Thankful Hearts

I've been thinking a lot lately about our circumstances and our perspective on eternity. I feel like we, as a church, do not desire the Lord's return as we should. We focus so much on now and how we are feeling/doing on a day-to-day basis. That is not what I desire for my heart and it is so easy for me to forget. My prayer this Thanksgiving and in the coming year is to anticipate my Savior's return and long for the day when I will see His face and worship Him forever. With that being said, this Thanksgiving I/we were overwhelmed with the goodness of God. We believe that God is good all the time and He is sovereign over all things, working things out for OUR good and HIS glory. It is easy to praise Him in the "spring" times of our life and more difficult to praise Him in the "winter." He deserves ALL glory and ALL praise EVERY moment of EVERY day. I pray God gives myself and my family that perspective and that He would enable us to do just that! Kendall and I feel infinitely blessed this season of our lives and know it is only by God's grace. We know the trials and storms are coming so we hold fast to the truth of God and know He alone will sustain us during those times as well. But until those times come, we will cherish, savor, and rejoice in what He has done in our lives and the fact that He has so graciously poured out one blessing after another to us! Our hearts are full and we are eternally THANKFUL!

Mommy's Birthday!

This year my birthday felt different. A good different. Two precious little ones staring up at me at 7am ready for the day. Two little mouths to feed all day and two little bottoms to wipe all day. Things don't suddenly get easier just because it's your birthday, BUT what a blessing. I was overwhelmed with complete gratitude this year for the blessing of two little girls that have been entrusted to us, but more than that a Savior that continues to love me, care for me, and pursue me day in and day out. I couldn't help but to think of all the comparisons that motherhood continues to teach me about the Father's love for His children. Things that without being a mom I would not have learned and I praise God for the way these things continue to mold me and make me more like Him. When I woke up today and thought about the daunting task of beginning a new day of taking care of TWO BABIES and doing virtually the same thing I did yesterday and the same thing I will, Lord willing, do tomorrow, I felt thankful. Thankful that the Lord had given me the desire of my heart for children and thankful for His grace and mercy that He so richly pours into my life day in and day out. What a memorable day and one I will never forget! Thank you sweet Jesus for the love you have for me that in turn enables me to love my girls well!

Another State to Add to the List =)

and our little family of four is on the road again...and this time to the great state of Mississippi-the girls 7th state in 7 months which means these girls' dad is a happy camper! (of course he would rather be using their passports, this will do!) Their daddy and my wonderful husband was asked to stand beside one of his best college friends on his wedding day so we loaded up the car in record time ( I believe it was < 30 minutes! :) and made the trek to Jackson the first weekend in November. We had a wonderful time celebrating their union of marriage and covenant before the Lord in addition to spending time catching up with old friends and enjoying life as a family of four. We seem to have really special time as a family when we are out of town-maybe it's because we don't feel any obligation to clean the house or work on any of our never ending to-do list. We praise God for the many trips we have had throughout this first year of the twins life for that means we have had sweet time loving on them with undistracted hearts, making this first year not seem like a blur! The memories have been endless and we give the Lord all the Glory for this season of life and blessing us immensely with these two, shall we say, bundles of joy!

7 Months! Time is Flying by TOO quickly!

Dear Sweet Pea and Lil’ Bit,

You are 7 months old today and the light of our lives! I’m so sorry you are having to celebrate this milestone with colds/fevers =) Makes your mommy feel so sad for you but lovin’ the extra cuddle time you both want as a result! It was about a year ago when we began telling people the Lord had blessed us with twins but we still didn’t know a thing about you, what you would look like or act like, or even that you were both girls. Boy were we in for a treat! We stand in awe of God’s goodness in our lives and that He has given us two little bundles of pure joy! Having you girls in our lives has taught us so much about the unconditional love of Jesus! The Lord has revealed so much to us about our hearts and lives as we raise you girls and we are so thankful that having children is sanctifying mommy and daddy’s hearts and lives in the process. It feels like yesterday that you girls were placed in my arms for the first time and what a feeling I will never forget. A feeling that until you are a parent, there are no words to describe. It was a new kind of love we had never encountered or experienced until you girls arrived. You were here, alive and breathing, and just perfect! We will never forget what it felt like to hold your tiny, fragile 3lbs 5 oz and 4 lbs 7 oz. bodies and then to attempt to pass you off to each other with such care each time, worrying we were going to break you! Thankfully, by God’s sheer mercy, you are both still thriving and growing like crazy! And for that, we give God all the glory and praise! You both are indeed fearfully and wonderfully made! This has been such a fun month for us to see you both continue to let your personalities shine! Maddie Grace, you are just a cutie pie, happy and content 99.9% of the time if you are fed and you just go with the flow. Whenever we pick you up, you throw your arms behind you which is hilarious to us and can’t be comfortable =) Makenzie, you are still a ball of energy, spunky & dramatic at times, but you keep us in stitches with your looks, smiles, and fun loving personality! Your most recent discovery is your tongue and we just can’t get you to put it back in your mouth for the life of us! =) You love to let it dangle out and stick it in and out constantly! We just crack up watching you girls interact and discover your surroundings. Your reactions to food and new toys are always so different, reminding us how unique you both are as individuals. No two days are ever the same at our house I feel like these days! Every time I think we are in a routine (which is so nice!) one of you decides to change it up on me. Life is an adventure for us for sure each day, but one I am so thankful to be a part of! We love you girls more and more each day and thank God for the blessing of children and the privilege of passing on the Gospel to the next generation! Thanks for making our days and nights crazy, but much more joyous and complete! We love you both dearly!

Love, Mommy and Daddy

Things you girls are up to these days:
-LOVE tags on things!
-Almost sitting up on your own
-very curious; observe/inspect all new things
-when playing with toys, Maddie Grace, you will stick with one toy and be content playing for a while whereas your sister Makenzie loves to switch toys every couple minutes =)
-love reading books and turning the pages/touching the books
-love textures and things that crunch, making noises, scratching chairs/sofas
-obsessed with touching faces
-like pulling buttons on shirts/grabbing earrings
-love grabbing feet and putting in mouth and really grabbing anything in sight
-really enjoying solids-have tried bananas, avocados, sweet potatoes, carrots, pears-love mealtime (MG especially! You go wild when it’s time to eat and you both sit in your bumbo at the table with us every night! Quite a sight!
-Makenzie loves sleeping on tummy with bottom in the air-no matter how hard we try to get you to sleep on your back, you flip within seconds! Maddie Grace rolls to sleep on her side with her thumb in =)
-still no teeth yet-but drooling like crazy still!
-use your paci’s to chew on these days rather than sucking-especially Makenzie who puts in her mouth backwards!
-Daddy’s girls-LOVE playtime with him each night when he gets home from work! (Especially you Maddie Grace! You are enamored with your daddy and will strain your neck to stare at him wherever he is! It is precious!)
-enjoy singing and doing motions
-rolling in every direction
-still spitting bubbles and have started doing it with food in your mouth-yuck!
-very ticklish! We get the best laughs from you girls all the time!
-hate not being able to reach things that are far away
-still gnawing on everything and putting everything in mouth
-we think responding to your names =)
-can see us from far away
-cry when we leave the room
-still enjoy being cuddled (both of you!) which I love!
-MG eating around 5-6 oz. 5 times a day and pull on your ear when nursing and run your fingers through mommy’s hair- sleeping 10-11 hrs every night and weigh 16 lbs 1.5 oz; Makenzie still up in the air-we try to get in 24 oz. but feedings are more spread out through the day-not sleeping well still, waking up often! =( You are still a little squirt weighing in at 13 lbs 10.5 oz

First Halloween

What a fun, memory-filled day Halloween was for both the girls and Kendall and I! I'm not sure who had more fun today-mommy or the girls! =) Having recently gotten over some colds, I wasn't sure how many festivities the girls would be up for participating in, but we hit the ground running on Monday morning when they woke up with big smiles on their face! I had researched all the things going on in Birmingham and made our list of things to do in between all of their naps and feeding schedule! We quickly headed out to the Galleria with the two cutest cows in tow. Chick-Fil-A was having free carousel rides and pictures with the cow for every lunch purchase made.
Not hard to complete that task-I grabbed a Kids Meal and then very cautiously gathered up two fluffy bundles and headed for the sleigh on the carousel. What was I thinking?? I thought the ride would never end and I stumbled off with two girls filled with the wonderful feeling of nauseousness. Took me right back to the long weeks of pregnancy induced sickness and I was very quickly reminded of how thankful I am to be past that stage!! But hey, the girls have now officially ridden their first carousel and on Halloween, no less!

From there, we left the Galleria and headed to the Hoover Public Library for some trick or treating at each circulation desk. The girls fell fast asleep and mommy enjoyed gathering up "2" pieces, one for each girl of course, at each stop! =)

We left there, came home and got the girls fed and rested before the grand finale! At 6:00ish, we met up with some other families in our small group and had an absolute ball making our way through the neighborhood for the girls first real "trick-or-treating" experience! It was so exhilarating, but my arms were quite sore after toting our heaviest daughter from house to house! Maddie Grace was filled with excitement as she reached into the bowls and picked up candy and attempted to eat it. We had a little chat about how she wasn't quite old enough for candy but later she could have some bananas as a treat instead! =) Makenzie was rather calm which surprised us. They switched up their personalities on us for the night.
But really, we thoroughly enjoyed our time with friends, visiting with all our neighbors, and experiencing another "first" with our precious girls! Needless to say, they were plum worn out from our fun-filled day!