Reason to Rejoice

On Tuesday, October 23 rd , I took off work and went with Rachel’s class to the Dallas Arboretum.   It was so much fun and I loved spending the day with my FIRST baby girl! She is growing up way too fast!     Right now at the Arboretum they have pumpkins EVERYWHERE!   They have a pumpkin village where you can see all different types of pumpkins, they have houses made out of pumpkins and they even had Cinderella’s carriage with the Fairytale Pumpkins!   Rachel thought that was pretty cool (and so did her 4 BOY classmates)!   Rachel’s favorite pumpkin was the Turk’s Turbin Pumpkin!   Rachel was excited about the Arboretum because she wanted to smell the flowers, and smell the flowers she did…I think she smelled them all!   She loves flowers just like my mom!     Another thing that they have out there right now is the Chihuly Exhibit. He is a glass sculptor and there were some really neat glass sculptures there. I think the adults thought that was coo

  Yes, I am behind!!!  EEK!!!!  Here are a few pictures from Hannah's first birthday party on Saturday, October 20th!  Okay, so there are more than just a few pictures but you only turn 1 once, right?!!!  The theme for her birthday was rubber duckies.  I figured it would be an easy theme and for the most part, I was right.  Around the time of her birthday, I was CRAZY busy and overcommitted myself with a dozen other things and TOTALLY procrastinated.  It was a VERY low-key party with not many guests at all but it was perfect, in my opinion. We had some cupquacks (otherwise known as cupcakes) from Tom Thumb bakery and I just added some ducky picks that I ordered from Amazon.com.   We had some duck food (or homemade chex mix that I could literally eat my weight in)!!!     A YUMMY fruit tray      The colors of the party were pink and yellow so we had pink and yellow lemonade     And this little creation I have to admit that I stole off Pinte

Social media is certainly a new thing that many people do not understand.  Is it a good thing?  That is up for debate, I believe.  Some will adamantly tell you "no" and some will say, without a doubt, "You betcha!" Some say that it can be a generational difference and I can see that as well. I think that, like anything, it can be time consuming and too much of it can be a bad thing.  I often do much of my blogging and the bulk of my internet usage after the kids go to bed or in the wee hours of the morning before anyone gets up.  Having access to so much technology makes things so much easier and I find myself checking Facebook and Twitter quite a bit during the day as well.  It literally takes about a minute to update a Facebook status or answer a few people's questions on Twitter.  It is an easy way to communicate.  The downfall to this?  It should not replace face to face communication.  I am such a people person and I would much rather talk to someone than

All of my life I have wanted to be a Mommy!!  Even after a bad choice and after years of feeling like I don't deserve the JOY of loving just one "mini-me" I get THREE of them!!!  God is so good to me and He is SO faithful even when we are not!  Hannah Grace!!!  How did you get to be so BIG!??!  You rock my world, Baby Girl!  Look at that smile!  You came into this world when you wanted to.  I had it all planned out for you to be born on October 21st and you started making your entrance a little early and after Mommy started having some problems, the doctors decided you had to come!!!  So, at 4:30 in the morning on October 19th, you were ready!!!!  You wanted to get here so fast, Mommy's nurse had to hold your little head until the doctor could get there for your birth (you had a little indention in your head when you were born to prove it)! :)  When you were born, your cheeks were so chubby, you didn't open your eyes for 3 days!!!  The pediatrician co

October is awareness month for so many causes.  The most common is probably Breast Cancer Awareness Month but near and dear to my heart is National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month It was is a month set aside to remember those babies that have been lost due to miscarriage, stillbirth, illnesses, accidents, etc during pregnancy and after birth under the age of one year old.  In 1988 Ronald Reagan actually dedicated a day in the month to celebrate and remember these babies.  The day that was chosen was October 15th mainly because it fell in the very middle of the month.  October 15th is National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day.   All across the globe at 7:00 PM there are candles lit in memory and honor of those babies who are gone but not forgotten.  At the hospital where I work, I am the co-chair of the Bereavement Committee and three years ago we started our annual ceremony for this occasion.  We have a speaker, do a responsive reading, and light candles.  We p

As you may have read previously on my blog, a Blogger/Twitter friend of mine, Julee, lost her husband in a tragic car accident last weekend.  Many of you have asked how you can personally help this sweet young lady and her precious baby daughter, Preslee.  Starting tomorrow, October 15th through Friday, October 19th you there are several in "BlogLand" who will be doing a Silent Auction with the proceeds going towards the fund for the Turners.  WORSHIP COLLECTION ESTIMATED VALUE: $65 ITEM DESCRIPTION: Two journals - 1. Teal and lime green that has Nehemiah 8:10 verse on the front. 2. My Bible Reader's Journal: Read the Bible Through in One Year Journal Three CDs 1. Kari Jobe Where I Find You featuring We Are and Find You On My Knees 2. Mercy Me The Hurt and the Healer featuring The Hurt and the Healer, You Are I am, and The First Time 3. Matt Redman 10,000 Reasons featuring 10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord) Two Devotional Books 1. Breaking Free Day By D

How do deal with a tragedy?  How do you look into the face of someone who has just lost the love of her life and say anything that will help?  I honestly do not know how to answer that question.  I don't.  I am a social worker.  I went to school for six LONG years to learn how to speak to people in their time of grief.  It is what I do every single day of my life and when it hits those you love personally it is different.  There are no words.  There are many things that I do know but what is so hard is how to wrap my mind and heart around something so devastating. I have posted before about death and tragedy and my thoughts and feelings about that.  This has not changed and will not change, even when, just yesterday I learned of a young man losing his life way too soon....even though a beautifully sweet young woman will have to try to explain to her precious 10 month old baby girl how very much her daddy adored her.  How do you do that?!  I cannot imagine! I just can't and