Life with my sister

Can you stand the cuteness in this picture?! Yesterday Anna and I were in Rogers at the Arkansas Baptist State Convention. I am the team leader for the Ministers' Wives Network and our annual luncheon was yesterday. The luncheon is one of my favorite days of the year. I get to spend it with women who "get" me! We have one common bond and it is so fun to get together with them. This is our team. These girls are creative, fun, and they put up with me. Which is a huge deal, trust me! Our luncheon is more of a conference, it lasts from 9:30-3:30. This year we had Kathy Litton as our keynote speaker, and Judy Martin and her daughter Kelly Stamps (of Kellys's Korner blog) spoke about being a preachers kid, and the mother of one. It was a really great day! I'm so ready to begin planning for next year! And could I look more like my mother in these pictures? Love ya Mom!

Last weekend Henry and I headed for some fun in the Fort with friends and Marmie. Luke and Henry had fun playing in the pumpkins and Melissa and I had fun watching them. They are a handsome handful. When did this child get big enough to wear boots and a belt?! He is growing up so fast and I love it and mourn it at the same time! He is hilarious and truly my child though. His poor daddy deserves a medal for putting up with us! We always have fun in the fall doing harvest related activities.  I count it all joy to make special memories like these with Henry. I hope his love for all things "holidays" will mimic mine. I am trying my hardest to make it take! ha. Spending a few days with the beautiful creation and her baby boy was medicine for my soul. Seeing her twice in 6 weeks could create a habit...a good one. This is my soulmate and forever best girl for life. I seriously could not imagine 1 day without her being a text, call or FB msg away. She gets me and w...

I don't know about you but I'm tired. I don't know where my sit-at-home, do nothing days went. I can't seem to get a chance to stay home these last few weeks. I'm glad I enjoyed the days I didn't have to wear makeup, because I've been putting it on first thing every morning lately. I mean, no one wants to see this face without makeup on it. Remember what they said about the barn needing to be painted, well barn meet paint! Ok, let's be serious for a moment. I need to be honest. Do you mind?  Being a parent is hard. And it's ugly. And it's not fun. I know I've given advice that goes something like "the days are long but the years are fast." I know exactly what that means, I was the mother of 3, 3 yrs and under. And now I have a 16 yr old and two 12 yr olds. The years go fast. But, oh man the days. They are slow. And hard, and ugly, and not fun.  The decisions that we made when the kids were babies, like whether we let them cry it out...

Move out of the way, Samuel Charles is on the road! This cute little toe headed boy who made me an aunt is 16. I love this boy with a love that cannot be explained. I toted this little thing around by myself all the time and got the "oh, look she is a teen mom" stare from people sometimes. That was before being a "teen mom" was more accepted than it is now. I loved every stare and had fun with it when I had the chance. I have always been a little crazy. In fact if you ask this teenage boy about his Aunt Abby he will say, "She is SO crazy!". He was my little man who has grown into a real big man. I sometimes see this little rubber toe Ked cutie when I look at him now. Watching him play in my little turquoise car will be forever etched in my heart. Now he drives on his own in the family van. I know that same little grin will be behind the wheel and the same sweet, innocent heart of his will be sitting there also. Samuel is such a blessing. I am so God g...

This child does not lack in personality. If you know him at all, you know he is a hoot. A handful, yet a hoot. This day he decided to go to school as a train conductor. I purchase these things for him to wear, so it is my fault, really. He then wanted his photo taken on the porch. I have trained him well! He went into school going "choo choo" and making all the teachers smile. He is rotten, just rotten! That is just a tshirt with that stuff screen printed on it. I got it from Gymboree last winter on their clearance rack. He had the hat in his "make believe" bucket.   He loves "volcano"...camo. He thinks we say "volcano" when we say "camo". We do not correct him because we love it too much. David & Daniel gave him all their hand me down camo stuff. He decided to break into some of it recently. It is all still way too big but he does not mind. He wore these coveralls for two days straight. We rolled them up and used a chip cli...

I wanted to do something special for Samuel's 16th birthday. We weren't giving him a car or a great vacation, so whatever we did needed to be fabulous. A few years ago (Samuel was 5 or 6) I attended a women's conference. One of the session speakers shared a story about her teenage son. He had rebelled and was coming back home, seeing that his faith and his family were true. His parents asked a few wise, Godly en to Coe and pray over him. They did, and the mom said their was a noted difference in him after that evening. I remember thinking that that's what I wanted to do for my boys for an important birthday or graduation.  So here we are. Samuel's 16th birthday. I knew that we wouldn't be able to get all the men that we would want to pray or give advice to Samuel in one place at one time. So, we chose to ask a few Godly, wise men that Samuel respected to write letters to him.  In the letter we told them about Samuel, what he liked, that he knew God wanted him to...

It's Sunday afternoon. And I'm home alone. Did you get that? Alone!  Stephen took the kids to the symphony. Their excitement could be contained in a thimble.  Stephen and I went to the Memphis Symphony a few times before we had Samuel, and I never enjoyed it. I enjoyed the dinner beforehand, and the getting dressed up but I didn't enjoy the actual Symphony.  I hope they enjoy it more than I did, or at least appreciate it.  The fact that Stephen only got five tickets when he could have gotten six, speaks volumes to me. First it says that he knows me and second, he knows I relish some time alone. Oh, how I love that man!  I'm watching Friday Night Lights reruns that I recorded and loving this time! So I'll finish this for now and finish my time alone. Have a great week!

Here's a rundown of our week. Monday. We did school, laundry, and Stephen and I went to dinner with a musician and his wife. Tuesday. Oh what a day! I had forgotten to dry Samuel's school uniform, so her had to do that prior to school. He forgot his id, and had to get a new $4 one. We went grocery shopping, had Bible study with some friends. I forgot to put Samuel's ball pants in the dryer and had to do that at the last minute. Like he went with damp pants. We ended the day going to BSF. Wednesday. We got to spend the day with this precious 3 yr old. Everyone got their hair cut, Anna and I got major short haircuts! We ended the day going to church. Thursday. We went to the Fair. It was student and seniors day at the fair. The kids are old enough to walk around by themselves, it's daytime and it's just around the exhibits and animals, so it was fun for them. We then to the BCM (BSU) at SEARK to help serve lunch and finished the day at home. It's been a busy week,...