A Thorn Among Roses

our poor neighbor had a pipe problem...which meant major destroying of the driveway... ...and free entertainment for my girlies for 2 days! jackhammers, scoops, cement trucks...all great entertainment, and right in the neighbor's front yard!! sofia loved watching all the movement...she would just sit and stare, then jibber jabber about what they were doing while pointing. soooo cute! it made me think that sometimes the things that we see in our lives as disruptions or headaches or even bad can sometimes be the things that teach others...like sof had never seen a jackhammer, but bc miss margaret's problem, she was able to see and experience it. it didn't make margaret's plumbing issue any easier or any less wo rk, but in the long run, others learned from her inconvenience and problem. life is full of unexpectedness...ups and downs...and well, we were never promised it would be easy. we were, however, promised that in spite of all things, good and all things difficult...

i started following kayleigh freeman's blog when she was only a few months old. adam and aimee became part of my daily prayers and i just loved that little girl! so when they did the "give 4 kayleigh" drive, we were soooo in. i sent in a few things for aimee to be pampered and made a few donations for them as well. kayleigh at that point had been in the NICU 8 months...she was born 3 months premature...1lb 1oz! as a momma of a NICU baby, i just ached for the whole fam. about a week later, i got an email saying i had won package 3...i really didn't even know i had entered to win anything when i donated, so i was certain it was a joke. turns out, it wasn't. so now, this week, me and hubs {and brian and karen} are spending the week in the condo in sc that i won on "give 4 kayleigh"...and we wanted to honor a fabulous family, who simply tries to honor god in everything they do...even when kayleigh got her wings a few months ago, and continues to still!...

today is a hard day. i can't really say that i knew anyone who was personally involved in 9/11, but it's a hard day. it's a day where i remember that people who didn't know me or my fellow countrymen chose to hate us...devised to kill many of us...and to invoke fear and pain. that's really hard for me. i don't understand it. it's pure and unadulterated evil. evil is all around us...we choose to call it many other things, but it's all around us every day. evil doesn't show it's face often here in the states like it did on september 11, 2001... but my friend, we americans remain. we remain and push forward. we strive to be better and do more and honor and remember those who lost their lives and loved ones that terrible day......and we move forward, remembering the pain of that evil. not letting the pain take us down, but bring us to a new level of understanding. we push on...we persevere. we build the freedom tower...and these men do it with ...

i love doing senior pics for kids i know and love...and i totally got to spend awesome time with one of my most fav ab's in the world on saturday...shooting around!! she's gorgeous...inside and out!! she's totally the kind of girl i have prayed my girlies will be... she's intense and focused...an athlete and student...a great friend... a fun loving, happy, smiley girlie who brings energy to a room when she's there... ...and one who doesn't ever take herself too serious! so, thanks abby for letting me do a few shots!!! and there's way more to come! pray for a high schooler today...especially those who are living their faith out loud!

"faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we can not see." hebrews 11:1 i took this picture at st. george island, florida this last summer on a vacation with my fam. one thing you all may or may not know about me is I LOVE THE BEACH...and i hate the snow! the beach is full of peace. i love the sound of the waves and the feel of the sand between my toes. i love the feel of the warm sun on my face. i love to hear my kiddos building sand castles and chasing hermit crabs. i love seeing my awesome hubs under his little umbrella {red head} enjoying time with the fam at the beach. the last few weeks here in blogland have shown the true face of the life we live here on earth. it's not forever. it's full of pain. there's loss. there's sudden loss. and there's loss that takes every ounce of energy you have to make it through days and weeks and years of painful treaments with no understanding of what all of it holds. Tuesday Whitt touched me....

on the way home from DD {{bc apparently there was NO preschool today for jk...it's no prob, really...we just rushed around and scrambled and got in the car and then when we got there and there was no school...well, there were tears...thus DD}} , there came a moment of sincere sadness in my heart. jk: " mommy, i want to look like brookie" "why sweetie? you are the perfect jada" jk: "i don't like my brown skin. i want peach skin like brookie" i just sank. does that not make ur heart want to break? a 3 yo is struggling already with her skin being different. then, this happened: brooke: "jada, god made you and he loves you. he does it all right the very first time" then, i think my heart grew three sizes . jada threw a big smile up on her face and said, "ok. god loves me" now, if we all could just do that. god loves us...he doesn't make mistakes...he makes perfect works of art. sometimes there are scratches in the art....