Day of Prayer

Instead of the scheduled SUYL - we are just taking a day to remember the victims of the horrible tornados this week and I also want to give you a few prayer requests. I'll put up a link list if you have a blog or caring bridge site you want to link to or just a request. This link list is a little different so you should be able to put your request straight on there (even if you have nothing to link to).

Here is a little info if you want to help the people of Alabama (or other states - like TN and AR - The red cross is helping all of these states)

http://www.servealabama.gov/2010/2011%20Tornadoes/Response.aspx to help those in need. This site is set up through the Governors Office so it is a safe, secure site/way to give to disaster relief.

If you need help finding a loved one, the contact number for missing people in Tuscaloosa County is 205-349-2121.

here is a link to donation sites all over Alabama:

http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2011/04/alabama_tornadoes_how_you_can.html

If your company would like to donate items or services please contact Frank McCrory with the EMA office through email (phone communication is limited as he is out in the field) Frank.McCrory@ema.alabama.gov OR call 211 (I believe this only works in Alabama though).

And lastly, again through the red cross:

Online: go to www.alredcross.org and click on the "donate now" link on the homepage

Call: 1-800-RED-CROSS (1-800-733-2767) and you will be prompted to a menu that includes financial donations

Text: "Red Cross" to 90999.

They also need blood donated badly to help the victims!

Other requests:

• Pray for Alyssa, Erik, and their 6 month old baby, Jackson. Jackson was born with a congenital heart defect in October as well as Downs Syndrome. He received his first heart surgery 2 months ago and has been doing well from that. More recently though, some things were worrying his parents...so they took him to the doctore...they just found out on Good Friday that little Jackson has been diagnosed with leukemia.

• http://littlebabypierce.blogspot.com/ Pierce was born at 23 weeks this month

• http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/christieengelmann Christie is a new mom who found out she had a brain tumor just weeks after having her baby

• Pray for the family of 3 year old Carley Collins from MS. She drowned earlier this month. They were able to give 8 of her organs to other children. What a gift.

• http://joinbellasjourney.com/ 2 year old Bella has cancer

I did want to share that the little boy in Russia I told y'all about, Vanya, has found a family who is going to adopt him. Thank you for making that happen!!!! PRAISE!!!!

Zoo Day

I can't write anything else without saying first that I'm just devastated for the people of Alabama and other southern states who were hit so hard by the tornados. I've been watching video after video and picture after picture. It's unspeakable. I'm so sorry for all those who lost everything but especially for those who lost loved ones.  Please pray for everyone that was touched. 

Since Scott was off this week and we FINALLY had a pretty day - we decided to drive about 30 miles away to a Drive Through Wilderness Safari/Zoo.  We have been once before Harper was born but we knew Harper would love it because she is obsessed with animals. 

It's really neat - you just drive on these roads and they have all kinds of animals.

Most are out roaming.........these Emu's freak me out. They will come right up to your window.

Doesn't this look like the Donkey from Shrek?

The camels stuck their heads in our windows.  That kind of freaked me out too.

Harper liked the drive through part okay but it's hard to see from a car seat.  She went CRAZY when we went to the petting zoo part.  There is a walk through where they have monkeys and small animals you can look at.

They had 3 little baby monkeys in a cage and those were her favorite. She was SOOO excited. She kept just running around saying "Momma, come on!! Daddy, let's go!!!" It was SO cute!

Hollis slept through the entire thing but I'm sure she had a great time.  We got in the car and it got super quiet before we even got out of town and I turned around and Harper was OUT like a light.  It wore her out!

           

Such a great way to spend time with my family!

And just a note:

Tomorrow's SUYL is all about vacations! I'm going to move that out one week and instead - I've been sent SO many prayer requests lately and in light of the tornados - I think it would be more appropriate to have a day of prayer for all those involved and others who need our prayer. Please come back and leave your requests and take time to pray for those who need it! 

GNO and home tour

 Our Sunday School girls get together one night a month for a potluck dinner and fun! It's something I look forward to more than anything.  I hadn't planned on going last night because I didn't know how Hollis would do and we had more storms headed our way but last minute I decided to go and I'm so glad I did.

 I took Hollis with me and she did so good.  Everyone took turns holding her.  My friend Ginger had her for a long time!

 Laurie and Amanda forgot to send me the "green" memo.  I think we had 20 or more girls there last night.

 I didn't get a picture of everyone but I'm so glad so many could come. It's just so nice to have a chance to really talk without kids running around or us needing to worry about anything but visiting and laughing.

 My friend Tracy hosted and made the best spaghetti and we all brought sides or desserts.  It was just a fun night and thankfully we didn't all have to cram into a bathroom or closet due to a tornado - we got spared.

 Harper didn't sleep at all last night. I don't know what her deal was.  She and Hollis were both up from about 2:30 on.  I told them they could have done this on Friday morning instead so we could at least just get up and watch the royal wedding together. ha ha ha! I wish they were a little older so we could watch it. I'm old enough to remember getting up to watch Charles and Di get married! I'm excited about the wedding.......especially after watching "William and Kate" on Lifetime at least 3 times now. ha! Scott on the other hand is so tired of hearing about it. He is constantly yelling at the TV "Just get married already.......".  I have a feeling most men feel that way.

Little Sass has started putting her hands on her hips and it cracks me up.  She is such a mess. Even in the middle of the night when she is keeping me up - she just makes me laugh.  And she has started saying "I love you momma" "I love you daddy" all the time and it just completely melts me.  I need to video THAT so I can treasure her little 2 year old voice saying it for the rest of my life.
And how much do I love those little orange shoes? I own about 4 pairs of shoes but Harper seems to accumulate a lot because I just love them.  And since I discovered Zulily - they will sometimes have nice shoes for sale for wal-mart prices so I grabbed up these.  We have a surprisingly large amount of clothes that these orange shoes match. Weird.

I thought it would fun to share a blog with you from one of my college friends. Shelli and I weren't really friends in college but we have met back up through the blog/facebook world and since we are both "older" moms - we have connected.  Shelli is not a designer (but should be) but has amazing taste and I have LOVED looking at her pics of her home and just all the great design ideas she gives.  I know how much most of you love home tours - so you might like checking hers out.

I mean seriously - this is her office. If this was my office - I might try to get a job working at home so I could spend as much time as possible in here! (Or I might actually answer all my emails). ha!

and her little girl's nursery! She recently updated it and I think it's so neat! You just have to go check out the rest of the tour and her blog! http://www.alamodemaven.com/search/label/Home%20Tour

Blowouts and birds

Just some random stories/stuff from our house.......................
Our women's Bible study started a summer session today (even though it's not really summer). For the next 8 weeks we are having what Laurie and I have named "Testimony Tuesday: Your story for His Glory". We can totally not take credit for that - one or more of y'all shared that your church did that and we loved it. Eight different women in our church will share their testimony each week and we are also watching Louie Giglio videos. I am in heaven. We did this last summer and it was amazing. Today did not disappoint. One of the women I admire SO much in our church shared her testimony and it was as if God told her specific things to say that I needed to hear. I'm so glad I went even though I was super late because I just haven't quite got down the routine of getting myself and two girls ready and feeding Hollis at the same time down yet.
And then in the middle of Bible Study I started smelling something awful. I had Hollis in her carseat next to me and I lifted her blanket and she had a MAJOR blowout. So I had to leave and change her and realized I didn't have a change of clothes for her. Bless her heart. All I had was a little sweater that had gone over her outfit one day.

I have to tell about this. If you know my best friend Laurie or read her blog - you know she has a CRAZY fear of birds. Well I guess a bird has built a nest on my front door wreath. We have been having bad storms and the other night real late after Scott had already gone to sleep - I decided to open the front door to look outside. I have no idea why. Well - when I did - a bird flew in our house. I had to wake Scott up and tell him there was a bird in our house and he had to get it out. That took some explaining and you can imagine how thrilled he was. ha! It took a while but we got it out. I was freaked out .........but I knew Laurie would have had a heart attack and I couldn't quit laughing.

I know a lot of you are having droughts where you live but we have had FLOODS! It has rained for several days in a row and it's been awful. Yesterday they shut down schools and most work places and closed almost all the roads because everything was so flooded. Tornados hit central AR bad last night and we are under warnings for tonight. I feel like I need to build an ark. Pray for our state.

And also - Harper has gotten real into praying. She wants to pray all the time. The other night (during a storm) - we were all piled up in our bed before Harper's bedtime and she wanted to pray. You can't understand much of what she is saying - she is mostly calling out all her family members names and praying for them to eat. ha ha ha! I thought it was so sweet. And she had to stop when it thundered real hard. Scott caught it on video on his phone so I thought I would share

My favorite Store

I'm taking a little sidetrack today from posting about my family to share about my favorite local store! It's called Riffraff and it's in Fayetteville, AR. They have been open a few years and I think it's the neatest shop!

They have all kinds of cute things - furniture, home accessories, baby stuff, the BEST jewelry, and even really cute clothes. I bought a few things I wore during my pregnancy that weren't maternity.

The store is about 30 minutes from me or I'm afraid I would stop in at least once a week and my budget would be in some serious trouble!

But one of my favorite things is they have a cute blog I love to read and they have a Facebook page! On the facebook page - they constantly put up new pictures of all their new merchandise and I have to admit I window shop on-line a lot since I can't stop in very often. (Especially with two little ones!)

I know y'all live all over the country but I thought it would be fun to share with you - because you can "like" their facebook page and then when they update pictures - you could shop without having to live nearby!! And they ship all clothes, jewelry, and accessories for only $6!!!

(Go through the pictures they post and if you see something you like - leave a comment and they can give you the price and let you know if they still have it. Then you can call or email them to pay and order)!

Don't they have fun stuff? I love all the picture frames and wall decor! Arkansas girls - they always have VERY unique Razorback stuff!

The owner is this cute young girl - Kirsten! I love that she is a small business owner at a young age!

And here is the fun part - I'm giving away this cute apron on my review blog!! Go to www.kellyskornerreviews.blogspot.com and sign up to win!!!!!

Check out Riffraff's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/RiffraffFayetteville
and their blog: http://www.shopriffraff.blogspot.com/

Not the Easter I had planned..................

At the beginning of the year - I started looking for matching Easter dresses for today! I was so excited to dress my girls alike and take them to church.  I also figured that since Easter was so late - it would be a warm, sunny day and I had visions in my head of coming home from church and hunting eggs after lunch. We invited our best friends over for lunch and looked forward to spending the day with them.

Things don't always go as planned.

Yesterday Harper didn't want to eat lunch and she said "Harper's tired" and wanted to take a nap.  I knew something was wrong.  Sure enough she woke up with 101 temp.  She has been SO healthy all winter.  She hasn't been sick since early fall.  But of course she woke up with a bug.  Last night she cried and just wanted her daddy to hold her and wanted to go to bed.  We had kind of a long night here last night.  So I knew church was out.

 She did get a fun box of goodies from her Gigi and Pap-pa that was fun for her and her great aunt Rebecca sent a package too.  Scott went on to church this morning because there was no reason for us to both miss. Harper is doing better today.  I'm a little bummed to miss church because I LOVE our Easter service.  We have a great preacher each year and amazing music and people always get saved on Easter and I love that.
It's also a cold, rainy, gloomy day.

We didn't even do Harper's Easter basket this morning with all the sickness going on.  The Easter Bunny is coming mid afternoon to our house instead. ha! I keep telling Scott this is just a season we are in.  We can't go and do a lot because we have an active toddler and a newborn.  We can't always make plans.  But I'm SO thankful to have two healthy daughters and no matter our circumstances these days - we are blessed to just have them.

I also keep singing the words to one of my favorite songs "In Christ Alone" to myself this morning as I do laundry and change diapers instead of worshipping at church...........Oh these words mean so much to me right now!

In Christ alone my hope is found

He is my light, my strength, my song

This Cornerstone, this solid ground

Firm through the fiercest drought and storm

What heights of love, what depths of peace

When fears are stilled, when strivings cease

My Comforter, my All in All

Here in the love of Christ I stand

No power of hell, no scheme of man

Could ever pluck me from His hand

Til He returns or calls me home

Here in the power of Christ I stand

CHRIST ALONE - HE IS OUR HOPE! 

Thank you for the cross!

TGIF

Happy Good Friday! So thankful for Jesus who loved us so much that He died for our sins so we could have ABUNDANT life eternally with Him!

This is one of my absolute favorite videos. Everytime I see this I get chills, tears in my eyes and I just kind of want to stand up and PRAISE Him!!! Jesus didn't just die on Friday - He rose again!!! He's alive!!!

 My parents drove over today to spend a few hours with the girls.  I know they were excited to see Hollis and how she has grown.  They couldn't believe her curly dark hair!

 Someone was a little jealous that she wasn't the complete center of her grandparent's attention.  She kept insisting my dad "hold her like a baby".  Kind of hard to hold a 36 pound baby in a cradle hold. ha!

 They brought the girls some Easter goodies.  Harper got some rain boots which should come very in handy in the rainy months of April and May around here.

 Hollis even got a basket and if you look closely - she is even smiling about it!

 The girls were wearing matching dresses today.  Harper didn't want her picture made with Hollis while her grandparents were here but I talked her into it tonight.

She may have a little jealousy over her sister - but at the end of the day - she loves her!

We had bad scares of tornados here tonight. Actually we have had bad storms almost every day lately but this one was a little too close.  We all went in our closet to wait it out.  It's hard to wait in a closet with a busy 2 year old but she watched Elmo videos and was really good! Thank goodness it passed over us. Tornados scare me to death. (And no - most houses in the south don't have basements. Makes total sense, huh?)

My friend Bethany took this picture at play group the other day and I'm just in love with it.  I love her big eyes and lips.  Someone left me a comment saying this and I hadn't thought of it before - but do you think she looks a little like Drew Barrymore in ET?  (I didn't watermark so you can compare)!

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Show Us Your Life - Tell us how you stay organized

Today's SUYL is all about how you stay organized.

My husband would probably love to help me tell you that since having one child.........much less having two now - I'm the most un-organized person on the planet. I just can't seem to keep up with anything. I keep 100 lists everywhere......on my desk, on the refrigerator, on my phone - and yet I seem to forget everything.

I make 3 or more trips to the grocery store a week because I can't plan well enough to just go once.

All that to say ......................I'm no expert on this subject but I know lots of you are.

So let's hear it.....................................

Here comes Peter Cotton Tail

Today we had a big play group at my friend Tracy's house to celebrate Easter. I dressed the girls in their matching spring outfits! Oh so fun!!!

Okay - this is just a little play group that gets together with moms from our Sunday School class. We do it around lunch time so we normally have sandwiches or maybe a casserole and something for the kids. But my friend Tracy is like Martha Stewart Jr and she always goes ALL OUT. Today was insane. She tries to make it so special - I just call her crazy. I had to share all the details with you.
(I have to add that Tracy has 2 young girls, works from home, sews, refinishes furniture, rearranges her house about twice a month, cooks for her neighbors, and just constantly does for others. I always want to know if she ever sleeps or could she give me some of that energy!)

Chinese slaw salad in these little jars???? SERIOUSLY?????

And our amazing friend Robin made these cookies. She can do anything!

Lemonade in mason jars??? SO CUTE!

Of course my sweet little girl (who thinks she is a boy) only wanted to throw dirt on herself and her cute smocked dress and climb to the highest point of the swing set so that I would be a nervous wreck the whole time. Thank goodness Hollis slept in her carrier the whole time. I think once she gets active - I'm going to have to drop out of play group. I love my friends - but chasing two kids at a big play group is more than I'm cut out for.

It was supposed to be cold and rainy and we go SO lucky because it was a GORGEOUS day!! (of course while I have been writing this - we just had the biggest hail storm I have EVER seen. It was like it was snowing huge hail balls. CRAZY)

The Easter bunny even showed up. Harper wouldn't even look at him. She was too busy digging in the dirt. ha!

Tracy also had live bunnies!! Harper was pretty interested in that!

And then we had an Easter egg hunt. It was so much fun!

I think we had 16 moms there and almost 30 toddlers/preschoolers/babies there. YIKES! We did come inside and do the resurrection eggs with the kids. I know all of my friends care more about their kids knowing about Jesus and his death and resurrection than about Bunnies and candy - but it was a fun way to celebrate spring on such a pretty morning.

Kelly