Can I Just Share With Y'all A Little Bit????

I have a few things on my heart and mind tonight and I just need to share them. I'm just feeling overwhelmed and I think I need to write it out.

I blog for 3 purposes. One is to just share my life and especially now to share Harper with our family and friends. I love having a way that people can feel connected to us (just as much as I love feeling connected to so many of you. I feel like I know some of my blogger friends better than I know my real life friends who don't blog.....do ya'll feel that way?)

The other two purposes I have are ones that God has put on my heart. One is to encourage. I SO want to encourage so many of you who are on a journey of waiting or of searching to find God. I want to do anything I can to offer hope. The other is to pray and to ask for prayer for those in need. And there is SO MUCH need. Sometimes I just read through the requests and feel the weight of the world on my shoulders.

I've had to make a tough decision lately not to feature any fundraisers. I know so many are in need right now but there have been a lot of negative things go on in blogland lately and I just feel led to focus on praying for those in need and then if you feel like you should give - I hope you will. I'll be honest with ya'll - I've given to a LOT of bloggers as well as real life people. I feel very strongly about the part in the Bible where God says " To whom much is given .....much is required". God has blessed us so much and not just financially - we are blessed with health and love and family and friends and I could go on and on. So most importantly we tithe to our local church but we also always look for ways to help others. I hope you do also. I want to help everyone but I feel called mostly right now that the way I can help through my blog is to pray and lead in asking for prayer.

I also have SO many of you who want to feature giveaways or have me do giveaways on your product and I like to do this because I love to give exposure to all of you and help you get fun stuff but it has become VERY overwhelming for me so I'm trying to take a few months off from this. I've encouraged a lot of you to contact me mid September and I hope you will.

I think it's just that lately I've felt VERY convicted that I've put Harper in her exersaucer a few too many times so I can try to "answer e-mails" or when I put her down for a nap instead of doing much needed housework or other chores around my house - I run to the computer to try and catch up on my e-mails and blogs. And at night after Harper goes to bed, instead of spending MUCH needed time with my husband - I'm holed up trying to answer e-mails.

I DO want you to send me prayer requests. Or if you have questions or need advice or encouragement - PLEASE write me. Just understand that I need to focus on my family. This became real to me tonight when our little neighbor came running out to see Harper when we were on a walk. I told her that when we moved to our neighborhood - she was exactly Harper's age and on Monday she starts kindergarten. I know in the blink of an eye - I'll be sending Harper to school and I don't want to miss precious time with her because I was too tied up in my computer.

I love ya'll so much and it hurts me knowing I have 400 facebook messages I haven't answered and hundreds of e-mails and it's a mountain I just can't seem to climb. I want to pray for ya'll and I want you to know the God I know and love. I guess I just don't know how to handle it very well.

I'm actually going to close comments on this post because I don't want you to feel like you need to leave me sweet comments to tell me you love me and I also don't want you to tell me you hate me and that I'm a horrible, selfish person. I'm trying to listen right now to the comments from the ONE who really matters (God) and He is telling me "Be STILL and know that I am God."

Okay - with all that said......I AM going to post about one thing because it is on my heart and I had promised a while ago that when they were ready I would. Many of you have heard about Adrienne's story. They couldn't have children on their own so they adopted a son from Russia. They have since had two failed adoptions and are now trying to bring home a daughter, Lily, from South Korea. However, they have to raise the money. She is having an AMAZING giveaway that you should check out. The stuff she has is unbelievable!

And if nothing else - I still want to show you two precious pictures of my little cupcake!

SHOW US YOUR LIFE - Wedding Party and Flowers/Ceremony

Several of you have sent me buttons for this blog series and I'm still working on picking one to use. So hopefully by next week.............at least I finally got all the links in one place! ha!

So this week is all about showing us the rest of your wedding (except the reception). Tell us about your wedding.......what songs did you have, who was in your wedding party, .....really anything you want to show or tell about.

I'm SO sad because I just don't have any pictures to put on here. I'm too tired and lazy to go scan any in so I'll just put up two I happen to have on my computer.

We got married on November 1, 2003. I love fall and I love fall colors. I still really like my bridesmaid dresses and we all carried fall flowers. I got married at my parent's church in the town I grew up in. My dad is a Baptist Pastor and he not only walked me down the aisle but he performed the ceremony and that was special to me. At the end of the wedding - he gave us the Bible he used to marry us and he and mom had engraved our names on it. It's the Bible I use today. Scott and I put together a wedding slide show that we showed at our wedding that showed pictures of us growing up and then during our dating years. There were three songs in that slide show "A page is turned" by Bebo Norman, "Could Not ask for more" by Edwin McCain, and "Walk with Me" (I can't remember who it's by but it's a great song). Oh we also had the Razorback fight song in the middle with all of our Razorback pictures. I had a family friend sing "My Reedemer" by Stephen Curtis Chapman.
We got married at 2 in the afternoon so after we did pictures, we ate pizza for lunch while we waited for the wedding. So my mom had us all aprons monogrammed with our names on them so we didn't get messed up! ha!
I had 4 bridesmaids: Laurie - she was my maid of honor. She is my best friend who I've been friends with since college. Next is Megan - a sweet friend I've had for years and she moved away to NC right after her wedding and I miss her still. Next is Hillary. She and Megan were best friends from college and Laurie and I got to know them many years ago. She got married last September and moved to Little Rock. And last is Kandi. Kandi was my Matron of Honor and was my college roommate. She and her husband are celebrating FIFTEEN years of marriage today which doesn't seem possible. Each of these girls are so special to me. I was so thankful to have them with me on my big day!

UPDATE: My mom came to my rescue and sent me a few more pics to share:
I loved the long train on my dress - I felt very Grace Kelly from the back!

I need to note that we got married in the fall and I had to schedule around the Razorback's. We got married on an away game day. But the hogs played at Kentucky that day and it ended up being a 7 overtime game that we won. So we missed a very exciting game (but it was worth it).

My bouquet.....I loved the colors!

I look forward to reading about each of your big days!

Because I think it's only fair.........................

Since I have been so SHOCKED that so many of you don't know about some of our Southern foods .....I thought I would research some of the foods you left me that I had never heard of (to show my ignorance. ha!) I bet this will be a learning experience for a lot of us: 1. Fry Sauce - two parts mayo, one part ketchup that people in Utah, Idaho, Nevada, and the Northwest eat with fries. Sounds pretty good to me.
2. Cincinnati Chili - which is not like the kind of Texas Chili I'm used to. This is like a meat sauce you put over spaghetti or hot dogs.
3. Scrapple - a mix of pork scraps, corn meal and flour. This is a mid-atlantic treat (Delaware, Maryland, NJ) I think this is a breakfast dish
4. Cheese curds - I didn't find a good explanation but they are eaten in MI, WI, MN and Canada
5. Pierogis - (I've actually heard of these but never had them) - Dumplings stuffed with varying ingredients
6. Tri Tip - a steak mostly found in CA (looks yummy!)
7. Goetta and Brats .....I know about Brats but not about Goetta (something similar)

And apparently y'all in the north (MN, ND) call casseroles "hot dishes". ha!

This was really fun to find out about different foods.
I will have to make Gumbo and Chocolate Gravy soon and post the recipes for all of you!

In the meantime - I'll just leave with you pictures of some Southern Sugar:

It's raining and BLEH here today so sweet girl was still in her PJ's and had some bed head crazy hair when I took these but she is still precious (to me!)

P.S. My dress from the last post was from Wal-Mart a couple of years ago! I love how everytime I get 20 comments/e-mails asking me where something I'm wearing is from .....it's Wal-Mart $14.95 and not Boutique $79.95. :-)

Okra and Carrots

I was going to wait and post this tomorrow but I've had to lay down on the couch for a while and think about the fact that at least 3-4 of you left me comments and said you didn't know what okra was???? Oh bless your sweet hearts. Okra is only one of the best vegetables EVER! There are so may things you can do with Okra - pickled okra is a personal favorite. We put that on salads. FRIED OKRA will rock your world. Gumbo wouldn't be the same without okra (tell me you know what gumbo is???).
A while back a ton of people left comments on my recipe blog wanting to know what Rotel is and now Okra. Help me Help you people!! I want to introduce you to the blessings that is southern food!
I got a great deal on steaks at Sam's today so we had a yummy meal. One of my favorite sides is to cut up red potatos and bake them. I love to put a little olive oil on them and mix with onion soup mix or tonight I added garlic salt and parmesan cheese. Oh my it is so good.
I saw this recipe in Southern Living (I am ashamed to admit I let my subscription run out so I was reading it at my mom's) and thought it sounded quick, easy and good. Only I didn't write it down and I forgot really what was in it but I improvised and it was SO good. It gave you the taste of fried okra without all the work.
Just saute sliced okra in olive oil and add some (I'm not one for measurements) Italian bread crumbs and parmesan cheese. I also added Salt and Creole seasoning. SO, SO, SO good!! We will be having this A LOT in the future. It took literally all of 10 minutes to make.

Harper got to try carrots tonight. This is the one food I read is better just to buy than to make so I bought several jars. My mom told me I loved carrots so much I turned orange and she has always told me carrots are good for eye sight. Well - this is an old wives tale because I ate a TON of carrots and I can't see past my nose.

Hmmmmmm.........what is this?

Thinking about it

And ladies and gentlemen...............we have a SUCCESS!!! The first food she has eaten and not gagged on the first bite. She ate almost a whole jar on the first try! Like mother, like daughter!

Ya'll have me wondering..............what foods are out there that maybe I don't know about??? Are there things in other parts of the country that are regional that I haven't eaten??? I'm curious now!!

Just another day

Today is a catch up day. We started it off by meeting our friend and neighbor Melissa to go walking this morning at 6:45! We were excited because today is Melissa's 30th birthday!! So go and wish her a happy birthday! (and pray that God blesses with her a child this year - I'm praying SO hard for it myself!)

After a quick morning nap, we both got ready and headed to Sam's and Wal-Mart. Can you see how extremely NON excited Harper looks?
This is once she got inside and saw all the wonderful things you can buy IN BULK! No Harper - I can not buy you candy bars in bulk just yet! But I did find some great steaks on sale that we will be having tonight. (well - not you - me and your dad. You are getting to try CARROTS for the first time tonight!)
Now I'm home trying to climb the enormous mountain of laundry that has built itself up and trying to attempt to answer e-mails and several other tasks I put off around here. I'm going to try a new recipe I saw in Southern Living yesterday at my mom's house for okra (I heart okra) so if it turns out good - I'll post it tomorrow or tonight. I didn't write it down so I'm totally going off memory - so it will be MY version of the recipe. ha!

Okay - so two things:

Lisa Smith - you won the blog design giveaway!!! I pulled a random # and it's you! E-mail me at kellykornerblog@gmail.com and I'll get you hooked up!

Next - YEAY - I finally got around to putting all the Friday "Show Us your Life" posts in one spot with all the links attached. I will update this each Monday so you can always go back and refer and keep going through them. I know I'm still trying to go through them little by little.
So go HERE and check it out!! You can also send me YOUR suggestions for SHOW US YOUR LIFE topics!!! Fun! Fun! I don't think anything will top the wedding dress day! :-) There is also a schedule on the right so you know what is coming up!!!

Sweet Caroline

Harper and I had a fun day today! We went over to my parent's house to meet up with one of my first blogger friends - Caroline. We call her "Sweet Caroline" at our house because she is so precious! I just adore her and I met her in person for the first time the day I checked out of the hospital and got to Tulsa to see Harper. She and her mother were there waiting for me. They had driven over from Texas to be there. I started crying (and so did my mom) today trying to tell them how much that meant to us and how much that made a terrible day so much better.

Her family has a lake house in Arkansas and they come every summer so they drove up from there to see us. This is Caroline's Aunt Chris, her mom Robin and Caroline.
And this is my mom, me and Harper and my aunt Linda. I realized I was the only one there without a sister. Well, me and Harper. :-) It was a fun girl's day!!!

I thought Harper looked so cute in this little dress and bow!!!

She really liked Caroline. I'm thinking it's her blond hair and love for BIG, BOLD accessories!

Mom fixed us a great girly lunch and we just enjoyed visiting!!!

Strawberry Salad, Grapes, Chicken Salad and a yummy muffin (maybe my mom will share the recipe???)
The fact that we are all 3 looking at different cameras will tell you that all of us girls were pulling out our cameras on this day!
I just had to show you these precious monogrammed bloomers! OH the sweetness!!! This is why if we have another girl - her monogram has to be HBS so she can wear these too!
Our day would have only been better if our sweet blogger friend, Jenna, could have joined us! We love her also but we did leave her a joint voicemail. You can't really tell but that is her picture on the computer - so really it's like the 3 of us were together!

By the way - Caroline and Jenna - both funny, southern, beautiful, Godly, sweet ......and SINGLE! So if you know any Godly, handsome, hardworking men.........send them my way and maybe I can set up a little mini (WHOLESOME) Bachelorette! (By the way - should have picked Reid).

P.S. Harper was just pure delight today. Six hours in the car and a day with strangers and she was so good and happy. The first 6 months of her life were hard. She cried all the time and never and I mean NEVER slept. But the poor thing had reflux, was teething and had itchy eczema. You would cry all the time too. It was tough. I won't lie. But she could not be any easier than she is right now. I want to cry every day thinking about how fast she is growing. I was listening to Focus on the Family tonight on the drive home and they were talking about taking mental videos of your children because you just want to freeze frame those precious moments with them because it's over so fast. It is so true. I'm treasuring every last second with her and I hope you are with your children too. I just keep singing that "Hootie" song "It won't be like this for long". That goes for the hard and the wonderful moments alike!

Baby Sitting, Swimming and a Giveaway

Remember how I said yesterday that I was finally feeling comfortable as a mother and maybe we would start thinking about #2? NO - I'm not pregnant. And I need to get Scott to agree on a "H" name first. ha! Just kidding. (His suggestion is Henrietta. YIKES!)(I already have several I like - it's convincing Scott that none of the names will make kids make fun of them). But today I got a little taste of what that might be like. I kept Laurie's girls for a few hours while she went to the doctor this morning. It actually was pretty easy. (As you can see Harper is just inches or days away from crawling.....she is almost there!)
Emily was so much help to me. She helped play with the two little ones and helped me change their diapers. She is such a sweet girl. They all got in the play pen to play.
I thought this was cute of Harper until I realized she had spit up all over right when I took this.
After Laurie got home, we walked to their neighborhood pool. Only the water was cold and it was overcast and Harper was tired so we ended up only staying probably 15 minutes.
I laid Harper down to take off her swimming diapers (thank you - I learned my lesson) and she was out. Bless her heart. Playing with big kids and few minutes of swimming just did her in!

I know so many of you are praying for Stellan today. Please continue to pray. Also pray for Abby. And there are SOOOOOO many more just like them who need our prayers. You can find a long list on my prayer blog. It is very overwhelming and I know a lot of my friends and I have talked about how it seems like there are SO many sick babies and kids and families......but I think the blogging world has just made things so small. Your inner circle probably doesn't know as much hurt - but these requests are from all over the globe. Thank for the love and support you give each other. I hope that in the blog world you are not just finding sadnes.......but also SO MUCH JOY!!! There are so many happy, funny, wonderful things out there as well!!!!

And one last thing......a fun thing. A prayer request that has had a good ending - sweet Bentley and her heart - her mother is going to do a giveaway for one of you of a blog design. Go here and check her out! She also gives away one design a month on her site so you might win there also! Just leave me a comment and let me know you are interested and one lucky winner will win! I'll draw for it on Wednesday!

House of Pancakes

Almost 6 years ago, right after we got married, I SO wanted to be a good wife so I woke up one Saturday morning and tried to make pancakes for the first time in my life. I don't know why it was so hard for me but it was a horrible mess. I just didn't know when to flip them so I had a whole stack of horribly burnt pancakes or really loose liquidy ones that wouldn't flip. I was crying and smelled like pancake batter for most of the day. It pretty much scarred me for life because I have yet to attempt it again.
But yesterday, Scott was really wanting pancakes only we didn't have syrup (I tried to google to see if I could make some by scratch but I didn't have maple flavoring sitting around the house) so I told Scott I would get some and get up early and make them before church this morning. and I was so proud of myself as we set off for church (almost) on time, all dressed and ready and tummies full of pancakes. Donna Reed eat your heart out! It almost makes me want to start wearing pearls and dresses every day as I do housework. (Oh wait - I already do). I should have been born in the 40's.

We had a low key weekend. We mostly hung around the house yesterday and got a few things done. Harper took several naps and enjoyed eating. She is LOVING her some Yo Baby Yogurt. We have it every morning and she just PANTS to get more!
I can't say the same for the sweet potatos. I have been so tickled by the faces she makes when she eats it. She is such a little drama queen. She will act like she is just gagging on it and then in the next second - flash a huge smile. Oh dear - in 13 years I'm going to need a LOT of prayer!
She did a little better in church today. I went to check on her between church and Sunday School and she was asleep. My whole body sighed with relief. It's like I FINALLY feel like I might have a little bit of a handle on motherhood. I never thought I'd get here but I'm starting to get my stride. And I love it. And I'm starting to think "okay, I think I can do this again!"

God is Good All the Time!

And ALL the Time - God is GOOD!

Room Makeover #1 and Sweet Potatos

So I have been working on a few changes at our house. I bought this green furniture set when I was single and bought my first house about 8 years ago. We had been wanting to get something new but had planned to wait a while. And then some friends of ours got new furniture and sold us a leather couch and 2 chairs (one we put in Scott's office) for a great deal that we couldn't pass up. This is the BEFORE of what our family room looked like.
And this is the after. New couch and chair. I got a new rug and of course the bar stools I already told you about. The room seems a little bigger now which is nice. That wall to the left of the window needs something. I'm thinking once Harper is a little bigger and I get one or two great pictures of her - I'll have them framed and hang on that wall in some big gold chunky frames.

This is looking from the back of the family room into the kitchen before:
And this is after. I'm happy with how it looks. The only other thing I want is some new things to go on top of the armoire that holds the TV. Right now there is some floral arrangement that I think is left over from Christmas. ha! So I'm scouting out bargains for that and then I'll feel really happy about that room.

I'm also in the middle of doing a makeover on another room but I can't show you it just yet. Don't get excited......it's NOT another nursery. ha! I'm re-doing our master bedroom but I have a few steps to go. Once again, I've been able to do a lot on a small budget so I'm excited! I think I'm going to like it. I'm also in the middle of packing up a lot of Harper's baby stuff that she can't use anymore like the bouncy seat and a few other things. It makes me a little sad.

Tonight I also tried my first attempt at making baby food. This was pretty easy.

I took 3 sweet potatos and baked them.

Peeled them and put the insides in a bowl.

Pureed with a little water. I bought ice cube trays to freeze baby food but since this didn't make just a ton - I'm not going to freeze. I'll just use this for the next couple of days and then move on to other things. I may get ambitious and do several foods ahead one day and then I'll freeze them for future use. Several people suggested adding a little cinnamon. Is that safe? Did you do that? I'm so excited about making my own baby food. It's something I never dreamed I would be doing but it's fun and a big money saver! And I know Harper is getting just the pure food and not anything added. (Says the mom who ate about 25 oreos tonight. ha!) (I want her to be healthier than me!)

P.S. LOVING the wedding gown posts. I'm on #30 so it will be fall before I get to the 400's but this may be my favorite blog carnival yet. Next week is the wedding party and flowers but feel free to include anything else like your wedding rings, your proposal, etc...... and then the next week will be reception pictures. SO fun! I thought it would easier to break into a 3 part series!