We lived in survival mode. Just barely making it from one day to the next. 

I think the day that I realized it exactly how hard it had been was when a group of our UL Chi Alpha students came to Colorado for a camping trip and then came to Connection Church on the Sunday before they headed back to Louisiana. We hung out with them at Blair and Christian's apartment after church for a while, which was wonderful! 

I hadn't seen Lee that genuinely happy in a very long time. He was alive. He was himself. He was the man I had married. After that Sunday, I just kept crying as I thought about the glimpse of my husband I had seen. I missed him. 

That was one of the hardest seasons we have been through together. 

I personally went through a time of depression after we lost everything in our Uhaul fire and Hurricane Katrina demolished my hometown. And Lee was super supportive as we survived that time, even dealing with his own emotions and grief. 

This time around...3 little babies at home all day...it was extra difficult. 

I'm thankful for the grace of God. I'm thankful that He walked us through that season. And I'm happy to say that it is over! 

There is joy in our home and our lives again. We work hard to not live in a constant state of survival with our 3 little ones. This is such a demanding season of life with them, but we definitely want to enjoy it and embrace it! I know that it will not be like this forever, and I refuse to rush through it by wishing for the next season to come!

We are stronger because of the struggles we walk through together. And we can appreciate where we are now because of where we have been. 

Looking forward to 2015!!

Psalm 23:4 "Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me."