Busting out Deuteronomy

If you haven't read the blog Bring the Rain yet today, follow the link to the left (or right? I don't remember....) It is a great reminder to pray for your child (or children) not just daily, but all day every day. In our small group last week, we read a verse that I've read a million times, but I don't think I've read since becoming a mom. It's funny how you can read a verse all of your life, but the true meaning doens't impact you until it becomes applicable in your own life.
It was Deuteronomy 11:18-21:

"Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land that the Lord swore to give your forefathers, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth."

I realized that I pray silently all day long and do my quiet times "quietly." These things are great, but I need to be training Lorelai to walk daily with God. I've always been so proud of the fact that we pray with her every night before we put her to bed, but that just seems so minimal after reading that verse. I challenge everyone else as I am challenging myself to "fix, tie, and bind" themselves to God's words, teaching them and talking about them, when you are sitting around at home or walking to get the mail. Post them around your house as reminders to your kids of the loving God we serve.

Double blog.

Below are TWO new posts! Yes, TWO! Just thought you might need that to be pointed out. Please Continue...and Enjoy!

After all, tomorrow.....is another day!

Okay, so my favorite movie of ALL time is Gone With The Wind. Read the book a million times, seen the movie a few million more, have half of it memorized. Always loved the fact that "Katie Scarlett O'Hara" and I shared the same name. It didn't take me long to think of Lorelai's Halloween costume....a southern belle! After picking the colors it was going to be, I was a little worried she would look like the wicked witch of the west, but Kelly (my mother-in-law who MADE the dress!!!!) did an amazing job and it came out perfectly. Here are some pics from Friday....we visited the Pumpkin Patch at St Andrews in the morning, carved our pumpkin at home with daddy, went to the trunk or treat at Fwd Church of Christ, then to Nana's, then over to the Stonemans (new next door neighbors) then Lorelai went home and went to bed (with Daddy home, of course) while Momma got to hang out with neighbor Amee and her friends. Here are my favorite pictures from the day...the yellow outfit featured in some of the Pumpkin Patch pictures is an outfit I found at a resale shop while in Tennessee...it reminded me of something from the 1920's and I fell in love with it. Enjoy!













and, last but not least, my favorite....my stand-alone chick looking all grown up standing up by her lonesome.

"As God as my witness, I'll never be seated AGAIN!"
*queue GWTW theme music*
*end scene*

Technical Difficulties

Well, it seems as though it may just be our internet acting up, not our new computer. I dont know about yall, but out internet just hasnt been the same since the hurricane. Anyways!
We'll start this blog out with some pictures of Shawn's birthday....it was October 18th, and the first last couple of pics are of Lorelai trying desperately to figure out how to open Shawn's presents before he got to them. She is going to have SOOOOOOOOO much fun at her first birthday party.



Next on the list! Last Monday we went to the zoo with our friends Jessica and her little boy Aiden, and our new neighbors Amee and Ava! Ava is 1 month younger than Lorelai and we LOVE having them right across the street! I love the last picture of Lorelai, even though she has snot dripping everywhere!



Next item on the list is a new milestone Lorelai hopped right into....honestly, I didnt think this kid would EVER walk. She will walk right alongside you forever, as long as she has the tightest grip on someone's finger. But, she would NOT ever let go. She knew the moment you were goiong to trick her and snatch your hand away, and she would slowly squat to the ground. Last Thursday (night before Halloween) she finally started letting go of things and standing on her own! I am soooooo excited. My only wish for Halloween this year was to get pics of Lorelai standing up in her cute little dress, and it actually happened! She is showing interest in walking and has attempted half a step, so I'm pretty sure it will happen in the next week or so....just in time for her First Birthday! Yay!!! My internet is starting to glitch so I'm going to post this and then move on to.....Halloween!

For real.

Ok my friends.... I have not given up on my blog. We got a new computer and for some reason it is not letting me load my pictures. I need to have Shawn check it out, so be prepared for a MEGA SUPER post in a few days. We've got alot of things already, and today is Halloween! I can't wait to see all of our little monsters dressed up as something cute!

The Hermitage

(I have been trying to post this for quite a few days now, but our internet has been acting up, so without further delay....The Hermitage!)

Ok, so Tuesday was the last full day we were in TN so we wanted to do something tourist-y and historical, so we went to the Hermitage, which is where Andrew Jackson lived. It was AMAZING. I soak up history and old houses and antiques and artifacts....People- most of the wallpaper was put up in the 1800's!!! How is that even possible??? We took total advantage of the gorgeous landscape and Kelly and I took a BILLION pictures...here are most of my favorites. Which one do you love most?

Oh I wish I was in the land of cotton...

Well I know I posted a little bit in my last post about our trip to Tennessee...but here's the whole deal! (Sorry if I'm a bit repetitive) We got there last Thursday evening and had a relaxing evening just soaking up the landscape (which is to DIE for) and weather (also to DIE for) and caught up, and for me, MET family. I hadn't ever met Shawn's Uncle Mike, Aunt Cookie, and cousins Philip, his wife Michelle, and Kristen. Here's a picture of Uncle Mike and Aunt Cookie's awesome house with wrap around porch:

Aunt Peggy came to our wedding so it had been a looooong time since we had seen each other. The whole time Kelly was planning the trip, she managed to keep it a secret from Aunt Peggy that Lorelai and I were coming. It was Awesome. Here's a picture of Lorelai and Aunt Peggy playing together:

and one of Uncle Mike, Aunt Cookie, Aunt Peggy, and Kelly...eating Lorelai's cookies!

Friday we spent mainly getting some necessities from Walmart and shopping at Belks! (A department store not yet in Texas....) they were having a HUGE sale! Woohoo! Saturday was so much fun. It was everything I could ever want in a small town. I told Kelly I felt like I was in Stars Hollow...(the town in Gilmore Girls) They had a Main Street Festival where they shut down their old downtown square and had local vendors set up at booths. I was BORN for this life.




That last picture is at The Palace...the oldest still standing and operating movie theatre! It was built in 1913. Later that night we went on a candlelit tour of the Gallatin Cemetary. It was sooo cool- nothing spooky. We had a guide walk us around and at different graves they had a person dressed up in old clothes portraying the person buried there and giving an account of their lives. Once again...BORN for this. Call me weird if you want, but I really enjoy walking around graveyards looking at super old gravestones and imagining what the person's life was like. I'd like to think I'm just quirky and imaginative. Whatever.
The next day we had a little photo shoot with Lorelai in the backyard:




Cutest. Kid. Ever.
On that note...it's getting late and I'm sick. Woke up this morning with 102.5 and white spotted swollen tonsils. Welcome Home me. SO I will post more tomorrow about our outing to the Hermitage...Andrew Jackson's home. Great pictures. Here's the pic of the week to leave you feeling happy.

Til tomorrow...