Angels Among Us

Monday evening as I was putting William to bed I had the most incredible experience. As I've mentioned before, bedtime routine with William is: bath, pj's, brush teeth, read books, sing songs, pray then bed with music playing. He's got this down pat...with only a little crying when I have to leave the room. Well, Monday night as I sat in his room rocking him on my chest singing lullaby songs and praise/hymn songs and him trying to sing along with me, I had the most calm feeling (more than usual) I've ever felt. As we finished our last song I told him it was time to pray. We put our hands folded together and lean our foreheads together so we can whisper. I say the words and he repeats me ("Desus, bwess my famy, Desus, tankyou for evyting, Desus, keeeep me saaaf, I love you Desus, Amen) That's a sample prayer, but you get the sweet sweet picture. His little voice praying is just amazing. About half way through the prayer he leans back and looks up over my shoulders and starts smiling. He pulls one hand away and begins to point and wave a little. He then whispers "hey" and smiles really big. My heart just about jumped out of my chest with joy! I knew he was seeing Angels!! We were surrounded at that very moment with guardian angels and William could see them! I smiled at him and asked him what did he see? Did he God's Angels? He said "yesss" and smiled again. I told him to tell Jesus thank you for the angels to watch over him tonight and he said without a blink "tankyou Desus" (his J is a D). I've heard that children can see angels and I now know that for certain. They are with us. We each have a guardian angel. Oh, how much I cherish this moment in my heart. My child was not afraid, but happy! I could hear the words "Do not be afraid-for see, I bring you good news of great joy for all people"--(Luke 2:10) echoing in my soul. I could feel the Lord's presence in his room. I know God is Good! I told William to finish his prayers and tell the angels night-night (which he did and waved). It truly left me speechless. I know the Lord will send a multitude of angels to watch over us. I pray every night that he protects my child through the night and that he sends his angels to be with us. What a blessing to experience! What an absolute blessing! Psalms 91 states that he will command his angels to guard us. What a comfort! May God bless you today and always!

Psalms 91:11-12 "For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone."

Painting, painting and more painting!

Can you tell how much William loves to paint?? Just about everyday, he pushes his chair over to the counter, then goes to the closet door where I keep the paint and start repeating "paint, pweese, paint, pweese" then he comes and gets my hand and says "hanns, moma,hanns, pweese, paint". How can I resist?? How do I look into those precious eyes and try to tell him no? What could make me tell my child no? Laundry? Dishes? Bills? Housework? This Blog? Is there anything? NOTHING!!! So far, nothing can make the words "Not right now" come out of my mouth...It melts my heart every time he asks to paint. When I heard his little voice say "mooooma" "pweese" I just melt. I know what joy it brings him and how much he loves playing in the paint. I don't care how big a mess it makes. I don't care how much time it takes. It's totally washable and cleans up in a wipe and it's so worth any mess. William wins over when he comes and grabs my hand and leads me to the doorknob saying "pweese" the whole way. As soon as I open the door to gather the supplies, he claps and hugs me and says "tankyou". He then turns and runs to his chair and bounces up and down. Can anyone tell me why I wouldn't drop everything for this little boy? Can you tell me how I could ever look at him and say "just a minute, I'm busy"? He loves to mix the colors and rub the paint all over the paper. He loves to swish the paintbrush across the paper...then on himself. He gets such joy from squishing paint between his fingers. He is getting much better at painting his hand print. He quickly lets me know when he wants a new "canvas" for a fresh start.

I know I have years of artwork to collect, but right now, I can't part with ANY of his little painting! They are all too precious. They each hold a special memory of his excitement. I have a wall of them displayed in his playroom and have the others collected together...maybe I'll make a book with them...He is so innocent and precious. He loves to paint! Sometimes, it's more painting ALL OVER himself instead of the paper, but who cares? I don't! I will gladly spend the time with him painting...followed by bath time just to see his smile and delight! Oh, how my heart swells with joy! I love these moments with him! I love how excited he gets about his time painting with me. Yes, by the end he's covered in paint, the counter is covered in paint and my hands are a hodgepodge of colors...but I wouldn't trade anything for it. It's one of the best parts of my day! And...b/c of all the paint all over his body, he gets a "watercolor" bath :) It is really fun to watch the colors just wash off him and change the color of the water...and leave a ring around the tub. Call me crazy, but I Love It! I take it as an opportunity to teach. I find myself missing teaching Kindergarten some days, but then I just focus that thought on teaching William. He loves it and that's what matters! Oh, and we are working on learning color words....I will say the color word for whatever color he's painting with and he tries to repeat me..."bwuu" being my favorite. I'm not really thinking he's going to learn to recognize colors by word/sight right now, but I just continue to build his vocabulary about his surroundings. Remember, I'm the one who is constantly talking to him about everything we see at the grocery store and singing with him about whatever. I wrap up my thoughts by simply stating again HOW MUCH I LOVE MY BABY! William, may you always have such a happy spirit and love for life.

"This is the day that the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it"

Psalms 118: 24

One of William's first "actions" was knowing when something was "hot". He would say "hot" and pull his hand back away from the object (coffee, candle, hot food, lights, grills, oven, etc) I love this video and his creative mind..He somehow decides that this little orange "marker" looks like a candle. He smells it like you would a candle, then tells me it's hot! I just love his mind! He amazes me everyday!

"Be of good cheer." John 16:33

Mother's Day weekend with my family

This Mother's Day weekend was wonderful! My family came down to spend the weekend with us and it was fantastic! Both of my brothers were able to come too and that was super special! Hunter (I call him my big-little brother) came down on his new truck so we could see it. Holden (my little brother...sometimes still call him my baby brother) rode with him...b/c he said it was for "Big Boys" only. Hunter will be 22 this month and Holden will be 9 two days after that. Once Moma and Daddy made it down we enjoyed a delicious lunch together. Philip made the best turkey-pesto sandwiches. He can whip anything up and make it taste delicious! We all headed on out to the beach shortly after William woke up. William loves his Maggie and Granddaddy! He gets so excited seeing them and runs right to them. He loves "oh Ho" (Holden) and "hunnr" (Hunter) too. He wants to be right up under them doing whatever they both are doing. They both are exceptional uncles to him. They both love to spend time playing with him...sometimes they try to get to him first for the first hug :) Holden loves to play outside with him and will patiently sit and watch anything on t.v. that William is watching. He loves throwing the ball back and forth too. He is so gentle with William. Hunter likes making him laugh and run around chasing him. He really loves to swing him high in the air and then tickle him! It simply melts my heart watching my brothers with William.

Now..back to the beach. Once we all got down to the beach (before I could get settled) William was already off and running in the water with Maggie. She patiently paraded through the waves with him and sat in the shallow water when he wanted to sit. He had a blast! They were laughing and giggling the whole time. I sent Philip on down the beach a bit away from the crowd so he could fish. It wasn't long before Holden realized what Philip was doing and he went to join him. Philip let him catch the sand fleas for him (which Holden LOVED). I loved watching my daddy playing around in the water with Holden and Hunter. They all three were diving into waves and body surfing. They were so relaxed and having the time of their lives. I joined my mom and William for a while. We all took turns playing with William in the water and chasing him in the sand (so that was nice...I did get some breaks).

Saturday night dinner was scrumptious! Philip grilled a pork-tenderloin and made his famous andioulle stuffing and I made grilled corn succotash with sweet potato fries. I pulled out my fine china for our meal. I love using it for special occasions. We all ate WAY to much and sat around the table just chatting away. Needless to say, there was a huge pile of dishes that night. I didn't care.

THEY COULD WAIT. I was enjoying my family.

I woke Sunday to find that my wonderful husband had done all the dishes (except my precious fine china which has to be hand washed). What a great way to start the morning! He is so kind to surprise me with little helpful things like this randomly! We all made it to church for Mother's Day and to my amazement William went willingly and happily into the nursery! He usually screams and gets so upset that I have a hard time concentrating on the sermon b/c my mind is focused thinking about him. Thankfully, I could concentrate on the sermon. FANTASTIC! Dr. Taylor hit it out of the ballpark on Sunday! His sermon was so moving and inspirational. James 5:16b "The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective." It was focused on prayer life and what effective prayer was/how to achieve it and implement this power of prayer in our lives. Prayer has been on my heart a lot lately. God is working in me on this right now. I am so thankful that this topic is the focus of the next few weeks at church.

After church, Daddy treated us to lunch in Seaside at one of my favorite places: Great Southern Cafe. I love the food here! It's always so perfect! We sat outside and enjoyed the cool breeze and delicious food. Oh, the waitress brought Holden extra shrimp b/c he ate all of his plate and went out of his way to tell her how much he loved their shrimp. She came back with another portion for him b/c she thought he was so cute and sweet. How sweet is that?? She was so genuine and charming...just like the name "Great Southern". We finished up and walked over to the amphitheater for Holden and William to play a bit...but it was TOO hot, so we headed on home. Once home, William went down for a nap, Philip called the couch and sent me out to the beach with my Moma (and daddy and brothers) Ahhhhh...sitting in the sun, magazine in hand, moma at my side....so peaceful! We both reclined in our chairs reading until we fell asleep. I woke up and decided to go play in the water with Daddy and Holden. Hunter has already left to go home. I had such a great time crashing in the waves with them...feeling like a little kid again. I love Holden and miss watching him grow up. He's almost up to my chin now...and he's only 8...almost 9. Oh, how time flies. Once Moma woke up I got out of the water and we went off for a walk. We walked a good long ways just talking and losing all track of time and distance. It was so nice. We needed that undivided attention together, not to mention that warm sunshine :) Once we realized how far we were, we turned around and headed back. Philip and William came back down shortly after that. We played a little bit more before heading on in for the evening. Philip gave William his bath and even fed him his dinner so I could just chill.

Oh, I forgot to tell you that they brought down some flowers from their yard for me to plant here as well as some fresh produce...yummy! I love transplanting plants from back home

(let's hope my flowers make it)

After my parents left. William and Philip gave me their gifts for Mother's Day. William had painted a card(the envelope) and Philip painted WPJ's hand print inside the card for me...so sweet! I love hand prints and painting from my child. I'm framing the envelope!! Philip is getting my car detailed for me for Mother's Day....DO YOU KNOW HOW EXCITED I AM??? I love having a spotless car. I love cleanliness. I've neglected my poor trailblazer for the past year (yep, you heard me right...I was 8 months pregnant the last time it was cleaned). OH, how I love my husband for this gift! I am so looking forward to Friday! It's going to be spotless and so fresh!!! Don't get me wrong, it's not a health hazard and I don't keep trash in my car. It's just dirty from sand and time....you know, small crushed goldfish in the seats, crumbs from cookies, random tiny pebbles that get picked up in my shoes and then find all the little nooks in the floorboards...dust on the dashboards, fingerprints on the windows, that kind of dirt. I hope I've not caused you to think I'm a messy person :) He also gave me a bright, beautiful bouquet of flowers. They are so cheerful and full of color and make me smile every morning when I see them. I love flowers. I love roses. What can I say...I'm a romantic...

My Mother's Day concluded with a long drawn out bedtime routine with William. I read several extra books, sang tons of lullaby songs, rocked a while longer, said extra prayers....and went back to cuddle twice (just because). My husband just smiled at me and said "go ahead, he's your baby and it's Mother's Day". I love this guy! He knows how much I cherish bedtime routines and that quiet time with William. While I was doing that, he was downstairs cooking dinner: Chicken Picatta! Yummy! So divine!! I scored the BEST CHEF for a husband! I know I'm always going on and on about his cooking, but I'm not over speaking...he's just THAT good! Dinner was perfect! Candlelight, in the dining room, just the 2 of us.

Thank you Philip for a wonderful Mother's day. Thank you Moma and Daddy for coming down to spend the weekend with us. Thank you for all the memories made together this weekend. Thank you Hunter and Holden for all your time this weekend too! I love having my family down together. It will be a special memory in my heart always!

Hope you had a wonderful weekend!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful Mothers I know! I am blessed to have the most wonderful and amazing mother in my life. She is such a best friend to me and I love her dearly. She amazes me with her day-to-day strength and I admire her relationship with the Lord. She is full of love for her children and her husband. She is passionate about life. She gives her time and her love to help others always. I've learned so much in life from my mother. I've watched her be a strong Christian woman and I try to model her devotion to family and to the Lord in my own life. I am amazed at watching her as a grandmother...it's like having my own grandmother back. My mom's mom passed away 15 years ago and she was such a strong lady herself. She was such a humble and loving lady full of life and filled with the Holy Spirit. I know that my mom learned everything from her. My grandmother helped lead me to Christ. I had such a special relationship with her and miss her dearly everyday. I know my Mom misses her terribly and hurts not having her here, but I can see the strong side in Moma and know that Grandmama is still with us. My moma is my hero. She faces each day with courage and determination to make a difference. She is always there when I need her. She'll listen to me ramble on and on about whatever. She'll answer any question I have about being a mom or wife. She prays with and for me constantly. She cries with me when I need to cry. She laughs with me. She's always doing special things for me to make me smile. She encourages me in everything. She supports me in my life. She's always willing to help me however she can. She loves my child with her whole heart. I could go on and on about the woman I admire. I could write a novel about my relationship with my mother. The words are endless when it comes to trying to thank her for all she has done and will do for me. She's taught me how to be the best mother I can be. She is a true example of Christ's love. I continue to learn from her. She is my mother and I love her completely. I love it when she comes down or I go up just to visit and it hurts when she has to leave. I'm such a sap and just love having my Moma with me. I'm the type that still wants my Moma when I'm sick or hurt (but my husband does a fantastic job, so I try not to cave to my wanting her) Here's to my mother. May God continue to bless her and enrich her life daily. I hope you all are so blessed to have someone in your life like my mom. She's the best!

Our afternoons these days...

William loves the beach! He wakes up asking to go to the "beeeech" and says it throughout the day. He loves the sand and the water so much! When we pull into the little park area, he immediately starts saying "hey beach". He loves running down the ramp to the sand, waving the whole time! He loves to run in the sand. He loves to run at the water and splash around. HE.LOVES.THE.BEACH. He gets in his own little world out there! We take a bucket and shovel with us for sand castles. He just giggles as we pack the sand down, then plop in on the ground to reveal the castle...to which he instantly smashes and laughs! All boy I tell you! He is getting the concept of using the shovel and bucket together, but mainly likes to just dig with the shovel. He runs all over the beach. He loves to get hand fulls of sand and smash it onto my back, legs and arms. Alright by me. It makes him happy and it provides me with a "mini spa treatment". He will grab my hand to go down to the water and we splash around in the waves. He loves to watch the waves as they crash. Sometimes he falls down and the water splashes over him to which he just laughs and laughs. So far, the beach provides endless entertainment. So far, the beach is wonderful for William. I can get him to walk down the beach a while with me as we look for different things and he seems to enjoy it. He waves at the people and the seagulls. He is perfectly happy at the beach.

While William and I are all over the place, Philip is close by with his new toy. He recently got a new fishing pole and has taken up fishing on the beach. It is so relaxing for me to see him able to relax and unwind from work. He plays with us some too. William loves for his Daddy to sit in the sand with us and help bury our feet. We have so much fun together as a family on the beach in the late afternoons, watching the sunset as William plays.

Hope you have a wonderful day! Enjoy the pictures.

Some of our new favorite things of William

Here are a few cute videos from the past few weeks with William. He is talking so much now and really communicating with us. He is amazing to watch and brings such joy to us every day. He is our perfect blessing sent from God.

Hope you enjoy the videos. May they bring a little happiness to your day!

This was made down at Gram's house.

He'd been saying it about a week, but I finally caught it on camera!

Waiting on Daddy to come home from work. Just hanging out at the house.

William loves to make all the animal sounds. His favorite is "Moo" and "Woof-woof".

William loves to dance! His new way of dancing is turning round and round :)

Happy Monday!

Last part of our vacation (Dothan & New Orleans)

I am so far behind in my blogs. It's taken me a while to finish up about our vacation. This is the last part. I want to post (for my memories) but realize how far behind I am! Just stay with me.

April 17-19

After we left Papa and Mimi's house we drove on to Dothan...with a few stops along the way. The sweetest thing about our long long ride was how randomly we would hear William say "Moo, Moo" or "Neigh, Neigh". He would say it and we would look out the window and to our surprise we would be passing a field full of either cows or horses! It made us laugh every time! We did stop at Chili's for lunch during our drive. Just wanted to include how William spent his entire lunch time talking to anybody around us. He would wave and say "hey" over and over. We smiled and very much appreciated the patient folks who seemed entertained by our little boy.

We finally made it to Dothan (with only one explosive diaper and one throw-up) late that evening. My mom had ordered several Papa John's pizzas for us (per my request). There's just something about that pizza that I absolutely love! So, we had the perfect late Friday night dinner....PIZZA!! William ate a few bites too. He's going to love it like his moma! Poppi came over to visit us while we ate. I love getting to see Poppi when I'm in town. He's such a humble man and so loving and caring. He adores William and loves to play with him. His favorite thing is to put William up on his knee and let him "ride the horsey". William LOVES it! We then went on over to visit Grannymart for a little while before it got too late for someones bed time. It was extremely hard going over there b/c it was the first time since Granddaddy passed (after the funeral weekend) that I would be going into just see her. She greeted me with a big hug and held on for a while. That brought me comfort. I just miss him so much. I know it will get easier. She loves to watch William play in her den. She keeps a few small toys/households things that he gets to play with and he goes right for them! He loves to throw/roll the ball with her. He loves to pick up her pictures of her and Granddaddy and give kisses. It brings my heart joy every time I get to see her and watch her smile and laugh with William! Family is wonderful.

My mom was going to keep William for the weekend for us b/c we were headed to New Orleans for a wedding. We got up early Saturday morning to leave and had a few minutes with William before hitting the road. Maggie said he was great for her for the weekend. He did get sick a few times, but she took great care of him. They played outside with the basketball and the sprinkler. They went to the ballpark for Holden's game. She said they had a fantastic weekend together. On a side note, my dad had drill the entire weekend, so he didn't get much time with William. We decided that they would keep him Sunday night to let daddy have some time that afternoon with William and let us get home and unpacked and rested from our trip. She drove down that Monday to bring him home.

Now...our time in New Orleans. We had such a wonderful time! Ate lots of great food and walked a lot. We made it down to Lafitte's for some drinks that afternoon before heading over that massively long bridge into Covington. We quickly got ready for the wedding and made it to the church with minutes to spare! Austin and Kasey Speni were married that Saturday, April 18. It was a beautiful service and spectacular reception! They had 3 different bands, an open bar and yummy Louisiana food. We enjoyed our date night (weekend) together so much. It was a bit hard knowing William was still getting sick, but Moma and Philip kept my spirits up and encouraged me to have a good time.

Sunday morning, after getting lost for over an hour, we finally made our way back to the the French Quarter for a little more food and site-seeing. We went to Cafe Du Monde for breakfast....DELICIOUS! We did pick up William a cute little shirt from their gift shop before leaving. After walking around on the River Walk, we headed Garden District for lunch. We drove around the streets checking out all the neat shops and bistros and pizza places before deciding on a tuck away little spot (can't remember the name). Let me just say it was the best gumbo I've ever had! Philip was a bit disappointed b/c my gumbo was better than his boudan (sp?). He was on a boudan kick for the weekend while I wanted just gumbo!

We drove home just vegged out on the couch that night. To say the least we were in bed early in the evening sacked out! I was exhausted by the time I finally let myself realize it. Moma drove down on Monday with William and stayed with me until she finally had to leave to get back in time to pick up Holden. We managed to get both William and Scott down for a nap at the same time, so we had time to just hang out and visit. We sat out on the porch upstairs listening to the birds chirp and enjoying the sunshine. I really didn't want my mom to have to leave. I wanted her to stay for a few days. I was taking William into the doctor that afternoon and really wanted her to go with me, but knew she had to get back. There will be another time when she can come down to stay with me soon.

Well, that wraps up our vacation! We enjoyed every bit of it (maybe not being in the car for so long) and loved making memories with family and having the weekend together.


Hope you enjoy the pictures!