Family pics

I'm starting to feel a little bad because of all the pictures that I am about to post, NONE of them are in our home.  Not one.  Not on a wall, not in a frame, not even still in an envelope waiting to be put up.  We gave them to family members this year (or last) as part of our Christmas gift so I made copies for everyone else but not us.

I know they live here and they're my kids.  Pictures don't make that official but I would like to see their sweet faces hanging on some walls.  We'll get there.  

Anyway, as our baby gift my wonderful friend, Tiffany did our photo shoot.  She really is talented so I was thrilled when she let me know her plan.  Thankfully it was a warm December day so we headed to a pretty location and then let the chaos begin.  Okay, not really but I did really want a nap afterwards. :)

Number one.  Please excuse my roots above and don't even pretend like you don't know what I'm talkin about.  My awesome stylist couldn't get me in before the pics.  Yikes.

#2.  I'm not sure if you are ready for the what you are about to see below.  It's about to get really cute.

I just love those pictures of them.  They did so good!  And lastly, 

We had a great time and are still SO thankful for Tiffany making these pictures so special for us.  I loved being a family of two and I love being a family of four.

I'm not moving the golf balls.

I realized that on my Christmas Part 1 I forgot to include a little bio about Chris' step-mom, Tracy.

That's her and Chris's dad.  She's already very pretty but she's lost a good bit of weight lately and she looks amazing (Does anyone else feel weird when you tell someone how great they look during or after they've lost weight?  I never want them to think that they weren't beautiful before.  Anyway...).  They were married a little over six years ago and she has been a huge blessing to the family.  This is her first marriage and she doesn't have any biological children but Chris, Michael, Ashley, and myself all feel like we belong to her. :)  She's wonderful and boy does she love her grandchildren.  And they love their Nana!

Well, I feel like we have a new member in our household.  We don't but we do have an all out maniac and so things have really picked up in the last few days.  Behold, our mobile mover...

He is everywhere and into everything.  While it keeps me on my feet much more, I really love it.  I love seeing him grow and explore.  He really tries to figure out how everything works even at his ripe age of (almost) eight months.  I love to see his little brain growing and soaking up the world around him.  So far, I am enjoying every stage...ask me if I still am in 13 years. ;)

And this one is content just doing this.

Thankfully.  And don't you want to eat her legs?!?!  They are begging for it.

The twins have tons of toys, too many probably, and some really fun ones, too.  Emma is completely content playing with her dolls, keys, teethers, a gigantic fork that came with the cutest picnic set, etc.  Chance on the other hand wants everything that he can't have.  Shocker.  How people say that we are born perfect is beyond me.  Chris even went out and bought a $3 remote control because he wanted ours so badly.

Don't worry, it was washed.

Chris loves to play golf and he has a little putter practice set that we keep under our coffee table.

Right now, it is Chance's main goal in life to play with those golf balls and it is mine to make sure that he does not.  I am refusing to move the golf balls.  Chris has moved them, I moved them back, my mom gives me a hard time about it, my aunt says that I should just move them and you may be thinking this very second that I am a lunatic for just not moving the golf balls.  Here's my explanation (not that I owe one)...

1.  They are not dangerous.  If the golf balls were covered in blades, I may consider moving them.

2.  He knows what the word "no" means.  He cries when I tell him no and sometimes even pounds his fist on the carpet.

3.  It's my house and I like where the golf balls are.

4.  And most importantly in my humble opinion, his life is going to be filled with tons of "golf balls" if you will.

So many times I just want something removed from my life because it would make things so much easier on me.  Yet it remains.  It would be a whole lot easier on me and Chance if I would just move the golf balls but I feel that even at this young of age, that is leading down a path of teaching him that we always get what we want.  There is probably going to be a really annoying person in his fifth grade class and we will not remove him from the class or ask that the other child is removed from the class (heck, he may be the annoying one).  He may have an unfair baseball coach but we will finish out the season with a good attitude...even if his dad is that coach ;).  When he is a married man, there may be a pretty lady at work that he can't fire...he is going to have to choose to avoid the "golf balls."

I know that he isn't even a year old but at what point do we as parents begin to disciple our children?  Unfortunately, a lot of times after it's too late.  Or what we say and how we let them act are completely opposite and it gives them a sense of confusion about who God is.  I want more for him.  I want him to know the need for Christ and I want it truly modeled by his parents.    

I'm certainly not claiming to know it all.  I do not and I need the Lord's daily, hourly, momentarily grace to make it through the day.  But I will tell you one thing...I'm not moving those golf balls and hopefully he'll thank me for it one day.

Snap into it or Christmas part 2.

I know that Christmas or any holiday really is especially hard for those who have faced tragedy in the previous year or years.  I also know that tragedy happening during the holidays seem to make the whole situation that much harder.

Last December I lost a friend in a car accident.  This December, another friend from high school's wife is eaten up with cancer and they even lost their unborn baby because of the chemo treatments.  Also, a family in our community lost five of their loved ones in a plane crash.  Five.  A family that Chris grew up with lost their son in a car accident this month.  He was just married this past June.

While I was driving to one of our Christmas celebrations, I was thinking about all of the different things going on in my friend's lives right now.  Marriages falling apart.  Death.  Sickness.  Unforgiveness winning.  Bitterness making itself at home in so many hearts.  Thinking about all of this put me in a really somber mood.  I literally felt my shoulders slump and my heart become heavy.  There were many times over the holidays that I found myself fighting tears when all of this would come up in conversation or in my mind.  I never actually cried about all of the hurting and suffering, I just made myself stop thinking about it or busied up.  Unfortunately, that comes easily for me.

But on a particular drive, I was again finding myself in a sad mood over everything going on and I actually said to myself, "Snap out of it.  We've got places to go and people to see."  Immediately (thankfully), the Holy Spirit asked me why I was trying to snap out of it.

Why are we so uncomfortable with sadness?  Why do I feel that it's not ok to be sad for my friends even at a Christmas party?  We live in a "fix it fast" world...or maybe I should say country.  If we are hurting, we want a remedy and we want it quick.  It's the reason there are so many substance addictions.  We don't want to hurt.  We don't want to feel sad.  Why was I sucking back tears all Christmas and never let them freely flow for the hurts and sins of others?  When was the last time that I cried because of my own sin and rebellion against God?

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 says that there is a time for everything.  A time to live and a time to die.  A time to tear down and a time to build (that's for a whole other blog post).  A time to weep and a time to laugh.  A time to mourn and a time to dance.  A time to be silent and a time to speak.

I don't think that I am comfortable enough with sadness or allow myself to be sad enough.  I am going to start snapping into it...for so many reasons.  Jesus Himself grieved over our sins and was empathetic for those who hurt.

That's all.  Nothing profound.  Just thinking out loud.

Christmas Part 1

We had a wonderful Christmas.  Last year I was fighting tears all day because I wanted so badly to be sharing our day with children or at least have on one the way and this year I was running around like a crazy person trying to get two babies out of the house and to our NINE (you read that right but they weren't all on Sunday) Christmases on time.  It was great.  Here are some pics from all the fun.

 My hunny and I at my in-law's house on Thursday night.

Here we all are except for Chris' grandparents who were there.  Sweet Mamaw is taking all the pics.

Chris' brother, Michael and his wife, Ashley recently moved to New Orleans so Michael could begin his MDiv at NOTBS.  We are so thrilled for all of the things that the Lord is doing in their lives but we sure do miss them.  It stinks quite frankly.  Here they are.

We miss them so much and so do the twinsies.  I think that the feeling is mutual.

The next day we headed over to my dad's to celebrate.  We had a blast.

Pappy loves his Emmy.  I can't write too much about my dad because it gets me all weepy but he's just the best.  Yep.  I'm already tearing up.

This is my little sister, Abbi.  Isn't she adorable?!  I love her so much and we have a great relationship.  She is such a natural with kids and the babies love her.

My little brother, Nic.  He's hilarious and has a heart of gold.  We got him some fun mustaches and a harmonica.  Sorry to my parents. :)

My sweet little man playing with all the paper.

They got them a wagon as one of their gifts and the babies LOVE it.  It was the perfect gift.  And there's Gigi (or my step-mom, Sandy).  She is the best gift giver ever.  She's one of those awesome people who listen to you all year just to hear you say what you would like to have and then comes Christmas and you open it up!  She makes all holidays so special.  She always has.  I'm very thankful for her and man does she love those babies.

Please don't ask me what my husband's shirt is about.  Yes, it involves wrestling and that's all I'm going to say.  He's a nut.

We had a couple of other places in between but here is Emma with my mom on Christmas eve at my grandmother and grandfather's house.  My mom is so great with the babies.  They love their Mama D and she's pretty smitten herself.  She is one of the most selfless people that I know.  I wish that I was just half as generous as she is.  She's a wonderful mother and I hope to be like her in so many ways.

This is my cousin Angela and her sweet boy-friend, Bobby.  Even though technically I am the oldest child, Angela has always been more like an older sister to me.  We were together a lot as children and I just adore her.  I know that I used to drive her crazy because I copied everything she did but she was always very patient with me as I developed my own interests. :)

This is my sister Katie and her new husband, David.  They are the cutest.  I am so thankful that the Lord sent her such a godly man who loves her so much.  They are great and I love it when I get to spend time with them.

Me and Em.

I love this picture so much.  This is my Paw and Chance.  My grandfather had a really bad stroke years ago and hasn't been able to really move the left side of his body since.  It's been hard on him and my grandmother but they are the picture of understanding that this world is not our home.  He has so much hope and loves Jesus with all of his being.  He always has the sweetest attitude and would give the shirt off his back to someone in need.  I cherish my time with him.

Sunday morning we headed to my mom's house to do Christmas with her.  Chris is on staff at our church so he had to be there Christmas eve and Christmas morning.  I got to my mom's around 10:45 and he joined us around noon.  Here is Chance getting to the goods.

Bless their hearts.  They didn't get anything for Christmas.

And here we are at Chris' grandparent's house.  They go all out with prime rib and shrimp for lunch so we always look forward to the company and good food.

Here are the girls.  Chris' mom's parents had three kids, two girls and one boy.  They all got married and they all had sons.  There are no grand-daughters or nieces.  So, when Chris and I got married and they all got a girl it was a big deal.  Now three of the grandsons are married, we just added Emma and Andrea (on the far right) is having a little girl in April!  So we are finally filing the house up with some girls.  We are kind of a big deal over there. :)

And here they are, all the boys.  I think they are all so cute.  Seven grandsons and now Chance.

This is Chris' mom, Lana.  Isn't she pretty?  She is one sweet and happy Granna.

It's not too clear but there are Mamaw and Pawpaw on the right.  They are true examples of leaving a legacy of love.

And then we had a wee little photo shoot but I'll spare you...this time.

We finished the day with Chris' dad, Ronnie, step-mom, Tracy, and Michael and Ashley coming over to our house.

Here are the guys playing with the babies.  Pops is a great grandfather.  He's so sweet with them.

This picture will break me out in hives if I stare at it too long.  No worries...it looks much different today.  We now have an organized mess. :)

Here's Ronnie and Tracy.  Notice Ronnie's stain...Emma got him right off the bat.

So, all in all it was a great few days.  We were (and are) slap worn out but I wouldn't have it any other way.  The babies were so good everywhere we went.  I know it wasn't always fun to be in and out of their car seats so much but they were troopers.  I loved our time with family, whether we see them every week or twice a year, it was a great visit.

I will be posting part II this week sometime.  Don't worry, no more pics just some thoughts that were running wild though my mind and heart over the last few days.

I hope that you guys had a great Christmas, too.  I'm thankful that Jesus tolerates us celebrating His birthday on a day that most likely isn't even His birthday.  He's a good God.