Just Another Crazy Year...

Another crazy year has come and gone...and so very much has changed.  I sat down to write a Christmas letter and realized that so much has changed and happened this year.  We moved to a new town, a new home, new schools, new jobs, new friends and even new hobbies.    Looking through pictures of the kids they have grown and matured so much this year. 

Our new home feels more like a temporary dwelling and is uncharacteristically unorganized!  Less than 6 months after we rented it the property owner listed it for sale.  I do not love the idea of strangers walking through my home at all!  I have big goals to get the garage organized and GET RID OF THE CLUTTER before we find a new home (hopefully closer to Hunter's school).  On a more positive note, we only live about 30 miles from the beach in Galveston!  All of us love the water and playing at the beach.  Morgan was a little apprehensive at first saying the water (waves) were to "rolly".  It didn't take long before she was following Hunter out as far as we were willing to safely take her.  Hunter and Wes are always happy to toss a football around the surf and just swim around while.  I was broken hearted about moving away from my friends and family.  The beach being a great vacation spot for them has made this so much more bearable.  Some of our closest friends and our parents have all been down to see us!  That brings so much joy to us!!! 

Hunter is such a blessing to me and our family.  I am amazed by the young man standing in front of me who is so much taller than I am.  He is a freshman in high school this year.  He still has a passion for sports and is a strong athlete as well as a leader on the field.  His coaches have had so many wonderful things to say about him.  Cheering for him and his team at football games filled our fall calendar and if all goes well, we will be cheering him on again in the spring for baseball season.  Even though Hunter was excited about the move and being near the other half of his family, changing schools and missing his friends back home has been hard on him too.  He has made some good friends here and had a few girlfriends.  Just like anyone else in high school, he is seems to still be trying to figure out where he fits in and who he wants to be.  He is always texting and on facebook and has even starting actually "talking" on the phone rather than sending one word text.  Most days, he is a wonderful big brother.  Morgan thinks he hung the moon.  I can only imagine how their relationship with grow and change as they grow up and the dynamics of our family change with Hunter leaving for college in a few years.  Hunter is still choosing to take on a tough schedule with all four pre-ap classes.  I wish he would lighten his load a little, but he really wants to prepare for college and I respect him for that.  I guess this is a good lesson in prioritizing for him.  I love singing in the car with Hunter as he has a great voice and can remember most of the words to my favorite songs.  I am so glad that he still prays with me every morning on the way to school and that he still tells me he loves me and kisses me on the cheek before getting out of the truck.  It seems like such small things to be so happy about, but I do realize that he is 15 years old and becoming more of his own man every day.  I want to cherish every little thing for as long as a possibly can. 

Morgan is still a hot mess.  That hasn't changed at all over the past year.  She is so full of fun and laughter and makes me look quiet...that is a difficult task!  She is constantly giggling and smiling and hamming it up for us.  She LOVES to dance and sing.  I would like to sign her up for some sort of dance classes soon.  As far as her singing goes...there may not be any hope.  She is apparently tone deaf and proud of it.  She is your typical little girl, playing with her dolls and barbies, cooking for us from her little kitchen and coloring.  She loves to play games on our phones and her new leap pad for what seems to be hours on end.  We tried soccer this year.  Short story...it didn't work out.  She isn't ready for team sports.  I am okay with that.  She is a very picky eater for us right now.  Her favorites for now are "Robin" noodles, mac-n-cheese, steamed veggies, french fries, beans and rice and "white" ice cream.  Morgan has so many funny little sayings that we all love.  For a long time she said "to-later" rather than tomorrow and "lasterday" instead of yesterday.  She is saying it correctly more and more often and I realize that she too is growing up more every second.  I am also realizing what a sponge she is and how VERY careful we have to be about the words we choose.  Wes and Hunter have taught her to say, "your killing me kid," "none ya...none ya buidness," and of course the infamous, "cool story bro."  She is quite entertaining.  She is very loving and definitely carries a special place in her heart for her Grandparents.  She is forever wanting to call them and even talks to them on her pretend phones.                   

Dear God, make me a bird so I can fly far. Far far away from here...

"Dear God, make me a bird so I can fly far.  Far far away from here."
Jenny-Forrest Gump

We need a break!  All of us do.

He just keeps growing...

My sweet baby boy began his first day of High School today!  I didn't have a chance to be nervous about taking him to school because as big and strong and smart as that boy is, he was nervous enough for the both of us!  Beginning High School is scary enough for any of us.  He had to do it in a new school surrounded by totally new faces.  I pray this year is the beginning of wonderful healthy friendships for him.  That he learns as much about who he wants to be as a man as he does about grammar and geometry.  And that he realizes that God has a beautiful plan for him.   I am so proud of the wonderful young man he is growing up to be.  His strength and wisdom amazes me.  I pray that God keeps working in him and he realizes just how wonderfully made he is, inside and out. 

Psalm 139:14 (NIV)
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

 your works are wonderful, I know that full well.


Hunter, When your older and you read this, I want you to know that you are the apple of my eye.  I know you think I am hard on you about school work and giving your best but it is only because I want the very best for you.  You deverve nothing less.
I love you,
Momma 

We have moved!

Look out world here we come!  Ok, so we aren't traveling the world but we did move.  We have been in our new house for about a month and and starting to settle in.  We are now in a sleepy little park and trail filled town on the bay only four miles or so from Wes's work and just blocks away from the water...WHICH WE ALL LOVE!!!!  The best part of all is that Wes is no longer having to travel for work and is home for dinner every night!  All of the changes are taking a little to get used to.  I am not even used to having him home full time yet, but it will be fun getting used to him again.

  Morgan sure is loving it here.  She ask to to the beach almost everyday!  She is so much like Hunter in the water...just fearless.  It scares the heck out of me but the joy on her face as her Daddy holds his arm over her and her "swimming board" and helps her jump the waves yelling, "Yeeee Hawww!" is so worth it.  It is such a drastic change from her first impression of the waves; she said they were too "rolly."
 Hunter has pretty much been staying between our home and his Dad's.  I know us living closer to him is a huge relief for Hunter.  He goes to SWAT camp at the High School for a few hours each day and seems to enjoy it. 

Our home is a humble little house with a big magnolia tree in the front yard.  The flower beds and such had not been tended to at all for years when we got here.  Little by little Wes, and I have worked on it and have made it seem more like home.  I will have pictures to show you soon
I still have tons of unpacking to do and lot of lovely guest on the way...better get busy!  

Lots of love,
Heather

Dark as a Ravens Feather

I read my devotional today and for whatever reason it inspired me to open up about my recent months and how beautifully God has provided for me and my family. Unless your incredibly close to me you don't know that I had some pretty dark days not so very long ago. I didn't trust or understand the new path God is leading me and my family on and to be painfully honest, I resented it. Moving five hours away from my comfort zone was not my idea of a good time. Oh how I LOVED the "idea" of finally living day in and day out with my handsom, faithful and very hard working husband who has been on the road for over three years now. Notice how I said the IDEA of it? Being able to make it a reality was a whole different ballgame all together. I have to move. I have to leave the nearness of my parents and my wonderful best friends.  The amount of times I have taken for granted that they are only an hour away hit me like an out of countrol avalanch.  My children had to change what was familiar to them.  The stress of it all seemed to pull us all further apart when this seemed to me to be a time we should be drawing closer together. I had enough. I gave up. You see I hit my lowest low ever. Women who I thought were my friends turned out to be something different than I understood them to be. People I bent over backwards to help and do things for were nowhere to be found when I was in need. People who dump on me and use me as a whiping post when life doesn't go their way turned a deaf ear to my pain or needs. I felt unappreciated, ugly, unloved, and undervalued, stressed, alone, broke, broken, the worst depression I could have imagined myself going through. Why on earth would I want to move all that way to feel like that all by myself? And then one day it all changed...literally in an instant. I gave it all back to God. I remember the exact moment that I remembered that I am a child of God and he has big plans for me and my family. My biggest problem in all of this was I was looking for humans relationships or a "place" to fill a need in my life that only God can fill. What a WOW moment! And how awesome have things been since! Have things been peachy and perfect with birds singing and rainbows since? No. Life is normal. We face our challenges daily just as we always have. However, my attitude towards those obsticals is soooo completely different.

We have found a little house near Wes's job and will be moving as a family as soon as school gets out. It is near a baseball field, the water, the city park...all in walking distance! The kids are now excited! I have time to pack neatly and get rid of or sell what we won't be able to take. We have both a short term plan and long term financial goal. We already have word of a few churches we want to try in the area. I am getting my resume out there. So on and so on. The best part of all is no matter where we are, my family and I meet over the phone or in person to read God's word every night. For the past several weeks, along with my friend Stephanie, we have been reading 1 Corinthians 13:4-15...Just incase your Bible isn't near...

4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.
11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.
13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

It is amazing how much those words can change your life, your words, and your actions.

Too far gone??? No way!!!!

I just realized how few post that I had written this past year.  What a busy year it was and so noteworthy!  Instead of being a SAHM, I worked...a lot.  Between my office job, planning a wedding, working at Mainstay Farm, making and selling my jewelry and bows and now teaching an afternoon class of three year old children I just didn't make time to fill in the blanks in type as I did so often in my head.

 

Both Hunter and Morgan have grown and changed so much this year.  They are amazing and beautiful children.  We are so blessed.  Don't get me wrong, they each have a very strong personality of their own.  However, I know that God will use that strength to help them later in life.  Hunter is still all about sports and girls and not necessarily in that order.  He had his first real heart break.  His voice quit cracking.  He worked both helping Wes weld fences during the summer and at Mainstay Farm in concessions and later with the Christmas Trees.  I was so very proud watching him be a leader among his coworkers.  It was a great experience for both of us.  Right now he is playing baseball.  He is very excited about making an elite team.  He has a new sweet love and is maturing as a young man every day. 

Morgan is into well...everything.  Her vocabulary is amazing!  She loves to tell us about how the "chicken bonked her head!" at her Gimmy's and how the chickens say, "bock do"!  Gimmy saved her from the chickens of course.  She dances all over the place to Daddy's songs.  She loves the song "Bear Loves Honey".  Every morning she looks out the window for the sun and announces that it is a good day and when she finds it is dark or sees the moon it is sleep time.  Too bad she doesn't actually go to sleep when she announces it.  She is quite the night owl.  Morgan is also a crazy little mini me.  She tries to stir the tea, beat the eggs, wash the dishes, sweep the floor, sort the laundry, match our clothes (she picks out mine...so fun), wrap her hair in a towel like mine, you name it.  It is amazing how much you will grow as a person when you have a little mirror following your every step.  

  

Stand up for whats right...even if you stand alone

God

Family

Work

Everything Else....

 

There are so many times in my life when I have felt God nudging me to make a stand or do something and was too afraid...I wish I had stepped up each time he asked me to.  You never know when that one little thing you do or say will change the life of another.  Thank you Stephanie for pointing that out to me and teaching me something beautiful!

 

Love,

Me

P31 Women

Have I mentioned lately that I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Proverbs31 Devotional?  Oh, well then...let me tell you...I LOVE it!!!  Check it out if you have a second.

Love & Prayers,

Me

Where is the Grace in that?

Where is the Grace in that?  This is my new favorite question.  I am trying to apply it to all of my thoughts, words, actions, reactions & prayers.  It is amazing how one little question can change your life for the better.  My new employer and mentor, Marianna, asked the question in a conversation and God has left it resonating in my heart since.  I don't think she had a clue what that one question would do to my life or how it would strengthen not only my relationship with God, but all of my relationships.  The word "Grace" has meant so many things to me over the years. It has been my Mother's nickname for me for most of my life as I was such a klutz as a child.  It has been in quotes on my desk and fridge.  It is Morgan's middle name because we believe it was by the "Grace" of God that we were able to conceive after the doctors had told me for years that I couldn't.  So now I look at my Bible and read what it says.  In Proverbs 22:11 I read, "He who loves a pure heart and whose speech is gracious will have the king for his friend."  (Actually Proverbs 22 says a whole bunch of good stuff...check it out) Isaiah 30:18 states, "Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion."  How awesome is that?  If you know me at all you know that I REALLY wanted to put big exclamation marks after HE RISES TO SHOW YOU COMPASSION.  He longs to be gracious to and rises for lil' ol me?  Wow!!!  I pray everyday that I live a life worthy of that GRACE.

It has been a long time since I posted..  Working, Wes being laid off and being home, life in general just got in the way.  I want to get caught up on the kids updates so brace yourselves, I am going to cover a lot of fun times in a short amount of time.  Missed you.

Hello Old Friend...

I have wanted to leave my page dedicated to Bryce until he was found and now that he is in heaven I want to honor his life by sharing the beautiful joys my family brings to me.  From the loss of Bryce I have learned to love my children, family and friends in a way I didn't understand before.  Strange...just when you think you couldn't possibly love someone more...you can.  Now, I hug my children more and hold my husband longer.    

All these months I have been so afraid that I would forget to journal all the beautiful new things my children are learning and how much they are growing.  Morgan is almost two....TERRIBLE TWO!!!  She has been a heaping handful for some time now.  She is talking more and more each day.  She loves to dance and just be silly when any music comes on.  She is so funny and makes us laugh all the time.

Hunter is still growing and is such a handsome young man.  It is so tough for him.  You look at him and you see a young adult, yet, he is still just a young child at heart.  I am never sure which one I am going to get when he wakes in the morning.  Some days it is super helpful and wonderful super Hunter to the rescue and others......well, lets just call it what it is...the terrible teenage years!!!  Calgon take me away!  He is such a strong athlete and hopes that he will be able to succeed in that area when he is older.  I pray that his dreams come true. 

 He is so smart and just made NJHS.  I am just beaming with pride for him!  I know he won't read this for a long time as he is busy with school, sports & girls, but, I hope he truly does know how much I love him and very proud of him I am. 

Wes has picked up the guitar and is amazingly wonderful at it.  I guess some people just have a knack for it and he is one of them.  He looks so natural (and handsome) sitting there playing his guitar. 

I have a lot to update but must get some rest.  Sleep tight.  Don't let the bed bugs bite.