Thanksgiving and Such

This is my favorite time of year. I absolutely adore Thanksgiving and all that it entails. The gathering of family, tons of food, watching kids play, Christmas shopping, and the list goes on...The past week has been amazing. Here is my top 10 list from the last week:

10. Photo sessions - I've done a ton of pictures lately. It's such a blessing to share in lives of others even for just a short time. One of my favorite things about being a photographer is the fact that I get to help people by putting them in front of my camera and showing them how beautiful their family is. People don't often see themselves in a picture as a complete family unit, and I love to create the moments in which they get to see themselves. It means so much to people to preserve those moments, and I am truly blessed to be trusted to do just that. God is so loving that He gives us a family to walk through life with.

9. Editing Pictures - I love the editing process. I love to let my creative mind go crazy and let loose. It's freeing and a little scary. Freeing because I just let go. Scary because I put so much of my self into each picture that if someone doesn't like it, it hurts just a little. All in all, editing pictures makes me love God more because I get to see how big and wonderful and loving He is to bless us with the people He made and the lives He created.

8. Putting up Christmas Decorations - I love putting up the Christmas tree and setting out the Nativity Scene. I love talking to my kids about why we have Christmas. They have connected so many of the dots about Jesus lately. My heart is so full.

7. Cooking Thanksgiving food - I love cooking. I love the sounds, smells, tastes, and joy that it brings my kids to help me. Luke is becoming quite the little helper. He helps me hand wash dishes when the dishwasher is too full, he stands at the stove with me to help me stir, and he is becoming quite adept at measuring things. He's getting so big so fast.

6. Luke's Basketball Team - Luke is playing on the Kindergarten basketball team this year. It's adorable and truly amazing. He is way more athletic than any 5 year old should be. It's so fun to watch him learn how to play on a team and listen to a coach that isn't his dad. It's also fun to see what a truly sweet spirit Luke really is. He lives to encourage his teammates. It just makes me want to squish him to death with love. Luke got his uniform last Monday, and it was Friday before I could peel it off of him. Basketball is Luke's first love. I love that God made Luke such a passionate little boy. :-)

5. Big Boy Basketball Season - I love watching my husband work. If people had any idea how much Tyron loves those boys and his job as a coach, it would probably amaze people. It's so fun to watch those boys learn and mature as a team and as an individual over the course of a season. It's also fun to watch what a brilliant basketball mind my husband has. Of course it's pretty hard to forget how cute my kids are in the stands yelling for the Farmers and being cute in general.

4. Thanksgiving with the family - We went to Kara's (my sister-in-law) house for Thanksgiving. It was fun to hang out as a complete family. Papa even came for a visit. We ate until we were about to pop and played games. It was GREAT.

3. Rest - Tyron had 5 days off in a row. He hasn't had a single day off since July 17th. He has literally been working 7 days a week since then. CRAZY. To say the least, he was exhausted...as was I. We got to spend 5 days together without any interruptions. It was nice just to hang out. We played games, watched movies, shopped, talked, and just rested. It was amazing. Really it would be my #1 except for some extenuating things.

3.1 We got family pictures TAKEN - and it wasn't even me who took them! We haven't had a family picture taken since Faith was 1. Tyron and I have some amazing friends that we met at The Village, and we miss them terribly. Chaille and Kevin, were in our first ever small group and walked with us through some dark and scary times. A bond like that doesn't disappear. Kevin met us yesterday in McKinney to take some pictures of us. It was perfect. He was amazing with our kids, and we got to catch up as we walked around. He is a very talented photographer, and he has a very creative mind. I can't wait to see the pictures, and I can't wait to shoot his family! God has blessed us with so many great friends!

2. My dad is much better! - My dad has been really sick over the last month and a half, and he is much better. I am thankful that God has provided healing.

1. Luke is healthy. - We had to go in for some tests over the last week because our pediatrician had some concerns at Luke's 5 Year Well-Visit. Luke grew 9.5 inches over last 11 months, but he only gained 4 pounds. My doctor was concerned that there might be an issue, so he sent us in for testing. To make a very long story short, all the tests came back normal. So, it looks like Luke is just going to be freakishly tall like his dad...except probably even taller. We are just going to keep a closer eye on his growth patterns over the next couple of years to make sure he starts to even out a little bit. I know God has Luke in the palm of His hand.

These are not all the great moments of the past week, but just a few. We are such a blessed family. I hope that you all had a great Thanksgiving week as well! Here are some pictures from the week. {Ignore the quality please!} God bless!

Thankful

I am reminded on a daily basis of how blessed I really am. {There are just some days that I don't want to pay attention to the reminder... :-)} For those of you who don't know, it's a miracle that Tyron and I have kids at all.

When I was 23, I found out that I had tumors in both of my ovaries...BIG tumors at that. I ended up having a surgery pretty much immediately, and the doctor had to remove one ovary and fallopian tube and reconstructed the other. It was a pretty crazy thing. After surgery, the doctor told Tyron and me (we were engaged at the time) that I would have a hard time carrying a baby to term. Boy, was that ever true. Obviously, Tyron married me anyway, despite the drama. :-)

I had my first miscarriage in November of 2003. I was almost 13 weeks along. It was the saddest, scariest, angriest time of my life. A month after I was done with the first miscarriage, I found out unexpectedly that I was pregnant again. Two days later, I miscarried that baby too. Talk about angry, sad, and confused. Two months after that, I found out I was pregnant AGAIN. 33.5 weeks into a complicated, yucky pregnancy, Luke was born. He is and was the most wonderful little boy. On Luke's first birthday, I found out I was pregnant again with Faith. She was early, but not as early as Luke. Then between Faith and Hannah, I had a miscarriage again, and then I found a month later that I was pregnant again. Hannah was born 9 months later.

I don't write this to express my sadness or anger about my miscarriages. I write this to remind myself and others that even when life feels bad, GOD is GOOD. He walked with Tyron and me through every step and decision. He comforted us with His Word and mercy. He surrounded us with friends and family that let us be broken and sad. Looking back, there was so much light in the midst of the darkness that I can say that even through the sadness and confusion the time was sweet. We really got to know God's mercy and love during this time. Sometimes it takes God breaking me into a million pieces just so I will let HIM be the one to put me back together.

So, I am THANKFUL for the hurt, the grace, the growth, the love, the strength, and the 6 pregnancies that I have experienced. I am thankful that God gave me a blessed marriage and 3 wonderful, beautiful, and healthy kids. I. AM. THANKFUL.

Just One of Those Days...That a Girl Goes Through...

Someone please tell me that I am not the only one that has days like this:

Tuesday started out innocent enough. The kids and I went to the park to feed the ducks before grocery shopping. We had a great time! Kids fed the ducks and played on the playground. The weather was BEAUTIFUL! Then we headed to Wal-Mart in McKinney. As we were getting out, I saw some sparkles which means that I was going to have a migraine within the next 24 hours. I usually have plenty of time after I start having visual symptoms to prepare myself and my kids for the coming of the headache. I figured I would just get through my grocery shopping as fast as possible...after all, I usually don't actually get the pain part of a migraine for around 12-18 hours after seeing the sparkles. While I was pushing the giant cart around the store, my kids starting driving each other crazy. Hannah reached into the grocery cart to pull out a cereal box, and she smacked Faith right under her eye with the corner of the box. Blood and screaming ensued...as did my impending migraine. They just kept irritating each other from that moment on! I literally thought that my brain was going to explode. I made myself push through the grocery shopping because I already had a basket full of groceries, and the drive takes me about 25 minutes to get to the nearest Wal-Mart. I was determined not going to waste my effort at the store. I made it through the store...barely. My kids were fighting. I was near tears, and it just kept getting worse! I had to stand in the check out line with the fluorescent lights blaring at me for 15 minutes. I made it though. I got kids and groceries in Tahoe and drove home. I could barely hold my head up by then. Did I mention that all of this is going on while my dad is in the hospital 6 hours away extremely sick? I made it home, fixed lunch for the kids, and barfed for the next 3.5 hours. I got my headache under control just in time to get ready so I could go to class that night. My wonderful and loving babysitter Haley came. (Y'all I am so thankful for her! My whole family just adores her. My life would be super nuts without her.) I was driving to class and the highway to school was shut down due to a massive wreck, so I had to detour WAY out of the way to get to class. My bestie Rachel got me through it though with her mad navigating skills! I was only 20 minutes late to class. I still had a glimmer of the headache from earlier in the day, but I did make it through class and home. I was so ready for bed that I could barely make the walk through our tiny house to my bed. Blech. Migraine hangovers are almost as bad as the actual migraine to me.

I don't have truly bad days very often. When it's bad though, it's bad. I like to go down in a blaze of glory. Thank goodness for this:

Lamentations 3:22-23

22The LORD'S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. 23They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.

Halloween

We had such a fun Hallween! Tyron didn't have to work on Saturday night, so he got to go do Halloween stuff with us for the first time in a few years. The kids had a blast, and we did too! Farmersville does Halloween right. You could hardly drive down any of the residential streets because they were so congested with kids in costumes. There were Haunted Houses on every street, bounce houses galore, and the town square had games, hay rides, and trick or treating at all the downtown businesses. I think just about every house was decorated to the 9's. Small towns know how to do Holidays! Here are just a few pictures that I took. Tyron made me put my camera up after a little while so I could just be part of the family. I hope everyone had as good a Halloween as we did!

Luke was a Gladiator, Faith was Princess Belle, and Hannah was Thumbelina.