A Whirlwind!

Over the last few years, when I met with friends for bible study and prayer, I was led to a new conclusion about coincidence!!

The dictionary defines coincidence as a striking occurrence of two or more events at one time apparently by mere chance! Okay...now add GOD to the mix!!

Can you really just believe that something happened by "mere chance." That two people meet, you find that lost money you've been searching for, you get all green lights when you are rushing, a rainbow, ...and the list goes on and on! For most of my life I have attributed these things to just "chance" not God!!

However, as I began praying, studying, and working on my relationship with God, I have started to see these "mere chances" as HIM. He is working to remind me that He is with me and hearing me!

As JC and I prepared to get married, one of our unfinished tasks was deciding what church or denomination we would raise our family in. I have been Catholic all of my life and attended Catholic school. JC was raised protestant and has been attending Baptist church!! So...we have not been quite sure what we wanted to do! Well, once Savanna came to live with us full time, we began to explore this topic even further! We have pretty much at this point found ourselves fitting into the Catholic church...AND studying God's word in our home as well! For some reason us Catholics are not as brushed up on our bible stories as those protestants are!!

So each night we read a bible story out of "My First Study Bible" and then we read devotions for preschoolers! We do this right at the dinner table as soon as we finish eating!!

NOW...listen to this. Just this last week, we read the story about Elijah and Elisha. In order to strengthen Elisha's belief in God and his confidence in God's word, God sent a Chariot of Fire to carry Elijah back to Heaven in a Whirlwind...all so Elisha could witness this! After we finished reading our story, Savanna got her bath and I cleaned up the kitchen. JC and I sat down to watch Jeopardy, which we had recorded earlier, perhaps during dinner!

And as we watched...the answer appeared on the TV, "this carried Elijah up to Heaven on his Chariot of Fire"(something like that)...AND as we both answered "A Whirlwind!" we looked at each other and smiled!! Well, I was more freaking out and JC was just smiling because he knew what I was thinking!!

And in that moment, I told him....that was not just coincidence! That was God and He thinks we are doing a good job!

Horse Riding Party

Saturday, Savanna and I went to a birthday party for a little girl in Mamzy's (my mom) class!! The kids were told to bring a bicycle helmet if they had one. Savanna was very excited about this party and couldn't wait to ride the horses!


When we first got there the kids were told they could ride 3 horses! Savanna started by picking the pony, Annie!




Then she took a ride on Sebo!


And finally, she took a ride and even trotted on Blondie (who looked like a poodle mix horse of some kind)!!!


At the end of the day we were both exhausted, but it was such a great party!!

A few random thoughts!!

1. I absolutely LOVE my salad spinner! I've had it for a while, but it makes life so wonderfully easy!!


2. School...pretend school...just about everyday! I captured today during nap time....I think Belle had to leave the circle because she wasn't being good!










3. A little bloom.....small but important!



4. We saw the Lorax this weekend and I LOVED it!! It wasn't until the very end when I realized how much I loved it!

5. Today was silly shoe/sock day!

Photo Session: Take 1

I've been wanting to practice taking some pictures with my new camera and so I finally convinced my model to do some posing...plus the weather was nice! I still need quite a bit of practice...like the basics of my camera!!!.. But for now I think what turned out was really great! Here are a few of my favorites....only the last two have been edited in Photoshop...because frankly, I need more practice with that as well!














And here it is.....my secret to getting Savanna to pose so well!!!! Three oreo cookies and milk!

This Looks Like a Mess....

What was I possibly thinking....





I learned very quickly that this little "art activity" had to be supervised very closely!




Savanna and I spent several days at home together this past week. I had the entire week off and her school was doing renovations. They had asked if we would need child care that week, but we decided she could stay home! Whew!!



For the most part everything went very smoothly....with the exception of me having a vacation....I spent most of the time entertaining, overseeing, creating, and...cleaning of course!!



I have learned lately..even more than just getting married...that managing a household of more than one person requires a constant level of maintenance! I can go about one day without doing laundry and then I feel like the hampers are getting full! I try to plan meals but after school meetings, ballet, grocery trips....all those interruptions throw me off sometimes! My kitchen table and counters start out clean on Monday but by the end of the week they are filled again! It's just the little things....I'm learning to let things go sometimes but for the most part I'm determined to stay on top of things!!

The other realization.....sometimes my kitchen isn't closed by 6:00PM as scheduled!!!

Mardi Gras Continued

On Sunday we set out to D'Iberville in Mississippi!! We first stopped by to see my grandmother and then we headed over to a family friend's for a nice family day and parade!

This was my first time to this event and I really enjoyed it and felt very relaxed!!

Here's my crew...JC, Savanna, and mom!


Mamzy


Daddy and Savanna


All bundled up!


Mom took and picture of me and JC...he was standing on a curb...it was nice to have a tall husband for a second!


Savanna's purchases of the day consisted of a party hat and cotton candy!!





Here's is my stud muffin....I was actually trying to capture the sky in the background....playing with my camera settings!!! I'll take some pictures of him any day though!



I think it's funny that Savanna woke up today and asked if it was float day!!!! I was happy to say no...but tomorrow we will live it up one more time for the season. Having the rest of this week off of school makes Fat Tuesday much more exciting!!


Here is a picture I left off of my last post...me and JC at his ball!