A Special Night

I am documenting this night mainly for me, because I don't want to ever forget it, although I don't think I will. After Claire and Greg's rehearsal dinner we all came home and everyone either went to bed or was busy preparing for the next day. :) Greg was working on a slide show for the end of the ceremony and Nate was working on the programs.
Our little sisters went to bed and it was just the 5 oldest girls in the kitchen and family room. We hung up our dresses, painted our toes, glued on fake nails, plucked our eyebrows, all the while laughing our heads off hysterically. It was a classic ** my maiden name** girl moment!
Not that we don't love them :), but my husband was no where to be found. Claire's husband was no where to be found. It was just us girls, having a great "last night" together before our lives changed once again. (The first time was when I got married, of course). I couldn't have imagined a better way to spend that night before the most exciting day in Claire's life came.
I love my sisters. I miss them terribly. I miss the common sense of humor that we have, when we can say just a word or two and we all burst into laughter and no one else in the room seems to see what is so funny. We don't try to explain because it only gets worse.
I love how the slightest thing can happen when I'm not with them and I say, out loud, "I have to call Claire" and tell her and she will laugh just like I did--just like I knew she would. Sometimes there just isn't anyone else that can share that--even a husband or a best friend. (Although mine do most of the time :).
So, I know each of you guys will read this. I love you all so much. I love that I have so many sisters--the Lord knew just what we needed and made each of us different yet so alike so that our bond can never be broken! I love you!!!!

These pictures are so weird...maybe it will help you see the awesome night that we had and how crazy we all were being. :) We look pretty bad, but I think we all made up for it at the wedding the next day! haha!!

If you still think we are normal after this, you are insane--just like us. :) Like I said, this was mainly for me to remember!

Greg and Claire's wedding :)

I will let the pictures speak for themselves! :) Sorry that they aren't in order! The Lord gave us a gorgeous day! Reception pictures to come.....

Baby # 2, Month 4 / Easter

They moved me up a week, so yesterday I was 16 weeks instead of 15! Yay! My wonderful hubby took me out looking for an Easter dress yesterday, but we were unsuccessful so he bought me this beautiful shirt instead, took me out to eat and to Starbucks afterwards! We had such an amazing date night--it's been WAY too long!

Things that happened this month:

• Day 1 of week 13 I felt my baby move and have been feeling it every since! It's so amazing and I love it every single time I feel it.
• 15 wks., 4 days, I had an ultrasound and got to see my baby in 3D!! So amazing! I promise to get around to posting them one of these days! I have another one on May 6, but have already decided not to find out what it is. I loved the anticipation in the delivery room--nothing like a baby coming out and daddy announcing to everyone in the room what it is! :)
• I wore my first maternity clothes! :) Most things are still way too big (mainly skirts), but I can wear a few small shirts :)

My friend, Cassie and I are only week apart! She's due with her 3rd! She already has 2 boys so we're all hoping for a little girl. :) With Brooke I was pregnant with no one until about 6 months, so it's been fun going through this with someone. She moved here about 6 months ago and I'm so thankful that God has given me such a wonderful friend. She's from the north so we're a lot alike. :)

Lastly. a few pictures of Easter today :). We went to Nate and Cassie's for a yummy ham dinner and did a little Easter egg hunt for the kids. It was Brookie's first one and she was so cute! I took many more pictures but I'll post them a different time. :)

Next year (Lord willing) there will be another precious one in our picture!

I tried to get some good pictures of her this morning, but she was being too crazy so this was about all I could come up with :)

Asking for prayer

My sister's wedding is 8 days from tomorrow. Eight days! I can't believe my best friend, the one who I talk about everything too, the one who has been in my shadow my whole life will walk down the aisle in a beautiful gown, radiant and smiling at her groom who is waiting to take her hand. Ooohhhh it makes me tear up just to think about it!

Anyway, that is not why I'm writing. I'm writing because I am singing at her wedding (as well as being her matron of honor :) and right now I have a sore throat and have been coughing occasionally. This thing has been going around and it lasts a long time and I'm just praying that mine will go away! Compared to everyone else, I have it easy right now so it should only get worse! However I know that God is bigger than that! There is a lot that I have to do in preparation to go up there and as soon as I get there it will be a crazy 4 days of decorating and running errands everywhere before the wedding day. There's not a very good chance that I will get better then if I'm not already, so please pray with me that this clears up in the next couple days! Brookie has been coughing her head off at night and not sleeping well and has a disgusting runny nose, so please pray for her too. I don't want my family to get sick from us--this is just not a good time!

The picture is what I choked down a few minutes ago. My prenatal, folic acid, Vitamin C and L-lysine. Lysine is so amazing for virus's like this and you can take it several times a day. My mother-in-law got me started on it and I always take it now when I'm sick. I'm not a big supplement person, but I actually notice a difference with this! Try it next time you have something like this!

Anyway, I just wanted to ask you all to pray...I'm busy starting to pack and do laundry to get ready to go! I'm so excited!

What a Week!

I have to say that this week was the most amazing week of my life! Tuesday-Friday we had special meetings with Bro. Joel and Brent Logan. It was just what our church needed to draw us closer to God. The week started with people confessing sins and emptying themselves of secret sins and area's in their lives that were holding them back. It finished with so many salvation's, baptisms and many surrendering their lives to serve. (Including my husband!!) I have been in many meetings all over America and this was the best week of my life. God moved every single night. The last night the invitation lasted over 30 minutes, without anyone talking or pleading--except for the Holy Spirit, of course! I was singing and playing the piano and got to watch it all in awe! At one point I stopped singing and just played, while crying and praying to my God. My spirit is renewed and my flesh is cast down. I am learning to listen more to the Holy Spirit and to have him be in the forefront of my mind every day. I have watched the change in my husband, and my daughter is sweeter because of our closer walk with the Lord. I am doing what I as a mother should have been doing all along--kneeling down with Brooke and praying with her everyday, as well as reading her about 3 chapters in the Word of God. Please pray that I would continue to keep this fire burning that the Lord has placed in my heart--as well as those in our church who've made important decisions! The devil loves to get in and wreak havoc after a week like this.

Bro Brent, my Pastor, Bro. Joel
Brookie playing at church at 11pm...the spirit was so good no one wanted to go home! This night we went to IHOP too and were there until 1am! She was so good, too.

Nate fully surrendered to do whatever the Lord would have him do this night and I wanted to get a picture to remember it.

College Choir

Listen to the sermons from the week HERE!

Happy Easter!

Here is a little photo shoot I did of Brookie for Easter this year. :) I did the same thing with her last year...she was so little then! My baby girl is all grown up!

The other night Brooke and I both wore pink and white to church, so we tried to get a good picture. Unfortunately, there were too many distractions and we couldn't get her to smile! I will admit that she still looks cute though. :) I got my shirt at Wal-Mart for $5.00! It's maternity and I thought it was so cute!

Confession!!!

I have a confession. The very last picture in my last post was photo shopped! Everyone has been saying how awesome it looked, but I really wanted to see how good of a job I did at photoshopping us out of the original onto a beautiful blue sky. I feel as if I have succeeded as no one said anything. Whew. Just had to get that off my chest! :)