thankful

i am so thankful for all that god has given me and my family. it goes without saying too many times, but i am so thankful for my wonderful husband. is he perfect? nope. but ya know what, none of us are! and i think he is perfect for me! he is a great husband, the leader of our home. he helps me clean and cook, which means so much to me! he takes care of the boys when i'm away. he takes them to dr appts when i can't get off work. and he is just an awesome daddy to trace and lucas! he loves them like crazy, plays with them, takes care of them, is daily present in their lives. a great role model for them to look up to! and of course i am sooo thankful for my sweet sweet boys. they are such a blessing. we always knew we wanted to have kids, but nothing could have prepared us for how much we would love them! i often realize that i love them so much, it hurts! when they are in pain, or sick, or just crying b/c they got their feelings hurt, it hurts me. when they are happy, i am happy! the lord has taught me a lot about his love for us, his children, in the 2 1/2 years that i've been a mom. i know i will never comprehend how much our heavenly father truly loves us, but man, it's more than i love my boys, which is saying A LOT!

i am so thankful for the lord, who is my savior! he has given me so much more than i deserve, including my salvation! his love is amazing, it overwhelms me. he really spoke to me this weekend while i was serving at a girls youth weekend. it never fails, i go to minister to a group of kids, and they end up ministering to me! god is cool like that, ya know! he seriously is in love with me. crazy hard to believe. in all my sin, my shame, my selfish pride, he loves me! THANK YOU JESUS FOR YOUR LOVE! of course you've all heard the song "oh how he loves"... and it is one of my favs right now! not sure where this post was going, other than i am thankful for my family. and for my savior. and all the blessings he has given me that i truly don't deserve!!

"GIVE THANKS TO THE LORD, FOR HE IS GOOD, HIS LOVE ENDURES FOREVER!" Psalm 118:1

hope everyone has a safe and happy thanksgiving! don't eat too much turkey :) i think i already have, and it's not even officially thanksgiving day yet! ha.

doubles

a lot of people tell me that the boys looks so much alike. sometimes i see it, sometimes i don't. so i found a few pics of trace back when he was 9 months, and i wanted to compare them to lucas. wow. on this first set, i kind of feel like i'm seeing doubles!

(the first pic is lucas, the second one is trace.)

i can definitely see the similarities here..... but also a few differences. although you can't see lucas' teeth, he has 7 teeth, and they are the exact 7 that trace had. crazy huh? and i'm sure you notice that trace had a whole lot more hair at 9 months than lucas did. but we are giving lucas rogaine so his should be coming in soon.

ok, so i was kidding about the rogaine! :) or however you spell it.

ups and downs

poor lucas is sick again. i took him to the dr friday afternoon, and whatdoyaknow, he has another ear infection! we skipped his official 9 month well visit... funny how we ended up there for a 9 month visit afterall. we went ahead and got the good meds right out of the gate, so hopefully lucas will be well after only 1 round of it this time! oh yeah, i'm not sure how long lucas is, but he weighs 18 pounds and 9 ounces. i'm sure ya'll are thinking that he's huge, but really, he's not! he is long and skinny!! my nephew mason, who is only 8 months, was also at the dr this weekend (double ear infection for that poor baby!) and he weighs 22 pounds 3 ounces. remember mason, who was very sick and in the nicu for 2 weeks when he was born? yeah, he's made a huge comeback! see, i told you lucas is scrawny! :)
anyways... nate was out of town all weekend serving at a boys youth weekend, so i was home alone with my babies. we had our ups and downs... even though lucas was a lil whiny, and trace was testing my patience A LOT, we had a good weekend! i do hate that lucas was sick though. so we were VERY excited to see nate when he came home last nite! it really makes me realize how blessed i am. i could not handle being a single mom for very long. nate does so much around the house and for me and the boys, and i know now that i take a lot of it for granted, or complain that he doesn't do enough. sorry about that nate! you are awesome AND i love you!! thanks for all you do!
ok...... so here was probably the best UP of the weekend... it's a video of my little man. it's from my phone, so i know it's a little blurry. but hopefully you can still HEAR what he's saying, b/c that's the most important part! he is getting so big. notice i am on the couch, with a tv tray in front of me. he pulled himself up to the couch, then almost pulled the tv tray down on top of him! anyways. listen close and you'll see why this made mama SO happy this weekend!!

so in case you didn't catch that, maybe you could read his lips and tell he was saying MA-MA!!!

sips-n-strokes... minus the sips!

so i've been wanting to go to sips-n-strokes for a while now... but i cherish my nights at home with the fam! well a few of us planned to go for my bday. we almost didn't get to go at all, but in the end, christa and i went. and it was fun!! i loved my first experience and will def go again. (for those of you who aren't familiar with it... it's a place where you can BYOBeverage of choice, and for about $25, paint a super cute pic. the instructor teaches the class step by step, and at the end of the night you get to take your painting home!) i love the cross i painted... it is now hanging on my wall at my office, since the bright pink doesn't exactly match the decor of our home :o) and just in case you wondered... nope, i didn't sip a thing. shocking right? i wanted to stop and get at least a diet mtn dew or something, but we were lucky just to make it there in time! maybe the painting would have been better had i had something, ANYTHING, to sip on. but oh well. lol. i now love my cross. at first i wasn't thrilled with my finished product, but i think it's b/c i was comparing it to the 50+ others in the room. once i got home and nate told me how good i did, i was proud! and this morning trace said my spotted painting was so pretty! of course i love praises from my 2 year old! i can't help but think of this as it relates to our spiritual walk... how we start as a blank canvas with god as our instructor. i hope i make him proud as i paint my picture in life by the way i live it out daily!

thankful tuesday

i know that thanksgiving is in 2 weeks. but why wait until then to be thankful?? i am so thankful for so many things each and every day. too many times i take things for granted, and in fact, i'm sure i complain a lot and don't sound very thankful. but i am so blessed and i thank the lord for everything he has given me! just a few things i am thankful for today:

#1- this one is a little long... so THANKFUL to god for the miraculous turn of events with baby stellan yesterday. if you don't know who stellan is, check out http://www.mckmama.com/. i've followed his mom's blog for a while now. basically, he developed svt (a heart condition where your heart beats super fast) in the womb and the drs told his parents he would never live. well he just turned a year old at the end of october! he has battled svt his whole life, but a few days ago things got very serious. he was very unstable yesterday morning, and actually flatlined before his heart ablation surgery. but the lord heard our prayers and was with the drs and surgery was SUCCESSFUL! he is SVT FREE!! i just want to shout it from the rooftops how awesome our god is! however, stellan is still dealing with a few major issues from surgery... one being a blood clot in his leg. another being a fever from an infection in his lungs. please pray for these things spefically. we know god has GREAT plans for this little man! but again, we are so THANKFUL for the healing that has happened!

#2- THANKFUL for my awesome godly husband. he is so good to me. he is supportive and loving. he is a great daddy to our boys. i am so thankful for nate. i love you and thank god for you! i know you will be serving others this weekend at vn, but we will miss you at home!

#3- THANKFUL for our 2 sweet boys. although we all have colds right now, we are very healthy. and we have insurance to go to the dr if we need to. and money to buy medicine. that is so much more than what some people have! sorry, those were other things i am THANKFUL for. but i sure do love trace and lucas. they bring a smile to my face no matter what!

#4- THANKFUL for my job. although i don't always love it, and sometimes i go crazy working with a bunch of salesmen, i am thankful for it. so very thankful that nate and i both have good jobs during this hard economic time.

#5- THANKFUL for the rest of our family. our parents, bros/sis. and nieces and nephews. and grandparents. we are so blessed! we wouldn't be where we are today without them.

#6- THANKFUL for my church. argo christian fellowship is our home. most of our family attends there, but even those who aren't really related are like family to us. god is blessing us each day and i am excited to see what he is going to do in the future!

#7- last but not least... actually it should probably go before stellan, obviously i'm THANKFUL for GOD and my salvation through his awesome grace and mercy. his love is more than i can comprehend. the ways he has blessed my life just blow me away!

THANK YOU LORD for loving a stinkin' sinner like me!

today i challenge you to take the time to make a list of what you are thankful for.

trick - or - treat

a little bit of fun...

so a few of us dressed up at work on the friday before halloween! i started out as superman..... then changed into my alter ego. an 80's girl :o) i still love dressing up, it's fun no matter what your age, right?

i think i pulled off the costumes pretty well. but even i'll admit, i'm nowhere near as cute as these little kiddos! i think these are the best looking kids we saw dressed up all night!

still didn't get a pic of the boys smiling. oh well. i'll take these.

handsome lil monsters!

i so loved the boys costumes this year. i will try and sell them next year to get a little more money out of them. any takers? ha.

i love the one below of mason and lucas! LOVE LOVE LOVE IT! the 2 lil boys are bff. they love to sit and play with each other. it is really neat how caden and trace have each other, lala and kenley, and mason and lucas!

although i love the black and whites, the costumes were so colorful i wanted to share this pic in color as well. ignore the red eyes you may see. i don't have a lot of time to edit pics these days!

strawberry shortcake and the puppy dog. PRECIOUS!

trace was all about the trick or treating! he loved it. and yes, he wore cowboy boots, again! i think they added character to his monster costume!

caden cheesing for a pic!

daddy takes lucas for his first trick-or-treating experience! he got lots of candy, based on his looks i'm sure! we got several "what a cute alien." ok... he's a lil monster you guys, NOT an alien! some even said frog. again, ok, people, a frog with 3 eyes? right...

trace and caden loved trick or treating with bitsy! sorry i cut her head off in the pic! it was dark and i couldn't tell what i was taking pics of!

look at those cute girls. so sweet how they are holding hands! the girls def have to stick together... being outnumbered 4 : 2
trace was dragging me to the next house and would hardly stop for a picture!
lucas had a pretty good time too.

one last shot of him in his punkin' pj's
my sweet lulu takes a break from the bottle to stop and smile at mommy. gotta love it!

don't you just love our trick or treat baskets? i got them on sale at sams for $2.71 each. yeah!

and guess who gets to eat all the leftover candy??

yep, me and nate :o)

9 months

9 long months of waiting, praying, thinking, wishing. wondering what my baby boy would be like.

fast forward 9 months to october 30, 2009.

lucas james whitt is such a blessing to us. his smile lights up the room, and his eyes are full of love. he is hardly a baby anymore. here are some random facts about my bubba! he is finally starting to get more hair. he has 7 teeth. he is still in a size 3 diaper. he wears size 9 month pj's but in clothes he is wearing size 12 months, or 12-18 months in those 1 piece outfits from old navy! he crawls super fast, and tries to pull up on things. his favorite thing to pull up on is the door frame, then he hits his head. :( he is into everything. he has major separation anxiety, and hates when i leave the room. he loves to be held. he goes crazy waving his arms and almost jumps in my arms when i pick him up in the afternoons. he sits in a big boy carseat now. he waves bye bye to himself but no one else! he is spoiled rotten. he loves to eat table food. he can squeal louder than any baby i know, girls included! he gets excited very easily. he still loves his blanky, he is a blanky boy just like his brother. he likes to cuddle and be held a lot, but when it's time for bed, he likes to be on his own to fall asleep. he holds his own bottle. he still babbles and says dada and baba but no mama yet. he has had his first does of the flu vaccine. he loves his pacie. he sleeps all night. he wakes up crying about 5:30 because he wants a bottle. after that, he is happy as can be. he loves to play with his toys, especially his yellow textured rubber ball. and he is starting to love trace's old guitar too. he laughs when you tickle him. he has the most adorable smile and laugh ever. we are skipping his 9 month well visit b/c we have been in the dr office a lot the past month. i will try and weigh and measure him soon though to see how big he really is. i know he is growing, thats for sure! and another thing, he loves his brother, daddy, and of course his mommy so very much! and the feeling is quite mutual!
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it is so hard to believe i have now held you in my arms as long as i held you in my belly.

thank you lord for our sweet baby boy lucas. help us to be godly parents and set a good example for him and trace. lead and guide us as we strive to follow you. please keep your hand on our babies, and lead them to salvation at an early age. god they are yours. thank you for allowing us to take care of them for a short time here on this earth. you have blessed us beyond measure by making us lucas and trace's mommy and daddy. for that, we are forever grateful.