What is it about snow that turns 30 YEAR OLDS into kids again? What is even better is a whole field full of perfect snow. I felt like we were in Colorado or something. It was amazing! I forced Jess to take some maternity pictures (coming soon) and decided we needed some sister shots too. Check out a few of my favs. What I have realized is that we never just take the normal standing posed picture. Its always a circus, but its always fun! I will post pictures of the Yoda Snowman we made soon. You definitely don't want to miss it cause he was awesome!!!!
When I was younger I thought it would be a little more monumental of a thing than what I feel today. I don't know, maybe it is because I truly have never been more joyful that I really feel as though thirty just slipped up on me while I skipped along this great life I have. You know whats funny, is that I'm sitting here praising God for covering my birthday in beautiful snow and wondering out loud how I could be so blessed.
Whats really funny is that there have been better financial times in my life. I have had less responsibility and craziness. I have even had success where I kinda felt on top of the world, but as I sit here, on the other side of 30 and think about my life, I would not change today for anything. I am blessed not because of whether or not I am going through a trial, and certainly not because of what I possess. I have so much to be thankful for and I have Jesus to thank for that. I do feel joyful, not always happy which is much different. I feel like life though unpredictable and crazy is always going to be unpredictable and crazy, but I finally feel a sense of peace in letting go of these things and giving control to the One who needs to have it. There is so much freedom in finding peace in chaos and putting my trust in Jesus who can never fail me.
I have a fantastic husband who makes me laugh constantly and who looks at life the way I do. I have a beautiful baby boy who melts my heart and who can make me cry with his sweet voice.
To catch you up to speed, we are trying to down size and trade our car in for something else. So, the day started with Joey, Jackson and me hopping in our car and heading to a used car lot in Arlington yesterday morning. Well, you know how there is a slight judgement out there about used car salesmen? Well, it was totally confirmed for us during our little experience. We make it all the way to Arlington, after having called the guy about a specific car before we came. He said, sure I will have the car here and we can meet around 10am. We show up at 10am. No salesman to be found. Come to find out, he took the car to an auction about an hour before we were suppose to meet with him. What the..! Seriously?! We drove all the way out there and the car we were interested in isn't even there? Oh...but the sweet people there tried to convince us we needed a car that was close to double what we were wanting to pay. Great. Thanks for nothin'! Back to Flower Mound we went in the same car that we started in.
Well, our car situation actually got a little more interesting a few hours later when Joey called a dealership in Longview that he had done business with before. They said they have a car that is pretty much exactly what we were trying to buy in Arlington, except its actually nicer, and they are interested in buying our car as well! Woo...Hoo! Though we haven't seen the car in person we have seen pictures and decided to go for it. The car transaction is going to take place this Saturday when Joey goes to Longview.
Yea! Car situation down.....now on to a place to live.
So, now that I have updated you on our car situation, I wanted to update you on the video we posted a few days ago. Well, we submitted the video and were just hoping for a comment from Donald Miller, but he went one further and sent an email to Joey today!!! How cool is that. It was a personalized email thanking him for his video and asking for his address so he can send him a free copy of his book. Yeah! I can feel it, they are gonna be friends yet. You just wait and see.
If you have read my blog you may have remembered me mentioning the book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller. Well, since Joey cyber stalks Donald Miller on Twitter, he knew immediately that he wanted to participate when he saw this challenge on his website. The funny thing was that we had already discussed this story together weeks earlier and had already planned it and have been working out to prepare. This video was just perfect time to put our vision on record. No going back now!
If we are going to be really honest, there were really a couple reasons we created this video.... First, we really wanted to win the 1000.00 prize money to give to the Dale House in Colorado. Second, we wanted to have this adventure creatively documented for us to keep and, Thirdly, and more far-fetched, Joey and Johnny just KNOW that if Donald Miller (Don, as Joey calls him) could just hang out with them for like one hour they would all be great friends, so they are inviting him on this adventure with us So, with these things in mind, Jess, Johnny, Joey and I became film producers overnight. We had Johnny's old camera, a black backdrop, and a light. I guess all that is left to say is....ROLL TAPE!
Johnny's book is now available to order. He is such a talented and amazing writer and it really shows in his debut novel, Jungle Sunrise! It really is filled with action, suspense, drama, romance, all the yummy stuff that makes for a great fiction novel! Please get a copy and get one for a friend because you will NOT be disapointed! We are trying our hardest for this book to make the New York Times Bestseller's list because first of all it will REALLY help Johnny, but more importantly, because it deserves to be there. It really is a wonderful book! The website that you can now order from is called www.junglesunrise.com You can just click HERE if you want to purchase it now.
Johnny, we are soooooo proud of you, and are so excited to help support you in this amazing adventure!!!!! Below is what you can read on the website about the book and about Johnny. I thought I would post it here for anyone interested in reading more about this amazing story and this amazing author!
Amazing story in the New York Times about Matt Chandler, the pastor of The Village church where Joey and I attend. It really is amazing to watch this self-proclaimed former Agnostic pouring out love for Jesus during the midst of stage 3 brain cancer. This article really gives some details into what happened and how this amazing family is coping. Please read it and pray for continued peace for Matt, his wife and three young children.
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!
