good stuff

i just finished reading beth moore's book: so long, insecurity. you've been a bad friend to us. it was great, as are all her books. i learned a lot, and laughed a lot. but this one part from one of the last chapters really stuck out to me. so i wanted to share. it is so encouraging! she was talking about being scared, and having "what if" thoughts. (which i'm guilty of doing all too often!)

beth moore says on page 332, "when you feel that familiar panic begin to rise in your heart like a river coursing its banks and your soul begins to roll with another round of "what will i do if...?" what would happen if you were willing to hear the voice of god whisper these inaudible words?

child, you are asking the wrong question. here's the one that would assuage your fears: what will god do if...?

here's a smattering of answers to that mighty good question.

i, the maker of heaven and earth, will:

perfect everything that concerns you (psalm 138:8, kjv).
work all things together for your good (romans 8:28).
contend with those who contend with you (isaiah 49:25).
fight this battle for you (2 chronicles 20:15).
equip you with divine power (2 corinthians 10:4)
delight to show you mercy (micah 7:18).
meet all your needs according to my glorious riches in christ jesus (philippians 4:19).
give you grace that is perfectly sufficient (2 corinthians 12:9).
be your power in weakness (2 corinthians 12:9.)
do immeasurably more than all you could ask or imagine, according to the power that is at work within you (ephesians 3:20).

she goes onto say "there is so much that i don't know. so much i'm uncertain of. so much that makes me wonder. but sister, i'm certain of this. i promise you, based on the authority of god himself and centuries of witnesses to his faithfulness, if you will place your trust in him, he will always, he will always- i said always- make sure that in the end you will look upon your foes in triumph. no illness, loss, rejection, or betrayal will ever get the last word. you will stand to your feet stronger than ever. and oh, may your unseen enemy regret the day he set the crosshairs of his weapon upon your forehead."

AMEN!!!!! now that, my friend, is good stuff! :)

christmas day 2010

i can hardly believe that christmas has already come and gone! there are still several reminders of it though at home... the tree and all the decorations are still up! :) i want to post about christmas day so here goes! actually, this first collage is from christmas eve. trace holding the santa that says 1 more day til christmas, and then him with santa's cookies! i love the sweet look on his face. he was so excited! and he wanted to leave santa chocolate milk, and i'm sure our santa appreciated that! :) christmas morning the boys woke up a little before 7, which is typical. and in true lucas form, he woke up screaming like a nut! trace kept trying to run in the living room to see if santa came, but we were scrambling for the video camera! when they finally walked in and saw everything, they were amazed! it only took a minute for them to wake up and start tearing into the presents!
trace got a harry potter wand that lights up and makes (wand?) noises. he loves it. sometimes lucas gets a hold of it and starts swinging it around. trace says lucas is a baby harry potter. so funny! trace also got a bumblebee, all 3 toy story movies, and a few other little things. lucas got a thomas laptop that he loves, along with some thomas trains, a few cars and trucks, and also the cat and the hat movie (which the boys love right now!) lucas was so funny, he would says "mama" and hand me every little piece of paper that he ripped off. i bet i heard MAMA 900 times!

after we did presents at our house, we went to bitsy and poppi's for our annual christmas brunch and presents with them and josh and shannon's family. we were so excited that it started to snow on our way over to mom's. the excitement continued to increase as we realized the snow was starting to stick! it was sooo pretty! at moms, we had more than our fill our delicious food, and then the fun began!

last year i came across these awesome stockings at old navy for only $1!! i love the way mom hung them up this year. i took this pic of the big kids looking out the window when the snow was falling. love it!

lucas is in love with "baby timofee." he is the sweetest thing. timothy that is, not lucas! :) most of the time lucas is sweet too! i love this pic of bitsy and the little boys! and the bottom right pic, where poppi is feeding them snow! HOW FUN!

the kids racked up and got lots of cool presents. i can't remember what all they got, but trust me. it was more than they deserve! ;o)

oh wait, here's just some of their loot! oh yeah, santa also brought them these tents that they love! from cousins and grandparents they got lots of other goodies... swords, books, puzzles, bibleman dvd, pjs, you name it! we still haven't found a place to put all the new toys. i just made a trip to the hannah home today, and i think another round of clean up is already in order soon!

and this is the only family shot we managed to get... but believe me, you gotta take what you can get with these 2 monkeys!

we had such a wonderful christmas. it is always so special to celebrate with our family. the kids got some good presents and fun toys, but we also work hard to teach them the real meaning of christmas. one of my favorite purchases before christmas was the little people nativity play set. (i lucked up and got it on sale, which you can do if you try hard enough!!) both boys LOVE it. every nite they would ask to play with baby jesus! and actually, one day when lucas was at the dr, he saw a santa statue on the front desk. when he pointed to it and said "baby jesus!" i knew he may have been a little confused, but he had def been listening when we taught him what christmas is all about!!

as the boys get older and get so excited about christmas, i think every year i say this was our best christmas! so i'm sure i will say it again next year, but for the record, this was the best christmas ever! :)

christmas eve 2010

christmas eve is always a lot of fun at meme and grandaddy's house. usually we have a traditional christmas feast, but this year we changed the menu up a little. the kids had mcdonald's :) and the adults had ribeye's! they were soooo good. grandaddy may have started a new tradition and i'm ok with that! :) after lunch it was time for presents! the kids love going on adventures, so meme gave each of them a flashlight with their own treasure map and they got to hunt for their first present. it was so fun. they loved it! after that, it was nothing but chaos! paper tearing, bows flying, boxes ripping and toys galore!! the kids loved all their gifts, and so did the adults! meme made us each a cute wooden cross and painted our names on them. can't wait to hang ours! and we surprised meme and gdaddy with drawings from nate of the kids. (see above.) of course, he outdid himself and they look amazing!!
below, the kids are checking out their maps and ready for their adventure! before the chaos!

when we left meme's we had a candlelight communion service at church. it's always hard to keep the kids quiet, but ya know, christmas is about the kids anyways! and luckily those in charge of the service understand that! it was a sweet time of worship with the family. after church, we headed to the house. the kids played with a few new toys, then got ready for santa to come! oh, and mama remembered to get a pic with each of her boys!

stay tuned for more christmas fun!

from our family to yours...

many blessings to you this christmas!

*

* photo taken 2 weeks ago before nate's work christmas party.
** hoping soon i can look and feel like that again.

but.

today.
i am:
- using another sick day i don't have the time to use.
- laying on the couch.
- still in my pj's.
- feeling like crap.
- tired of meds.
- wishing this awful headache would go away.
- not completely ready for christmas.
- thankful my parents are watching my kids.
- thinking of all the stuff that i need to do.
- debating on taking a shower.
- enjoying the silence.
- about to take my 3rd nap of the day.
- praying i feel better soon.

a social network christmas

i know most of you have probably seen this video. but if not, take a look. i think it's very fitting... and it also really makes you wonder how things were way back then. mary and joseph accepted the task given to them, and wow. i just can't imagine what all they went through to bring jesus into this world, and then all they went through while he lived his life on earth. to think that jesus was a tiny baby, just like both my boys were not too long ago, it just blows my mind when i really think about it.

so here it is: a social network christmas!

ENJOY! :)

tradition.

so it has become a tradition to buy matching christmas pj's for all the cousins. i was about to post this years pics, and i started thinking about how much things have changed in the past 4 years! of course that took me down memory lane, where i found christmas pics from 2007 until now. hope you enjoy looking back at them as much as i did!

in 2007, caden was around 19 months old, kenley had just turned 1, trace was 9 months, and laura grace only a few months old! W-O-W! in 2008... caden was almost 3, kenley had just turned 2, trace was almost 2, and lala was 1. again, wow. look at caden's shaggy hair... lala's fat little face and lack of hair, kenley's little baby face with her short hair, and oh my word what is lucas doing in this pic? oh wait, that is trace!! can you say twins??
in 2009... caden was almost 4, kenley had just turned 3, trace was almost 3, lala was 2, and we added 2 new boys to the mix! lucas was 11 months and mason was 9 months! if you look closely, you can see all 6 kiddos looking out the front door for santa. (the baby boys are on the floor, and lala is to the very right in front of kenley!) look at those sweet babies!

and now... in 2010... drum roll please. caden will be 5 in april, YES, 5!!! kenley just turned 4. trace will be 4 in march. laura grace is now 3, lucas will be 2 in january, and mason 2 in march. in case you've lost track, that's 6 cousins currently 4 years old and younger. yes, life around meme's house when they are all together is ummm, hectic, to say the least!

but we wouldn't have it ANY.OTHER.WAY.

* please note, i think they officially outgrew the doorway in 2009. didn't try for that pose this year! :o)

so i present to you, the 4 boys in this year's matching plaid snowmen pj's and the 2 girls in sweet little gowns...

the whitt cousins christmas pics of 2010!!!

i can hardly believe my eyes... to look back from 2007 and see how all the kids are growing so fast. it is crazy how times flies!!

the christmas pj's are only one of many traditions we have with our sweet kiddos. i look forward to continuing it each year, and secretly i wonder how long can we get away with matching them? hopefully at least another 7 or 8 years!!! :-)

introducing...

baby timothy!!!he is a sweet, 8 week old, little precious baby boy who is new to the (OTHER) whitt family. :o) my sister shannon, and her husband, josh, have recently gotten custody of this beautiful child. please pray for them, as they are trying to be obedient to god, and give timothy a loving home for as long as it is neccesary! pray for caden and laura grace also, as they adjust to having a new baby at home. and also pray for timothy's parent's, that god will reveal himself to them in a special way.

we stand on the promise of jeremiah 29:11 which says

"for i know the plans i have for you, declares the lord, plans to prosper you, not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope!"

what do you believe??

can you believe it? nate and i were in the children's christmas musical at church on wednesday. he was "jimi" and i was "janis!" in the program, the kids came caroling to our door, and we explained how we liked to celebrate all the holidays... earth day, flag day, mardi gras... wouldn't wanna leave any out. :) gotta keep all your bases covered little dudes. (sorry, those were a few of our lines!) but the musical was awesome and the meaning of it was really neat. it was all about knowing what you really believe in. so this christmas, we hope to remember the true meaning of the season... which is jesus christ, coming to this world as a little baby, to later die for the sins of all mankind. if you don't know what you believe or why you believe it, it's easy to be misled. it's also easy to get caught up in all the christmas fun: the parties, decorating, santa, presents... and i believe all those things are lots of fun, but we are trying hard to keep the true focus on jesus! if you have never heard the christmas story, or you are unsure what christmas is all about, grab a bible, or a laptop even, and find the gospels. it's told in matthew, and also in luke 2. make sure you know what you believe this christmas season, and why you believe it!!

peace out!

it's the most... wonderful time... of the year!

ok i'm pretty sure i meant to post this like 3 weeks ago... but oh well! better late than never! here's a few pics of our christmas tree and the boys in their cute snowman pj's. they got to help decorate the bottom of the tree and they had so much fun! amazingly enough, we've only had 1 broken ornament so far, and that was all mama's fault! oops! such a poser!
LOVE this pic of lucas looking up at the tree!

so silly! love this snaggle tooth boy!

not sure why trace looks dazed and confused... but whatever! ;)

the only pic i managed to get of the boys together...

can you believe that christmas is only 8 days away? i can't!! but i am SOOO excited! i absolutely LOVE christmas and all that comes with it. it really is the most... wonderful time... of the year! we will be busy with all sorts of christmas fun this weekend! a christmas party with the youth at church tonite, a drive to huntsville tomorrow to see mamaw and pawpaw, christmas programs at church sunday, christmas with granny's side of the family later that afternoon and a crazy fun game of dirty santa, then rob's bday dinner that nite! bring on the celebrations! =)

4 cousins...

family pictures 2010

there's not too much to be said... other than a huge THANK YOU to page, with page dollar fotography! :) she is nate's cousin, i've talked about her before! and more than being family, she's a great friend, awesome mother, and the kind of wife i hope to be one day! we just love her! she took these pics on thanksgiving day in huntsville at nate's grandparents house. we could not be more happy with the way they turned out. love the first one and the last one the best, and all the ones in b/w. ha! she had this creative idea to spell out the word thankful on our hands. and i LOVE the way it turned out! there were so many awesome pictures but here are most of my favs!!

awww. me and nate. love him!

trace- wow. is handsome or what?lucas... such an adorable mess!

... they survived family pictures and lived happily ever after! :)