Flashback Friday: Gig'em Aggies!

One of the most important things Brandon and I have to do as parents is to teach our kids which Texas University is acceptable (A&M) and which ones are not (all the others).

Emma Grace's first visit to Texas A&M University!
Noah's first visit!
Supporting the Aggies at Ham Festival on Game Day!

Believing God part 2

This week, our study was canceled due to a snow day. I was so disappointed and can't wait until our next meeting when I can see how the homework spoke to the ladies in my group. We have been working on Believing God can do what He says He can do. My favorite verse out of this section is Mark 9:23 "Everything is possible for him who believes." I don't know about you but that verse gives me such hope! It reminds me that my God is HUGE and he can do anything. For those of you that don't know, Brandon and I would love to have a third child. We feel so blessed to have Emma Grace and Noah but we don't believe that our family is complete yet. So for now, we are trusting that God will answer that prayer. The thing to remember however, is that sometimes God may prioritize the faith required to continue trusting Him when we don't get what we ask over the faith required to receive it. That is so hard for me right now but I will continue to trust and believe that my God can do ANYTHING!

Our Snow Melted!

Okay, by the time we finally made it outside to play, all the snow had melted. Instead of just standing outside freezing in the wind with no snow, which Noah was fine more than happy to do, we went to Cracker Barrel with some friends. What better way to enjoy the cold than to load up on some good southern calories and fat!!!

He is ready to play outside regardless of the temperature!
Katie Grace, Emma Grace, Noah, Andrea, Angel, Jaeden and Faith
Katie Grace, Faith and Emma Grace

Papa, Nana and the Grandkids

While all the family was here we tried to get a picture of Papa and Nana with all six grandkids. As you can see, it wasn't as easy as it sounded! Jack Hudson is very unhappy and Emma Grace is getting squished done in the middle. It is kind of crazy but that pretty much sums up our week. All the kids had so much fun and we can't wait until June when we can do it all again at the beach.

From left to right: Noah (2), Jack Hudson (1), Papa, Caleb (3), Emma Grace (4), Max (4 months), Nana and Cohen (1)

Look Mama it's snow!

Ever since we got out of bed this morning, Noah has been so excited about the snow! He keeps saying, "Mama, Mama, look it's snow!" I can't wait to get them bundled up and outside to play. Until then, we wanted to share this picture of our house and front yard in the snow. It is actually kind of sad that we get this excited over such a small amount of snow. Oh well, look back for more fun snow photos later.

Flashback Friday

The relaxing days of no kids.

I wouldn't go back for anything but I could use a nice quite vacation with my husband!

Valentines Party at Emma Grace's School

I know everybody has had just about enough of Valentines Day by now but I just had to share these pictures. Emma Grace and Noah had so much fun! Emma Grace keeps asking me how long it will be until the next Valentines Day.

Noah had so much fun that he fell right to sleep as soon as his head hit the pillow for naptime!

Flashback Friday: Wedding Style

This weeks edition of Flashback Friday has a wedding theme.

The first picture was taken at mine and Brandon's wedding in September of 2000.

This picture was taken at my sister's wedding in April of 2002.
Finally, this one was at my brother's wedding in July of 2002.
We went from a family of five to a family of 14 and they will all be at my house next week. I can't wait!

Emma Grace's Art Work

Emma Grace brought this home from pre-school on Tuesday.

Is it me or is she very talented!!!!

Mom's not feeling well, so we are stuck indoors.

My poor kids! I have been struggling with kidney stone pain for the past couple of days and my kids are about to go crazy being locked indoors. Luckily we have had some great friends help us out and I am not sure what we would have done without y'all (The Scotts, Lori Leal, Angel Kennedy, The Fannings, The Collins, Cissy Durham, Sarah Overfelt, Stephanie Weaver and calls and prayers from so many others). We are so blessed to have all of you in our lives. God hand placed all of you in our paths and I am so gald that he did.

Here is a picture of the kids during their isolation!

Valentines Edition of Flashback Friday

Pretty soon after we moved to Tennessee, we joined a playgroup that met on Fridays. We have really enjoyed being a part of this group. Every week we meet at a different home and let the children play, while all the moms enjoy some adult conversation! It is a phenomenal group. One of our favorite playgroups has been the Valentines one. We have hosted it in our home for two years now and that is where the falshback part comes into play. The first two pictures are from last years playgroup and the last two are from this year. Noah doesn't look like a baby anymore and Emma Grace looks so grown up. What a difference a year makes. I can't wait to see what next year looks like!

Valentines Playgroup 2007

Valentines Playgroup 2008

Act of Kindness

This week Emma Grace's teacher sent home a stack of construction paper hearts. She asked us to write down any acts of kindness that we see our child doing so she can use them to decorate the classroom. Well, this was my favorite one. Emma Grace was actually trying to teach Noah how to play her computer game. Usually she pushes him down or screams at me to come an get him, but not this time. I was so proud of her!

Believing God

On Wednesday mornings my friend Tracy and I are facilitating this bible study by Beth Moore. If you have not done one of Beth Moore's indepth studies, I highly reccomend it!! During this particular one we are looking at the difference between believing in God and believing God. She reminds us that Scriptures are stacked full with truths and promises we are invited to personally apply and believe God to fulfill in our lives. The bible is overloaded with opportunities for us to be caught in the act of believing God.

We talked a lot about faith this week and I was overwhelmed by how precious my faith is (These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 1 Peter 1:7, NIV). The bottom line, is that our best efforts will always be infected with sin, so our only hope is our faith in Jesus Christ. Faith is a quality of the fruit of the Spirit (The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. Galations 5: 22-23, KJV) We also defined faith and faithfulness.

Faith is the root of all faithfulness.
Faithfulness is the outward expression of an inward fullness of faith.

I think Beth said it best when she said.."Though faith certainly encompasses serving and obeying God, I am opening my spiritual eyes to the fact that faith is the root of all faithfulness to God." I don't know about you, but I desperately want to "walk in the footsteps of faith" and pass down a legacy of faith to my children. So I leave you with this verse..."Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." Hebrews 11:6

I am so excited about this study. Keep checking back I am sure my excitement will overflow onto my blog again before we are done!!!!

Love you all,

Kelley

Groovy Girl aka Emma Grace

This is my little Groovy Girl. She just loves playing with all of her groovy girls and their accessories. I think she spent the entire day on Monday in her own little make believe groovy girl world. I love that she has such an active imagination!

Please don't make me take a bath

This was Noah on Monday around 11:00am. I was trying to get him to take a bath and get dressed. He wanted nothing to do with it! I finally gave up and let him spend the entire day in Raiders pjs, Titians socks, tennis shoes and a baseball cap that is way too small. I guess we all need a lazy day every now and then!

Super Scary Saturday

Brandon and I were going through our computer trying to organize our pictures when we came across this photo. SCARY!!!

For all of you that can't believe that Noah was almost 10 pounds, take a look at that belly. Oh my! This picture was taken on October 28 of 2005 and Noah was born on November 6. The really scary thing is I am ready to do it all again as soon as God blesses us with another (and don't worry I completely believe that he will)!

Flashback Friday

Today I wanted to share with you some of my favorite pictures from the first few weeks of Noah's life. Emma Grace was so excited when we brought him home form the hospital. She wanted to hold him all the time. We kept telling ourselves that it would eventually wear off. He was just new and that was why she wanted to be close to him. Well, we were completely off base. This big sister has such a genuine love for her little brother and it is just as apparent now as it was then. I threw in that last picture for my friend Lori!

Gig'em Lori!!!! Check out the date on the photo. It was his very first tu vs. A&M game.