Laughing is Medicine

Uncle Kranky, thanks for sending this picture to me. It made me laugh!


There is always some idiot that spoils your holiday snaps.....

No Habla Espanol.

So, my sweet two year old has had a few funny Spanish speaking incidents within the last week that I thought I would share. I knew he could count to ten in Spanish, but had no idea that he was picking up so much other stuff from Diego and Dora.
The first funny moment came after my mother bought him three little plastic frogs. He was holding them and I asked him what their names were. He grabbed the blue one and said his name is 'Azul' which is blue in Spanish. Then he grabbed the yellow frog and said his name was 'marillo', which 'amarillo' is yellow in Spanish! I just couldn't believe that he knew those colors!
The second funny story happened a few days later when we were playing in my car. Joey and I sit in the car with him while he pushes all the buttons and 'drives' the car. Joey had opened his passenger side door for some air and Jackson said, 'Daddy close the door.' Joey tried to explain something about him being claustrophobic,but Jackson just looked at him like he hadn't obviously stated his request correctly. So, Jackson put his hands out wide and slowly brought them together and said, 'Daddy, Cierra', which means close! He even did the hand motion for it! Joey just looked at him and asked me, 'What did he just say to me?' I explained and we both just lost it! My Spanish is definitely not good, so I think soon we're not going to be able to communicate with our toddler!

Sweet Cooper

We had the best time taking pictures of this precious family! We grew up with Jennifer and felt so grateful that she asked us to take family pictures. They have such an amazing little boy, Cooper. He was all grins the entire time we were there, and made the photo shoot that much more fun. We really had a great time catching up with a long time friend. Check out some of the pictures from the shoot.

Christmas 2009

So I had to post these pictures for all the world to see! Joey a.k.a Uncle Eddie paid us all a visit over Christmas. It was one part funny, one part scary and a dash of crazy! If you couldn't tell by these two crazy pics that we had a blast in Longview celebrating Jesus' birth. We had so much fun and I am hoping to get a video up here if I can figure it out. Anywho, Joey you are a trooper and I love you for all your craziness and your willingness to 'put it all out there' ....literally!

If this isn't a scary pic...I don't know what is.

Its Time For More Senior Portraits

We are running some specials for our senior portraits for the next few months. This is the flier that we will be sending out to the seniors in our area. What do you think? I need some feedback. Does it catch your attention? Just thought I would get some opinions. Hope you all have a great MLK day!

Deserted Island

I just got inspired to do this game after watching The Office the other day. It was the one where Ryan burned his pita and the fire department was called so they all played the desert island game where they had to choose what they would bring if they were on a deserted island. Anyway, I thought it would be fun, so here we go.....
I would love to hear your desert island picks as well!
If you could only bring 3 book to the island what would they be?


The Bible by: God
Jungle Sunrise by: Jonathan Williams
Dear John by: Nicholas Sparks

Now I explain. The first one is pretty self explanatory. It is a must have and the only must have for me.
The second is the book my incredibly talented brother in law wrote. It will be out in stores in March, so seriously you HAVE to read it. It is action/adventure/romance and just amazing all wrapped up into one book! Go Here to check it out.

(Johnny, what did you think about that plug?)
The last one is just the latest of the Nicholas Sparks books I have read and it is a 'just get lost in a sweet romance' type book . Never gets old.

If you could only bring 5 movies to the island what would they be?

Oceans Eleven

Sixteen Candles
Grease

Gladiator

Christmas Vacation

I will explain. I love Ocean's Eleven which I never get tired of. Sixteen Candles is just a classic. Grease, what is not to love about a love story where everyone spontaneously breaks into song and dance. Gladiator, cause I needed an action movie and it is awesome. And Christmas Vacation because though it is a christmas movie, it is probably my favorite comedy. And, it wouldn't hurt to try to feel the christmas spirit year round since I am stuck out in the middle of nowhere.

Well, these are the only things I can think of right now, but I will try to think of some more cause this game is fun. Let me know what your picks would be.

Sweet Sisters

Just look at these beautiful girls!!! I have to say first of all that Jess and I had the best time taking pictures of these sweet girls. They both were so great! The baby, Paelyn was so happy and gave us almost 30 full minutes of that precious smile before nap time. And, don't get me started on Brittan, who is eight and going on twenty eight! She was a doll! She had chosen a few outfit changes and had 'the model pose' down to an art. I think we could have taken pictures of these two girls for another three hours, but we forced ourselves to turn the cameras off. Thanks Toi for opening up your home and sharing your sweet girls with us!

Expectations

Do you know which country is the happiest country in the world? (according to a recent study)

Denmark.

You know who is scarily close to the bottom of the list?

Us

This just got me thinking why this is.

I am reading a book by Donald Miller called A Million Miles in A Thousand Years, and it actually mentions this fact. I had heard this from my friend, Carrie a while ago because she has been living there for a few years playing professional soccer. I actually had the great pleasure of meeting up with her and Jess at Starbucks last weekend. We hadn't seen her in over two years and it was LONG overdue. We were able to catch up and just be together, which was so great. She is one of those friends that though life keeps you from seeing each other but once every few years, you can pick right up, like you had spoken the day before.
We got on the subject of Denmark and she told us about how the country just seemed content with being simple. The homes were simple, even the wealthier ones, the way they decorated was modest, and she said people just didn't have 'stuff' to have 'stuff'. Materialism wasn't a huge problem there. She said even the kids she coached in soccer were simple. No one wants to 'stand out' even as a super star. They are content being simple and not having to have tons of attention. Sounds quite different from our culture.
Donald Miller, in his book says the '60 minutes' special he watched, said that not only did the British university find out who was the happiest country but they even found out why. 'They ruled out financial status, physical health, and even social freedom, and they landed on a single characteristic of the Danes that allowed them such contentment. The reason Danes are so happy is this: They have low expectations.'
'There is something in Denmark's culture that allows them to look at life realistically. They don't expect products to fulfill them or relationships to end all of their problems.'
Donald Miller thinks that maybe we are so low on the happy scale because our culture screams at us that we need this and that, and if you only had 'this' THEN you would be happy. 'THIS' will make you 'whole'. This spouse, this job, these 'things' will finally get you there. And so we buy it, or trade in our spouse for a younger one, or we make more money, only to come to the realization that it didn't work.
Could it be possible that WE aren't doing it right and someone else might be able to teach this great nation something?
Something to think about.

Gotta Get That Boom Boom Pow

So, I thought I would list some of the things my two year old has said to me in the past 24 hours:

'Gotta get that boom boom pow!' Thanks Jeff for this one. He loves to sing this into his microphone....ALL the time!

'I rode a blue train' We went to Grapevine Mills Mall where they have a life size train that they take kids on.

'That big gorilla scary you!' which means 'that gorilla scared me!' Again, a Grapevine Mills mall experience

'I play drums like Johnny do's!' Thanks aunt Jess and Johnny for the drum set....you know what they say about paybacks!!!!!

'Daddy tooted!' He loves to yell this into the microphone and whenever he can really, even when Joey is no where around.

And just thought I would post a fun picture from a year ago. This is probably my favorite picture I have taken of Jackson. I love it!

Favorite Things He says:
'I miss you so much!' when you come home and he hasn't seen you in awhile, with his arms out running at you.
'twinkle twinkle star like a diamond in sky' He sings so sweetly!
'God....wuv you....Amen.' Oh...melt my heart!
He is such a chatter box and I love it!

New Years Resolutions

There is something about beginnings that give you hope to do what you maybe couldn't do before. There is something about a new year, or decade for that matter that evokes this sense that we can make some needed changes in our lives. So, like you have probably done as well, I created a list of a few things that I really wanted 2010 to include. My list started out very superficial as most of my resolutions tend to be,
lose 10lbs
drink more water
find more time to read
Well, as I was creating my list and really thinking about what I REALLY wanted, I realized that what I truly desired is to put more quality in the time that I have. If there is one thing that the Lord is teaching Joey and I, and really the body of The Village church is that no matter what happens in life, God is working it ALL for his glory and our freedom and joy. For those that don't know the story, our lead pastor Matt Chandler found out on Thanksgiving day that he has a brain tumor. The way that he and his precious family has battled this with so much praise and worship has been so encouraging.
So these are the things on my list that I REALLY hope 2010 will be defined by
Spending more time in prayer with my husband (not because we are SUPPOSE to, but because we NEED him
Serving in The Village church (not because we are SUPPOSE to, but to be connected as the body of Christ
Spending more time just 'being' (not having to finish a to do list, not having to always be busy, not missing the little things my baby does because I am too worried about life.
Resting in His freedom (not getting caught up in fear and worry, but as Matt Chandler has done, no matter what comes in 2010 rest in the freedoms Christ has for me

Happy 2010!!!!