God Has Answered

Moms all over the nation love WinShape Camps for Communities. I am one of those moms. Five years ago as the mom of two preschoolers, I began volunteering at the Madison, AL WinShape Camp. My oldest daughter spent the next four years waiting anxiously to participate in camp herself. Last summer her chance finally arrived. My little “jellyfish” (her Team Time name) truly did have the summer of a lifetime, and I went from being a community leader who loved WinShape to a mom who loves this opportunity for my daughter. Here are the top five reasons I think moms love WinShape. #5 Say “No” to Boredom By the end of the summer, the kids are wrinkly from all the time spent at the pool, their Netflix ques are exhausted, and you are weary from all those trips to the park. The kids need to change things up a bit and so does Mom! There is no time for boredom at WinShape. Each moment of your child’s day is thoughtfully designed to give them new, fun, and exciting experiences. “I’m bor...

One month ago today, we welcomed two new beauties into our home and family through foster care. Going from a mom of two to the mom of four overnight pretty much rocked my world. There have been lots of changes I expected, but one change that I had not expected was my sudden reluctance to leave home. In all honesty, I became afraid of taking all four kids places with me. The grocery store, restaurants, and even church became places that produced anxiety as I tried to figure out how to manage the bickering, disobedience, requests, and wandering of four little people all at once outside of the safe confines of our home.   On Sunday, Matt and I decided to take the day off from our regular responsibilities. We had the opportunity to go to Tennessee and celebrate my nephew's decision to follow Christ in baptism, and we took it, even made a full day of it. All six of us worshiped together, celebrated together, and then ventured out to the zoo to have fun together. Admittedly, I w...

Photo by Mozart Do you remember the show "Clean Sweep"? A team with a goofy construction pro, a dramatic designer, a hard-nosed organizer, and an over-the-top host would enter a family's home and convince them to get rid of the majority of the "junk" in a room with the promise of a new, better room. At first, it was a humorous show with playful banter and a few tears, but as time went on, America began to realize that some of these people had problems, big problems, that could not be solved in two days on site and a 30 minute television show. Fast forward a few years, and now there is a clinically diagnosed anxiety disorder called hoarding and much darker, more serious shows "Hoarders" and "Hoarding: Buried Alive". I have a close family member, who if she consented to psychological help, would no doubt be diagnosed with this disorder. As I considered her history, her life that led to this place where she is completely obsessed and co...

Last weekend I moved my oldest daughter, Elli, into what had once been deemed her "someday room," the room she would have when she got old enough to be farther away from me at night. It's the room farthest from my bedroom where I might have trouble hearing her if she cries or she might have to weave her way down a hall to find me. When we moved into our home five years ago, it seemed like it would probably be many years before she would be big enough for her "someday room". Two nights ago, she spent her first night there. While moving Elli into her new room, I also removed the final remnants of baby from Makaylyn's room, no more changing table or rocking chair, just a big girl bed and big girl toys. I'll admit it. I cried. I am thrilled about the stage of life we are entering as a family, the growth I see in my children and in myself, but I am a little sad saying goodbye to where we've been too. I can't help but wonder if I cherished enough momen...

Considering the tremendous gifts God has given me, I feel it is imperative that I quickly share our story with you, in the event that you don't already know it, of course. In March 2007, my husband and I found out we were expecting our first child. We were elated, however on June 1, we lost that baby. We were both devastated, and I had a lot of trouble dealing with that loss. I was depressed and felt tremendous guilt even though I knew there was nothing I could have done. It would take us five months to get pregnant again, and we would only experience a week of joy before we would lose that baby as well. After that loss, I became extremely depressed. I had never experienced darkness like that before. I had become a believer in Christ as a small child, and I had experienced few challenges in my life up until that point. November and December were terrible months that year, filled with tears and pain and loneliness. At the end of December, I finally realized that I had becom...

Since my sister so lovingly nudged me into the blogging world, I am going to give this a try. I am not however, the witty writer that she is, so you may just have to scroll through the dull text and check out the pics of our adorable daughter.

Well, my sister is on vacation this week, so I thought I'd take it upon myself to create a blog for her. That way she will have a wonderful way to share posts of her beautiful daughter when they get back. Hope you're not mad! Love yah!