Just for Fun...more pics :)

Yes, I know. It's been a while...again. Oh well, here you go! Enjoy, Halloween below also.

--The Family--

--At the park for a picnic--

--Playing with GiGi--

--The Princess--

--Jenn's 30th, cute girls!--

--My dear friend Bethany and baby Jack--

--Friends since 8th grade, such a sweet and fun gift!!--

--Matt and Lanis at Skip's 30th, Hotties!--

--Reese, or Reesiecat as Miller calls her, with her "betrothed" : ) --

Halloween 2009

Our little lobster and Snow White!! :)

Wow.

Read this today on Jenn's blog. I mean, seriously, start here and read the whole blog...she is amazing! Had me crying thanking our sweet Lord that His mercies are new every morning. Thanks Jenn and several others who have reminded me of this lately! (this blog always encourages me to look at scripture). Thank you Jesus that I am forgiven, loved, that I am your child, and that I can be renewed daily regardless of the sin and things of this world. Thank you that you give me YOUR joy! Your blood poured out for me never fails.

Pictures, Pictures and more Pictures!!

Here are a few pics...Enjoy :)

all things new...

Well, hello everyone. Back from the dead you ask?? Nope. Just back from not having a computer, having a babe, starting new jobs and moving. So, update of the summer...
Beau is doing great!! Such a content and happy baby, 16 pounds already! Reese is just blossoming and her personality keeps us laughing constantly. Skip started at his new school a few weeks ago and it has been good and challenging for him. It is a middle school in Saginaw and he is also coaching. I was blessed to be able to go back to part time as of last week!! Still at the Gaylord, same job and everything, just working 3 days a week. I love it and am so grateful to the Lord for showing Himself to be good and faithful yet again in my life, to my husband for working so hard to provide for us, and to my amazing work peeps for being so supportive! It has been awesome to be home with my babies :) Let's see...Oh yeah, we moved 2 weeks ago to Keller. We are loving the house! Trying to find a church--love the Village and Christ Chapel (where we have been going) but are visiting churches closer to the new hood. Ok, now that you're all caught up...random thoughts...
1)Love the rain!
2)love football!
3)love decorating!
4)love our sweet family foursome!
5)love our dear friends we live life with!
6)love lil smokies! (had them for bfast Sunday :) )
7)love cupcake pops! (www.bakerella.blogspot.com)

**Pics coming tonight!!**

The birth of Beau.

So. I am going to summarize this because I know not everyone is interested in the gritty details of childbirth :)
Sunday, May 10.
8am--wake up with contractions, but not too bad yet so we go ahead and head to IHOP for Mother's Day breakfast. At breakfast they are getting more painful, Skip wants to leave but I want my pancakes. By the time we get home, we start timing them as they are getting more painful and closer together.
10am--Skip's mom comes and picks up Reese "just in case". Skip and I go outside and walk and they get really close together, about 2 minutes apart, and painful enough that I have to stop walking when I have one.
11am--Skip wants to go to the hospital but I want to hold off as long as possible. The contractions are very painful at this point and so I get in the tub for a while. They keep coming and so Skip starts getting everything ready and loaded in the car. By the time he is helping me out of the tub, it is hard to even get my clothes on.
12noon--Most fun car ride ever :) Took about 20 minutes to get to Baylor.
1pm--get upstairs, checked in a room, IV started, all that stuff. I was dilated to a 5 when we got there. For the next few hours we labor. We had the best, most supportive nurse ever, a major answer to prayer! Skip was amazing too. He stayed totally calm and very encouraging. I thought I would get in the shower at the hospital or walk around or something, but it was just so intense so quick that I just sat up in the bed, leaned on Skip, sat in the rocker...They checked me several times and things were moving along.
5pm--start feeling like I have to push. Can't yet though because I'm not totally dilated. That was not a fun hour. That was when I wanted to give up.
6pm--Ready to go and start really pushing. The nursery people come in the room, the doctor is here. The pushing contractions were the strongest feeling I have ever felt in my life for sure.
618pm--Beau is born! I was sitting up and pushing so I saw him right after he came out and got to hold him right away and everything. It was an unbelievable feeling! I honestly couldn't believe I did it. I thought I would be the "grit my teeth and bear it" type...but turns out I was a screamer. For whatever reason that just helped me get through the contractions. At one point during pushing, my nurse told me she could tell he was almost out because I was screaming "primal jungle screams" :) That got a laugh from everyone...So she basically called me Xena: Warrior Princess. Oh well, so much for the silent suffering :)
So the experience was amazing and very much worth it for us. But of course the most important thing is our precious baby boy and that he was healthy! God is so good and we are incredibly thankful for and amazed by our little miracle.
Happy birthing to all of you that are pregnant!

Baby Beau

Beau Thomas.
Born May 10, 2009
8 lbs., 9oz.
21 inches
Full story and more pics to come soon! :)

Simplify.

We had an awesome challenge at church yesterday to simplify our lives. Just about all the clutter that fills our life both physically and otherwise. This is something my dad often told me growing up as well and I love it! Simplify. So on top of cleaning out my car, the garage and purging our lives of all the clothes, dvd's, and just crap that fills up our house (and I dont consider myself a pack rat and I'm not a knick-knacky person either but still we have so much we could get rid of!...)...anyway, we are also trying to clean out our time, focus and emotions. "Seek FIRST HIS kingdom..." Which is so hard to do truly and authentically I think, but in our daily struggle to be more like Him and honor Him in our daily living...the process begins, which is ongoing, of "simplifying" the DVR timers, our weekend calendar, bank accounts, the pressures and expectations we put on ourselves and others and just our crazy, busy thoughts and lives in general. Anyway, wish us luck! :)
**Baby is good. 37 weeks and counting! Reese pics and update soon!