Thankful

I will praise the name of God with a song and will magnify him with Thanksgiving
Psalm 69:30

So so much to be thankful for today and everyday.
Thankful for family, friends, and health
and most importantly the hope found in Jesus that gives this crazy life purpose.

I pray I can have a thankful heart everyday and every circumstance that comes my way.

Burts Pumpkin Patch 2013

so very thankful for these precious boys

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sprinkles

Just a brief entry to capture a quick thought.
I have so much I want to catch up on here, Ford's 9 months, the mountains, the pumpkin patch,the beach, halloween.....
and thoughts from this incredible book that has been so good for my soul in this season of my life,

a quote from this book,

"This journey of mothering is a challenging marathon of moments, hours, days, months, years, and decades. And yet, in each moment, God has sprinkled across our paths beauty, love, and joy"

Lately I have felt the challenging marathon of moments but I had a sprinkle moment tonight when Brooks ,without any prompting, got up in my lap and sat inches from my face and asked me to read his Elmo book to him and then asked me to sing to him with a huge grin on his face.

I am trying to stop and appreciate these sprinkles of beauty, love, and joy. 

These sprinkles are evident every day, somedays they are just harder to find, but they are there!!

Because you are you and you are mine

Dear Brooks and Ford,
I treasure you both,
you are part of me,
you are my heart,
I have moments when I just need to write it down.
I love you,
I can never say it enough.
I love you just because you are mine,
that is all,
it's not because of anything that you do,
it's just because you are mine.
I love you because I can.
God gave me that ability,
to love you just because.
So remember,
I love you because you are you and you are mine.
I love you Brooks because you are you and you are mine.
I love you Ford because you are you and you are mine.
Nothing you can say or do that will ever make me feel differently.
That is all.
Love,
Mom

And remember what we say every night before bed....
God loves you the most and knows you the best

Disney World

Last weekend we went to Disney World with the family.
I was hoping for the best but not really sure how Brooks would handle it all at his age.
My expectations were exceeded!
He loved it and he was able to hang during our long days!
He loved being with his cousins, I think this helped with any lag time in lines or timidness on rides.
They all kept each other going.
I am so glad we decided to go with family our first visit.
It made it even more fun.
It was so fun watching Brooks experience it all for the first time.
There is something about Disney,
I think it's the way you carry your childhood experience from there, and you associate it with the excitement that you got as a young child into adulthood!
Yes it was hot,
expensive,
crowds,
hot,
expensive,
long days,
but it is all worth it to watch their little faces on the rides and watching fireworks and seeing the characters.
I am glad we took Brooks at this age because the excitement he got seeing the characters was awesome.
He loved getting their autograph.
My favorite moment of the trip was at the parade at Magic Kingdom when Brooks saw Mickey, after he had just gotten his Mickey stuffed animal from Me-Maw, he held his Mickey up to the Mickey in the parade and said "Mickey, I got you, I got you, I got you Mickey".
So innocent, so precious! I wish I could bottle up their little faces and excitement.
He is still talking about it.
I am thankful for the memories for me and Trip more than anything.
So glad my parents got to see the kiddos experience too.
It won't be our last trip for sure.
Can't wait until Ford gets to experience it.
He and Liza hung out at the hotel with a sitter each day which was perfect!

He loved the monorail train, we could have just ridden that around all day

at the Grand Floridian for Cinderella dinner

Prince Charming

petting zoo at Animal Kingdom

His first real ride at Animal Kingdom, a little timid at first but he loved it

so excited waiting for Pluto and Goofy's autograph

waiting

before the Lion King Show

Dumbo ride

Winnie the Pooh character dinner

Story time with Belle, Brooks was a tea cup in the little show

He loved hugging Belle, and gave her a kiss and wouldn't let go,
everyone in the crowd laughed

fireworks after parade

only family pic, take what you can get, hot and sweaty

worn out after long day at Animal Kingdom

Liza and Ford strollin' at the hotel

People Mover 

waiting for the parade

Ford on the people mover

car ride home, exhausted

Astro Orbit ride

This Season

I just read a blog post from an older mom with kids in elementary school,
as I read her reflection of where she is with her kids.
 and how she misses them as they are gone so much of the day now,
I couldn't help but get teary,
it gave me perspective and appreciation,
in this season I am in, there are days when I want to pull my hair out,
and I seem to always look forward to time away from my kids, some time for myself,
but also this season has sweet, beautiful moments.
I know the future holds wonderful things and new experiences.
But I love this "slower" life we have right now, time at home with my babies.
Time to just be, to learn, to teach, to experience my kids day in and day out.
I love that we have days where we can wake up and decide what we want to do.
We aren't forced to go from one activity to another. We have margin,
I hope we always have margin.
I love that I could sit with Brooks tonight, just me and him eating dinner, and I got to talk to him all about our big weekend at Disney, we weren't rushed to do homework, get bathed, and ready for bed and another day at school.
I know that those days will be here before we know it.
So I want to try to remember this when he has a tantrum and I just want him to grow up.
I cringe at the thought of the day when I only see my boys just a few rushed hours of the day.
I know I don't have to enjoy every minute right now,
I know I won't enjoy every minute right now,
but I want to remember that this isn't forever,
that these slower days are not forever.
I want to remember the good,
there is so much good.
Thank you God for these boys in my life,
my heart is so full,
thank you.

Preview of post to come of our magical Disney weekend!

Provision

I just have to take a moment to note some provision in our life lately.
Trip and I are so blessed,
we have so much,
more than we need truly.
But the cost of living in Atlanta on Trip's salary alone is hard.
Without me working, it's hard.
But right now Trip is called to Young Life and I feel called to stay home with our kids.
We have had two instances lately that have been crazy reminders of God's provision.
One was a complete random, unexpected surprise gift from a friend,
the other one being this morning when I cringed looking at our bank account, I just felt this yucky weight of money pressures and about 5 minutes after closing my computer I received a phone call  regarding some unexpected extra $ coming our way.
Unbelievable,
I shouldn't be surprised, because God always provides, always. Even when it doesn't look the way I think it should look, he always provides.
He is sufficient,
but he loves us enough to give us way more than we could ever want or need.
A reminder from Phillipians:
"And my God will meet all the Doster's needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus."

And some recent photos!

first time at the Varsity, he loved it!

Braves game with his new hat, he made it on the big screen and won the "shake" contest

he is turning into a baseball fan for sure!

first day of mothers morning out at JFBC, he loves it.
no tears just runs right into his classroom

he loves dinner time

enjoying the day with just the two of us!

6 months

Ford's 6 months ( a little late posting)
Ht- 26.5 in (25-50%)
Wt- 19.3 (75-85%)
Head- 43.8 cm (50-75%)

He's doing great, he's got his first two teeth coming in.
He loves his jumpy seat,
He's started baby food,
He's close to sitting up on his own but not yet.
He loves attention, he smiles anytime someone gives him a glance.
And he loves watching Brooks.
We fall more and more in love with you everyday Ford!
I can't wait to see what his little personality grows into. I think he might be kinda silly and like to laugh like his mom, but who knows!

Potty training update,

Brooks is doing so great! He's really getting it and has few accidents!

Our potty training week in the mountains with Lanier was a great help!

I think we should do the same for Ford and Liza when their time comes.

So thankful to have Trip home after 10 days away. Our summer is coming to an end. Sad but also ready for some schedule and football season!!!