Happy Birthday, Cade!!

Tomorrow, my oldest will be NINE!  I cannot believe I have been a Mom for 9 whole years.  It seems impossible.

My Dearest Cade,

From the moment I met you, you changed my life.

You have brought so much joy to us, and everyone around you.  It’s hard to remember what life was like before you.

You are a great Big Brother, and the smartest boy I know.

You make us laugh and keep us on our toes.

Over the past two years, you have grown so much, both physically and spiritually.  I love to hear you pray, and thank Jesus for your sisters, asking Him to take care of Faith, and keep Emmy well.  Sometimes, if you are feeling really sweet, you may thank Him for SaraGrace, too.

   You are so competitive and you work very hard at everything you put your mind to.

Your most competitive aspect is hunting.  Especially when you hunt with me and you get mad if I don’t let you shoot my hogs.

There is never a dull moment, and God  blessed Daddy and me when He chose US to be your parents.

   Happy Birthday, Cade!

We love you!!!

What is your Jericho?

{The content of this post is inspired by the message preached on Sunday by Paul O’Steen.}

Sunday, the Lord had a specific message prepared just for me.  When our preacher stood up to deliver the message, he said that the Lord just laid this passage upon his heart, that someone must have needed to hear it.  That someone was ME! 

For the last several months, I have really struggled with my relationship with Jesus.  While we were walking the journey with Faith, I felt so intimately close with Him.  I depended on Him for everything.  Once we were on the other side and normal life took back over, I kinda put Him on the back burner.  Things got busy, we are having a new baby, I’ve been scared, and on and on and on.  I have really been disappointed in myself. 

I feel like it is a daily prayer of mine that I will be in His will.  But sometimes what He asks us to do can be so intimidating, and we just don’t have it in us to do it.

So here is where the scripture fits in…

Joshua 6:1-20

King James Version (KJV)

6 Now Jericho was straitly shut up because of the children of Israel: none went out, and none came in.

² And the Lord said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour.

³ And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days.

⁴ And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams' horns: and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets.

⁵ And it shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him.

⁶ And Joshua the son of Nun called the priests, and said unto them, Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of the Lord.

⁷ And he said unto the people, Pass on, and compass the city, and let him that is armed pass on before the ark of the Lord.

⁸ And it came to pass, when Joshua had spoken unto the people, that the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams' horns passed on before the Lord, and blew with the trumpets: and the ark of the covenant of the Lord followed them.

⁹ And the armed men went before the priests that blew with the trumpets, and the rereward came after the ark, the priests going on, and blowing with the trumpets.

¹⁰ And Joshua had commanded the people, saying, Ye shall not shout, nor make any noise with your voice, neither shall any word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I bid you shout; then shall ye shout.

¹¹ So the ark of the Lord compassed the city, going about it once: and they came into the camp, and lodged in the camp.

¹² And Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the Lord.

¹³ And seven priests bearing seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of the Lord went on continually, and blew with the trumpets: and the armed men went before them; but the rereward came after the ark of the Lord, the priests going on, and blowing with the trumpets.

¹⁴ And the second day they compassed the city once, and returned into the camp: so they did six days.

¹⁵ And it came to pass on the seventh day, that they rose early about the dawning of the day, and compassed the city after the same manner seven times: only on that day they compassed the city seven times.

¹⁶ And it came to pass at the seventh time, when the priests blew with the trumpets, Joshua said unto the people, Shout; for the Lord hath given you the city.

¹⁷ And the city shall be accursed, even it, and all that are therein, to the Lord: only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all that are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent.

¹⁸ And ye, in any wise keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest ye make yourselves accursed, when ye take of the accursed thing, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it.

¹⁹ But all the silver, and gold, and vessels of brass and iron, are consecrated unto the Lord: they shall come into the treasury of the Lord.

²⁰ So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets: and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.

The Lord had given Joshua and the people specific instructions regarding Jericho.  He told them that at the end of seven days, the walls would fall.  How could that be?  These walls were so intimidating, and the task seemed so daunting.  But Joshua obeyed.  And you know what, the Lord kept his promise.

Now, if these people were anything like we are, after the first day, they were over this task.  I’m sure it seemed pointless to them, not to mention…HARD.

How many times do we look at the Jerichos in our lives, and focus on the walls not on Jesus?  He wouldn’t ask us to do something if He didn’t already have it figured out.  We also have to realize that His timing is perfect.  Just because we obey Him for one day, doesn’t mean the walls will fall in one day.

We have seen many Jerichos over the last couple of years.  My current Jericho is my book.  I know the Lord has asked me specifically to write it.  I obeyed for a little while, then it got hard and intimidating.  So I put it down.  I truly believe that if I keep my eyes on Jesus, my Jericho will seem so small.  I am off all next week, and I have been praying that the Lord will give me the words to work on the book next week.  Cade is really worried I won’t finish Faith’s book, so there is some extra motivation involved:)

What is your Jericho? 

Movin’ Out!

As I posted yesterday, renovations will begin on Monday.  We have gotten a lot done to move out, but there’s still more to do.

Last night, my mom and our friends, the Gibson’s, came over and helped us get the rest of our furniture moved out.

This is a lot of stuff!!!  We are already dreading moving it back in.

While the guys were moving the furniture, they left the garage door open.  Who did they find when they came back?

  This sweet face (who is actually a bit bigger now, but her face is still this sweet.)

And just what was she doing?  Rob saw she was going to town, chewing on something.  When he got to her, this is what he found:

That would be the cord to one of our very nicest lamps.  I’m not sure if Lulabelle is a cow, or a goat.  We had wondered who had mysteriously chewed the wires out of the porch light, and I think we have our answer.

It’s a good thing I’m married to a good electrician!

Oh Pinterest! {A Love/Hate Relationship}

I have blogged several times about Pinterest.  Some good, some not so good.  With our renovations and a new baby around the corner, I have been pinning like crazy.

Here are some of the ideas I have:

Cade’s Room-

This was his favorite.  I don’t think it would be too hard to do, but I sure don’t want him to be disappointed.  I better get to searching craigslist for some bunk beds.

SaraGrace and Emmy’s Room-

I absolutely LOVE these colors.  However, seeing that the crib bedding alone is $400.00, I may have to just keep pinning:)

Closet Spaces-

 

I like both of these, minus the moons and socks:)

The problem with Pinterest is that it gives me a false sense of creativity.  Just because something looks really cute, and I think I can do it, doesn’t mean it’s gonna happen.

Here’s hoping for a Pinterest victory and not an epic fail!

Rivalry and Renovations

Are my two children the only two that fight like cats and dogs?  My mother swears that us girls fought like that, but it didn’t drive me nearly as crazy as my own two.  I’m sure it is just a payback:)

Cade and SaraGrace fight constantly.  We have racked our brains to come up with ways to make them love one another, and I believe Rob finally found it.

Saturday, we were cleaning out our house  for some renovations.  These two had been at it all day, and we had had enough.  The solution?

Don’t they look excited?  They had to hug one another for 10 minutes.  It got really ugly at one time, then Rob made them look at each other.  They were something else.  But they learned to be more loving to one another…at least temporarily.

See the mess in the background?  We got a wild hair and decided to start some renovations to our house.  We have to move completely out by Monday, so they can get the work done.  However, at this moment, we are still waiting on a place to stay.  Nothing like  waiting until the last minute!

We are super excited about all of the changes coming our way.  A new baby brings change, and we can’t wait to see the completed project.  I will definitely be taking pictures along the way, so stay tuned.

Random Updates

I can barely catch my breath at work these days.  I am SWAMPED.  That is the reason for my blog laziness lately.  So in an attempt to update something, I thought I’d do some randoms.

Work- Work has been crazy busy for me.  A couple of changes are happening which has landed me more responsibility.  Yesterday, we were onsite in Inglis.  It was so hot, and I about died.  I don’t think I have sweated like that in years.  But at least I  looked somewhat official.

Rob- There really are no updates on Rob.  He doesn’t ever let me take his picture because he knows he’ll end up on the blog:)  He has been busy getting things ready to move out of our house for a month.  We are starting some renovations, and we are super excited.  We just have WAY.TOO.MUCH.STUFF!!!  But he’s got it all under control.

Cade- Cade is going to Camp this summer and he is having a blast.  Football is fast approaching and he is so excited.  He has gained 5 pounds since last season.  You wanna know how?

This boy is an eating machine lately.  This was him after devouring his weight in barbecue wings.  He told me I should work at Kazbor’s because they were so good. 

Cade was disappointed to learn we were not having him a brother.  He cried for a little while, and then got mad.  We tried explaining to him that he will be thankful he doesn’t have to share a room, but that just wasn’t cutting it.  He is now on a mission to have us adopt him a brother.  I’m sure he’ll warm up to the idea of another sister shortly.

SaraGrace-  SaraGrace is going to Camp too this summer.  This is her first time and she is absolutely loving it.  But they are wearing her out!!!

Day one she put herself to bed as soon as she got home.

Day three she made it two steps inside the front door.

She’s having the time of her life.  Of course she is excited about having a little sister, and she is loving that she will be sharing a room.  I will remind her of this in about 2 years:)

Emmy- There are no new updates with Baby Emmy.  We are just thrilled about another little girl in the house.   We are now all taking bets on her hair color. Since we have had a blonde, a red, and a brunette, it will be interesting to see what happens. 

It’s A……

We got to go see our little peanut this morning.  It is always such a blessing to the Great Creator’s miracle of life.  This morning was special because not only did Rob and I go, but my two best girls, Amy and Christina, were there as well.

Our little baby looked just perfect this morning.  The heart was beating strong, and everything was just as it should be.

We were so excited that we could possibly tell the gender of this little one, and we were not disappointed.

So without further ado, introducing..

~Emmy Claire Vaughn~

Emmy is scheduled to make her arrival via c-section on Monday, November 19th.  That is unless she or the good Lord have other plans.

We are over the moon, and are overwhelmed with God’s goodness.  We are so thankful for a healthy baby and we can’t wait to see what God has in store for her!!!

SaraGrace Graduates VPK

SG graduated from VPK yesterday.  I have always realized that our school is such a blessing, but the graduation yesterday was just another reminder of how awesome it is!!!

All three classes started out on stage and shared a program that included all they had learned, as well as several songs.  SG kept waving to us!!

Once the program was over, they changed into their caps and gowns.  Can I just say all of these little ones thinking they are big stuff in their caps and gowns was just too much.  I think each and every child got a chuckle or two.

“SaraGrace Vaughn, a cowgirl.”

When they introduced each child, they stated their full name and what they want to be when they grew up.

They had the cutest little bridge in which they crossed to get their diploma.  Unfortunately, our picture did not turn out.  But we did get some really cute ones afterwards.

 

SaraGrace was thrilled that her "cousin” Madison surprised her and got to come to her “gradulation.”

SG and Daddy-

 

Getting this picture was like pulling eye teeth.  I had to threaten Cade and SG if they didn’t at least act like they loved each other, there would be some consequences.

 

The fam-

Of course we had to get a picture with her buddy, Emory.  She’s going to miss him so much.  She will have to find another little boy to pick on.

 

We didn’t have the best opportunity to video the songs, and she loves to sing them.  So I had her do a solo performance.  These two were her favorites.

 

 

I cannot believe my baby is going to be in Kindergarten.  But I am so thankful for the precious school that God has allowed us to be a part of.  I can’t thank Ms. Gillis and Mrs. Waldron enough for all of their hard work preparing these youngins for Kindergarten.  They are such a blessing to our family!

We are so proud of you, SaraGrace!  May you continue to be the best Sassy Pants a Mommy and Daddy could ask for.  We love you!!

Blackberries

I have been so swamped at work, I feel like I have abandoned my blog.  Shame on me!  But I am hopefully back on track and can stay on top of it.

Sunday afternoon, after church, we were invited to the Gibson’s to go swimming.  The men went geocaching ( an entire post of its own)and the girls sat out by the pool.  Once the guys got back, we decided to trek to the back woods and pick wild blackberries.

 

This was our ride-

When we got to the back, there were TONS of blackberries.  But with TONS of blackberries, come TONS of thorns.

 

Because we were all in shorts and flip flops, and some were even barefoot, this is how we rolled.

We did some “drive-by pickin’.” 

We spent over an hour out in the patch, and had the best time.  Here are the girls-

Us Mommas had just as much fun.

  

We had a pretty good harvest considering we were all hanging off the side of the buggy and trying to avoid the thorns.

 

We had just enough berries to make a cobbler to share between our families.  It was mighty tasty!!!

We have enough blackberry stains and thorny wounds to last a while, but my girl has made memories that will last forever.  She’s still talking about it!

Cade – a Fourth Grader?

I cannot believe today is Cade’s last day in 3rd grade.  How in the world did this happen?  My little boy is growing up in more ways than one.

Just when  I thought we were over the grieving hump with him, last night he had a moment.  He was doing chores, and told me he needed to talk to me.

He said, “Momma, I wish I had a normal life.”  I thought I was going to hear about how terrible it was that he had to do chores.  But the conversation took a different turn.

As I was trying to get to the bottom of what his “normal” would be,  he finally told me that his life was not normal because his sister died.  My heart just broke.  I explained to him that everyone at some point in their lives would experience loss, whether it was a grandparent or a parent, or in our case, a child.

I didn’t win him over on the subject, but he did feel a little better.  He is so grown, yet so young.

On a funnier note:  This morning, Rob and I were discussing girl names (because we already have a boy name) and I said, “How about Emma Kate?”

Cade yelled from the back seat, “Momma!  That sounds like defecate, and that means to poop!”  I guess we will cross that name off of the list:)

I’m so proud of Cade.  He is the smartest boy, and he works so hard in school.  I never have to worry about his grades, and for that I am thankful.  I’m so blessed to be his Mommy!