More Easter Pics

Here are some pictures from the Easter Egg hunt at Uncle Brian and Soon to be Aunt Amy's house. I attached this letter that was sent in to our pastor from a lady that Brandon had been given her name to do some work. I add it because it is easy to get caught up in life and forget how you are impacting people with just simple encounters. It's amazing how so many people touched this woman's life and brought her back to church. This is really what brought us to this church, and we have been amazed by the generosity of the whole church to give so much of themselves to really impact the community. This has really inspired me to really focus on every encounter I have with people knowing most encounters don't end up with this type of result but you never know exactly how it will affect the person.

Hi,

I just returned home from my first service at your Nashville campus and just wanted to tell you how incredibly awesome I thought it was.

It has been over 30 years since I last attended church services and was a bit nervous and unsure about attending. But everyone I spoke with was so genuinely nice and welcoming I instantly felt right at home.

I learned of your church when I was getting an estimate on fixing my rotted bathroom floor. Brandon was the gentleman that came and called me back in a few days telling me his church group would come and do the repairs for nothing. I was, of course, skeptical and an army of workers showed up and did many other things besides the floor. I was in awe and shock that so many people would show up to a perfect strangers home and help like they did. They invited me to attend and I said I would think about it.

I was recanting my story to a gentleman I have dealings with at work, Jason, and found out he was an elder there. I felt it was too much of a coincidence and that God was telling me I needed to come.

My husband of 32 years unexpectedly passed away last year and my life seemed to be at rock bottom for quite some time. Then I started renewing my relationship with God and things have started to fall in place for me. I am totally relearning who I am and how to live again and the journey has been hard, but amazing.

I was so touched by your service, more so than I had thought possible.I look forward to attending next week.

Thank you so much!!

Kristil

Easter

Our Easter this year was so much fun with both the boys being at such a fun age to really enjoy it. Our house was full of little Cash's voice yelling "Jesus is Alive!" while throwing his hand up in the air and Parkes repeating "Jesus really did die on the cross. The Bible is real not like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (or insert whatever movie he is thinking of at the time)." Our church adds two services Saturday night on Easter to make room for visitors on Sunday so we went that night so we could all sleep in and enjoy Easter morning. Ironically for having all my parents here and now Brandon's mom here too they were all out of town and we enjoyed a quiet morning with just our family before heading off to church to work the nursery and off to Uncle Brian's for an Easter egg hunt and lunch (which the computer was acting up so those pictures will follow later). But here's some pics from saturday and sunday.

Happy St. Patricks Day and Exciting Changes

Here's Cash on his Leprechaun Hunt at one school (since he had two hunts at each of his schools he was an old pro by the end yelling "I found it" with each leprechaun he spotted). Hope everyone has a fun St. Patty's Day!!! For the past few months I've been trying to figure out what I was going to do next year. This past year has been really hard on me not because of anything bad happening just working five days with aftercare two of those days and at two different schools is just leaving me really run down and not spending the time I need to with my boys, but realistically I really should work five days even though Brandon is doing great and really has the referrals and jobs coming in after a few tough years and changes with running things he is in a really good place being true to himself in the way he works. All that still doesn't leave the fear from me dropping five days, but I am taking a leap of faith and know that God will provide for us as He has always done. So I am doing something for me and will be writing a column for Her Nashville magazine called Her How-To. It will be a how-to on different types of crafty, artsy projects (see picture above where I made Parkes a pillow). My first column will run in the May issue and I'll continue to work three days at only one school. So I'm excited to see what will come with it and the challenge of coming up with projects each month which I already do but usually don't really realize it could be a project since it is second nature to me to change things and reuse things in different ways. So I've started the first project and documenting it since I need to turn it in at the end of March so look for a Mother's Day idea in the May issue.

What Makes Me Smile

We are home from school (not due to snow like most people since the school we are at today is open, but due to pink eye) so I am getting lots of things accomplished today one of which is updating the blog. I wanted to just write a list of things that make me smile about the boys so I will have them listed out for me to keep. Parkes...he used to call his paci his "funny", he called motorcycles "cahcahs" when he was 2, he loves his curls so much he wants me to put gel in his hair and dry it with a diffuser, he refers to last night as "yesternight", he will tell me at least 3 times a day that he loves me, he is so outgoing all the time except at the very moments you think he would love and he gets shy, he likes to watch the food network with me, he loves to cook his own recipes he makes up, he loves his brother. Cash...he wants to have a ball in his possession at all times, he can shot and make basketballs from 5 feet out while yelling "good shot", he calls his paci "meme", he calls footballs "huthuts", he will tell you thank you for everything you do for him, he will repeat "hi" until you say hi back (can go for a long time when he's talking to people at the store and they don't realize he's talking to them), Parkes is the first person he asks for in the morning. I could go on a lot more but wanted to document at least some.

Snow 2010

We've had so much fun playing in all the snow. I heard we got 10" here, but at our house I would go with about 5". The boys love the snow...Parkes is too busy playing to pose for pictures, but got a few and Cash was all about posing. We played in the yard and went for a walk in the snow. Then the boys had fun watching one of our neighbors who wanted to play in the snow too got his bobcat out and started clearing driveways and the street while piling all the snow in one huge pile for everyone to play on. Then on Sunday after church and a good lunch at a new Mexican restaurant we headed out to the capitol and went sledding on the hill which Cash thought was so much fun...he's a little daredevil. We get lots of looks from people when we put him in the sled and send him down for him to tumble over, but then they just laugh as he gets up and says "more". Parkes got more daring as the day went on and started climbing further up the hill to go down. So we are home from school one more day before going back tomorrow.

Cash's Muscles

Here's a video of Cash's favorite trick...he really enjoys doing this when we are out to eat because he gets lots of people paying attention to him. The boys had their 2 and 5 year check-ups, and I definitely found the right time to go to our doctor is 2 since she has to pick up her daughter from school (we were in and out including ice cream downstairs in just under an hour). So for their stats... Cash - 29 lbs (60%), 32 1/2" (5%) and 50 cm head...he finally made it on the growth chart!!! Parkes - 40 1/2 lbs (50%) and 40" (10%) We have been lucky enough to not see the doctor at all this past year so she wants us to make sure to come in in 6 months or so even if we aren't sick to get a height check so she can have more dots on their curve to have a better indication of where they'll be. Parkes also got his hearing and sight checked and all was well there after two times of checking his hearing because he decided not to participate the first go around. And Parkes was the lucky one to get 4 shots which he did not enjoy, but ice cream afterwards made it all better. We are slowly getting back into school routine after our nice break, and the good news is I have only one child in diapers now!!! Parkes is doing much better then he has ever done before just in time to start with Cash this spring (I pray that he won't put me through 2 and a half years of potty training).

Happy New Year

For Christmas this year Brandon and I wanted a nice camera so we could capture the boys in action...we are still playing with it but here's some pictures. Parkes has a strange obsession with coconuts so Santa brought one in his stocking which we took to Happy's house for him to open (years in Aruba has made him an expert). Parkes did not like it though so maybe he'll stop calling people coconuts in the grocery store and I can stop explaining to them why.Brandon hard at work...he's just start another gut and rebuild. And exciting news this Christmas is Brian got engaged to Amy. We are so excited for them and their happiness just shines through them.

Christmas and Birthday

We had an absolutely wonderful Christmas this year. We were really restored in the goodness of people this year and the power of God's love and how He always provides even when we can't see how. We keep Christmas simple this year which was pretty easy since Parkes asked for wood for Chirstmas to make a treehouse. So Santa ended up bringing wood and a field goal for the boys and the neighbors and construction started on the treehouse yesterday. Parkes gave Brandon an Alabama blanket we made. Parkes' favorite gift this year was a stack of brown paper bags (he asks for one evertime we are in Publix so Santa felt it would make a good gift). He's other favorite was his Beginner Bible from my parents...he ran around screaming and jumping after he opened it. Cash's favorite was his crackers...he loves his food. This picture showed up twice and I couldn't get it to delete so you can see his favorite gift again.We made tutus for their cousins, but Cash would of keep one if he could. He would yell "I wear, I wear" everytime he saw it. He loves to say "Cheese!" My brothers and sister with the boys on Christmas afternoon. The boys with their cousins. Brandon and my brother "acting like they like each other".Finally we celebrate the boys birthdays with the family by playing some games and Santa (or my brother) stopped by to say Happy Birthday. Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, and if you didn't get a Christmas card from us (which would be everyone that isn't walking distance from our house) it's not from lack of love it's because we haven't left the house to get stamps because we are working on Parkes' potty issues and hopefully will only have one child in diapers starting the new year.

Lights, Camera, Action

So I had a good idea to take a picture of the boys all tangled up in lights while we were putting up the tree and as you can see they didn't think it was that great of an idea. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving celebrating 3 times. We are so thankful for the life we have and the people that have filled it up. This week especially we have really felt such a great outpouring of love and generosity of the people that have entered our life. And now it is Christmas Break...where has the time gone. I am really thankful to get to spend two weeks with the boys and have a break from the regular schedule where I can just enjoy being a mom again without the constant rush. As for the boys, Parkes is getting so old so quick. He'll be 5 at the end of the month and is loving everything to do with books and reading. Every night we must read one chapter of the Magic Tree House series books and one chapter from the Bible before he goes to bed. He loves to list together letters and ask me what they spell and is now very interested in vowels since I told him you can't spell anything without vowels...which has come back to get me since he then list out letters and I say they don't spell anything and he tells me "mom it has a vowel." And Cash is as funny as ever. He talks like crazy, and does not stop until he gets a response which is usually him yelling "bye dadda, bye dadda, bye chis, bye dadda" the whole way to school since they are not in the car to respond to him (chis is chris who does work with Brandon). And he thanks everyone for everything you could imagine...he brings me the remote as he says, "Tank you, tank you" until I take it. And he always thanks me after diaper changes as he also says, "bye bye pee pee." Cash has brought down the Christmas tree this year which brought more tears from Parkes then Cash. It's hard to believe the year is almost over and my boys will be a year older (all three of them). Hope you have a wonderful Christmas!!!

Trick or Treat, Tee Ball and Park

Yes we did trick or treat, I am just slow at getting pictures up...five days working, a husband working late hours and two crazy active boys means not much time to get on the computer. We have been spending all of our free time together as a family to make the most of that time and enjoying the gorgeous weather we've been having. So here's the boys in their get ups. Cash is a cowboy (you might recognize the outfit from Parkes the past 3 years) and Parkes after much struggles with why he couldn't be a cowboy again decide on an old time Alabama football player. Brandon with the boys, not sure exactly what he is...mullet wig, i heart hip hop shirt and straw hat? Part of the trick or treating crew. We had a total of 10 kids this year so it was a little crazy, but they had fun. And Cash enjoyed the candy this year very much...he cried for days afterwards when I put a sandwich in front of him for dinner and just screamed "andy, andy"For the last tee ball game of the fall Parkes' team wore their Halloween costumes. Grammy and Cash watching ParkesPlaying at the park with friends from small group from church. I made the boys take the picture here as you can see in their excitement.

Fall Walk

We had a fun impromptu weekend. We had no plans at all except Brandon needing to do some work and a tee ball game on Saturday morning. So Grammy and Grandad came and watched Parkes play tee ball. After what seemed like the tee ball game that would not end (every time we thought it was done they just keep playing I guess to make up for all the games that were rained out), we headed home to relax and got an exciting surprise visit from the Essner boys and got so fun catch up time while we heard lots of yelling coming from upstairs where Brandon was watching the Alabama/UT game. Then Sunday after church Brandon had to go do some work so the boys and I headed out for a walk to enjoy the beautiful day and at the end of the walk Parkes best friend from his first school's mom called about meeting at a playground so we just walked on over and some playtime before heading out for small group at a playground for some more playtime for the boys and good conversation for us. So thanks everyone for calling for playtime with my five day work schedule I have not used the phone much at all and usually just go home and do nothing but prepare for the next day so I appreciate y'all keeping me in touch!!!

Church County Fair and Anniversary

Last weekend was a busy one for us with it being the Alabama/Ole Miss games (the only game of the year Brandon and I aren't cheering for the same team), our church's county fair out at Owen Farm and our 6 year anniversary. So Alabama won so Brandon was very excited, and we got to spend our anniversary having fun with our boys and then dinner at Mad Platter alone that night so it was the perfect day. We get complimented quite frequently on our relationship and it's really nice that others can see how we feel and our mutual respect and love for each other. I never knew how much better my life could be until God sent me these three boys.