Bill is 30!!

Yesterday my wonderful, fabulous husband turned 30!

We celebrated yesterday with grilled steaks and cake at his parents' home with them, Christa, Wes, Braylee and Zack.

Unfortunaltely, the one picture I thought I had of it is not to be found on my camera:( Hopefully one will turn up.

Last weekend, however, was his birthday trip to the official Sunday night football game of the Saints vs. the Colts.

Granted the game was a blow out, us long-time Saints fans remember clearly the not so distant past when we were on the receiving end of those blow outs.

Now, not only are we giving them, we are breaking total points and win margin records. Awesome.

Now for the pics...

Birthday boy

 mini tailgate in hotel pregame

 official hotel of the new orleans saints. okay, not really, those things are all over La and I heart them

 cheesin it up

 no idea who this loser is, haha j/k

 they came out quiet, almost didn't notice

Bill's favorite part...the dance cam

this isn't anything to be proud of, but there was a lot of crunk in that stadium...

final score shot before we started hiking back to the hotel

 pink for breast cancer awareness month

 poydras street was shutdown like a mardi gras parade route post game

So much fun! Hope to back next year!



Leighton's First Trip to the Pumpkin Patch!

Leighton and I met up with Jacque and AnnMarie at one of the local pumpkin patches.

This particular one sells pumpkins raised by a Navajo Indian tribe and a portion of the proceeds goes to support the church's missions.

The girls were so cute!

In the end we got 4 mini pumpkins and a sticker kit to decorate. That's tomorrow's project!

This weekend we attended what will probably be Leighton's last football game of the season. I'm pretty sure she's happy about this, as she doesn't like the noise.

This is how she spent Friday night's game:

I, on the other hand, thought it was a great game! The greyhounds did an awesome job, particularly Sage. He always plays with such heart and I'm so proud of him.



God's Will

I don't pretend to know or understand the will of God.

But I do seek it. I long to know and sometimes I do get glimpses.

We are not made to know or understand the complexities of this life. If we did, why would we need God? What kind of world would that be? People, mere mortals with selfish and sinful desires having this sort of power?

That said, I do not believe that everything that happens on this earth is God's will. We are given free will, allowed to do as we please.

This ability to create our own path and choose our own actions creates consequences. Some are good, wonderful consequences and some are tragic and horrible. The person who chose to become drunk and drive, what kind of consequences would theirbactions bring?

The world is a scary place, which is why we NEED a savior. We need God.

He created us, he loves us and he wants us to one day find a home a with Him, away from this world. But to don that we need to choose Him and to surrender our life to Him in this world.

For our life is not our own, it is a gift from God. And every good thing in it is a gift from Him. We are here to manage and cultivate and take care of the gifts He has blessed us with.

He has been so generous to me in so many ways. One of my most special gifts has been that of the friendship bestowed on my the Carlton family. But they are struggling right now. Momma Carlton is fighting for her life from an awful, evil cancer and a husband and four kids are facing the possibility a scary and unknown future.

Regina belongs to the Lord and it is up to Him whether to heal her on this side of Heaven or not. But we pray for healing, hope it is here on Earth, and pray for comfort and understanding and peace for her and all of the members of her family. We pray for strength and courage and all of the needs they are facing which we may never understand or see. We pray for miracles.

I want to be clear. We as Christians are promised eternal life, but it is not here. God does not promise that we will never face heartache or unimaginable loss, it happens everyday. He does promise to hold us and provide for us until we make our way home.

Please visit the Carlton's blog and pray for them, too. Let their story build your faith through example, as it has done for mine.


http://www.carltonlifesjourney.blogspot.com/

8 Months!

Leighton officially turned 8 months on October 7 (which is, coincidentally, our niece Lexi's birthday - Happy birthday, Lex!).

To celebrate, we had her 6 and 9 month checkups. Why? Our delayed vax schedule, plus there are no vaccines given at 9 months.

So the stats are:

weight - 21lbs 4oz (95th percentile)

length - 27 inches (52nd percentile)

she is bearing weight on her legs, sitting up independently for long lengths of time, crawling and pulling up - all of her 9 month milestone checks (that I remember at this moment).

Showing off her boo boos:(

We are also supposed to start feeding her more "table" food, such as mashed bananas, potatoes, sweet potatoes. This has been an iffy adventure. I'd delayed the making the baby food thing due to her super-sensitive stomach and gag reflexes. She loves the first 5 bites of anything I cook for her, but after that she gets lazy - doesn't want to 'chew'. Kids a mess!

We also bought an area rug and moved out or coffee table the weekend before her appointment to aid in her quest to crawl. She mastered it less than a week!

 So last weekend was spend in a panic trying to get the major baby proofing needs done. Of course I ended up with a severe strained muscle and in bed all day on a heating pad. Thank God for Mattress Mack! I can not endorse Gallery Furniture of Houston enough! I ordered a super-nice piece of furniture for an extremely affordable price OFF OF THE INTERNET! The called and verified it was me, took some awesome security precautions and had 2 very friendly and professional fellas deliver it THAT AFTERNOON! http://www.galleryfurniture.com/ people!

yeah, that's a blue dog toy under it

Leighton also received in the mail this great care package from her Meme and PawPaw (Bill's parents). I wanted to take her picture with it, but she was more interested in attacking it!

Well, my super sweet and romantic husband conspired with my mother to get he and I two date nights in a row this weekend! Way pumped and probably won't take any pictures b/c I'll be too darned busy enjoying myself!

I leave you with a shot of my sweet angel I TRIED to take of her sitting in Founder's Park in Jennings a couple weeks ago...but she was squirmy, I was nervous. But she's cute:)

September, where did you go?

September has come and gone so quickly!

I can't believe it's October, but I'm so glad it is! Especially if these cool mornings keep up:)

So what have we been up to in September?

Well, Leighton is on a schedule - yay! -though she consistently tries to break it!

She as crawled, just a touch, but it was super-exciting!

She has been bringing herself to a sitting position from lying down. This is a very complicated process that involves getting into a downward facing dog-like position and then walking her feet around. It was become her go-to mode of transportation (roll over, walk feet around, sit down, reach forward and spread out, walk feet around, sit down, repeat).

yea!

Leighton went to her first highschool football game (she's been to two now, she only lasts about a quarter and a half, but we will take it!)

This is also the face she now makes when you try to take her picture with a flash....such a mess, my kid

Mackenzie turned SEVEN!! Happy birthday to you, Princess!!

PS, Leighton's bday parties will be smaller. And yes, I'm sticking to it.

October is just beginning and we are already so full of plans! Bill's birthday, just mailed off Lexi's birthday gift and Halloween - hopefully more time to post, too!

We have a check up Friday that includes vaccines (boo), say a prayer for Baby Girl, she didn't feel so great last time:(