GIRLY STUFF

I LOVE BEING A GIRL

I LOVE DOING GIRLY STUFF AND DEALING WITH THINGS IN MY OWN GIRLY WAY......I LOVE THE BEAUTIFUL FEMININITY THAT OUR LORD BLESSED EVE WITH, IN HER CREATION.

I LIKE TO CELEBRATE THIS BLESSING BY HAVING GIRL TIME AND CONNECTING WITH MY DAUGHTERS AND WITH MY FRIENDS IN A SPECIAL WAY THAT ONLY GIRLS CAN.

HERE ARE SOME GIRLY EXAMPLES

Funny "Selfies" while in the car, stopped at a stoplight (pouty faces are SO FUN AND TOTALLY GIRLY in pictures)

Girly shopping trips to the mall that last ALL DAY LONG......

Where we giggle as we try on different perfumes and fun makeup inside of the stores 

 Going to the hair salon for a shampoo, trim, and style

 Sometimes it is fun to change things up and add a few more layers in our hair because girls like to be spontaneous and fascinating!!

And sometimes.......we like to get our hair totally cut off for a refreshing and sassy new look

 Because girls like to do that!!  It makes life exciting!!

And no-matter what, we still look SO cute!!

Another example of being girly, is going out to our favorite restaurant.....just because we are "in the mood" for some Asian cuisine

 Posing for a picture with her girlfriend, Madison and Isabella are "a little unsure" b/c they are about to walk into a haunted house but are not sure if they are really "ready" to brave this event!!

 Laughing as they decide who will go in first!!  VERY GIRLY INDEED!!

The moms, posing in the parking lot following the haunted house experience and SUPER FUN girl's night!!

GIRLS CHRISTMAS COOKIE BAKING DAY 2013!!

Why bake holiday goodies alone when you can bake ALL DAY with your girlfriends.....we EVEN have an annual Girls Christmas Present Wrapping Party every year too.....it makes these tasks 10 times more fun!!  Oh...and we ALWAYS have Starbucks while we work....AGAIN....VERY GIRLY!!

 What is even MORE girly than a girlfriend's baking day with Starbucks Skinny White Chocolate Mocha's....MATCHING APRONS!!!

AND because we are SO GIRLY.....they are embroidered with our initials!!  We love to bake together while feeling SUPER CUTE in our aprons!!

We made SO MANY TREATS that we had to put some of them outside on the patio to chill while making more in the house (we were really blessed to have a unseasonably cold day, so the patio acted as our refrigerator.

Why did we bake so many Christmas goodies........Well, BEING GIRLS, we never want anyone to leave hungry.....remember visiting grandma's house? You always left with a belly full of yummy treats!! NOBODY left Grandma's house hungry!!

We even called the kids in to help put "berries" on the cornflake Christmas wreaths....Why, because GIRLS LIKE TO INCLUDE EVERYONE IN THE FUN.....and the marshmallow wreathes were cooling too fast and we needed extra little hands to get the cinnamon candies on before they cooled too much and the candy would not stick!!

You cannot get more GIRLY than this!!!  Sister in laws, both blessed with little babies in our bellies We are due 5 days apart!!  Can you believe it?!?!?!  God never ceases to amaze!!!

They will be sweet little cousins.  Jeremy and I are having a sweet baby boy (as you know) and Jason (Jeremy's brother) and Destin are having a sweet baby girl!!

CONTRARY TO WHAT THE WORLD WILL TELL OUR DAUGHTERS, WE WERE NOT DESIGNED TO BE MEN OR TO ACT LIKE MEN OR TO SHARE THE SAME ROLE IN THE WORLD AS MEN.....OUR LORD  DESIGNED US GIRLS FOR A VERY SPECIAL PURPOSE ON THIS EARTH.  

DON'T GET ME WRONG, MEN ARE TRULY AMAZING AND INCREDIBLE CREATURES, MADE IN THE IMAGE OF GOD,  AND TOTALLY COMPLIMENT OUR FEMININITY PERFECTLY!!  THEY ARE STRONG AND DIGNIFIED AND ABSOLUTELY A GIFT TO THE WORLD.

BUT I HAVE TO SAY THAT I LOVE BEING A GIRL......BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT JESUS CREATED ME TO BE!!

ST ELIZABETH ANN SETON GALA (Boots and Bling)

Trying on a Gala dress with a baby bump.....I already had my dress picked out and then found out that I was having a baby, so needless to say, my dress no longer fit me.  Had to start from scratch.

It had to be formal AND western....so I went with the classic country lace

TRYING ON MY DRESS "SELFIE"

 I felt so blessed that I found this dress.....it wasn't even maternity.  I didn't know WHAT I was gonna wear.  Phewf!!!  I found something to wear!!

I loved the back....it had a train and everything....I felt like a Western Princess

 All of my girlfriends went to the "Hair Bar" in Southlake to get their hair fixed for the Gala.  I decided to watch a youtube video on a "Do It Yourself" up-do bouffant!  Here is me, trying to make the initial poof!  Should've just went to the "Hair Bar"

 My love and I at the Gala

All of my girlfriends at the Gala.  Could not get the pic to take without the red-eye

I had the most beautiful Cowboy boots on with my dress.  Totally forgot to take a pic of them.

It was Lori's birthday....that is why she is wearing the birthday tiara...it was SUCH a fun night

FAMILY PIZZA NIGHT

NOVEMBER 6TH

MAKE YOUR OWN PIZZA CONE NIGHT FAMILY ACTIVITY

SUCH A FUN FAMILY NIGHT, WE HAD

Thank you Jesus for family pizza nights, especially when you get to make your own.....it just makes it 10 times more fun, right?

A LITTLE DISTRACTED AND INSPIRED

At Mass this evening, Msgr Hart was giving a most beautiful homily about Zacchaeus climbing the Sycamore Tree to see Jesus and how Jesus wanted to eat dinner at Zacchaeus' house and how nobody could believe that Jesus wanted to eat dinner with such a sinful man and how Zacchaeus was converted.   Msgr. started his homily by giving the meaning of the name, "Zacchaeus"

Just then, my mind wandered to thoughts of my sweet little boy Isaac and what the name Isaac meant.  Well, it is Hebrew and it means: "Laughter"

We have loved the name Isaac for a long time (way before we were pregnant), really thinking that we would never be blessed with another little one and be able to use this name for.

I started thinking about the Scripture describing the life of Abraham and Isaac...this Scriptural account has always been close to my heart.  It tells of an act of such obedience and trust!  It is really the most extreme obedience that I could ever imagine.  Abraham was asked by God to sacrifice his son, Isaac.  Isaac was about 12 years old when God asked Abraham for this great act of obedience.  

Sacrificing your child would not be easy at any age, but what struck me, was that I never thought about Isaac being 12 and being able to talk to his dad, asking him where they were going (as Abraham walked with Isaac to the temple)  Isaac would soon realize what was going on.

The fear in Isaac's young eyes, as he looked at his father, when he realized what was happening, would have been indescribable!!  This act of obedience must have tore at the very heart of Abraham, who loved his son so dearly.

As Abraham proved his obedience to our Lord, God sent an angel to stop Abraham at the last second, and Isaac was able to live.

   When we found out that we were having this sweet baby, we had so many fears because of my health.  I was really struggling to even keep myself alive.  

One day as I feverishly worried about our little baby (thinking of my recent stress, lack of air, medications, etc..) feeling so helpless and sad as I came to the conclusion that I could not keep him/her safe inside of me, I felt moved to turn my great fear into great trust and give it all to my Sweet Lord Jesus.

Thank you Sweet Jesus for these moments of such clarity and surrender

At that moment, in a fervent prayer from the deepest part of my soul, I offered this sweet little baby to our Loving God.....realizing I needed to offer this little one fully to God so that He could protect and guard this child. 

He is the only one that can do the impossible!!  What a comfort I felt, running to the Arms of my Father in Heaven for help, when I (His daughter) finally realize that I can't handle any of this on my own.  He confidently speaks directly to my heart with whispers of Love and Assurance.

I just love our Lord so much!!

Now that we have found out that our sweet little baby is a boy and that this beautiful name "Isaac", that we have loved for so long, now gets to belong to our little angel.....Wow!!!  It struck me right in the midst of Holy Mass how absolutely perfect our Lord is!!  Our little Isaac was offered to our Lord wholly and completely with great trust and out of Obedience!!

NOT that I am comparing myself to Abraham......my sacrifice of control and the offering of our little Isaac is NOT of the same composition, as I was not asked by God to take the life of Isaac in order to offer him to our Lord. But when thinking about my sweet little boy and remembering this offering that I made to my God out of great love (trust) and obedience, I was struck by the significance that now his name is Isaac.

God IS that perfect!! He IS that amazing!! I just know with all of my heart that this is NOT just a far reaching thought of my soul.....HE designed it to be JUST this way!

How GREAT is your God?!?!  How BIG is your God?!?! How POWERFUL is your God?!?!

"The Mountains bow down and the seas will roar at the sound of His Name"

What a beautiful and amazing Mass that was.  Jesus spoke directly to my heart, when I was finally quiet, focused, and listening....which can prove hard at times, as I am always running in 5 different directions.

Thank you Lord for talking to me and for loving me so, day after day, and for never ceasing to amaze Your little girl!!

IT'S A BOY!!!

 We just found out on this beautiful "Feast of All Saints" that we have been blessed with a little baby boy!!  

We are all so excited for this new baby brother!!

His name is Isaac James

We saw our sweet little boy on a sonogram today.  Before the sonogram tech could tell us that it was a boy.....Nicholas said "It looks like a boy to me"  and the sonogram tech said...."Nicholas, you are very smart....it IS a boy!!"

We were equally excited for a brother or a sister......we were most excited to be able to pray for this little one by name and start getting to know him during our LONG wait to hold him in our arms....it makes us feel closer to him and that is such an amazing feeling!

Every night we were praying for our "little french fry" but NOW we can pray for our sweet little brother, Isaac.  We are just thrilled to say the least!!

During our sonogram, He was wiggling around like crazy on the screen and it delighted his brother and sisters!! He was like a little jumping bean inside of my belly. I have been able to feel him inside of me and it pleases me so and makes me giggle!! Every time I feel his sweet little kicks, I put my hands on my belly to see if I can feel them from the outside.....but not yet.  I look forward to when Daddy, Madi, Savannah and Nicholas can feel him move from the outside......for now, it is a most special gift just for mommy and I will cherish it forever.

We love you, our sweet little Isaac! May God bless your every breath!!