A Taste of Blessings

I can not say enough what a blessing it has been to live here in Houston and to get to see my sister, brother in-law, nephew, & niece on a regular basis. Just today, I kept Noah & Briley for about 3 hours while Matt and Mel worked. Working from home and having a flexible schedule also has been such a blessing so that I am able to do this. I try to pick the kids up from their Mothers Day Out program once a week to give Matt a few hours by himself or to finish some work and SELFISHLY, I love having one on one time with them at my house. Noah just amazes me everytime I see him with the new things he thinks up or the things that he says. Today, he insisted on making Uncle Brad ANOTHER birthday card (we made one last week) and wrote all of his ABCs on it and ran out of room to actually write "Happy Birthday" so he made another card for him with that on it. I let Noah decide what we did today, so we did that and made Santa & Rudolph masks and watched "The Parent Trap". I showed him this movie a while back thinking he'd think all the boobie trapping was funny but has NO IDEA he'd love it and request it on a regular basis. I can see the wheels turning in his head as he thinks, "Hmm, now how could I do that to Mom and Dad. . ." And sweet Briley played for a while and crawled around and was mesmerized by my Christmas tree. . .more the ornaments really. And then she feel asleep in my arms-oh she is so sweet. It was just a normal day, we didn't do anything super creative or "special" but spending the afternoon with them was so special to me and just made me so happy.

I say all of this fully realizing that the rest of our family would love to get to do this, and I truely wish they could too. I know it's just not possible to always live close to family. All I can say, is that we talk about you all a lot and can't wait to spend time with you all! Noah knows that he is loved by his extended family and Briley soon will realize that too-I think she already does for what her young mind can understand. You can be proud of Matt & Melanie-they are amazing parents to these two kids-it is so neat to get to see them and their love for their kids.

I just want to take advantage of this time that God has given me to be close to my family and to make sure that beyond a shadow of a doubt, Noah and Briley know that I love them and know that they are special to me because they are truely gifts from God and loved by God. It is neat because I think Noah really understands a lot about God and how God loves him. And SO far, Noah still gets excited to see me! I'm going to enjoy that for as long as I can!

I would have never guessed a year ago, that I would be here in Houston but what an amazing God we have who orchestrated this move and these precious months here. I'm so glad I trusted Him even though it was sad to leave such dear friends in Nashville. My heart is full of thanks to God for what He has done, and I pray that He will continue to give me opportunities to spend time with and love on my family.