Happy New Year...Pictures to come later.

After thinking over the last couple of days what would be fitting for my last post in 2010.  I thought that I may go over somethings that occurred in that last year.  I had a friend come to visit my family on New Year's Day.  We will call her Domestic Diva.  Well, Domestic Diva was very pregnant and flew into Dallas.  We were women on a mission: our mission was to find thing for her babies room.  Domestic Diva and her hubby wanted to be surprised about the gender of their bundle of joy.  It is really pretty difficult to find some gender neutral stuff that isn't a generic yellow, green, brown, or beige.  It was fun to ring in the new year shopping.  I don't usually shop till I drop, but it was fun to shop with Domestic Diva.

April was an especially busy month.  We went to Youth Lab at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Sweet Pea's 3rd birthday, and Preacher Man's 35th birthday.  I was loving the spring time.  Many times a month like this would have drove me crazy trying to pack and travel and do two birthdays.  I made Sweet Pea's cake.  I have tried to do this before and failed miserable, I had to make a LATE night trip to Wally World to pick up 'a make it work" princess cake.  So, this year with a few more hints and a resolve to make my child's cake.  I set out to make a rainbow cake including the layers to be a different color of the rainbow.  Well, I did it! I accomplished my goal.  I even make a rainbow birthday outfit for Sweet Pea and she had a cake birthday hat.  We had a silly string fight and she opened presents.  It was truly a birthday I will remember with her.  Preacher Man turned 35 and I think he is looking better and better with each passing year.  Our church has spoiled him with the amount of Reese's cups they give him each year around his birthday.  He truly has a weakness when it comes to those sweet chocolate peanut butter cups. 

The Rainbow Cake

She loved this outfit and hat!

Summer time, we really turn into a house of go-go-go people.  I think there are few times that we feel more busy in the year.  Preacher Man and I truly LOVE going to youth camp, mission trip, etc. with the youth.  It is a time we get to pour into them as much as we can.  This year we were able to take a pretty big group to camp.  I was privileged to get to know some very wonderful girls at camp.  I hope that they never forget how much God loves them and me too.  The girls and I found a little time to come visit all the g-parents.  We spent about two weeks with them, which has been the usual routine for the past five years.  What with living far apart, we want our kids to have the bond that most get to share everyday.  In August, my Honey Bear turned one!  As we have done with all our little one year old, we had a balloon party.  There were balloons in primary colors.  I also made Honey Bear's cake.  I even got adventurous and made a mini cake just for her.  Honey Bear didn't like the way the icing felt on her hands because she would only suck and bite on the cake with her mouth.  She had a BIG slide in the backyard for some of the bigger kids to play on.  Honey Bear strutted her stuff in a pink tutu swimsuit and a frilly first birthday hat.  She had fun, but she is really so calm about most everything she does. (at that age, anyway.)

Trying to get Honey Bear blow out the candle. 

Her mini cake.  She isn't so sure about this idea. 

She caught on to the idea pretty quick, but didn't want to get her hands too messy.  She just had it crammed up her nose!

Fall started to set in and Cutie Pie started Pre-K.  She was so excited at first and as the weeks wore on.  She would climb in the car and say, "I can't talk, Mom, I am too tired from all the work we did today."  Well, I would let her rest for a few minutes and then out of nowhere she would begin spilling things about her day in little bits and pieces at a time.  She made a couple of friends and then it was time for her fifth birthday.  I was not completely ready for how I would feel about this birthday.  I remember feeling like such a BIG kid because I was a whole hand.  She wanted a butterfly birthday after changing her mind at least 20 times.  I got busy researching cakes.  I found a cute butterfly birthday cake and I also made Cutie Pie's cake.  I did it!  In 2010, I made all three their own birthday cakes.  I know that this may not happen very often  from now on in their lives, but I can show them that I took one year to really make each birthday a celebration and a mile marker in their lives.  October was a very fast month.  I barely remember the girls dressing up as Cinderella, Ariel, and a strawberry.  In November, Preacher Man had a fall retreat that the girls and I had to tag along because I had to be a sponsor.  It was a great weekend to teach our young youth how to spend quiet time with God.  Preacher Man, Cutie Pie, and Sweet Pea were in a relatives wedding around Thanksgiving.  Christmas has come and gone.

Gabby's fifth birthday party! 

Some of her friends with their goodies from the Butterfly Scavenger Hunt.

Our ninth anniversary was a very romantic night.  My parents reserved us a table at a very posh restaurant and even footed the bill.  Preacher Man opened my door the whole evening.  When we first met that was one thing that struck me about him.  The way he treated his mother, how he opened the door for ladies, and his tender heart for the gospel. (there are more things, but this is the short list)  I think that the coming year is going to be an amazing new chapter to our adventure story.

Speaking of the coming year, I am going to be striving to put Christ first above all including myself.  I know that we say this often, but to actually do it is completely different.  I have caught myself in this rut of finding things easier if I just simply let things go.  I have to make myself choose the harder path to strengthen our future.  I had the privilege to sit in with a ladies group at church and they have told me to savory the moment you have with your children and I want to try to do that: the good, the bad, and the whinny.  I am truly looking forward to 2011!  Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas! Just a couple more hours left and as my children are tucked into their beds, I am thinking about the day.  This year we weren't able to be with all of our family today like we usually are.  Today, we spent most of the morning slowly waking up, eating some breakfast, reading the story of Jesus' birth, opening presents, playing, cleaning up, etc.  It was almost magical how smoothly the day went.  Cutie Pie, Sweet Pea, and Honey Bear have been a little on the wild side this last week.  I am not sure if it was the anticipation of the presents piling up under the tree or all the Christmas goodies they have been sampling.

At any rate, I was beginning to wonder if they were able to think of what is so special about this time of year.  I want my girls to ultimately have a deep love for Christ, but to also have fruits of the spirit.  I want them to be more fearless about sharing their faith and God's love.  I see in Cutie Pie and Sweet Pea a love and concern for each other and Honey Bear.  I pray as they continue to grow up they see how special their sisterhood is.  I never had a sister growing up, but my brother was my hero.  When I was small he took up for me when some boys were teasing me at a picnic, when I was feeling low in my preteen years he would encourage me and tell me that things get better, and in my teen years, we would talk about our walk with Christ and I knew that no matter what was going on I could turn to my big brother.

Sisters, sometimes, get a bad wrap.  Many of the people we run into that have sisters have told me that the teen years are terrible &  that a lot of damage can be done in those few short years.  Preacher Man has told me that if you speak evil things over people they begin to believe it.  We will be speaking encouraging words over them.  Lately, the Taylors have been a little on the frazzled side of things and living in survival mode.  As hard as that is to admit, we are going to be working on encouraging and positive reinforcement as we ring in the new year.  I know that Sweet Pea can have a very strong will to do her own thing, when she feels like it.  I also believe that God is going to use that strong will for His glory.  Sweet Pea deeply loves her sisters and wants to desperately wants to take care of them.  We are so thankful for this special Christmas together.  We have enjoyed the holiday season with our friends and family near and far.

GYMtastic!!

One of the images that I have saved in my memory.  She also raised her hands after each stunt.  It was so interesting to see how precise she is in her tumbling, jumping, and balancing.  Sweet Pea was loving the evening.  Afterwards, she started to talk about wanting to do ballet like her sister.  She made me laugh when she made her plans known: first, I wanna try soccer and then I wanna do some ballet like Cutie Pie.  It made me laugh because when I was three (almost four years old), I think all I worried about was what my brother and I were going to do for the day.  My parents lived on a bunch of land in the country.  My brother and I would play in the creek that was close to the pond, swing in the tree swing that my dad had hung up from a huge oak tree, making "pools" (mud holes) in the summertime, etc.  When I was in Kindergarten, I did some ballet and tap followed up some tee ball.  I had lots of those kinds of plans, but never plans on what activities I would be involved in.  

I like for my girls to be involved in things, but I want to be very diligent in making sure that they aren't too busy for the most important things in life: God and family.  I know I may be in a dream world, but I want my girls to be sisters that cheer each other on and have each other's backs.  I hope that for their lives they see the importance of whatever they are doing to do it to their best, but to never sacrifice their time focused on Christ.  As they grow into young ladies, I know that some of their scheduling will be up to them.  I will have to trust that by that time they have a deep relationship with Christ that pulls them so closely to Him.

For this moment, let's enjoy a few more captured moments of Sweet Pea's gymnastics:

This is a little blurry, but she LOVES the trampoline.  She must have spent about 65% of the time on them.

Sweet Pea flipping on "the cheesecake".  This looks a little wild.

Crossing the ladder.  She did it standing before I could get to this camera. 

Sweet Pea doing the balance beam.  She loved doing this, but she started to hop on it near the end.  It made me a tad nervous, but she did amazing!

Honey Bear had some static from the gym.  

I am thankful for the ablility to see what they have been learning the past months, but I very glad as we approach Christmas that our time of running is slowing down greatly.  Preacher Man and I are looking forward to some quality time as a little family at our house this year, then seeing the rest of our family for the holidays.  We are very grateful for all that God has blessed us with.

A New Adventure

Just hours ago, we voted in a new pastor to our church.  I am very excited at the prospect of his family and him joining us in the near future.  You never fully understand the full extent of what it takes to have one staff member gone.  These last six months have been one of the biggest adventures Preacher Man and I have faced in a while.  I am aware that it could have last a lot longer than six months, but I am thankful that it is coming to a close.  Preacher Man and I have only been in full time ministry for the past six years.  Not having anyone that has mentored me, it has taken me a while to get a feel for how life goes for us.  Our house is pretty active with three girls five and under.  Along with being in youth and music ministry, Preacher Man is busy most nights out of the week.  We try to make sure our girls know how important they are to us, even when things are not planned around their desires.

Though Cutie Pie has prayed several times for the new pastor to have a girl her age.  She is thrilled to have a girl to look up to, who is about five to six years older.  I also hope that she will come to appreciate how God works things out for our best and not our wants.  Tonight, I asked her if she was looking forward to them becoming a part of our church.  "I am so excited!" said Cutie Pie.  She can make friends pretty easily.   Cutie Pie and Sweet Pea are somewhat social butterflies.  Can't imagine where they get that from?!

Also, tonight, I am incredibly thankful for a church family that is so much "our family".  We are not going to be able to make it home to be with our parents until after Christmas.  There were a few that offered to have our crew over on Christmas day.  It really means more than I can express to have people close to us that would offer to open their homes on that day to us.  We are extremely thankful for where God has placed us and called us to serve.

The Weather Outside is Frightful

I grew up in a place that didn't snow.  It would sleet and ice over when the weather began to get a cold. My parents have these amazing pictures of inches upon inches of snow on a picnic table, but that was the year I was born and couldn't remember what it was like.  There were maybe a couple of times that I was able to be in real fluffy snow.  When Brian and I moved to this area 6 years ago, we had a beautiful snow and people told us that it was a regular occurrence here.  I was so excited to know that we would experience a little winter wonderland every year.  This year we have our three little girls and they LOVE snow.  It has been steadily coming down and will continue for a few more hours.  Although it is predicted to be in the 60s again next week.  I was able to have a little white Christmas today.

Here are a few pictures:

A close up of our cedar

It is covering everything

Our tree right outside our door

Our snow mobile

Preacher Man preparing to take Cutie Pie to school.

Yep, that's right he doesn't have a jacket on yet.  He was wearing his new snow boots. 

Passing the Torch

When I was 5 years old, I was a prima ballerina and a bit of a ham.  I remember playing in my leotards and leg warmers, doing silly games of toe pointing and twirling.  I never thought this was anything more than just silly dancing time.  I remember my mom taking me back stage and dressing me up.  There were older girls in frilly tutus and pointy ballet shoes, nothing like my flexible ballet slippers.  I remember watching those girls and trying to mimic them as much as I could.  I barely remember the performance. Thankfully, my parents have a video or I would have long forgotten it.

Today, I was able to take Cutie Pie back stage.  She had a full day of rehearsal, play time, make up (was told it was a must.), hair in a bun, and costume changes.  She told me she just wanted to wear her pretty ballet slippers.  Cutie Pie didn't understand at all why they had to wear those clunky tap shoes.  We both stood to the side of the stage and peeked through the curtains and watched the girls.  It took me back as I watched Cutie Pie follow and mimic the older girls dance.  When we started talking about dance, she told me and Preacher Man that she wanted to be a serious ballerina. Today, as I watched her dance on stage there were very purposeful movements and a slight grin.  Every time she came off stage, you could tell she was having a blast! Today, I saw my Cutie Pie become less of a baby or a toddler and more of a little girl who one day, in the near future, turn into a young woman.  And today, I am thankful of the memories of then and now.

She caught a glance of herself in the mirror.

Just put on a little make-up & she didn't want to get tired of smiling. Country Christmas 2010

Orphan Cutie Pie-Scrooge: All Jazzed Up 2010

Sorry it's sideways...Here is the serious ballerina. She just put on the ballet slippers. 

We finished our first recital and we loved the sweet time together.

Change is ALWAYS happening

I haven't updated in over three years, kinda feels like I am starting completely fresh.  How is it possible?!!  Oh, I know! When I wrote my last post about Cutie Pie turning two, we were preparing to leave our little town for a larger town.  We have been here for three years, which is a very big deal for us.

I need to introduce Honey Bear. She was born August 12, 2009.  She was very much a BIG surprise to us. We were thinking that maybe down the road, we would possibly have another baby. God has a very funny way of showing us what we need, when we need it.  Early in our marriage, we experienced the loss of a miscarriage. This baby was also a surprise to us. And though we didn't know what to think about being parents. When we lost that child so unexpectedly.  We realized how much hurt, love, joy, and hope we can have being a parent.  Isaiah helped us to see that God is in control of the things we want control over.  For years we waited for God to bless again with another chance to be parents.  It wasn't until we started our adventure in ministry that God blessed us.  I was very scared about the responsibility and sometimes loneliness of ministry, but when we listened to God's prompting and moved in December 2004.  We found out that I was expecting on January 19, 2005.  I can honestly say that God's grace is sufficient.  I cried tears of joy and fear that day. With my sweet husband there to encourage and pray with me through all those times that fear would creep in, I was able to have an good healthy pregnancy.

 You turned my mourning into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing your praises and not be silent. Lord my God, I will praise you forever. Psalm 30:11


Fast forward to Honey Bear, she has been an outstanding third child for our little family.  She has slept 8 hours from birth, very laid back, and seems to have a very funny sense of humor.  She is starting to have more of a voice and we all look forward to getting to see her develop more over the years to come.  Preacher Man and I know that God has entrusted us with these three jewels and we are trying our best to make our Heavenly Father proud.

Honey Bear-3 Months

Honey Bear-1 year