Away In A Manger

So Olivia has had a silver nativity set since she was a baby and I sit it out every year. I love the what she says when she plays...

Why do you all weep..
Okay little lamb lets go home. Let's go to the farm...
Jesus you weren't being good...
You all are making the angel cry..
Hi I'm an angel and I do ballet..
HOLY HOLY HOLY...

So hilarious! I love to here that kid play!

Livy just informed me that time is up! Get off the lap top!

Funny Bunny

My niece Eden has the chubbiest cheeks ever! It was her first Thanksgiving.
I really love that kiddo!

A Year of Thankfulness

 Our family has so much to be thankful for this year. This time last year we were at Children's Hospital. Anna was having seizures and the doctor had given her meds that would put her to sleep for a few days, so we decided to come home to be with Livy for a day. We spent Thanksgiving day with our friends the Longs and their family. It was so good to be with people that was encouraging. This year, we get to be with all our family and we are so we thankful for that! (I get to have my grandma's cornbread dressing!! I missed it last year!)

 Our miracle, Anna is super! Thank you God!

Then, my brother Jason coded on his living room floor the weekend of Easter. SO scary! But thanks be to God he woke up and amazed the doctors. He shouldn't of lived, but that's my God!

So very thankful that He is still will us. No one more thankful than Buffy I'm sure. Our God is so merciful and gracious.

I'm most thankful for my best friend and husband John. He is such a wonderful man. Thank you God for the privileged and blessing to be with him every day. Thank you for marriage!

My Olivia Grace. A source of constant joy. She says the funniest things and always makes me smile!

Thank you Lord for allowing us to be a family. We have have experienced some hard situations this year,  but we have drawn closer to Christ through those times. God was so gracious to give us some happy times too. Like my sister getting married. I have a new brother! And my cousin getting married. I have a new cousin! In the midst of the bad God does so much good too. He alone gets the glory for the outcomes. It's all about Him and his purpose. We are nothing without HIM in our lives.

1 Thessalonians 5:18

In everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

Colossians 3:16

Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another  with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

Hebrews 13:15

Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.

Birthday Festivities and Such...

  We celebrated Anna's 1st birthday Sat. We had a good time. I so love being with family!

My cake. I must stay I'm proud of it and it's pretty darn precious! With good ol Bettycrocker.com, directions, and a "how to" video, I would say it was a success! It was very easy to do. The only thing is there was lots of little things to prep, but well worth the effort.

 I made Anna a little cake of her own to devour. However it wouldn't all fit on her tray so I cut off a big hunk and gave it to her. She loved it of course.. Ate the whole piece!

 

 

 Of course I had to do some post cake clean up..In the diaper and all..Lovely.

 Presents

She loved playing and chewing on the tissue paper more than anything..

 Eden and Anna play. They will be quite the pair someday..

 

Momma, Angela, and myself.

On Sunday after birthday maddness was over, we took John's folks to SDC with us. Left after church and went to eat Fuddruckers.

Lora's got a gun! Watch it! Well, it's just the mine ride..

I do love SDC at Christmas time. There were some other pics of John and I, but I can't find them. Must be on his phone still. Oh well..

You've Come A Long Way Baby!

  What a first year this little girl has had. She has went from this...

To THIS!

God has proven again that HE is faithful! This time last year we were told that our Anna had to be air-lifted to Children's in Little Rock. Let's just keep it real..I was scared to death! But HE was with her the whole time. Remembering the two weeks that we were there bring tears to my eyes. Nothing but joy and celebration now! However, she still has a couple more years of medicals problems to grow out of and we still pray so diligently that she does even before the doctors estimate. Nothing is bigger than the greatness, mercy, love, and the grace God. She is doing GREAT!

Happy 1st Birthday to our miracle, Anna Marie.

SO AWESOME!

 I used a Cricut (pronounced cricket) for the first time last Friday! Amazing! I wanted to make a banner for Anna's 1st birthday party, so I got some things in the shape of a circle that I was going to trace and cut out and I was going to free hand my letters. Well, when I went to my friend's scrapbook store, Scrapbook Addiction (owned by the amazing Brandi Pinn) to get some paper, she said why don't you borrow my Cricut?! My response was "what is that?" It is the coolest! Shapes, fonts, etc come on a cartridge that you plug in, put the letter pad on top, load the paper, punch in what you want it to do, and hit cut. That's it! It cuts everything out.

The end result! Well almost the end result. I still have to hole punch the top and tread twine to string the letters. Much better than my "free hand" could do any day! I'm hooked!!! I started to cut things out  just to cut things out. So fun! Thinking this is a good Black Friday purchase.
Will the budget allow it? Don't know about that one.

Catch up

 Last Sunday, Livy went to her friend Ashley's 4th birthday party. Lots of fun and sweets were had by all.

 Livy loved her Barbie jeep....

 and the bounce house... (bunch of monkeys!)

and the pony rides...

 

Happy Birthday sweet Ashley!

Then last week we spent part of the week at my parents house. Mom and I looked through cookbooks, cooked, and ate (not surprising). My Dad was thrilled to see the girls. He hasn't got much of a chance to spend time with the Anna. The girls love their Papa!

 Livy was excited to go out in the field with Papa and take a ride. Daddy always told my brothers, sister, and I when we were little, "okay kids, if you're quiet we may see a deer." And do you think we were? Nope, not a chance.. I'm sure Livy wasn't either. Of course she wasn't! Dad said they saw nothing. However she wanted to wear an orange hat for the occasion...

 but that was short lived.

And this picture, well, it was so darn cute I couldn't leave it out. This outfit my aunt Janet bought from Children's Place with the tights AND shoes for her granddaughter Mattie.  Never worn! So Anna got to reap the benefits of a new outfit. Which is rare since most of her things are hand-me-downs. I'm sure with her b-day and Christmas coming up soon that will soon change. Seriously, how cute is she!?!?!

How I love her!

Love Her!

The Pioneer Woman is finished with her cookbook. Excited! She is a fabulous woman! I have made her recipes and they are so YUMMY!! I hope to own it after Christmas. (John..babe...***ahem...amazon.com..)

Dedication

Anna was dedicated this morning at church. We didn't get to dedicate Anna earlier in the year because she was so sick off and on. We might have even been visiting some family. Who knows?.?..

We daily ask that God will give us wisdom to raise her as He would have us to. The prayer that we pray everyday is that one day she would come to know Christ as her savior and follow Him always.

 Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.

Proverbs 22:6