9 months

She's nine months old already. Not much new is happening. She did just barely get one of her front teeth. She still looks a bit like a vampire though. Here is a photo of her laughing.

No walking and no talking, but she's getting more efficient with her crawling. She used to just roam around in her own little space, but now she goes everywhere. This means I can't go anywhere, without being followed.

The coolest thing is right when I was worried about her outgrowing all of her clothes and being short on winter items I got an email from a friend that was getting rid of everything that her daughters wore. I mean everything!

She gave me 7 bins of clothes all the way up to 4T.

This 9 months shirt that SJ is wearing is actually a cute story.

That shirt came in a gift set that I bought for my friends daughter 5 years ago. At the time I never would have thought that someday I would have a baby girl wearing it! This whole outfit from the adorable knit cap

down to the baby Gap shoes that were never worn

were all from the same person. Isn't it amazing how the Lord provides?

So I am sure you will be seeing plenty of these outfits in pictures over the next couple years. I heard a sermon recently where the speaker said "The Bible specifically says that man was formed and woman was fashioned, and woman have been fashionable ever since" I guess SJ is just starting on that at early age.

Donald's Broken Legs

I have been going through a lot of the Christmas decorations lately and I came across this little photo of J and I from our very first Christmas as a married couple.

This little paper frame was leftover from the Christmas cards we sent out that year with this photo in it.

That's how you did things 10 years ago, you had photos from film, you printed them out, and if you wanted a photo card you didn't upload and order them you just made them yourself. It's such an ancient ritual. I will enjoy pestering my children with these stories.

Speaking of children, Z broke an ornament we got the year we were married. It's a Disney 2000 collectible.

When I discovered it I asked Z what happened and he told me "His legs got broken, and that makes Donald bery sad". In some weird mommy way I was excited to have my first broken ornament because it means there is life and energy in this place and we have a family now!

The ornament was a gift from one of J's former coworkers. The office that he worked for at the time threw a wedding shower (he worked with all women) and the theme was stuff to trim the tree. When you get married in November you kind of luck out on getting a head start in Christmas decorations. Like this St. Nicolas Square bride and groom I got from J's mom, which also go with a little house and gazebo that light up.

I love all of these cheesy Christmas things. They bring me back. Sometimes I don't even want to go back, but it's good because I can see how far we've come.

I know I have talked A LOT about our 10 year anniversary (for example, here, here, here, and here.) But it was a day of significance. I think it's a big thing for anybody, especially these days, but add to that the fact that I was 18 and I had never lived on my own. I was marrying a guy that was 6 years older that I had only been engaged to for 3 months. I was risking it all. Of course when you are in love it doesn't feel like a risk at all, it feels like you are at risk of suffocation at the thought of being without that person. You romantics know what I am talking about.

Well, needless to say it hasn't always been romantic. Yet here we are 10 Christmases later and as I go through all of our decorations I am looking back, but also looking ahead. I am going to glue Donald duck's legs back on so that it can hang on the tree again and I can only hope that maybe someday many, many anniversaries and Christmases from now it will get broken again, hopefully by my grandchildren.

The Fall In Review

A few months ago I posted the top 10 things I was looking forward to in the fall. Let's see how it went.

1. The Captured Conference for Young Women
It was the first non-youth conference I have ever been to and it was amazing. Some of the highlights were doing the cupid shuffle at the after party and also getting to meet one of my favorite worship artists Jenn Johnson.

2. Scarborough Fair
I didn't do this one. First of all it was a lot more expensive than I thought and second I was WAY too busy.

3. Halloween Costumes
My little Bell from Beauty and the Beast and Woody from Toy Story were a huge hit!

4. Being in a Magazine
The article is written the photos have been taken. I have less than a month before I see the final article in the Waxahachie Now magazine. Yikes!

5. Writing My First Song
I did it! I wrote the lyrics and melody, my friend accompanied me on guitar, and I surprised J at open mic night. You can watch the video here.

6. SJ's Baby Dedication
She wore a very special outfit that some of her cousins were dedicated in. The whole day was beautiful.

7. Speaking at a Women's Meeting
I have done public speaking twice this past season which is not typical at all! God is doing something new and he is breaking down all of my walls to do it.

8. New Old Clothes
The weather has FINALLY been cold enough for me to wear some of fall fashions that I have picked up at the thrift stores. I hit up some stores again today which is why I am getting this post up so late!

9. Our Anniversary
Renewing our vows was a dream come true. It took a lot of planning and preparation along with a few headaches, but I am so glad we did it. I have a slideshow posted here.

10. Thanksgiving
I made eclair dessert this year. Nuff said.

I plan on linking up with Oh Amanda's Top 10 Tuesday if I can finish this before midnight. Sheesh! I've been bust lately.

Anchors

Yesterday J preached. He usually just leads worship, but for this Sunday he was in charge of it all! I was proud of him as always. We were reminded how communion is an instruction that the Lord gave us to anchor us and help us to remember what Christ did. He compared this to other traditions such as birthdays and Christmas. These are times that we commemorate and memorialize something that happened. Sometimes these traditions just become mundane and we don't even care about what it all really means anymore. I was encouraged yesterday that when we get tossed about in our fickle ways and we loose sight of what is important these anchors help us to stay grounded.

There was a lot more to it and they are working on starting a podcast maybe you can hear it someday, but that was the theme of the message. It really meant a lot to me because I have seen a similar theme in what the Lord has been doing in our lives recently. As I look back over this past season I see so many of these anchors. We have commemorated our marriage, a dear friends birthday, and a family that was reunited. In a month that can be a bit overwhelming at times I just want to take this week to look back and reflect on some of the things that I would hate to forget.

There's Always Room For Smores

The past 5 posts prove that this holiday season has brought on plenty of new experiences so far. I shared about our no sleep black friday, getting caught by the cops, writing for shutterfly, decorating with the kids, then of course the African party. The adventures continued earlier this week when we met up with some of our friends that travel around the country in an RV home. The plan was to have a campfire and make dinner and smores, but the nearly freezing cold whether had us second guessing whether or not that would be a good idea. J and I thought about it and said why stop the fun now, lets go for it.


As far as I can remember this was my first campfire cook out in the cold.

Then last night we had some other friends over that showed me how to get some use out of the leftover ingredients by making smores in the microwave. They weren't as good, but it was still enjoyable. I feel like I have tried enough new things to last for a while, but then again there's always room for smores.

My Nigerian Side

Our Pastor and the whole family together

I have some friends from church that are from Nigeria. Last year they were finally able to get all the paper work cleared to have their children come to live with them in the states. This year they had the idea to do this special Thanksgiving celebration where we integrated many of their customs and traditions into our Sunday service. It was a special time of praising the Lord together. I even wore an African outfit that belonged to my friend.

J & I with the lovely couple that provided us with these ensembles.

Afterwards there was a big reception with, goat, fish heads, dancing, and fire. The fire wasn't planned, but one of the candles fell over. Luckily it was put out very quickly and nothing was damaged.

Z playing with his new friends

The whole experience was new to me, but it was an honor to embrace the Nigerian culture and thank God for all that he has done. Hopefully there will be more opportunity for me to wear this bright green outfit in the future.

Video of my attempt at dancing to Nigerian music.

This post is linked up with Alicia's Homemaking, for Try New Adventures Thursday.

Decorations 2010

Every year Christmas as a mom just keeps getting better. Although we will be out of town for two weeks for the holidays we still had to decorate for the kids. We put out the same three penguins that we have displayed since 2007 and we added one more since our family has grown. Then we came inside and watched "It's A Meaningful Life" Veggie Tales movie and got the kids in their PJ's and we decorated the tree. I was so excited last year when Z hung a couple decorations on the tree, but this year HE REALLY GOT INTO IT.

Granted he did hang everything in one place, but we all had so much fun together. SJ enjoyed chasing plastic metallic ball ornaments around and putting everything in her mouth as usual.

At one point Z decide maybe he should spread the ornaments out a bit more and so he asked me to lift him up so he could reach higher. When he found the place he was looking for he hung the ornament just so and said "There. Perfect." and that's how I felt about the whole evening.