An Easter Song

Up from the grave He arose!



With a mighty triumph o're His foes;



He arose a victor from the dark domain;



and He lives forever with His saints to reign;



He arose!



He arose!



Hallejuah, Christ arose!



We were sarenaded "Low in the Grave He Lay" by our girls on Sunday after church while we dyed Easter eggs (over and over and over). I thought it was very appropriate.

Bubbles

Yesterday, Elliott and I spent some time outside blowing bubbles. It still amazes me just how excited my kids can get about a bottle of liquid soap. I got some cute pictures and thought I'd share.

Fashion Five

The other day, I commented that Grace was going to be fashion forward one day. Elliott, who is never without comment, says, "No she's not. She's fashion five." Get it? Because Grace is 5 years old, not four.

Grace is our fashinista. She loves layers and frills. She loves jewelry and makeup. When my grandmother died, I got all of her old costume jewelry. She had quite the collection. Grace has since discovered her stash and has fallen in love with it. There are so many sparkles and so many options!

Even though Grace is almost 6 years old, I still have to keep a tight reign on what she wears on days when we are going out in public. If I let her completely have her creative freedom, she may come out looking like a cross between lady ga ga and an actual Disney princess. (Tiana from Princess and the Frog is her favorite princess, which is another post for another time. She cried and cried one day when I wouldn't use this dark brown eye shadow she has to "paint" her face brown so she could look like Tiana. Yes, I know.). Anyway, this is a picture of one of her lesser fantastic outfits.

Notice the pearls (which she did wear out yesterday) and the "diamond" earrings and the scarf adds a whimsical, "I'm fashion forward" touch to it all.

My friend Meredith writes a fashion blog, http://www.findingsoulbalance.blogspot.com/. She might even be impressed with Grace's sense of style.

I'm slightly worried we may have some issues with Grace one day concerning her sense of style. She often talks of how she wants to color her hair. And not normal colors. Colors like blue and purple and pink. And once she gets over her fear of the piercing gun, there is no telling what she come home with that has a new hole in it. She's a bit of a free spirit. I do love that about her, I'm just a little scared of how that will play out in the teen years. Fortunately, she has a VERY conservative older sister who does not want to do anything to draw attention to herself and insists on wearing an undershirt with everything and is terrified at the thought of needing a bra one day. Grace on the other hand, creates bras and the stuffing to go with it.

Ode to the last 10 years.

It's been 10 years. 10 years that have flown by. 10 years since I married the love of my life.

A lot has changed since then, yet a lot has not changed. I still feel 25. (I may not look it but I feel it). When I was 25 I probably would have said I still feel like a teenager. I'm pretty sure I've outgrown that teenage feeling, but I still do feel young. I still find it hard to believe that I'm a mom to 3 kids and an experienced wife.

10 years ago, we lived in a little apartment about 900 square feet. Paul was working at Bell South. I was teaching 1st grade at an inner city school and counting the days until we got pregnant so I could quit. Since then, we have moved twice, Paul has had 6 different jobs (2 of those within the same company), we had 3 kids in 4 years, I quit my teaching job and started my own photography business.

Things have morphed and changed over the years into the life we live now. I often sit back and think I lead a charmed life. God has SO blessed us. I don't have to work. We have a nice house, 2 cars, 3 beautiful, healthy girls. I have a husband who loves me and loves the Lord. We have 2 extended families who love us and the Lord as well. We have a great church and great friends. God has SO blessed us.

And it all started when God separately led Paul and I to move away from our hometowns, the towns we grew up in, the place where all our family and friends were, to do something against our natures, to move to a new, big city where neither of us knew anyone. He led us to attend the same church. Both of us happened to be dating other people when we met (me, 1 guy in particular, Paul, a couple of girls- he wasn't shy of the ladies). He led us away from those other people and then led us together.

Our very first date was to see Sting at the fabulous Fox theater. It was really the best first date I have ever been on and I've been on a few first dates. We doubled with some friends of Paul's, friends that we are still friends with to this day, whom we've grown closer to over the years. We dated for 10 months before we got engaged - a whirlwind trip to NYC for the day - and were engaged for 4 months. And it's been bliss ever since!

Paul still exhibits all of the qualities and characteristics that helped me to fall in love with him 10 years ago and more.
He is a godly man, a spiritual leader. He is ambitious, supportive, loving, a devoted family man, a devoted husband, trustworthy. He calls me at least twice everyday from work, he takes the trash out without complaining, he likes to sweep and vacuum. He's a loving father, a hard worker, a good business man, very intelligent, a loyal friend. He likes (or at least doesn't mind) that I'm strong willed (right?). He's friendly, sociable, funny, bald and very handsome. He's an awesome, multi talented musician. He's athletic (or used to be). He loves the outdoors. He quietly goes along on all my family trip ideas even if he doesn't really want to and doesn't try to make me feel bad when said trip was not fun for anyone. He says "I love you" every time before saying goodbye on the phone. He's patient. very patient. He does not hold a grudge. He's funny and he thinks he's funny. He protects and takes care of me and our children.

All in all, he's a pretty good guy. I think I made a pretty good decision to marry him. I think I might give him another 10 years, maybe 50. My grandparents were married for 60 years before my grandmother died. 60 years! In 50 years, I'll be 85, Paul 88. That's doable. We could make it.

My prayer is that the next 50 years are as blissful and happy as the first 10 have been. Happy Anniversary, Paul! I love you!

FYI; Tomorrow's post may be about how Paul got mad at me for embarrassing him by writing all this stuff about him. Should I add "humble" to the list? Maybe "slow to anger" and " understanding."

Another Book

New Post under the heading "Books I've Read." Check it out.

and Breathe...

It's always so hard to come back from a vacation.

This past weekend, my husband and I went away for our 10 year anniversary (which is actually not until the 31st). We went to Jekyll Island, GA and stayed at the historic Jekyll Island Club. We were only gone 2 nights and really only had 1 full day of vacation, but it was a really nice day. Now, we are back home, up at 6 AM and on the go. And, it's a cloudy, grey, gloomy looking day. That's not helping.

While in Jekyll Island we had the -you couldn't ask for better weather- weather. Blue skies, not a cloud to be seen, perfect temperature, not hot, not cold, perfect.

We began each day (all 2 of them) eating our pastries and drinking our coffee sitting out on one of the many large porches, listening to the trickle of the water fountain in the courtyard and watching the birds flutter about.

The island is not really that big so we rented bikes for the day and rode everywhere. There are bike trails all over the island that weave in and out of forests, over old wooden bridges that crossed bubbling creeks, past ponds (and a couple of gators) and down quiet country roads. Since the hotel was on the bay side, we rode our bikes to the beach and spent the afternoon walking and laying on the not crowded beach.

It was just so nice to not have a schedule or anything that needed to be done and nowhere that we had to be. The change of scenery and the fresh air was very welcoming.

I did miss the kiddos a bit. They would have liked this place. But it was nice to have some uninterrupted adult time.

And now off to plan our next vacation....

In the meantime, here are some pictures from our time at Jekyll Island:

One of the about 25 pictures I took just of the hotel. It was very photogenic.

The hotel grounds were beautiful with lush green lawns and massive oak trees with low hanging branches and spanish moss (which having grown up in Florida I used to think was really ugly -the moss- but now find it fascinating and a little soothing).

The island was full of these awesome bike trails and beautiful scenery.

We saw 2 decent sized alligators while on our morning bike ride.


The beach was amazingly uncrowded. It was beautiful and serene.

Paul is better at the self portrait that I am since his arms are quite a bit longer.

Books

I just added a new book to my "Books I've Read" list. Check it out by clicking on the "Books I've Read" heading at the top of the home page of my blog.