Upon first glance it's a lovely family on a hearth.
Fire a blaze, decorated in anticipation for the coming of Christ.
It tells the story.
Isaiah 61
The Year of the LORD’s Favor
1 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
3 and provide for those who grieve
in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of
beauty instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor.
Among spending wonderful days with my lovely and young motherly sister, I got to see my childhood friend Becky and other ministers wives on my recent trip to Florida.
And while that was incredibly special, there was another visit that was even more special.
This bag came into my life...
The E is for Elle.
And she is all about the charm.....
I took a lot of pictures and every time I'd tilt the camera or my body she'd turn with me.
Elle is short for Elisabeth.
While it's not spelled the same as my middle name, I am choosing to believe her mother named her after me.
She looks so much like her mom- petite and smiley.
I can't help but feel this incredible connection with her though I've never held her in my arms till last Thursday. She's like my niece. She's as bonded as my own precious Judah.
And my kids wasted no time getting to know her and baby her and pull her around...
Cady was quite motherly on this trip. She took to wanting Judah quickly. I think it's the age- that 8 year thing. Silas was 8 when Charis was born and she only 6, Silas took to it more back then.
And she really liked Elle.
Elle didn't come alone, she has a handsome older brother...Aiden. Who is a star wars and lego fan and hit it off with Silas immediately.
He was just getting over fear of the water and getting into boogie boarding...he will be 5 in Sept.
I love this shot...
It says so much about the daunting ocean. A young boy with a decision to make.
Silas has always wanted a brother. Cousin Paul is the closet thing we have.
Fyi we were at beautiful St. Augustine, Florida.
Janice lives near Savannah, GA right now while her husband is serving in the army in Afghanistan.
His deployment has been really hard on them all. Pray for them. (like right now, I'm serious)
They sacrifice for our freedom. So we can live the lives we live.
I can't tell you how awesome it was to sit with Jan on the beach with our 5 children.
We have SO many memories at the beach.
Summer vacations, day trips, driving ourselves finally when I came back to visit, mission trips-
meeting boys, parties with my brothers, walking on the pier, her grandfather, sun burns and fish in bathing suits
The last time we saw each other was at Myrtle Beach, SC.
The weekend I got married we were gonna go skinny dipping at the beach...except I got married 7 hours away from the beach so we went to clear creek lake. ha! We chickened out. Becky was there for that too.
The movie Beaches came out the year we met and we went to the movies to see it. Becky (who is all over this blog and whom you should know by now) was there, along with her sister and I think my sister.
The parallels to our friendship and lives are crazy in that movie. I LOVED the music. We are watching it Sunday night together on WE channel. I will cry. Janice has always been family, we were that close-
8 years has gone by since we were together. There was peace in the reunion. Not really there were 5 kids involved - but it just felt right having her around again.
Ok we shall proceed after I dry my eyes.
Need a laugh?
After the beach it was so nice to wash off in the pool, however that sand followed us all the way to Velma somehow.
Elle and Aiden were so much fun.
I wonder where they get it from ?
On the first day of fifth grade, Ms. Jones class at Vena Wilburn Elementary in Raleigh, NC ( or a galaxy far, far away...which ever you prefer) I walked in , saw a name on a desk close to mine and decided I was going to befriend that girl. We were inseparable for the next 5 1/2 years.
Destiny took me away, we grew up, we began navigating the paths ahead of us.
Well I am happy to write about Becky's diaper bag because I am no longer in need of a diaper bag! Yes due to wonderful visual training via the Loving Family dolls, I am happy to report the sweet 2 year old is potty trained (day time only). Yea! Calicema, we did it, (Dora reference there)
We are no longer tote around half our house, not that I am still doing that with the third child- that would be unheard of. I just leave it all in the car.
So Becky and her cool bag....She got it in Cali, where all the cool people live...she got it for Christmas and I must say it's very chic.
Perfect combination of boy mom coolness, don't you think? Becky rocks in the blingbling dept. Always has. Becky and I go way back. I mean way back. I found this photo a couple of months ago at my parents...
We are front and center and apparently this was 1982's version of Laurie Berkner and we are entranced in guitar fun, or about to be. She seems to be pointing us in the right direction.
Here we are again having a party of some sort a little later in life, when charm necklaces were demanding our attention and weighing us down. My goodness. I loved that necklace, wished I still had it. Glad a have this photo of it, I'd forgotten the details of it. Anyway I needed to post these photos for Becky- I forgot to show her when we were together. I have many more featuring bling in the late 80's early 90's but I will save her...
On with the diaper bag- this thing was too cool, check out the mini bag attached on the side for the paci's . The paci bag- I love it. I never knew about those 2 years ago, not that she took a paci for very long but wouldn't that make the cutest gift. A paci tote :)
Here's his monogrammed bag- very cute too. They were heading home to Cali the day we saw them in NW Arkansas. We saw them a year before but this cute little baldy was with them and since I am in a terrible baby-missing mood I couldn't pass up the opportunity to hold him.
"You want me?"
I love him, still little enough to hold- he was perfect. Becky's a wonderful mom, we've already raised 4 older kids between us. We are both on to the bonus children.
Speaking of bonuses- here ours is holding hands with Levi. She loved him too.
And later in the day we saw what else this cool bag does, unzips in the front to make a changing pad. Way cool I tell ya. Sorry I have no other info than that.
I could tell you about how we managed to find our way to shopping during the day (even with all those children), ate fast food twice in one day, drove 4.5 hours home that night, or how blessed I feel to have Becky in my life as a confidant and friend. And all that would be true but I choose to leave you with visions of sugar plums and eye candy from Becky's sis-in-law's home. And I have been dreaming all day about how to put more color into my home....
This is my dear friend Casey Smith, now Schneider. Isn't she beautiful in her mother's revamped dress? I was so honored to be in her wedding Oct. 17th 2009. We are very much alike and I am sad she's moved to TX but I know we'll stay close. I was so excited when she gave me this bag with my name on it!!! I have great uses for it and I love the colors.
