Surrender

I Surrender ALL

All to Jesus, I surrender;
All to Him I freely give;
I will ever love and trust Him,
In His presence daily live.

I surrender all,
I surrender all,
All to Thee, my blessèd Savior,
I surrender all.

All to Jesus I surrender;
Humbly at His feet I bow,
Worldly pleasures all forsaken;
Take me, Jesus, take me now.

All to Jesus, I surrender;
Make me, Savior, wholly Thine;
Let me feel the Holy Spirit,
Truly know that Thou art mine.

All to Jesus, I surrender;
Lord, I give myself to Thee;
Fill me with Thy love and power;
Let Thy blessing fall on me.

All to Jesus I surrender;
Now I feel the sacred flame.
O the joy of full salvation!
Glory, glory, to His Name!

This has always been one of my favorite hymns. It takes me back to the small church my family was a part of until I was a high school student. About 1 Sunday evening a month this church would have "open hymnal night" and the older people of the congregation would come and call out the number of the hymn they wanted to sing. There were always a few staples sung at each of these events - Holy, Holy, Holy, Great is Thy Faithfulness, The Old Rugged Cross and I Surrender All. Even as a young believer, the words to this simple hymn would almost bring me to tears. Now as an adult, with more things in my life that are so very important to me, the Lord brings this beautiful song into my heart and mind many times a week.

Have I fully surrendered everything to my Lord and Savior? Everything He has blessed me with - my precious husband and children, my family and friends, our ministry, our home, our health, etc. is His already. Do I truly believe that God is who He says He is and that He is going to do everything He says He will do? Absolutely! Then why do I cling to the things of this world and why do I still try to have control? My fleshly nature I guess. I just want more of Him and less of me. It is my daily prayer.

Lord, thank You for your amazing and steadfast love for me! I lay all the wonderful blessings You have given my that I don't deserve at Your feet. Humble me. Give me wisdom beyond myself. Use me for Your kingdom. All to Jesus, I surrender.

"But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in Him." Jeremiah 17:7

Thankful Thursday

Part of the reason I love Thursdays is because I know that Friday is only one day away. We have recently deemed Fridays as "Family Fun Fridays." Andrew is "off" on Fridays and we try as much as possible not to be at home much these days. We just want to be out spending the day together whether it is at a park having a picnic lunch, going to the zoo or just running errands, it is one of the most anticipated days of the week for me. I love not having to be anywhere on time (unless we have a doc app. like tomorrow:) and I LOVE the simpleness of these days. Just being together. Just playing. Just talking and laughing. Just us.

Ainsley - 4 Months Old

Here are some pics our our sweet little girl from the last month.

In the Bumbo for the 1st time. With Mommy
and Daddy

All smiles:)

Another attempt to get a pic with all 3.
Hanging out with big bro.
Audrey loves to hold her baby sister. So cute!
4 month birthday


Our precious baby girl is now 4 months old and I truly am sitting here wondering where the time has gone already?! The days and nights just fly by and I am more thankful each day for the gift of motherhood. It is so challenging, isn't it? Yet more rewarding than anything I have ever experienced. Our God that we serve is so remarkable! Words can't describe. Okay, so back to our sweet Ainsley! :) She is such a happy and easy-going little girl! We all just sit around and try and make her smile because she has some of the deepest dimples and I have never seen someone "smile" so much with her whole face and eyes. It is a beautiful sight! She weighs around 13 pounds I would say (we go for our 4 month check up this Friday and I will get her official weight then) and she is very long. If I had to guess I would say that she will be the tallest of my three kiddos. Everyone says that she looks just like me (I would have to agree:) and it seems like she is going to keep her big blue eyes.

Ainsley's favorite things/people right now are definitely her brother and sister. She is watching their every move already! It is so amazing to watch the 3 of them "playing" as Ainsley lays on the ottoman or the floor. These are the times I will keep in my heart and mind forever! So precious hearing Austin and Audrey's sweet words to their baby sis as they hover over her and she just is cooing and awing over them. Ainsley is very interested in the whole rolling over thing and she has definitely found her hands. She hasn't taken to a pacifier like my other two. She would rather prefer the 2 fingers of her left hand which is fine with us. We are pretty much into a routine as far as naps, nursing and night time go (and today was the very first time she napped for like 30 minutes upstairs in her crib while Austin and Audrey were sleeping - I am worried that she will wake up, cry, and wake them up - so she usually naps downstairs.) We are always "making progress"! We still change a TON of diapers (even though Austin is VERY close to being potty trained - YEA!) and most people still don't know how we do it with 3 under 3, but the craziness has become our normal and we praise our Lord and Savior daily for our 3 amazing and energetic children!

I've Been Tagged!

So a little while back, (Okay - it was in AUGUST!) I was "blog tagged" by one of my best friends, Kylie. I've been trying to think of some interesting things about me since then and I hope I am able to come up with 6. :)

It's goes something like this: Link the person who tagged you, mention the rules, tell 6 quirky yet boring unspectacular things about yourself, tag six other bloggers by linking them, and then go to each person's blog and leave a comment letting them know they've been tagged.

So, here it goes!

1) I have to start with one of my new "loves" - COFFEE! I have always liked coffee and enjoy drinking it, but I would say before Ainsley was born I was just a "social coffee drinker." I would only drink coffee every so often or when my husband would stop off at Starbucks before we left on a trip. And even then it would have to be a mocha frappicino or a mocha coffee with a TON of sugar. Since I have been pregnant for like the last 3 years :) I chose to lay way off the caffeine and my social coffee drinking habits were the first to go. But, like I said before - since Ainsley has been born I have a little ritual I do in the mornings after I wake up and one of the first things I "need" is that cup of coffee. My sweet husband makes me a cup every morning and then again at lunch and then sometimes a decaf cup at night. I would have to say that I am definitely addicted. I also know that with 3 under 3 I need as much energy as possible and these days I am still not sleeping throughout the nights (Ainsley will sometimes still wake up for a 3:00a.m. feeding waking her brother up in the process - good times!) So coffee has become part of my survival method these days. :)

2)Something very quirky about me is that I sleep with my eyes halfway open. I first realized that I did this whenever I woke up one day on a bus ride to a volleyball game in high school with like 6 fellow volleyball players staring over the seat and laughing at me. (Thanks girls! :) I have slept with a mask over my eyes for several years now and I love it b/c of the pitch blackness and the fact that I won't freak out my husband with my "eye issue" anymore. I have always said I do this eye thing b/c I have such big eyes, but I don't know. :) All I know is that my sweet Ainsley does the same thing, so now I get to see how weird it really is to watch someone sleep with their eyes open!

3) I love, love, love music and I always wanted to be a professional dancer. I took dance for many years and the only reason I stopped was because my family really couldn't afford for me to continue doing it and all the other sports I was involved in. So, in jr. high I had to make a choice and I chose sports. There just weren't enough hours in the day to do everything I wanted to do! I look back and now I am very sad that I let dance go. Like so many people music inspires me, challenges me and helps me focus on the things I need to be singing and praising God for in my life. These days I listen to mostly all christian music (or praise baby if we are in the car). I also love to sing, though I am definitely not the best singer in the world. Austin told me just yesterday to "Please stop singing, mommy." And I asked, "Why? Does it hurt your ears?" and he said "Yes, mommy - no singing." Sing - the second most commanded thing the Lord asks us to do in the Bible behind love. I would say that it is important to Him.

4) I am very competitive. I am not too excited about this quality, but every time I think I am over the whole competitive thing - I am definitely not. Thankfully, Andrew has not one competitive bone in his body, so it is not a source of conflict for us. :) I even have a sweet memory of us going on a putt-putt date early in our relationship where he was genuinely worried that he might win and make me upset. Too cute! (He didn't win that night by the way:) The 2 things that Andrew has me beat at are bowling (he is really very good) and Yahtzee. He wins every time! I definitely have him in monopoly and any sport with a ball though. He he! It will be interesting to see which of our kiddos "inherit" this quality. I am pretty sure Austin is well on his way. I see myself in him so often!

5) I am a TLC and HGTV nut! I could watch these channels all day long. I don't of course b/c it is not the choice of my kiddos. These days it is mostly Word World, Curious George and Thomas the Train. I love Jon and Kate Plus 8 b/c they make me and my life feel very normal. I also enjoy watching house renovations and design shows. I am definitely a designer wanna be. I think I mostly like these types of shows b/c there is little to no drama. I am absolutely not the drama queen type.

6) I know I am a pastors wife, but deep down inside I don't enjoy being center stage or the center of attention EVER. I am much more of a behind the scenes kind of person. I have always struggled having people make a fuss over me like wedding and baby showers and being interviewed in front of an entire church body. For some reason the Lord continues to place me in leadership positions. I guess it is because He knows I am totally insecure when it comes to speaking to large groups and that in my weakness He can be strong. And more importantly - He is glorified. I just want more of Jesus and less of me. I really do love people and social situations, but put the spotlight on me and I am freaking out! I just like playing the supporting role and letting my wonderful hubby do what he is great at. I can't imagine having to prepare something every week and then stand up and deliver the message God wants you to. It is definitely a calling!

Well, those are some random things about me. Thanks for reading! I am now tagging: Ann, Lindsay, Angie, Suzanne, Darlene, and Jan. Have fun, ladies! Love y'all!

Weekends

Our family has had some pretty busy weekends the past month and I wanted to share what we have been up to. I will start with the most recent and go backwards. Yes, there are tons of pics.:)

We went to an awesome Pumkin Patch this weekend and the kiddos had their first experience carving a pumpkin they picked out. It was messy fun! Here is a pic of the end result.

I think Audrey enjoyed the messy part of pulling out the

seeds much more than Austin did. :)

This pic does not do this girl justice on how sticky she was.
Austin loved the actual carving part. I just knew he was going to slice his hand open trying to grab the knife.
What is a photo opp without a close-up of such a cutie?!

This is on the fun hay ride at the pumkin patch. Andrew with his girls.

Audrey was too cute trying to pick up every pumkin she saw. :)

Austin loved feeing all the animals. Here he is giving a longhorn a snack. All the animals were very gentle. It was fun.
Audrey was not too excited and a little scared of this part.
This was the best pic of the 3 kiddos I could get. It is so hard getting "posed" pictures at this age! I try not to get frustrated. It is just too hard to sit still.:)
This was a fun play area where Austin could climb
and Audrey could just sit and watch her bro be a monkey.
This is the actual pumkin patch where we picked our pumkins. This pic looks like Austin is being really sweet to his little sis, but he is actually taking the pumpkin away from Audrey and there were definitely tears to follow. Sigh.


This is one of our favorite places in Waco - the Zoo. We try and make it a goal to go each time we visit my parents. This was Audrey's first time to go in a while and it was so fun seeing how excited she got over the animals like she was seeing them for the very 1st time. Too cute!

Watching the otters swim. I just started putting Audrey's hair up in pig tails. She loves it and asks for "tails" every morning. She looks like such a big girl to me these days.
She could have done this all day!
All Austin wanted to see was the "elepants" and the "grapts".


We met some friends for a very fun lunch play date and my camera died. I was so sad that I only got a few pics of our sweet friends. This is a pic of my kiddos with Hudson and Avery. Austin misses Hudson a lot and they are great buds so it is always fun to see them when we go to Waco.

Audrey was so proud that she could climb up into the rides by herself.
This is sweet Sophie holding Ainsley with meg looking on. Sophie is the most adorable little girl!

Here is Austin with 2 of his favorite things - his Papa (my dad)and the riding lawn mower.

Austin "lets" Audrey ride sometimes too.
My sweet daddy can make any of my kiddos smile. I love this pic!
The kids with my parents hanging out.




We went to a Fly In while in Waco for my mom's birthday. People with these small planes fly in to eat lunch and hang out for a while then fly out. It is a lot of fun to watch the planes land and take off. Austin just can't get enough of the planes!

A family pic in front of one of the planes.
Aunt Zu zu and Uncle Cory came with us this time.

This is one of the most wonderful couples and best friends in the world - Steve and Mandy Helm. They host a Fly in 2 times a year on their land. We don't know anyone else that has a landing strip in their back yard! :) Congrats also to this sweet couple! They will be having baby #2 next summer! We love you guys!

As you can see, we are having a blast this fall as a little family! These are special times we will never forget!