God, Cherries, Fans, Bread

Okay, first off I will say that something is on my mind, but it keeps whirling in several different directions so I am not quiet sure where this post is going but her goes anyway.

A week or so ago Austin was talking in one of our church meetings about how he had been thinking about the goodness of God. He said the verses in Matthew 7:9-11 had been on his mind. "You parents - if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him."

Austin said that as a father he has come to really see that verse more clearly. He said that we do things for Bailey all the time that she does not even realize that we do. For example, at night after she goes to sleep we always check on her to be sure she is in her bed and is cozy. Lots of nights she has gotten out of her bed and has fallen asleep in front of her fan. We pick her up and tuck her in comfortably. He wondered what all God does for us that we don't even realize he does.

That got me to thinking about God's love and who God truly is. I have been reading the book "The Shack" by Wm. Paul Young. This is a fiction story about a man that truly experiences God and comes to know Him to be someone totally different than the "god" he thought He was. It gives you a fresh and exhilarating perspective about who God is. You should really read it. It will make you laugh, cry, and experience God. I really think that God gave this author a wonderful blessing in the ability to pen these words. If you want to read more about the book you can go to www.TheShackBook.com.

While reading this book I began to think more about God's love for us and how nothing we do can cause God to love us less or more. I think that most of us have heard our whole life that we can't do anything to make God stop loving us. But have we ever really thought about the fact that we can't do anything to make God love us more. His love is entirely complete and it is impossible to become more complete. Growing up I was a "good christian girl". I didn't do the things that good christian girls shouldn't do. I really thought God loved me but then again I was pretty lovable right?

The more I learn about God I realize that my arrogance and self righteousness was actually a barrier to God rather than something that brought me closer to Him. I have come to see others more the way God sees them, though still no where near perfection. I can love them despite their religion, skin color, social class, "righteousness". That last one was always the biggest struggle for me. I mean they weren't living right and that gave me the right to judge them, right? I now realize that I am no better than anyone else. I am so delighted that I can't do anything to change God's love that I can just live in that love. Yeah!!

Anyway I bet you are wondering about the cherry part of the title. Bailey loves cherries. Anytime we get a cherry limeade she always ask for the cherry. Tonight we were eating supper out and Austin got a milk shake with his meal. I noticed a little bowl with something red in it. Bailey noticed it to and asked what it was. Austin told her that when she was done eating she could see. By the time she was done eating she was so excited. When Austin pulled back the lid there were four cherries inside. I thought that was so sweet. Bailey had not even asked for or thought about cherries. Her daddy knew she loved them and got them for her just because. Isn't that the way God is?

I have been getting to know God out side of the "religious" box that I have always put Him in and more as the loving, real father that He is. God is so much bigger and greater than we realize. I must stop putting Him in this little box of what I can fathom and understand and let God be who He is.

Update!!

There has been lots going on lately. The following is a list of things that have been happening. Some of them I will do a more detailed post on later.

**We closed on our house this past Monday, but things have been so busy that we haven't had time to do much.

**We painted Bailey's new room. Two shades of pink and a chocolate brown. (Will post pics soon).

**Mom/Amanda's birthday dinner at Nashville.

**There was a frog in our living room at the new house today right beside Bailey. We had to get Austin to get it out but even he used a paper towel.

**We ate at a BBQ place in Memphis two days in a row this past week. Austin has made friends with the owner and he always gives us a great deal. The food is awesome. If you're ever in Memphis you'll have to check it out. The website is www.tomsbarbq.com.

**We've made several new friends the past couple of weeks. We seem to really relate well and share a similar vision for what God is doing with us in this area.

**We went to Fayetteville and watched Arkansas and Florida play last Saturday.

**Visited with Darren, Rachel, Ada, & Isaac (Austin's childhood friend Rachel) last Friday on our way to the football game.

**Bailey is doing wonderful with potty training. No accidents in over a month and even a dry pull up most mornings. Yeah!!

**Bailey likes school now, I think. She told me the other day "I still don't like my class, but I'm not going to cry". She loves The Little Gym though. We go every Tuesday evening. Austin even goes with us. Fun!!

**Fundraising season is in full swing. These next couple of months are our most busy time of year. We do more than half of our business within about two and half months.

I will post more details later along with some cute and funny pictures.

Reality Check!!

I am sitting here listening to Bailey. She is in the bath and talking to her toys. You can tell a lot about your parenting by listening to your kids talk. Sometimes, like now, I hear the way she talks to her babies and think do I sound like that. I don't want to think so, but I know I do. She tells her baby to do something then gets louder and louder each time her baby doesn't do what she is told. She says "Do you hear me". I'm not a yeller, but I do sound worse than I ever thought I would. I always envisioned myself as being a parent who would handle all situations calmly and rationally. How could I ever get aggravated at a sweet innocent child? Then I became a mom.

Don't get me wrong, I adore my child and I think overall I'm a pretty good mom. I spend lots of time with her and we talk constantly. I tell and show her how much she is loved nonstop, but there are definitely some areas I need to improve on. One of those is the way I handle her when she doesn't obey. I am easily frustrated and then don't handle the situation as I should. I worry all the time about the person I am teaching her to become. I pray God's grace will cover all of my parenting mistakes and somehow highlight the good things that I do.

I guess God is doing that because, I think anyway, Bailey is a wonderful little girl. I am tearing up right now just thinking about her. I definitely need to work on some things and become closer to the mom I always hoped to be. Don't think I'll ever reach the goal, but I will try each day to get closer. I think I'll go now and talk to her about what is going on with the babies in the tub.

Busted!!

Oh the things kids say and the way they think. I have been trying to teach Bailey to tell the truth. The other day she lied about needing to go to the bathroom after she was in bed. I let her get up. After sitting on the potty a few minutes she told me she didn't need to go. I asked her if she said she needed to potty just to get out of bed. She said yes. I explained to her that telling me she needed to potty when she really didn't need to is a lie and it is not nice to lie. Without hesitation she replied, "Mommy, do yall lie?". I stuttered for a few seconds then admitted that Mommy and Daddy lie sometimes, but that isn't nice for us to do either and that we all needed to work on telling the truth. What can you say?

A few days later Nana was in town and we decided that we would go to On the Border for supper. It is one of our favorite places and we have eaten there several times. Bailey asked where we were going for supper and I told her On the Border. She asks, "Where is the border?" I tried to explain that On the Border was a restaurant that we were going to. I don't know what she had in her mind that the border was. When we pulled up to the restaurant she pointed to the roof and said, "Is that the border? Are we going to eat up high?" I again tried to explain we were going in the restaurant and that was On the Border. When we got inside and they took us to our table she began crying as I put her in the high chair. She was saying, "This is not the border". She was very upset that we were not at the border. We couldn't help but laugh. Austin and I still laugh about it and wonder what in the world she had in her mind that the "border" was.

I guess the best times though are the times like just a few minutes ago. She wrapped her little arms around my leg and squeezed hard. She said "I love you sooo much". Melts my heart.

Pretty as a Picture

Bailey is growing up so fast!! If you don't believe me just ask her. She says "I'm getting bigger. I'm almost grown up". I try to take as many pictures as I can but I go through dry spells sometimes and realize it has been weeks since we have taken any. These are a few pictures that we took today at a park here in town. Bailey loves to pose. She is such a girly girl. Hope you enjoy them.

Who's Out There????

I always wonder who is reading and keeping up with our blog. I know people don't always have time to comment. That is understandable because I know I don't often take time to comment on blogs I read either. Sometimes I have a few spare minutes and quickly check a few of my favorite blogs just breezing through them. I am glad that any of you out there take a few moments from your busy lives to keep up with ours. Austin and I were talking and we thought it would be neat to get a list of our readers. If you could take a moment to just leave your name as a comment (or more if you like) we would appreciate it. Hope to hear from you.

A Fun Day

Yesterday when we woke up Austin told us to get ready and we would go do something fun. We decided on bowling and miniature golf. Bowling went great. Bailey loved it. We knew it was going to be fun when the guy asked what size shoes Bailey wears. I didn't know they had bowling shoes that small. She was so excited. Check out the shoes in the pictures above. Then he found her a special pink ball that was only 4 pounds so she could pick it up and throw it all by herself. You can see in one picture above how slow her ball went down the lane. She had time to throw it and comfortably sit down and watch it roll down the lane. It was fun.

Next we went over to the miniature golf course. As good as bowling went golf was that bad. It was hot outside and she wanted nothing to do with that. She didn't even try it. She had a pink ball and a putter just her size but that didn't matter. After about 15 minutes of trying to get her to play with us I gave up and began taking pictures of her instead. It helped that we were the only ones there.

When we came in from golf Bailey spotted a video game with a horse that you could sit on. She climbed on and Austin rode beside her. By then it was nap time and we had to get home.

Mother's Day Out

Bailey started Mother's Day out a couple of weeks ago. She attends two days a week from 9:00 to 2:30. To prepare for MDO we bought a new lunch box, nap mat, and princess blanket. She was so excited about starting school because of her new items. We were a little concerned about how she would do because she hasn't been away from us too much and she tends to be a little leery of people she doesn't know, even other kids.

On her first morning she was very excited (until we pulled into the parking lot). We got out of the van and began walking toward the church. The closer we got the slower she got. We made it to her classroom. She went in okay and things were going well until we began to walk away. She began to wail. It was soooo hard to leave her, but Austin insisted she would be okay. When we picked her up (30 minutes early I might add) she acted like she had a good time.

On Thursday I had to take her by myself. Austin threatened me if I brought her home. She began crying before we ever left the house saying she didn't want to go to school. She cried all the way there and was sniffling as we walked down the hall toward her class. I handed her to the teacher and she began to cry like she has never cried before. She was screaming "Mommy". I left quickly. I sat in the car and cried for a few minutes until I could gather myself enough to drive home. When I got home I called the school and asked someone to go to her room and check on her. They checked and assured me that she was okay. I made it through the rest of the day but picked her up a little early. After that I decided that Austin should take her to school.

Austin said she cried a little Tuesday. Thursday morning she was ready to go. She kept telling us that she wasn't even going to cry. She was true to her word and we were so proud. She had a great day Thursday and is asking when she goes back to class.

Bailey has made a new friend, Camden. She told us that Camden is her favorite. Camden is really pretty and has long brown hair that winds (a.k.a. blows). She is so excited to show us her work. The last picture is of her work that she took to bed with her. When I checked on her before I went to bed that is how I found her. Too sweet. Hopefully it will keep getting better and better.

All Star Fundraising

The following post is a short descprition of how All Star Fundraising got started and what we do.

Seven years ago Austin and I opened a pizza restaurant in Lewisville Arkansas with my sister and her husband, Tim and Amanda Harper. Austin was in his second year of college and I had one class (a correspondence class) left. Tim was pastoring a church, teaching, and coaching in Lewisville. The restaurant was slow during the summer months so we decided to start selling our pizza's as a fundraising product. We bought a shrink wrap machine and printed our own fliers. We had a few groups run with our pizza's.



We then decided that we would look for other products to supplement the pizza. Tim had sold Butter Braid in the past with his football players so they got online and inquired about becoming a dealer of the product. We met with a representative for the company and signed on to become a Butter Braid dealer. We also made our own cookie dough in the pizza restaurant and packed it in 5 lb tubs (lots of work).



After about six months of preaching, coaching, and a new position of Regional Fellowship of Christian Athletes director, Tim decided that he had too much going on to pursue the fundraising business. Austin was going to school full time and also playing college football at Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia. Shortly after the business began he realized that he couldn't grow the business and continue to play football. He quit football and changed his major to business. After one more year of school Austin decided to pursue the business full time. We talked with other dealers and saw the great potential Butter Braid had to offer. Over the past six years we have grown our business at a rate of at least 50% per year. We have grown to be one of the top dealers in the country.



Now we only carry Butter Braid brand products with the Butter Braid pastry as our main product. It accounts for about 95% of our sales. Within the last few years we have hired a few employees, all of which happen to be family at the moment. Our marketing area consist of NE Texas, North Louisiana, Arkansas, and the Memphis metro area. The first few years we only had the Texas and Louisiana areas. About three years ago we picked up Arkansas. Austin's mom Sheila began working with us to cover the Arkansas area. Two and half years ago we decided to move to Southaven, Mississippi (a suburb of Memphis). We had been looking to hire an employee to cover the Texas and Louisiana area for us. My brother Adam and his wife Amber became available and were willing to move to Shreveport. We have been soooo blessed to have our family work with us. They have been awesome. The first year that we had all three employees our sales doubled.



What our company does is help fundraising groups plan and run their fundraiser using our products. Austin's office is in our home. I bake samples of the product and he will take them out and "sample" potential groups. If a group decides to run with our product we help them plan their sale dates and send them a start up packet. At the end of the sale they call us with their order. We then deliver their product the following week. That's the basic day to day operation of the business. It is a seasonal business that runs along with the school year so we have a lot of vacation time. If anyone would like more information on the product or the business you can go to the website at http://www.butterbraid.com/ .



So much for the short explanation of the business. Sorry it's so long.

New Home

For those of you who haven't heard we bought a new house a couple of weeks ago. We will probably close in a few weeks. We actually had house plans drawn up several months ago, but in recent months building supplies have gone up so much the builder actually recommended waiting a while to build.

We have been looking around from time to time to see if we could find a great deal in this "buyers market". We haven't been just real determined that we would buy soon, just keeping our eyes out in case. A couple of weeks ago I stumbled upon this house on the Internet. It is a foreclosure and was an awesome deal. The buying process was a little different though because it was bank owned. They took offers from three different people and then choose which offer they wanted to accept. Our agent told us that these things could sometimes take weeks so we weren't really expecting everything to happen as fast as it did. The week went something like this:

Thursday - house was listed on the website

Friday - saw the house on the website

Saturday - drove by to see if we liked the house

Sunday - agent took us inside to look at the house

Monday - made an offer on the house

Tuesday - called us and accepted our offer

When we made the offer on Monday we thought it would probably be several days before we heard anything. We were excited and a little in shock. We had looked into several possibilities, all of which had not worked out.

This house is 1,000 square feet bigger than our current house and the payment will be within about $50 of our current payment. It is only two years old and was being leased by the builder. We wanted something with a separate dining room and a fourth bedroom we could use as a guest room when we have another baby (no we are not pregnant). Most of our family is 3-6 hours away so when they come they stay a couple of nights and it's nice to have that extra space. We also needed an extra room for Austin's office since he works from our home. This house has all of that plus a bonus area upstairs that will make a great playroom and a hearth room down stairs. The home has three bedrooms and two baths down stairs and two bedrooms (guest room & office) and one bath upstairs.

So now we will be trying to sell our house and moving into another. We should be closing sometime on or before October 6th. I think we are going to be doing a lot of painting. We are anxious to get started. Austin is dying to work on the front lawn and landscaping. We will post more pictures as we do some painting. If there are long periods with know post you'll know why.

My Little Gymnast

Yesterday was our first class at the Little Gym. Bailey loved it. She is already asking to go back. Austin and I enjoyed it very much as well. It is always fun to watch your little one enjoy themselves. It took her a while to warm up, but by the time we left she was sing the songs and joining in. She was happy when the class was over and all the kids left. She said "All the kids are gone, now I can play". She thought she could have the whole place to herself. We will go once a week for the rest of the fall. I'm sure we'll have lots more fun.

Bailey the Hilarious

Since Bailey Dawn has been talking she has been making us laugh. She is the funniest child I have ever known. People say they don't know where she got her personality. She is so much more out going than Austin and I and just down right funny. I don't know if she has been exceptionally funny today or if I had just forgotten since she was away for a week.

This afternoon we decided that we would go to the zoo. Bailey was so excited. She has been wanting to go to the zoo for a few weeks now, pretty much since the last time we went. It was cloudy when we left and had been raining earlier but we have season passes so we thought we'd take our chances with the rain. Bailey got in the van and was in there a couple of minutes by herself while I was gathering up some last minute things inside and Austin was in the garage loading the stroller. When we got to the van Bailey had gathered all the change in her little hands and proudly said "I have some money if we need to get a milk shake". We died laughing.

Shortly after we left the house it started misting rain. We were talking about alternative plans and Bailey kept saying she wanted to go to the zoo. Finally we decided that we would go get lunch somewhere close to the zoo and see how the weather was afterwards. We had not decided where we were going to eat yet (Austin and I can never make up our minds). We told Bailey our plan and she said "After I eat all my pizza we can go to the zoo". She is so subtle. I said I guess we are eating pizza for lunch.

While we were waiting on our pizza to come Bailey was playing around and making silly noises. I started picking on her and imitating her noises. She stopped, looked at me and said "Mommy, that's my line". I thought where in the world did she hear that. All these things happened within an hour. You've got to love two year olds.

My Baby Is Gone

Saturday afternoon Bailey went home with Nana. Today Nana and PawPaw met up with Aunt Ericka, Bethany and Micah. They went to visit Austin's Aunt Leigh Ann and Uncle Bill in Texas who also have two young children; Madison and William. I know she will have lots of fun. She will be gone until Thursday.

The idea was that I could be at home and relax to fully recover from surgery. We have done anything but relax. We have been on the go every since she left. We haven't eaten one meal at home. We have shopped, watched movies, looked at houses and almost got a massage.

On our way home from lunch today we were talking about how nice it was to have some time for just us. We've felt like newly weds the last few days. Don't get me wrong we miss our baby girl and are ready to see her already but every couple needs time for themselves.

The whole conversation started when I said "I think we'll be alright when our kids leave home". I've never had that thought before. I've always teared up at the thought of my precious baby growing up. I still do, but I realize that Austin and I, at this point, have a relationship that goes beyond just mom and dad. So many couples get so involved in raising a family and work that they neglect the relationship as husband and wife.

We are so blessed to be able to spend so much time together as a family, but we need to be intentional about keeping our relationship strong. Bailey loves her family. She likes it best when we are all sitting on the couch together real close. It almost never fails that she says "We're all together". She has done this since she could put a few words together. I have always heard it said that the best thing parents can do for their children is love each other. I have seen this many time through Bailey and I believe that is true. Make time for each other. Your kids will appreciate it. After all, happy mom = happy family, right?

Family

I just love my family. I always know that, but guess I don't truly appreciate how much until hard times come. I am not only talking about my family but Austin's as well. We are so blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives. Not everyone can say that about their families. Not only are both sides individually great, but they can all come together and get along and seem to genuinely enjoy each other. I know a lot of people dread awkward events where both sides are together (wedding, childbirth, illnesses, birthdays), but our families just jump right in and work together.

Everyone has been so great through these last few days. I was really underestimating the seriousness of my surgery. Don't get me wrong, it was an outpatient deal, but it was still surgery. I had in my mind I was going to have surgery and go home that afternoon and just have maybe a little discomfort. I thought I really wouldn't need anyone here. Things did go really well and just as the doctor expected, but I wasn't able to just get back to my normal life that day. They actually told me before I left the hospital that I shouldn't lift anything heavier than a coffee cup for 2 weeks. That's when I realized I really did need help.

Thankfully our family didn't listen to me and came to be with us anyway. Everyone pitched in and I didn't have to lift a finger for a few days. Sheila and Roger stayed until Friday and Mom and Amber left Sunday afternoon. They all cooked, cleaned, and kept Bailey really busy. Amber even held my drain about six inches from my neck so I could take a bath. (Aren't sisters wonderful?)

I had my drain removed today and other than the awful headaches that are coming and going I feel pretty good. Thank you all for your prayers and thank you to my wonderful family for being there, as always. I love you.

Whew!! It's over!

My surgery is over. Everything went well. I had to be at the hospital at 5:30 a.m. (Ugh) They got me prepped and the surgery actually started around 8:30. It took about an hour and a half. We were home about 15 till 2:00. The cyst was about golf ball size. They did the frozen biopsy and the cyst was benign. They will send it off and get a more accurate biopsy. My doctor said that in 15 years she had only seen once that the results were different from the frozen biopsy so we are pretty confident that we are done. The surgery was at Baptist Desoto. Everyone was sooo nice. Probably the friendliest hospital I've been to. Amanda says she approves of us having a baby there. It was funny because it just came from no where. She and Amber said Austin made a couple of trips to the nursery while we were at the hospital. Sounds like I better recover soon. We have lots of help. Mom, Amber, Rebekah, Luke, Tim, Amanda, Taylor, Alex, Roger and Sheila all came. Tim was brave enough to keep all five kids at the house while we were gone. It was so much help. Mom and Amber are going to stay a few days to help out. Roger and Sheila dropped my prescriptions off and have been really helpful too. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers.

3 Little Monkeys

I couldn't decide which pictures to post so I just posted several. I thought there were too many cute ones to choose from. We made two different trips to the zoo a few weeks ago. One trip was Austin, Bailey, and I. The other trip Amanda, Alex, and Taylor came along. There are a few things I wanted to point out. In the first picture where Bailey is hold up her finger she was telling me "just one more picture mommy". I had been snapping pictures all day and she had had enough. The picture of Taylor and the polar bear freaked us all out. I had taken the picture of Alex and the bear so I told Taylor to stand in front of the bear next time it swam by so I could get a good picture of her. When the bear saw Taylor stand there it dove down and started clawing at the glass like it was trying to get her. Amanda screamed and made her move. Austin and I joined the zoo so hopefully we'll go several more times this year. It's soo hot now. We'll wait for cooler weather.