no little brothers.

I found this taped to Sophie's bedroom door the other day...



No little brothers allowed in my room.

Love it.

horse race.

Next to the giant slide, this was Lawson's favorite activity at the "festibul."
How cute is this horse race?!



He made it through the gate...


but not much further than that.


Luckily, they had people there to help the kiddos having trouble with their horses...

I think this guy was pretty worn out by the time they got to the finish line, though. :)

All smiles!

apple blossom.

Beautiful weather this year for the Apple Blossom Festival. (or Festibul, as Lawson calls it!)
My little pre-schooler did a super job singing! (and we found that his red hair makes him fairly easy to spot in a crowd.)

First stop after singing... the giant slide. Last year, my little man was a little bit chicken.

This year, he climbed right up and cruised on down!

Then, he got even braver!

Games...

Bouncy house...

Petting zoo...

Ending the night with a horse and carriage ride! A perfect family evening! (and all for free!)

m&m's.

Corey just came home from Wal-Mart and handed me a huge bag of peanut M&M's... because the baby might be hungry. :)

The baby, by the way... is now the size of an avacado. He or she (I'm still thinking she) is going to double their weight and size in the next few weeks, so I'm supposed to get ready for a growth spurt. Good to know... I can blame it on the baby and not the M&M's.

My little baby email also told me that about 12% of women who carry a baby to term gain less than 16 pounds. About 20% gain more than 40 pounds. Pretty sure I'll be in the 20%.

heaven.

For Lawson's Awana Cubbies lesson tonight he had to draw pictures of three things he thought would be in heaven. He drew...

1. food
2. angels
3. Baby Cora and Konley


Tears.
So sweet.

today.

My day was going much better,
until I was backing out of our driveway and did this...

And then fell down our front porch steps in the pouring rain after I came to get Corey.

Did you know it was possible for someone's rear end to swell?

I didn't really know that was possible.

But it is.

My butt is swollen.

And there is a pretty nasty bruise where I hit. Hard. 4 times. (4 steps)

At least I didn't take out any small children on this fall.

The very nice black Jeep that I crunched had no visible damage.

If you really looked you could see a dent in his side door.

I put a note in a Zip-Loc bag (since it was pouring rain) and he came to our door a couple hours later.

He was very nice. Very, very nice.

He gave us his card and we'll have our insurance guy contact him tomorrow.

It could have been worse. Much worse.

Thankful that it wasn't.

Thankful that the only thing that was hurt (besides my butt) is my pride.

I texted my friend (that I was supposed to be picking up to go to Sonic) and said, "I just hit a car and fell down the stairs. I'll call you later." She called right away to see if I was okay and then came over... to bring us dinner. This is my friend who just had a baby two weeks ago. My friend that is a new mommy of three. And she is bringing me dinner. As I'm asking her, through tears, why she is bringing us dinner, she says because she knows I am exhausted and frustrated and she knows what it's like. She was making this dinner for her family anyway, so she just made a double batch.

Love her.

stress.

I'm stressed.
Really stressed.
I hate feeling like this.
I hate how it affects everything in my life.
I hate that I can't be the kind of wife and mother and teacher that I want to be.
I hate hearing about things second hand and not being involved in decisions that directly affect me.
I hate that I let the decisions of others and the actions of others stress me out.
I just hate stress.
Ugh.


A friend sent me this email awhile back. She subscribes to a daily devotional called "Girlfriends in God." I read it and thought, "Yes. Exactly. That's exactly how I feel."


"Come away with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest." Mark 6:31

Cooking...cleaning...refereeing...chauffeuring...filing...paying bills...making phone calls...going to work...do you ever feel like running away from being in charge of everybody and everything!?

Maybe, like me, you've realized that what causes the most stress in life seems to be the accumulation of those common daily hassles. Honestly, those daily things pile up and drive you nuts! According to research, I've read, women do pretty well dealing with those major life events -- but it's the daily conquering of our never-ending "To Do Lists" that sends us over the edge.

Girlfriend, God has a word for you! Yes, all of you who are teetering on the edge of Freak-Out and for those of you who already have plunged over that cliff! His word comes through the psalmist in Psalm 131:2. "But I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother."

Oh, the simplicity of being still; sitting down and being quiet in the middle of chaos is the way to regain your composure and strengthen your heart.

How quiet is your soul? Your soul is your mind and emotions. And if you're like most women, your soul is running all over the place! Maybe you've mastered the art of sitting down physically and even appearing to be quiet. But on the inside, your soul is charging ahead -- making plans and thinking about everything that has to be done. Any sisters out there?

I liken it to the perpetual little Ms. Pac Man -- running all over the place trying to gobble up all those stress ghosts before they gobble you! I remember so well when my boys were young and I'd pull them away from the video games, sending them to "the quiet place" so they could calm down and unwind. Sometimes it took quite a while for them to recover a quiet demeanor after being jerked around with all the agitated stimuli on the computer.

How about you, dear friend? Are the stressors of life jerking you around, leaving you agitated and jumpy? Well, I invite you to take a stress break. Quiet your emotions. De-escalate your soul. "Be still and know that He is God." (Psalm 46:10)

Yes, be very still and really know that He is God!

Okay. So right now, I'm going to take a few moments to deep breathe. Instead of charging frantically ahead to the next stress-stop, I'm sprinting into the arms of my God. He's the only One who can quiet my spirit and settle my nerves.

Let's Pray
Lord, I'm catching my breath; I'm catching my breath in You. Instead of charging ahead with my plans, I'm rushing to You! Teach me how to be still and know You are God!
In Jesus' name,
Amen



I need to quiet my soul.
I need to catch my breath in Him.
I need to rush to Him when my plans are falling apart.
I know that this is what I need to do.
Why is it so hard?